growing in soil.. ideal pH and ppm's of runoff water?

shap3less

Active Member
so i'm trying to figure out what to do with the readings that i've taken of my runoff water in my plant. what is the ideal ppm's and pH of the water runoff growing in soil? i've seen people say that 'you need to check it' but what am i checking for? currently, the pH of my runoff is 6.7-6.9 (i'm using 7.0 RO water) and the ppm's are ~330ppm. i'm guessing the pH is good, since the soil would be slightly more acidic than the actual runoff (using logic, i could be wrong?) but i have no idea if the ppm's are too high/low, good/bad. some guidance would be greatly appreciated. thanks!
 

shap3less

Active Member
oh yeah, i guess i should've stated that. oops. i've been using RO water only (pH 7.0/0-1ppm..as one would hope) up until a few days ago. i did two feeds, 3 days apart (feed-water-rest-feed) and the OP numbers were the results after the 2nd water of that cycle. i'm using miracle grow african violet soil with pearlite, sphagnum peat moss & lime (2:1:1:trace respectively) and i did the feeding with the miracle grow liquid cactus food in the small bottle (2-7-7). the feed water was 65ppm (4 drops in 16oz of water) and i did the same for both feedings. also balanced the pH to 6.7-6.9. i can't seem to find in my journal where i wrote down the runoff ppm's before i did the feeds, but i know it was in the 300ppm's range. oh, and here's my grow: https://www.rollitup.org/stealth-micro-cab-growing/515726-my-first-grow-pc-case.html that should help with some other questions. i need to update with some new pics. i do know that since the time since i first watered this soil, the ppm's of the runoff water have about halved...
 

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
If the plant is still a baby, you are doing fine imo. You will need to raise the nute level as the plant matures; the signs are not especially subtle. Top tip for repotting: if you use dolomite lime, you'll never have either a pH or cal/mag problem. Best luck ... cn
 

shap3less

Active Member
so i could add nutes now at near full strength? i'm currently in week 7 since sprout, week 3 of 12/12, 8 days since signs of pistils. i know the soil already has nutes, and i just didn't want to burn em now. after the first feed they did perk up a lot and looked happier, i just didn't want to over do it. thanks for the help. rest day today for the lady, was going to feed last night but the soil was still pretty moist, i'll feed tomorrow and maybe bump up to 8 drops instead of 4.
 
Top