Organic HOTSOIL....5.9 PH RO.......PURPLE STEMS, bright green new growth!?!?!?

Stepwell hotsoil..literally has everything. Just add RO or filtered water they say.

Plants always had a bit of nute burn since started them in the hotsoil. They grew out of it.

Fimed 3 early and too young but they bouncing back.

The 1 was stunted so let him grow straight to catch up before.fimming him. I bet.you can spot which one

Their might look a bit droopy right now because I'm letting medium dry our fully before watering.

They have new growth everyday.

NOW HERES MY QUESTION.

I just transplanted a few days ago. But stems have been purple for a month. And new growth has been bright lime green.

From reading online it says purple stems are a PH problem and not genetics.
With organic hot soul soil tho I'm under the impression you dont need to monitor PH as the soil buffers it.

It's got dolomite lime and gypsum in it so the soil company told me I dont need to add cal mag.

My reverse osmosis system took my chloramined tapwater from 6.6 ph to 5.9

Honestly the plants have been through alot as this is first grow but they've always soldiered threw any abuse I gave them or mistakes i made.

I'm not super worried about it I guess I'm just confused about the organic soil buffering water so PH doesnt need to be monitored?

Should I try buying some bottled 7 PH for a week and see if I notice a difference?

And no I cant do a ph test of water runoff because its organic soil and Im Using fabric pots

Reverse osmosis water has no real pH so don't even bother trying to read it and if you are adding pH Up to it stop doing that. Check your ppm as maybe the filter is letting stuff thru but then the pH is generally on the high side.

Looks to me like your pH is probably too high or the plants are growing so rapidly that they are taking a while to go fully green. Most micro-nutrient deficiencies that mainly affect new growth are caused by pH being too high.

Purple stems CAN be strain related. I have 4 Island Sweet Skunk x DJ Short's Blueberry going right now from seed and one has solid purple stems all the way up even into the bottom of the leaves and they all get the same feed and water. RO with Mega Crop. I've observed this with many other related strains as well over the last couple decades.

Purple stems can indicate a problem but there will be other factors to consider before taking remedial action like problems with leaves etc to pinpoint the exact cause.

Testing pH of runoff is vastly overrated and almost no one does it right anyways. Even the pros know it is just a ballpark estimation when done correctly and count on their soils and inputs to keep it right.

I found a great spot to download FREE POT BOOKS . I downloaded a grow bible first and got lots more. Books look great and complete like the real ones I have here. No web site but just a page of links. Just right click on what you want and then "Save Link As" to download so they don't open first as many are 50+ megs. They got lots. Enjoy.

Cheers man I really appreciate the reply.

And no I haven't added Any ph adjusters to my water as i heard it might destroy beneficial microorganisms.

I mean I know good range for hydro is 5.5 ish and soil is 6.5ish



My ph is 5.92 so still within range of getting most if not all nutrients.

I guess I'll just keep an eye on them and let them do their thing.

Are they growing taller pretty fast? If so that would explain the light green centers and as long as the new leaves are going a normal green as they get bigger then all is well.

A lot of people think it's an iron deficiency but that usually comes along with distorted leaves and I'm not seeing anything like that.

I certainly wouldn't mess with them atm. They're probably just getting into their stride in that rich soil and just using the RO straight up is what I'd do for now.

Good luck with them!

OldMedUser said:

Are they growing taller pretty fast? If so that would explain the light green centers and as long as the new leaves are going a normal green as they get bigger then all is well.

A lot of people think it's an iron deficiency but that usually comes along with distorted leaves and I'm not seeing anything like that.

I certainly wouldn't mess with them atm. They're probably just getting into their stride in that rich soil and just using the RO straight up is what I'd do for now.

Good luck with them!

Click to expand...

TY Med. Its been 6 days after the transplant and they are growing really fast now
I had sprinkled a tablespoon of myco in each transplant hole and seem to really like it.

Moved my cobs to 30" above the plants and that seemed to help as well.

I've noticed another deficiency on the leaves as well.
Stared at them for a half an hour this morning and I think its calcium deficiency? But so new to this it's hard to say.
Theres a few brand new leaves that have a brown spot or two on them as well.

It seems weird because the soil should have all the calcium I need.


So whst are my options.......either use some baking soda to raise ph from 5.9 to 6.5 so I intake all notes.
Or get some cal mag?
What do you think?

It's weird though the only plants that have the brown spots are the three I FIMd early. The one I FIMD late is nice and dark green and no obvious deficiencies deficiencies.

JungleSlut said:

TY Med. Its been 6 days after the transplant and they are growing really fast now
I had sprinkled a tablespoon of myco in each transplant hole and seem to really like it.

Moved my cobs to 30" above the plants and that seemed to help as well.

I've noticed another deficiency on the leaves as well.
Stared at them for a half an hour this morning and I think its calcium deficiency? But so new to this it's hard to say.
Theres a few brand new leaves that have a brown spot or two on them as well.

It seems weird because the soil should have all the calcium I need.


So whst are my options.......either use some baking soda to raise ph from 5.9 to 6.5 so I intake all notes.
Or get some cal mag?
What do you think?

View attachment 4358462

Click to expand...

While waiting for OldMedUser to get back to you, do a slurry test.

Get a clean glass and add 1/4 cup of soil and 1/4 cup of preferably distilled water but RO will work well also. Stir it occasionally and give it about 15 minutes then test the PH of the water.

Kushash said:

While waiting for OldMedUser to get back to you, do a slurry test.

Get a clean glass and add 1/4 cup of soil and 1/4 cup of preferably distilled water but RO will work well also. Stir it occasionally and give it about 15 minutes then test the PH of the water.

Click to expand...

That is how you test soil pH. The slurry test.

Copy cheers. got it sitting now

Kushash said:

While waiting for OldMedUser to get back to you, do a slurry test.

Get a clean glass and add 1/4 cup of soil and 1/4 cup of preferably distilled water but RO will work well also. Stir it occasionally and give it about 15 minutes then test the PH of the water.

Click to expand...

xtsho said:

That is how you test soil pH. The slurry test.

Click to expand...

Ok bros did like you said. Took half a cup of soil. Let it sit in my RO water since it's what I use. After it sat for fifteen I strained the solids out with a flour strainer and tested the water.

5.75
Water going in is 5.98
So looks like I need to naturally adjust ph?
Soil company just got back to me said need to get ph to 6.4
So I should adjust to 6.6 or 6.7 and let.soil bring it down to 6.5 or 6.4?

JungleSlut said:

Copy cheers. got it sitting now



Ok bros did like you said. Took half a cup of soil. Let it sit in my RO water since it's what I use. After it sat for fifteen I strained the solids out with a flour strainer and tested the water.

5.75
Water going in is 5.98
So looks like I need to naturally adjust ph?
Soil company just got back to me said need to get ph to 6.4
So I should adjust to 6.6 or 6.7 and let.soil bring it down to 6.5 or 6.4?

View attachment 4358473

Click to expand...

Wait for Old Med to get back and see what he says.
Lets make sure he agrees it is an accurate test.
If it is you need to add some dolomite lime to raise the PH of the soil.
It can be done with something other than DL but I would think that would be easy to get and would adjust the soil PH in about 10 days to a better range.

xtsho said:

That is how you test soil pH. The slurry test.

Click to expand...

Here is a popular video.
They suggest 1 part soil 2 parts water where I suggested 1 part of each. Both should get the same reading. I've also found the results to be the same using RO and distilled.
Hard tap water will give a false reading.

Kushash said:

Here is a popular video.
They suggest 1 part soil 2 parts water where I suggested 1 part of each. Both should get the same reading. I've also found the results to be the same using RO and distilled.
Hard tap water will give a false reading.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the video.
The soil company asked.me.about my watering practices. I told them I water them around every four days. I let them get bone dry and a touch droopy before I water again.

They say this is my problem. Its living soil so the core needs to be moist all the time.
Not sure how I feel about this. I mean they could be right but
My homeboy grows og kush in cali with gavitas and said plants need a proper dry wet cycle. Overwatering kills them quicker than underwatering.
He doesnt use living soil tho, just good soil and nutes.
He said roots stretch out when dry and looking for water. Bigger roots equal bigger plants.

And i mean the one plant I fimd late is dark green and no deficiency and it's been getting a a full dry wet cycle like the others so why would one do good and the others wouldnt?

My theory is I fimed other ones early.
They were forced to produced lots of leaves and new stems.
The lower PH is not letting them grab all the calcium they need from the soil and their getting deficiencies.

The one I fimed late had a chance to grow up and produce big solar panels before needed to produce more branches so it was able to feed itself better.

Just a theory of course from a beginner

Kushash said:

Here is a popular video.
They suggest 1 part soil 2 parts water where I suggested 1 part of each. Both should get the same reading. I've also found the results to be the same using RO and distilled.
Hard tap water will give a false reading.

Click to expand...

I've posted that same video multiple times when people were focused on runoff pH. The slurry test is how you test soil pH.

JungleSlut said:

Thanks for the video.
The soil company asked.me.about my watering practices. I told them I water them around every four days. I let them get bone dry and a touch droopy before I water again.

They say this is my problem. Its living soil so the core needs to be moist all the time.
Not sure how I feel about this. I mean they could be right but
My homeboy grows og kush in cali with gavitas and said plants need a proper dry wet cycle. Overwatering kills them quicker than underwatering.
He doesnt use living soil tho, just good soil and nutes.
He said roots stretch out when dry and looking for water. Bigger roots equal bigger plants.

And i mean the one plant I fimd late is dark green and no deficiency and it's been getting a a full dry wet cycle like the others so why would one do good and the others wouldnt?

My theory is I fimed other ones early.
They were forced to produced lots of leaves and new stems.
The lower PH is not letting them grab all the calcium they need from the soil and their getting deficiencies.

The one I fimed late had a chance to grow up and produce big solar panels before needed to produce more branches so it was able to feed itself better.

Just a theory of course from a beginner

Click to expand...

You don't want to let the soil get bone dry. Keeping the core moist isn't over watering.

xtsho said:

I've posted that same video multiple times when people were focused on runoff pH. The slurry test is how you test soil pH.




You don't want to let the soil get bone dry. Keeping the core moist isn't over watering.

Click to expand...

Allright. Just asked him again and mentioned what.you did. Said he told me to water em like that I guess because I was a beginner and he didnt want me to overwater em and fuck em up.

I'll adjust a bit fam

This one of his OG almost ready. Hope my girls look like that one day

I'm no Joe Pro when it comes to living soils or organic growing and am just in the midst of trying it out for myself. More of a hydro/soilless with hydro nutes kinda guy.

One of the things I'm attempting to do is not let things get too dry before watering again where I often had droopy plants more thru neglect than desire.

Baking soda is not something I would use to raise the soil pH. Too much sodium. Hydrated lime is recommended in my Jorge Cervantes Indoor Bible. Says a half cup per cubic foot of medium. I'm sure you could mix some up with the water and use it that way and I'd say a heaping tsp/gal/4L should raise the pH in the pots. It doesn't last all that long so will need to be repeated.

I just repotted all my plants over the last couple days and sprinkled some myco on top of the new soil before dropping the plant in. I also added some to the mix I made for them. I'm using ProMix HP for the base and adding manures and EWC so the myco has something to feed on. Also adding sugar to the water they get. Greenleaf Carbo but think I'll be watering in some unsulfured blackstap molasses as well. Used about 25% of my tap water with the RO too for the minerals and beneficial bacteria and fungi that might be in there.

How did you take your samples for the slurry test? The top few inches can be very different than scooping some out of the lower portions of the rootball. Don't worry about damaging the roots. The plant will grow more to replace them real quick. I'd pull the plant up and scoop some out 2/3 of the way down and test that.

There are very few spots on those leaves so I wouldn't go overboard on treatments as it could be another reason that's happening.

Not sure if you've seen this yet but there's lots of good books in the following link.

I found a great spot to download FREE POT BOOKS . I downloaded a grow bible first and got lots more. Books look great and complete like the real ones I have here. No web site but just a page of links. Just right click on what you want and then "Save Link As" to download so they don't open first as many are 50+ megs. They got lots. Enjoy.

xtsho said:

I've posted that same video multiple times when people were focused on runoff pH. The slurry test is how you test soil pH.




You don't want to let the soil get bone dry. Keeping the core moist isn't over watering.

Click to expand...

I may have learned it from you lol.
A lot of what I learned about growing has been from RIU from members like OldMedUser.

JungleSlut said:

Thanks for the video.
The soil company asked.me.about my watering practices. I told them I water them around every four days. I let them get bone dry and a touch droopy before I water again.

They say this is my problem. Its living soil so the core needs to be moist all the time.
Not sure how I feel about this. I mean they could be right but
My homeboy grows og kush in cali with gavitas and said plants need a proper dry wet cycle. Overwatering kills them quicker than underwatering.
He doesnt use living soil tho, just good soil and nutes.
He said roots stretch out when dry and looking for water. Bigger roots equal bigger plants.

And i mean the one plant I fimd late is dark green and no deficiency and it's been getting a a full dry wet cycle like the others so why would one do good and the others wouldnt?

My theory is I fimed other ones early.
They were forced to produced lots of leaves and new stems.
The lower PH is not letting them grab all the calcium they need from the soil and their getting deficiencies.

The one I fimed late had a chance to grow up and produce big solar panels before needed to produce more branches so it was able to feed itself better.

Just a theory of course from a beginner

Click to expand...

It takes a long time to learn to water soil well.
It's hard to explain because it can be done well with different styles.
How much water do you give them when you water?
Do you water it in slowly and allow the soil to get evenly moist?
Do you pour the water in the pot all at one time or do you give it a small amount at a time over a period of time?

Not all will agree with how to water as there are different roads to success and I have never used fabric pots so that would be different from the plastic pots I use.

Have you calibrated your PH pen?
Do you have the calibration fluids?

Would be a good idea to run some more soil tests in different locations of your soil as OldMed said.

If you have some other soils or even outdoor plants or a healthy lawn to test the soil, it could be useful to compare.
You should see a good PH on a healthy lawn or at least something much different than the result you got on your soil.

So after all of your suggestions I did some research for a few days on using ph adjusters like lime or baking soda and a few others and decided against using either.
The soils already got lime.
And I dont want to lock nothing out or leave salts behind with soda.

I literally just did like the soil company suggested to keep the core of the soil moist so plant can always feed.
I also added some Step-well Soil EM1 to my last watering (beneficial microbes in molasses or something that helps them breakdown even more nutrients for the plant )
And it seems to have worked to be honest.
Their losing their lime green, and going dark.
Maybe the myco is kicking in as well
Whichever it is they feeding like crazy theres a tiny bit of nute burn on a few of the the top leaves

Hard to tell if their losing their purple stems. The new growth isnt full purple anyways.

Kushash said:

It takes a long time to learn to water soil well.
It's hard to explain because it can be done well with different styles.
How much water do you give them when you water?
Do you water it in slowly and allow the soil to get evenly moist?
Do you pour the water in the pot all at one time or do you give it a small amount at a time over a period of time?

Not all will agree with how to water as there are different roads to success and I have never used fabric pots so that would be different from the plastic pots I use.

Have you calibrated your PH pen?
Do you have the calibration fluids?

Would be a good idea to run some more soil tests in different locations of your soil as OldMed said.

If you have some other soils or even outdoor plants or a healthy lawn to test the soil, it could be useful to compare.
You should see a good PH on a healthy lawn or at least something much different than the result you got on your soil.

Click to expand...

Ph pen was spot on. Calibrated it just to be sure.

Up until 5 days ago I watered with a water bottle sprayer.

Gave them each 250mls. Watering took me about 20-30 minutes.

Now I'm upping their water by 50ml every watering to try find a sweet spot where I water every 3 to 4 days.
Especially since I went from solo cup straight into a 7gallon fabric pot, watering is going to be the biggest challenge

I dont want to have any runoff or waste any nutrients as I'll be filling a 3.5 square foot scrog and it will be a long veg.

JungleSlut said:

View attachment 4360606
So after all of your suggestions I did some research for a few days on using ph adjusters like lime or baking soda and a few others and decided against using either.
The soils already got lime.
And I dont want to lock nothing out or leave salts behind with soda.

I literally just did like the soil company suggested to keep the core of the soil moist so plant can always feed.
I also added some Step-well Soil EM1 to my last watering (beneficial microbes in molasses or something that helps them breakdown even more nutrients for the plant )
And it seems to have worked to be honest.
Their losing their lime green, and going dark.
Maybe the myco is kicking in as well

Hard to tell if their losing their purple stems. The new growth isnt full purple anyways.




Ph pen was spot on. Calibrated it just to be sure.

Up until 5 days ago I watered with a water bottle sprayer.

Gave them each 250mls. Watering took me about 20-30 minutes.

Now I'm upping their water by 50ml every watering to try find a sweet spot where I water every 3 to 4 days.
Especially since I went from solo cup straight into a 7gallon fabric pot, watering is going to be the biggest challenge

I dont want to have any runoff or waste any nutrients as I'll be filling a 3.5 square foot scrog and it will be a long veg.

Click to expand...

That's likely your problem there is not completely watering your plants.

You need to soak the whole pot and not ration the water. Faster and easier than giving them dribs and drabs. Keep track of how much it takes to saturate a pot when it's getting low but still moist a few inches down then reduce that amount by 10% or a bit more and give them that much at each watering. The top is always going to dry out a lot faster than the rest.

Some plants are going to have some purple no matter what you do and it's often genetic. I have 4 Island Sweet Skunk x DJ Short's blueberry from seed just on their 5th day of 12/12 and only one is purple all over. Main stem, leaf stems and the veins under the leaves are all dark purple. All 4 have exactly the same soil, feed and water and are under the same light but only one is purple. Can't tell me that's not genetic. Stem rubs smell like fruity blueberry on that one but tangy citrus on the rest too. None of the others have any purple.

As you use RO water you shouldn't need to get runoff unless you run into an over-feeding issue and want to lower the amount of available nutrients in the pots.