Ph Dropping

Ok Farmers, gotta question.... I have a 8 bucket 13 gallon UC system The strain is super OG, Temps are 80 degrees and the humidity is at 47%. I am running DM Gold A+B, Zone and I added a little cal Mag... total ppm 1050, water temp 65 degrees Co2 PPM 1250.... Running 6k overhead and 3k Verticle.... When I adjust nutes I bring the PH to 5.9 By morning it is down to 5.4.... I was told this happens because the plants are drinking water faster than eating nutes.. Is this true? The roots are white as hell, and the water is clear.... Do you feel the PPMs are too high? There are some leaves yellowing that are closer to the light... the leaves under the canopy are green as hell Love to hear what ya folks think!

donutpunched said:

Ok Farmers, gotta question.... I have a 8 bucket 13 gallon UC system The strain is super OG, Temps are 80 degrees and the humidity is at 47%. I am running DM Gold A+B, Zone and I added a little cal Mag... total ppm 1050, water temp 65 degrees Co2 PPM 1250.... Running 6k overhead and 3k Verticle.... When I adjust nutes I bring the PH to 5.9 By morning it is down to 5.4.... I was told this happens because the plants are drinking water faster than eating nutes.. Is this true? The roots are white as hell, and the water is clear.... Do you feel the PPMs are too high? There are some leaves yellowing that are closer to the light... the leaves under the canopy are green as hell Love to hear what ya folks think!

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Dude, PH falling. I just flamed the shit out of a douche soil grower who was telling me it's because I have bad bacteria... nevermind that these are a couple of the healthiest plants I've ever grown, my roots had a bad bacterial infection according to this dirt farmer. And he became such an 'expert' on the matter, not from doing, but staying up late in front of his little computer reading Al B. Fuct's shit.

You're using DM Zone? I've been using Hygrozyme and experiencing ph drops too. I know that Zone isn't an enzymatic enhancer, but I do believe it's intened to kill bad organisms, enhancing root health that way. While an enzymatic is supposed to break down dead organic matter and convert it to usable food for roots, enhancing health that way. What these two products have in common is that they're root-zone cleaners. Could be related, but not 100% sure. What I am sure of is that my plants are doing great... So I ain't worried.

The leaves yellowing closer to the light are the beginnings of heat stress.

Where in the plants' life cycle is your grow? I need to know that to judge if your ppm is too high or low.

PPM's are spot on. Almost exactly what mine run with GH micro/bloom lucas ratio. For pH to drop, there usually either has to be a high amount of Sulfur, OR dead organic material, OR your air pump, pumping too high of concentration of CO2 into your water. What type of water are you using? Thats the big question, if your using RO discount this, but if your using municipal, it could be buffered, depdending on the source with a sulfur compound, if it is sourced alkaline.

Enzymes do not break anything down. Enzymes facilitate the bacteria and fungi in breaking down organic matter. If your using enzymes, and no good microbial innoculant, your only helping the bad microbes do their job faster.

BTW, just looked and your roots look perfectly healthy to me lordijn.

kannibis said:

BTW, just looked and your roots look perfectly healthy to me lordijn.

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That's what I keep telling all thes jagoffs who say I have root rot. My plants look even healthier than my roots.

Appreciate your insights, though. What would you recommend as a microbial innoculant?

Interesting thought about the CO2 in my airpump's bubbles, too.

Thanks for the responses fellas! I am using RO water, and the plants are in week 3 of flower..... I might try that other shit you are talking about lordjin.... My air pump is outside the room to keep the Co2 from pumping in the system...

I use "mycomadness" only because it is complete, and easily available where I am. Any innoculant would work, eg. greatwhite, zho powder....there are many. Typically CO2 has to be in pretty high concentrations to effect it, basically what happens is the carbon breaks from the oxygen forming carbonic acid, which is quite weak. Usually with a buffered source of water, sulfur has a much larger impact. I would suggest adding an alkaline buffer if your having problems, potash works quite well. And it can be had for VERY cheap in raw form, or still pretty cheap in the "potassium supplement" form.

This is what I use when I need it.
http://www.dyna-gro.com/003.htm

Using unbuffered RO water, with a nutrient with high sulfur would be my bet (if organic decomposition is eleminated). Get yourself some Pro-Tekt.....(see previous post). Use it like you would pH up, screw the directions, just add some until your pH is correct. After a couple days it should be buffered out. If you find that you are using a WHOLE LOT, consider cleaning your rez, because it usually only takes one to two applications before the solution should be well buffered.

Still tho, I have found that the microbe tea IS THE BEST way to fix most rez problems..... Really can't stress this enough. I was the largest proponent of a sterile rez for the longest time, then as I started reading more into it, I realized that when you do not innoculate with good microbes you end up feeding and catalyzing the bad ones (or less than beneficial). The way I make my tea is so freaking easy, I just put a spoon full of micomadness and about 20ml of any bud sweetner into 3gal of unchlorinated water (i use the water from my dehue) let it sit aerated for two days. Then add as much or little as you feel necessary, but 1 cup per 10 gal rez water should be plenty. One word of caution, do not, ever, ever, ever, add the sweetner, or innoculant, directly to the rez, just trust me, will cause you headache......

Ph drop is bad bro

kannibis said:

Enzymes do not break anything down. Enzymes facilitate the bacteria and fungi in breaking down organic matter. If your using enzymes, and no good microbial innoculant, your only helping the bad microbes do their job faster.

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Hold up. If enzymes facilitate beneficial bacteria, and then you use a microbial inoculant. What's the difference?

dp sux said:

Ph drop is bad bro

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Ph Drop isn't always bad, bro.



My ph dropped all through veg. Does anyone see anything wrong with my plants? No? Please explain this.

lordjin said:

Ph Drop isn't always bad, bro.

My ph dropped all through veg. Does anyone see anything wrong with my plants? No? Please explain this.

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A'up fella

What's your starting ph and what's it dropping to in how many hrs because at the moment I have a plant that's dropping to ph4.8-5 in less than 24hrs from 5.8 but apart from that the plant looks like it has a little nute burn but apart from that its really healthy.

Let us know as I'm interested if it's just the plant that's dropping the ph or something else.

Cheers

Triggertrevor said:

A'up fella

What's your starting ph and what's it dropping to in how many hrs because at the moment I have a plant that's dropping to ph4.8-5 in less than 24hrs from 5.8 but apart from that the plant looks like it has a little nute burn but apart from that its really healthy.


Let us know as I'm interested if it's just the plant that's dropping the ph or something else.

Cheers

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I have this idea in hydro growing that if your plants look healthy and are growing vigorously, you can pretty much ignore your readings altogether. I know that all the meters, levels, and numeric readouts can cause anxiety if things aren't perfectly stable. But we need to go back to basics sometimes and just let the plants tell the story.

My ph dropped pretty much as you described yours. Do I have a definite, scientific answer as to why my plants are bursting with health despite the ph flux? No. I'm just a pot grower like you. All I can say is that if your plants look good, leave 'em alone. I think all experienced growers would agree with that statement.

Dam! My plants don't look that good lordjin! But I will get tehre! Thanks for everyones input!

lordjin said:

Hold up. If enzymes facilitate beneficial bacteria, and then you use a microbial inoculant. What's the difference?

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Enzymes are a form of catalyst, meaning they increase the rate of a given chemical reaction. They do this by lowering the activation energy required to perpetuate the chemical reaction. So when you have a bad bacteria population, and give them a catalyst, they perform their metabolic functions at an increased rate. You use the biological innoculant to establish a colony of beneficial microbes.