Plain Water Watering? To PH Or Not PH??

ok, the title pretty much sums it up. im going through hell right now. i have only 1 plant, well actually i have about 5 more, but pretty much only 1 looks like it does not need any help. its on the straight and narrow. the others look like they have either a nute lock out or a small def. i think nute lock out more then likely. so, the reason for this thread is, i never had a ph meter during the first month of these plants lifes, and they all looked AWESOME until the 5th or 6th week. then i started taking ph readings and adding nutes. i am growing in the Sunshine Mix Advanced #4. it is a coco based. so its a coco medium. i know what to keep my ph at. and i check it every time i mix nutes. BUT, when these plants where in veg they seemed fine. but i can not remember if i was checking the plain r/o water waterings. so, my concern is this... am i supposed to be checking and making the ph in normal plain r/o water (no nutes) ph'd? i started to, and my plants in flower started to look funky. like i had a nute burn or something. can ph'ing plain water burn your plants?? sounds like it really shouldn't. i also heard a noob say "i was phing my water, rookie mistake!" so, whats the truth about plain water in coco???? +rep for acceptable answers.

Post PICS!!!!!!!!!
Well if you are trying to keep the medium at a certain PH range then you need to PH anything that goes into the medium including plain r/o water. What nutes you using? What PPM you running?
What meter you got? Is it calibrated? What is the PPM/PH of the run off?

Personally I grow hydro and do not check my PH and it works for me. But many factors play into PH swings and dialing in smaller aspects will contribute to keeping the swings in check.
Hope that helps some.

thinking you need to mix food in your water then ph up or down i think would be your answer
if your just running water then ph it as well if its to high

and most importantly how often do you calibrate your ph tester i hope you splurged and bought your self a decent one with calibration solution if you think your ph meter is out and you knoe you got lock out then trying bumping your meter up like lets say you run 5.8 ph try 6.8 you could very well be 1 point out

i bought a $100 meter. going to get the Bluelab Combo meter when i can afford one. ibut i have one you can calibrate. i do not think that is the issue. i am more concerned with knowing if i should be ph'ing plain r/o water. and yes, i do know how to mix my nutes and check them religiously when feeding. im just unsure about plain water. some say i should, some say its not needed. im trying to see what the right way is.

man only time i wouldnt check ph is of your goin to flush and harvest everyother time Yes ph your water
its all about maintaining a ph level all the same throughout grow when ph always flucuates you tend to run into problems

go with logic, never fails

Phillip J Fry said:

Post PICS!!!!!!!!!
Well if you are trying to keep the medium at a certain PH range then you need to PH anything that goes into the medium including plain r/o water. What nutes you using? What PPM you running?
What meter you got? Is it calibrated? What is the PPM/PH of the run off?

Personally I grow hydro and do not check my PH and it works for me. But many factors play into PH swings and dialing in smaller aspects will contribute to keeping the swings in check.
Hope that helps some.

Click to expand...

it does make sense. and checking the plain r/o makes sense too. but i can not for the life of me remember if i checked it at all when they were in the *VEG stage. i don't think i did, cuz i hadn't bought my meter til week 5, or 6 (store was out of the one i wanted for weeks, then i bought one and it was faulty...that's what took so long). then, once i had it, i was starting to give my plants nutes. i use Botanicare, btw. i love the stuff. i have heard really dumb things about Advanced, and the price steered me away. or i would be using AN. i just think i shoudl ph it. but i need to know if by ph'ing the water if it will mess my plants up. cuz since i have started, they have started to look a little messed up. my new starts look like crap! AWESOME growth, but that is because i went from a t8 to a HOt5!! huge difference!! plants that had 5 sets of leafs on the t8 were like 7 inches tall. these are 4 inches tall with more sets of leafs already!! i highly suggest!! makes me wonder how good a Metal Halide really is??!! anyways. i think i will ph and see how it goes. im also in need of starting some new seeds today or tomorrow. once they sprout, i will be running a test on them. they will be posted in my 1st journal. thanks for the input.

sounds like the new plan! thank you, +rep has been left for both!! thanks!!