Advice on leaves

[macgyver_stoner]

This can be true, but there are lots of things that could potentially throw off your pH.

By process of elimination, if it isn’t bugs and you are feeding at the recommended strength, then it probably is pH.

[tdubwilly]

@macgyver_stoner

Are you growing in soil?

If it is a nutrient problem is could be related to a pH that is too far out of range for the media you are growing in. A bad pH can result in lockout or toxicities.
~MacG

I have never gotten anything that looked like that in hydro but it has happened in several soil plants of mine where my ph would get it of whack

[tdubwilly]

@nellis

Forgive me if I’m wrong but I thought with pH perfect in the food I’d not need to worry so much about pH?

I have read so much about pH perfect not being perfect…

First, to be perfect, the nutrient bottle would have to know if your growing in soil or hydro…

Second, to be perfect, the nutrient bottle would have to know the starting pH of your water…

I’ve seen ph perfect be pretty good on water that starts out between 6.5 - 7 but if you add it to a water that is very alkaline you will not get a perfect pH

[nellis]

So with a pH of 6, in soil (biobizz allmix), would you recommend keep where I am or use a pH up solution?

Our water is 7.5 by the way, so it is more alkaline than usual.

[tdubwilly]

That’s a great question.

I am just now returning to soil after a two year hiatus where I did nothing but hydro.

Now back when I grew in soil, I grew at a ph of 6 and had really good results. I know they say the best range is something like 6.3 - 6.8 so I won’t argue that, I’ll just say I had really good results at a ph of 6.

Same with hydro, I do just fine with a ph of 6.

Because of that I normally ph everything to 6 nowadays.

Macg can drop a scientific answer on you and not just an experience answer to help you out

[macgyver_stoner]

You should probably be using R/O water if you are wanting AN pH perfect to work as far as helping keep the pH stable.

Tap water is normally about 7.5 pH and this would most likely be from calcium carbonate and calcium bicarbonate. Think limescale.

This is very hard to break down and will build up in the soil and can cause problems.

Can you get a TDS/EC of the tapwater?

~Macg

[nellis]

I haven’t got a TDS meter however my local water company states this:

[macgyver_stoner]

Yes, that is very high for tap water. Most tap water is kept under 200 ppm, and close to about 100 or 150 ppm, and even then it is not the best to use with AN pH perfect.

~MacG

[Packee]

Make sure you’re using something stable to for pH. Not vinegar or something.

I use phosphoric acid, it will hold the pH

If it’s nute lock, easy fix. Just flush with straight pH’d water and basically double what ever size container you have. 2 gal…flush with 4 gal

Packee

[Packee]

As @macgyver_stoner said. You can’t go wrong with RO water

Packee

[Packee]

You’re plants look good though other that

[nellis]

Thank you so much, they are pretty happy girls. I can’t afford a whole RO system at the moment and won’t before these are for crop, for the future with these two, do I keep with the tap water but adjust the pH up/down (I’ll need to find a guide)? Or buy distilled?

[macgyver_stoner]

You might be able to get away with pHing the nutrient solution after mixing to around 6.5 and flush with 3 times the volume of the plants container with the pHed nutrient mix, and this will generally restore your roots’ pH back to normal.

Again, the problem tends to be all the calcium carbonate, think kind of like garden lime.

What you need is nearly pure or zero EC/TDS. You can possibly buy some from a local grocery store, but the problem with drinking water is they often add back in calcium carbonates.

R/O with a nearly zero EC or distilled or demineralised water from the grocery store could work. Mixing this with the pH perfect formula will keep the calcium carbonates from building up and causing problems.

happy growing,

MacG

[Packee]

Get RO bottles at hardware store. You know Culligan water?? Sorry . Not sure what they have in US lol

[nellis]

Thank you everyone, so glad for this forum was really starting to worry as couldn’t find any other examples. Will keep things updated as we flush and continue our journey with this grow

[Jess]

Hey there @nellis
Can’t help myself but to chime in a bit.
A quick comment I’d like to make is that one easy way to check if it’s your pH that is off is to test the runoff of your feed coming out of the bottom of the pot. You could feed a 6.5 for a week and still have a 5.5 coming out of your root zone. That will be a quick way to either confirm or rule out that possibility.

Cheers,
Jess

[macgyver_stoner]

Here is a video from my buddy Robert Bergman about how you can test potting soil from your root zone.

Measure TDS and pH of your soil regularly

happy growing,

MacG

[macgyver_stoner]

Oh, by the way, I wouldn’t let it soak for so long, letting it sit for about 10-15 minutes (same as long as with the colored soil test kits at your local gardening store or hardware store) and testing it with a pH meter, as shown in the video, will be the most accurate.

happy growing,

MacG