problems help!!

[lukiej]

Having PH of soil Lower!

Usiing: 3-600w on tracksystem
4by 8 elevated bed with good drainage
really good air ventilation
high quality organic soil with leach test PH 6.5
no bugs
no mildew or mold
humid. <55%
Temp. <82f
RO water PH @ 6.8 after recom. nutes

Done really well in the past however having a new problem!

Last go around: 3 weeks into flower rust spots and cuping leaves started dieing.
flushed and stabilized situation.

Now: 12 days into veg. problem accured agian, only earlier.
started flush with .25% nutes PH 6.8
drain water started at PH 5.2?

Why is the PH drain water so low done every thing by the book is there a possibility that the lights to close to soil at start, lowering the PH or is it some new biuld up that was never experinced before?

[Ganja Guerrilla]

are you ph correcting EVERYTHING that goes in your pots,your water, your fert water & your flush water? to 6.5 - 6.8 optimum for soil

or there maybe elements in your soil that are a low ph, continously breaking down and affecting the PH

really good soil?? whats the soil brand

regardless you need to flush well till your runoff water is PH 6.7....then check the runoff again next watering

[Nasa]

man there has to be something in your media if its coming out much lower at the bottom then put in the top ... salt biuld up in your media could do that if your using organic soils you shouldnt water with Ionic salt solutions ... how organic is the soil ? i mean home made ? its just the consistancy of organic soils can be pretty bad sometimes and they can contain some nasty things... crude oil is organic but 50% of what they pump out has to be pumped 3 kilometers back under ground again because it contains some of the deadliest carcenigens known to man... anyway i would flush it out heaps with a shower nossel on your hose so you can do it forcefully and measure the runoff with an EC n a PH meter and see if the salt levels are higher than usual

[lukiej]

using power flower did a run off test on fresh soil and ph was fine. ph every thing going in. All I can think of is that something in the soil is breaking down and lowering the ph.

[Ganja Guerrilla]

again what brand of soil?, I believe this is your issue

[lukiej]

Why is PH lowering? Viewed ganjaguerrilla.net link for PH. Having simalar prob. curling leaves upward, rust spots ect. The soil being used is Power Flower which contains: black peat moss, bat guano, marinebird guano, composted chicken manure, bone meal, rock phosphate and fossilized kelp. 0.5 Recomended dosage for Humax (humic acid). 12oz. Bio Flora Crumbles which contains: fish meal, crab meal, meat/bone meal, dry poultry litter and alfalfa meal. Added to this mixture are humic acid, seaweed cream, sulfate of potash and ammonium sulfate. Run off was 5.6 after flush. Every thing is sogy now for days. Concerned of over watering. Would additional flushing till PH6.7 be better of the two evils. Had good luck in past. Would lights to close bring soil temp around 80f start decompoing matter which would lower PH? THanks For Input!!!!

[Purple-Urple]

I would like to see some pics.

[lukiej]

im mixing nutes and PH down for about 5 min. in a 55gal. drum with a little giant pump and then checking PH at three differant levels in the drum till all readings are the same. I check the accuracy of the PH pen every watering and it doesnt move much more than +/_ 0.2 at PH4 and Ph7. Im sure of its accuracy and the mixing of the water. I just dont understand why the PH in drain water would drop so dramitacaly from 6.5 to 5.2 in only 3 weeks of veg.. Refer to posting lukiej at 11:28am for soil content. Thanks for the help

[Ganja Guerrilla]

what was in the 55 gal drum?
what was the ph of the water when it first goes in the drum
whats the ph with your ferts and no PH down

and lastly I think you need plastic containers, acids and metals co-mingeling together before feed the plant just maybe the issue

do not water in this fashion for a while just ph corrected tap water, and feed separately every third week

[lukiej]

issue 1: I live on a cattle ranch and the water is pulled out of a shallow well in
a creek with PH7.4 and a really sulfer smell unfilterd.
Hence the RO system and two 55 gal tanks. The tanks are in great conditon.
I think the tanks ounce stored veg. oil. I cleaned them well with
Dr Bonners organic soap. However, The prob. with drain water lowering to
Ph5.2 existed before the tanks! The tanks and RO system are a product
of trying to eliminate unknowns. The RO water is PH6.5 when mixed with its
self.

issue 2: Because i was limited to Two tanks i only flushed from a 5.2 to 5.6 with the
RO water and nutes. Now the Soil stands sogy with a PH5.6. Should
I PH6.8 the Well water and flush the soil now dispite overwatering and
questionable well water quality?

[Nasa]

do you flush it out and read the e.c or ppm of the run off to see if it has a high salt reading ?...

[Ganja Guerrilla]

oh boy, flushing with your tanks water at 5.6 is not good , flushing again wont help much since the soil is still soggy, Id transplant to fresh soil and just get a handle on evrything going in the pots 6.5 - 6.8ph

[lukiej]

well, yesterday I flushed the soggy plants agian, with half RO water and half well water, 0.25% recom. nutes (tiger Bloom), hydrogen peroxide tspn per gal. then PH6.7. Flushed till water coming out of the drain was PH6.7. Now plants are extremly soggy and light green. If there is soil in flushed water would ppm meter be accurate? The plants now 3 weeks into veg. cupping like hell but huge for the space, thinking about onset in 2 days!