Sorry for any confusion. I just grabbed one of the pH water test strip kits at Home Depot. (I'll get a fancy meter soon. This was just a quick grab today.) It checks your water for all sorts of bad stuff. So the readings that I mentioned above are for our water, not in the soil. 85 is the Alkalinity of our water (which is considered in the safe zone by our governments standards) Do you think I should try to increase the pH level in the water? If this is easily achievable.....
yes you should raise the ph. you can get ph up & ph down @ any plant store. 6.0 is good for seedlings
5.0 water is way low. I grow hydro and my water with nutes is a 6.0. get some bottled water. Babies don't drink much.
hey Nothinglost, just to let you know Snoopdog is a LEGEND @ grasscity!!!!! He has the best set up you ever did see.....LEGEND! lol whats up snoop?
Test strips are inaccurate. There is no way your pH is @ 5. Aerating water for 48hrs would bring your pH up by at least a point. I doubt your city water comes out with a pH of 4. Ditch the strips and those jiffy pots. Get yourself some smart pots.
I'm just lucky. there are others here who grow branches bigger than my whole plants. Summer is coming I'm going to grow some big ones that rippers would need a chainsaw to steal. Been building a greenhouse to get an early start bigger than I can do indoors. Shit I have 2 bedrooms full of blooming tomatoes and peppers. We grow more that Cannabis around here.
Ph and alkalinity are actually different, the confusion comes because people mistakenly consider high ph and high alkalinity to be the same and refer to high ph as "more alkaline". The proper term for a higher ph is that it is more basic. Alkalinity is actually the measure of the waters ability to neutralize acids. Higher alkalinity gives a higher buffering capacity and more "resistance" against ph drop. However, you can have high alkalinity without also having high ph. It is a measure of carbonate/bicarbonate concentrationrather than ph. I also agree with West Coast, I would want a second opinion. 5.0 shouldnt be coming out of the tap as that is way too acidic to be healthy.
Doc - Second Opinion will happen asap. I'll get a digital pH meter and we'll get to the bottom of this. Snoopdog - Bottled water it is for our babies (for now) West Coast - They are coming out of the Cow Pots today and going into plastic. Thanks guys!!
WOW Nothinglost, now you are in the hands of the GC elite!!! thats what i LOVE about this site..... Real time info from humble,real,people that just want to help!!! thanks for the clarity on the alkaline def doc ... you learn something new everyday. lol
^^ Awesome! I am all about getting honest information from honest people, simply because I too am an honest, no BS kind of person. The Alkaline info is great Doc!!! I like the way you wrote it so I could actually understand it. Cheers man. **** The seedlings....... Looked exactly the same this morning as they did last night. I transferred them out of the Cow Pots and into plastic party cups. The root systems of 3 of them are pretty weak so I am not very hopeful that they will survive. We'll keep giving them plenty of love anyways and see how they do. We also planted our next round of germinated seeds today, this time straight into plastic party cups. So all this being said, worst case scenario we simply learn from our mistakes and move forward positively with our newest batch of babies. This time making sure to follow a strict watering method that gives them the best opportunity to thrive. How's that sound everyone? ****** Seedling #1 (after transplant) Seedling #2 (after transplant) Seedling #3 Strongest Root System (after transplant) Seedling #4 (after transplant) Both Sets
thats what it's all about ... learning from our mistakes. good luck my friend ! if there is anything else I can help you with just let me know!!!
Thanks MagicM!!!! I really appreciate everything from everyone. I'll keep this thread updated with photos as they grow up.
Well..... The babies ended up drying up beyond repair, but that's okay because we made sure to start germinating a new batch before they actually died. So the new batch is doing much much better. This time, no Cow Pots and way way way less water. Here's a few photos of how they are looking currently. White Widow x Night Train - 3 1/2 weeks old Trainwreck - 3 1/2 weeks old Same Trainwreck Plant - Pre-Flowers
That is exactly what I thought as well...... Now they are clear as day. Here's a photo from a few minutes ago. Different angle.
Thanks man. Quick question for anyone who check this thread out. Does this look like a Calcium Deficiency or something else? (Sidenote: I am not assuming this is the problem. Just a hypothesis based on some research.) The only thing that I did any differently before this happened to 2 plants was a simple mist foliage watering. Then the next day the leaves started browning in small areas and some are now drying and curling at the edges. I am reluctant to just toss Cal/Mag in because I am not sure that is the actual problem. I don't think that the foliage spraying would have done this (meaning light burn) simply because the other 2 plants were not effected at all. Any thoughts and/or opinions are appreciated.
to me it seems like light burn even though the other 2 were fine! some can be more sensitive than others !!