Nutrients Vs Ph?? So Many ???

Discussion in 'Growing Marijuana Indoors' started by bdub2283, Aug 16, 2014.

  1. Ok so I'm a beginner but have done lots of research yet I understand I need much experience still to gain. I'm really struggling to understand this PH thing though!! I'm using RO water in Coco in 1gal pots and my PH is 6.0 to 6.5, my box is on point plenty of light, lots of fresh air, temp is 72-78 with lights on with humidity at 45-50% and 62-68 with lights on and same humidity. I'm currently 4 weeks into flowering and my buds look pretty good but my girl is def showing signs of problems. I'm adding 2.5ml of Dyna Grow Bloom and 3ml of GH Calimagic and a couple drops of Superthrive to my RO gallons. My girl needs water every other day at this point and I was feeding everytime but she is showing signs of nute burn and calcium deficiency and it's getting worse!! My last 2 waters were just with Calimagic but that didn't seem to fix anything!! I was unaware that I should test my water PH after I add the nutrients and the PH drops to 3.5-4.0 after nutes!! Is this a problem or is that normal? Why not just use my 8.0 tap water and then PH should fall to acceptible levels right? I'm just very confused about PH and when to test it and how it works with nutes any good insight would be greatly appreciated!!
     
  2. #2 Grow2dab., Aug 16, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 16, 2014
    Get all your nutes in then ph adjust to get the level you want and you're good to go. It's normal for some nutes to drop the ph like that, just depends on what you are using.
     
  3. Why would you think you wouldn't have to pH balance after adding nutes? Your nutrients are locked out.

    And no, thats not really how it works. You can't guess at pH. Get a cheap agricultural water drop pH tester. You can get them for a few bucks at a hydro store.
     
  4. I have a PH tester I just haven't heard testing PH after nutes talked about much it always seems to be about before nutes are introduced!! My point was if my RO water is being lowered from 6.0 to 4.0 isn't it worth a try to see if my 8.0 tap water will be lowered to 6.0 by the same nutes? Just a thought? Nothing wrong with tap water if the PH is on point right?
     
  5. [quote name="bdub2283" post="20461399" timestamp="1408222742"]I have a PH tester I just haven't heard testing PH after nutes talked about much it always seems to be about before nutes are introduced!! My point was if my RO water is being lowered from 6.0 to 4.0 isn't it worth a try to see if my 8.0 tap water will be lowered to 6.0 by the same nutes? Just a thought? Nothing wrong with tap water if the PH is on point right?[/quote
    For 20$ you can get ph up and ph down and add a little to your water to adjust it accordingly


    Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
     
  6. #6 Grow2dab., Aug 17, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 17, 2014
     
    I don't know where you're getting your info mate but the PH of the feed/median is the most important thing, what you start off with doesn't really matter as long as the right PH goes into the plant.
     
    If you can make cheap RO water then I think starting fresh with that would be beneficial over just using adding nutes to what ever is in your water when you get it. I think RO is more about how clean your water is not just the PH, I'm pretty lucky with 50ppm tap water. 
     
  7.  
    Everything you put in to the water is going to effect the PH. So you add everything you need, then test PH, and adjust accordingly 
     
    Why would anyone adjust PH before adding nutes? There's nothing wrong with tap water if there is nothing wrong with it. This has nothing to do with PH because that is very easily adjusted. Whether your tap water is any good or not depends on its EC value. Anything below 0.2 is fine, and 0.3 is ok for anything but new seedlings. Reverse osmosis water will be about 0.05 
     
  8. Fuck pH, go organic...

    But to actually address your issue, at four weeks of flower, you will notice the plant starting to eat its own nitrogen and turn yellow and even necrotic in some places.

    Pics?


    Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
     
  9. Lots of misinformed opinions here. You're using RO, so yes it's good that you're supplementing with cal/mag stuff. Yes, ANY nutrients organic or not will drop your pH, and pH is VERY important to life in general. pH scale runs 0-14 with 7.0 being neutral. We clean and sanitize with chemicals that are either very high pH (caustics like detergent and soap) or very low (acids like citrus), so natural life exists in the middle somewhere, in this case weed likes the 5.0-6.0 range - slight acidic. After you add your nutes and mix thorororoughly ;) use either a dye pH kit or a meter (but really from experience a kit is more reliable unless you wanna drop $100 on the meter, calibration fluids, cleaning fluids, and waste a lot of time on something a kit does with no fuss). Get you're pH in between 5.5 and 6.0 and you're set. Also make sure your adding nutrients correctly and remember to error on the less nutrients side. TDS meters are worth the $20 and rarely fail.


    -growtender
     
  10. Yeah lots of conflicting opinions all over the web for sure!! I heard about all the greatness of using RO water but didn't get much information about how adding nutes would significantly drop your PH levels. Anyway I'm gonna run an experiement next time around with 4 plants as follows....

    1. Pure RO water no nutes.

    2. Pure tap water no nutes.

    3. RO water with nutes.

    4. Tap water with nutes.

    My tap water has a natural PH of around 8.0 while my RO is 6.0 so my theory is since my nutes drop my PH to around 4.0 with my RO then hopefully they will do the same with my tap water to around 6.0 which is perfect!! We shall see what plants do the best. Only way to know for sure is to do shit yourself in my opinion.
     
  11. Man, thats not how it works -.- Dropping from 6 to 4 isn't the same as 8 to 6. Meaning it won't take the same amount of acidity to bring it from 8 to 6 as it did to bring down 6 to 4.
    Anyways, adding anything to your water will alter your pH (even slightly).

    Anywayd, have fun.
     
  12. So if that's not how it's gonna work what will happen? I would appreciate some advice on the matter rather than you just saying " man that's not how it works ", it's pretty obvious the acid content of nutrients will lower the PH how much I'm not sure. Basically your saying the only possible way to have proper PH is buy PH UP/DOWN or not use nutrients at all? I will post later what the PH of my tap water falls to after nutes are added.
     
  13. #13 Grow2dab., Aug 21, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 21, 2014
    "Basically your saying the only possible way to have proper PH is buy PH UP/DOWN or not use nutrients at all?"
     
    If you are growing hydroponics then pretty much yeah, unless you use one of the brands that comes PH balanced.
     
    The first two plants will die with no food too, why not just spend the $40 or so on PH up/down and then not worry about it anymore? It's a good investment.
     
     
    Here's my routine, the order may not be right but that's another topic of varied opinion.
     
    2 4L bottles of tap water
     
    add calmag, shake
     
    add Canna A, shake
     
    add Canna B, shake
     
    add PK, shake
     
    add Bud XL, shake
     
    dilute PH up in glass of water then add, shake
     
    Check PH and adjust if needed.
     
    Feed.
     
  14. #14 snoopdog6502, Aug 21, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 21, 2014
    PH is simple to nail. My water and nutes almost nails it every single time.
     
    A little hint about how the PH number scale works, it is not linear. its logarithmic.
     
     
  15. Absolutely right. That's why pH seems to get out of control so quickly. Get all your nutes in the rez and make small adjustments until you get to your 5.5-6.0 range. Then go smoke a bowl, come back, and double check. I found that after a few days with any given rez you can pretty much count on a fixed amount of pH up or down given you add the same amount of nutes. A larger rez also helps keep fluctuations at bay.


    -growtender
     
  16. We have given you advice on the matter. You chose to not take it.
     
  17. #17 dabKling, Aug 21, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 21, 2014
    4 weeks into flower and they probly been getting 3.5-4.3ph feeds their whole life in coco?
     
    awesome lulz
     
    lucky they weeds not tomaters
     
  18. I never said I didn't take y'all's advice and it's much appreciated but I will tell you that I ran a test on my tap water last night with no nutes it's at a 8.0 to 8.5 PH then I added nutes and it dropped it to 6.0 to 6.5 which is exactly where I want it. I do remember somebody saying " Man, that's not how it works " well apparently that is how it works just like I thought it would. That's why I said I have to experiment for myself too much misinformation on here at times.
     
  19. Also just so you guys know I'm using Coco mixed with perlite and my nutes are Dyna Grow Veg/Bloom, Calimagic and Superthrive.
     
  20.  
    All they told you was add everything you want then check your pH. You went off on some tangent about experimenting.
     

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