So I built a new grow box and started from scratch. Both old and new are similar Shallow Bubbler Buckets. The bigest difference is the medium. This time I used 3:1 coco husk and vermiculite. The last box was just pea gravel in the net pot. I think the coco is causing my problems. I've been having trouble with my pH shooting upwards. I will adjust @ night before bed to 5.8, when I get home from work the next day it's upwards of 8. My plants look funny now. one is wilted looking with yellow spots, the other has spikes and kinda yellow. It's also a tad cool in the box @ 63* F. But temp is steady, I'm leaving that alone for now to limit shock. I'm only leaving these pics on photobucket for a day. Use the password grasscity to view them. had to make it private so my peeps couldn't see them. see how the second one has spiky leaves? and the first seems to have wilted on bottom, but the top looks a little better.
no one? 50 people looked at this and no one has any advice or an opinion? had to delete the pics. Guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens.
Thank theinkman, I didn't know GC allowed one to upload photos. none of the car or bike forums do. That makes me fell better. I didn't want to leave those pictures in my PB album so I had to delete them. These pics are from 5 minutes ago. I can't tell if they are getting better or worse. I now have been adjusting my pH three times a day. When I get home @ 6 PM, before bed @ 12 AM, and before I leave for work @ 6:30. Each time I'm @ or above 7. Each time I adjust to 5.5-5.8. I have switched to pH down for aquariums from Pure sulfuric acid diluted 1.1 with distilled water. It takes more than I think it should. It bottle says tow drops per gallon, I'm using a few full second squirts for 1.5 gallons. I don't know what to do. Fresh nutes on Sundays. I can find the old photos I think and re-post them if you think it will help.
Ive never heard of Coco being mixed with vermiculite but instead perlite. That looks so sick, wish i could put my finger on it, but im still a novice. Coco has treated me pretty good in my 32 days thus far, it seems to hold the ph of the water i put in so ive yet to have an PH issue. I seen threads around that stated some vermiculite brands raise the PH level and so forth but im not too sure. How are you Upping or downing the PH of your water ? If you are using those cheaper tricks of lemon juice or vinegar they dont tend to hold the PH down for very long. What is your water schedule and how much, when did you last flush, and are you feeding them anything- if so what has been your feeding rates at current. From what i retained in knowledge from reading, Droopy leaves are due to overwatering and that yellowing of the outter sides of the leaves looks somewhat like a nute def or a toxic salt buildup from inconsistent PH levels. (How long ago did you flush)
i had the same problem this year whit one of my plants at first it looked great then all of a sudden it started to burn my problem i figured out was due to the fact that this was my first time using a home made soil less mix using what i thought made since but i for got to add lime to stabilize the ph you might need too add some lime to your mix in order to make it work
Lime? how much did you mix in? You do mean that pulverized stuff you get at the garden centers? I'm thinking I may switch to Hydroton. I don't know if the plants are too sick to recover from a switch like that. But this run away pH is too much for the plants and me.
What ec level are you feeding them? What's your EC runoff, is it dropping but your ph is rising by any chance?
In soil, with a ph of 5.5, you are locking out N-P-K Ca and Mg. My guess is the plant is burnt. Boron or iron toxicity
CAn i test EC with a multi meter? I have a really nice multi meter, but not an EC meter. My first grow box I ran with out testing pH, EC, or TDS even once. What would it mean if EC was dropping and pH rising?
Ec goes up/ph goes down = plants getting too much nutes Ec goes down/ph goes up = plants need more nutes Ec comes out same as going in/ph goes up = plants happy Multi Meter! is that a combined PH meter/EC meter?
Following directions on the bottle/container........ Not rocket science. You'd have to flush and re-new water everytime without a meter.
Even still, with no ppm meter, you'll never know how much you gave them and with no ph pen, you'll never know if they are capable of eating it. 2 tools that are worth the $
The directions on the bottle are a guide, not exact science. Now tell me how do you read your plants needs? how much water/food your plants are taking on without a EC meter? You don't, it's all guess work An ec meter is a must when growing. One example when the ec meter helped out, was a mate was having problems with serious yellowing, he kept feeding thinking the plant was underfed, i popped up with the meter measured his runoff the result was 3.6 Nute lock out, if he'd continued with his diagnosis the plant would've died within days. Like i said the ec meter is valuable to me
That's a ph meter saint , more crucial IMO than a ppm (EC) meter but the ppm meter, for $18, takes guesswork out of indoor growing. Growing without a ph meter is like driving with your eyes closed. The ppm meter is an absolute must if you're in hydro but you can get by without it (although I personally wouldn't) if you're in soil. If you don't have one in soil, it's only like driving with 1 eye closed,lol Ph meter-priority 1
Whats a PH meter? Yes PH meter is just as important as a EC meter But ph meter doesn't measure mineral salts in the water, just how much acid/alkaline is in the water.
Miscommunication. I measure ppm, saw "3.6" and assumed you were measuring ph, not ppm (or...EC) becuase of the format of the reading. Didn't realize an EC reading looks just like a ph reading as again, I use ppm (3 or 4 digit #) OOps,lol