I'm going crazy with this.Long time grower never had problems growing until 2 yrs. ago. Diagnosed problems as ph being way off. Bought a meter, ph down etc. Tap water was alkaline, ph 8.0. Been monitoring and treating since but now problems are back. Last grow was yellow and stunted and yielded about 1/3 less.now my next grow seedlings are yellow and stunted with lower leaves spotting and dieing. Thought maybe my meter was screwed up and have to keep adjusting to 7.0 solution to calibrate. Not sure what to do? Suggestions would be appreciated. thx stacy
Are you measuring the pH of the water runoff, or just the water going in? The former is what is important. Measure your run off and report back!
I've measured both many times.These seedlings are pale yellow and not growing much at all. In fact I'm starting to lose lower leaves to spotting and drying out.looks like classic ph problems. I've calibrated my meter and it does not seem to stay in calibration. Thinking it might be faulty I've tested with a liquid aquarium test kit and color chart. It seems to give lower readings than the meter but only maybe .3 to .4 difference in ph level. Last time I watered the runoff was 6.6 to 6.8. The time before was 7.0 to 7.1.so it's getting better. should I transplant seedlings to new soil ? Does it take awhile for plants to recover from ph problems? Should I just start over and scrap the seeds and loose the 3-4weeks I have invested in them? Please help me if you have experience with this........anyone :-(
Transplanted seedlings and runoff was still very high ph 7.8.Now I've prepared plain water ph 3.5 to get runoff of 6.8. Some new green growth has started . Will monitor closely .