Hello all, hopefully someone can shine some light on an issue I'm having with a clone of mine, I'll try to give as descriptive as I can. *STRAIN: Ultrasour by T.H. seeds *clone has been in soil for 1.5 weeks from when it rooted *Indoor soil grow with FFOF *watering with plain RO water ph'd to 6.5 (I wait until top inch or 2 is completely dry, then I water with about 1/4 gallon of RO water) *600W HPS 1.5' above canopy *temps 77 during day and 69 during night *I have the plants topped and LST'd MY THOUGHTS: I'm not sure as to what exactly the issue is with this clone, but I have them LST'd at about a 90 degree angle, and I topped them about a week ago. I also removed a few fan leaves on each plant. So maybe this specific clone is going through some simple stress from pruning? Or can it be a nutrient issue like a cal/mag deficiency? I'm not sure what the issue could be here, I have 9 other clones of the same exact strain and age, and they are looking great:
Also, I water with RO water and I have NOT been adding amy cal mag to the water.. I didn't think I would need to since the clones are in FFOF, I figured that there would be enough cal/mag in the soil without having to supplement with calmag+
I use RO water ph'd to 7. My run off is usually around 5.5-6. I thought FFOF soil comes hot and with enough nutes to last clones 2-3 weeks? So could I be seeing a cal/mag deficiency since I'm not adding calmag+ to my RO water? I figured FFOF would have enough cal mag in it already to sustain healthy growth even without adding calmag+ to my RO water
There, you have your answer, your soil is freaking your clone. Flush and bring run-off to 6.5/6.8 At 5.5 run-off your missing nutrient uptake of P, K, Mag, and Ca.
Thanks for the replys, so in order for me to get soil ph at 6.5 or 6.8 I will need to adjust my water ph higher, right? Will it be ok to water with say a ph of 8 to accomodate the acidic soil?
Use the RO at the ph of eight, run it through until run-off hits 6.5/6.8, add cal/mag, wait for improvement until adding ferts.
Thank you for the response mmman, I apologize if I am just over thinking this, but.. what exactly do you mean when you say "run it through until run-off hits 6.5/6.8, add cal/mag"? are you saying to run a bunch of water through all at once? or just keep watering whenever needed with ph of 8.So I should just run as much water as it takes to get a consistant ph reading of 6.5/6.8? how much water should I expect to use to aqquire 6.5ph?
You have to run enough water through the substrate for correction, the rule of thumb if three times the volume of your substrate. http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/floriculture/crop/crop_PTS.htm
Oh for fucks sake just add calmg to your water. Most nutrient and soil mixes assume the use of tap water which is where that stuff comes from. The ph parade needs to take the week off.
he can add as much of whatever he wants, but if ph is off the plant cannot utilize it. ph controls your plants ability to uptake nutrients. this is generally why it's the first question we ask. and it's a quick way to diagnosing problems. if ph is correct, we move on. most times, it is not.
You guys need to start looking into WHY the ph is off instead of instantly concluding that the ph issue is indeed the root of the problem. This jumping to ph as the source of the problem is a shortcut to thinking and in many cases does not address the real issue. The one medium that ph is essential is sraight hydro where there is no BUFFER. This is not however the case in many many grows, and simply poitning the finger at ph is a lazy assesment.
Oh... and running around fussing over runoff ph in soil is like a dog chasing its tail.... it gets you nowhere but dizzy and looking silly.