Increasing Nutes and Ph

Probably a stupid question but..

If I add 1/2 teaspon MG 15-30-15 to 2 gallons of tap water it decreases PH from around 8 to around 6. If I go with over 1 teaspoon per 2 gal it decreases PH to 5.0 or lower.

If I want to add more nutes? Just add PH up?

Thanks

I use KGRO all purpose plant food. 15-30-15. Other than NPK it has Boron 0.02%Copper 0.07%, Iron 0.05%, Manganese 0.0005%, and Zinc 0.06%. When i get low MG signs i throw some epsom salt in there 1/2 teaspoon a galon. This sounds like you MG however KGRO you mix 1 teaspoon per gallon and water every 2 weeks. It drops my PH mabey .1 if that. Therefore the plant gets all it's nutes without getting my PH too low. i think you should consider buying some good shit specifically for MJ. KGRO is at K-mart if you wanna try what i use....around $4. Good luck man.

P.S. to answer yer question, If you are following the directions of yer plant food and it is dropping yer PH too low, I don't see why adding PH up would hurt.

Yes. PH up. Not sure when you're taking your PH readings. But I've seen it change in the first hour after mixing my nutes. So I generally wait an hour before adding to my reservoir. This is a hydro/DWC setup. You didn't mention your medium/method but regardless of that, 5.0 or lower is not good.

Scarfinger68 said:

Probably a stupid question but..

If I add 1/2 teaspon MG 15-30-15 to 2 gallons of tap water it decreases PH from around 8 to around 6. If I go with over 1 teaspoon per 2 gal it decreases PH to 5.0 or lower.

If I want to add more nutes? Just add PH up?

Thanks

Click to expand...

I use soil. Taking PH after adding nutes. I got a calcium difficiency I believe from using to low a PH because initially I was not checking PH after adding nutes. Thanks for the suggestion of "KGRO". I wil check it out.

This is my first grow and I figured I would do it on the "CHEAP" because I knew I would make mistakes. For example I poored the runoff water back into the plants soil and then soon noticed I had brown yellow spots developing on the lower fan leaves. I was using PH down to get water to 6.5 ish and then I added my nutes without checking the PH afterwards. If I had to guess, my PH could of been as low as 4.0...DOH!!

I always here about people using PH down with tap water but never heard much about using PH up after nutes.

Thanks for helping.

Mix your nutes in water, then ph the solution.

Scarfinger68 said:

Probably a stupid question but..

If I add 1/2 teaspon MG 15-30-15 to 2 gallons of tap water it decreases PH from around 8 to around 6. If I go with over 1 teaspoon per 2 gal it decreases PH to 5.0 or lower.

If I want to add more nutes? Just add PH up?

Thanks

Click to expand...

I think it's tricky when you start adding things like PH up and down.

To me, it makes more sense to start looking at your nutes instead of looking at ways to fix the pH. Isn't it a better idea to root out the source of the pH problem instead of just doing somethign as a quick fix?

I would look at why you're getting the pH issues and then work on fixing that. Otherwise, you're just going to have to use pH up and down constnatnly to fix the surface issue.

I don't have these torubles with Advanced Nutrients, but I'm not sure why this is always the case. I keep hearing that other nutes have issues with pH. Not sure what is going on. Different growers, different troubles...LOL

Hey Scarfinger. I thought i would give you another bit of advice that i just learned. I have been adding Superthrive and Epsom salt in my Kgrow and then usually using PH down to about 6-6.2. I have been putting it all in a gallon mixture and watering as schedualed. I did not invest in a good PH meter i got PH test strips and the kind you drip the red stuff in and match the color for PH number. My plants turned out to be males but, all this time i havnt checked the actual soil's PH. Well lastnight i got another PH tester at lowes and it has a moisture control on it too. Takes the guesswork out of watering. Anyway, by not checking the soils PH i just assumed that it would be whatever i waterd it with. Like i put 6.1 PH water in therefore the soil is 6.1 PH. BAM!!!!! WRONG!!!!! LOL. lastnight i checked the soil in my new grow it was on a dangerous 7.2ish. So i thought i could fix it by flushing it with 5.5PH water. but it didnt. At first it read 6 like i wanted it, this morning when i checked it was 6.5 and this evening when i checked it is 7 mabe 6.9. But I just wanted to tell you to get something to test your soils PH because it might not be what you think. testing the runoff i don't think is gonna be an accurate reading cause it isnt sitting in the soil. i have posted a big long thread asking questions about this. you might be interested in reading the responses. My problem might not be your problem but can never tell for sure when it might arise. anyway just wanted to add that on here. good luck!

Thanks newbygrower. I was wondering what meter you got? I have a Lowes close by. I should probably get one.

Those soil ph testers are the most innaccurate form of ph testing.

And using ph up or down doesn't mean you have a ph problem. And it doesn't make it complicated, its very simple.

Add nutes, add ph up/down. This should be enough to keep your ph in check. If you have a problem, then check your runoff.

Scarfinger68 said:

This is my first grow and I figured I would do it on the "CHEAP" because I knew I would make mistakes.

Click to expand...

I made the same mistake. A lot of things can be found cheap but IMO, soil, light, and nutes are critical areas. If you use good soil, then it will be PH buffered. If you use good nutes + good soil + distilled water you won't need to adjust anything. I hardly ever check my ph anymore because I know exactly what's going into my soil.

Anywho, IMO you should use the best soil you can get and buy some nutes for MJ. The problem with adding PH up to your nutrient solution is that you're adding salts to your soil which can lead to PH problems if they build up. Then you have to flush/test flush/test trying to get your PH under control while your plants suffer.

If you had an EC meter you could actually see what I'm talking about in PPM. Those PPM's will build up in your soil requiring a flush. PH up (no nutritional value) adds unnecessary PPM's to your water and therefore your soil. The salts (PPM's) will become concentrated, adding to your PH problems, requiring more PH up (or a flush) to fix. Better to avoid it all in the first place, IMO.