pH monitoring and nutrients help

T

Texas_Red67

New Member
Hey guys ok so long time line made short, grew blue dreams in FF soil...Learned a LOT so far...(thank god i did this as a precautionary) smart enough to label my clones so of the 5 grown, I have 5 more clones from the 2 sensi plants, pre flower. Put the clones in a 5 gal DWCs at 6.5 and 300 (roughly) PPM...Plants went down hill and stems purpled up with in 3 days. Of course I realized I locked out potassium and adding CalMag didn't help either since there was no potassium to support plant structure support processes. Switched to 5.7pH at 370 ppm and plants look waaaay healthier so I got my ignorance band aide on lol.

To tell you how new I am to the scene, I didn't realize that pH chart was different for hydro (would never admit that in person)...help me out with some questions below or research articles if yall come across please. Forum is my go-to so I know yall got me covered.

1) how often do I swing my pH to meet the broad nute requirements...seems like if you are on potassium side of things (5.5-7), you lose your CalMag that the plant needs. Should I do this gradually over days or within a days time?

2) when I do adjust pH, what increments of intensity? I know sticking w constant ph too long will cause issues but I also think that extreme pH shifts would shock your plant and lead to a hermie/nanner factor (worst case scenario)....I was thinking like .3 ph up daily up to 6.6 and then .4 down to 5.5.

3) im assuming some nutrients absorbed better at night than day...If this won't shock the plant too bad, is the benefit worth the effort/dangers?

I'm using all the FF nutes combined w the GH CalMag+
 
T

Texas_Red67

New Member
On another previous post I had, a guy said that some of my issues are from light burn...I posted a pic of my set up but I wouldn't think one long CFL grow light wold hurt them..any opinions? I have a smaller one if need be
 
chasingwaterfalls

chasingwaterfalls

Active Member
If it's helpful at all, for me, ph6.4 water at 600 ppm nute solution is lowered to 5.6 with 1ml of GH pH down.

Im using a 5gal too (1st attempt at hydro, so all i got is my limited experience), and it seems like, at this low of a ppm, i need to adjust ph like 2 or 3 days in a row after changing the water before it stabilizes.doesnt seem detrimental to do so
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
High Tex!

You're pretty much right on with ppm at that stage of growth and you'd have to have the leaves really close to that bulb to burn them tho if the leaves closest to them are showing curling then maybe back it up a couple inches.

Low Mg and sulfur can also cause purple stems and some strains just go purple regardless so as long as everything looks healthy I wouldn't worry too much.

I'm not familiar with FF nutes but anything between 5.5 and 6.5 should be fine. You don't mention what kind of water you are using and I highly recommend RO water for DWC. It's all I've used for 16 years in DWC and soil/soilless growing and saves a lot of grief. I also use pH Perfect nutes and haven't checked pH in the last 3 years. Just check your pH when you top up and knock it down a bit if it's over 6.2. Plants like the fluctuations as it makes each nute more available at different pH levels. Most nutes are buffered to work best at a certain pH so trying to keep it steady at what you think it should be does more harm than good.

The best thing to do is top up first, then check ppm. Add nutes if needed to keep the ppm level you want or bump up to a higher level then check your pH an hour after that so it can stabilize. Even leave it overnight before checking pH to make sure it's reached a stable level. Don't worry if you have to go down a full point but be careful not to overshoot a bunch and have to go the other way to get back into your wanted range.

And don't go changing your nutes out every week like they say to do. Just a scam to get you to toss out perfectly good nutes and waste money buying them more often. You can just add small amounts of nutes in the proper balance to maintain or bump up your ppm. I change my nutes once during a grow right after the flowering stretch is over and sometimes never change nutes for the whole grow.

The minor leaf damage you have now won't matter in a couple weeks once vigorous new growth gets going good. The best way to judge how your plants are doing is how well new growth is coming in and that happens a couple weeks after getting things started in hydro.

How much space do you have for those plants? Do you have a fan blowing air around in there and fresh air coming in to keep the CO2 levels up? More light will be needed too in a while. Is each bucket a single grow or are they all fed by a rez as in RDWC? I like RubberMaid tubs and have had up to 20 plants in one tub just for fun. :)

I found a great spot to download FREE POT BOOKS . I downloaded a grow bible first and got lots more. Books looks great and complete like the real ones I have here. No web site but just a page of links. Just right click on what you want and then "Save Link As" to download so they don't open first as many are 50+ megs. They got lots. Enjoy.

:peace:
 
T

Texas_Red67

New Member
Hey bro that's awesome info. I'm just using plain ole tap...the town I am in must have good water because I distilled it at first to be safe but when I stoped distilling it (emergency flush..long story of noobation..smok in in middle of this was interesting..moving on) didnt seem to change my plants health in soil grow...now in hydro, I am not sure of though. Haven't been waiting long to check it either but pH was in check..also the left two are connected at the bottom via 1/2 inch uni/hose/grommit and and all have o2 running. Fixing to add a water pump and vsd that makes the discharge comes out the top and suction on bottom to connect them all and then add a bilge pump to a hose to a line to drain the sum briches in such a tight spot. Sorry I am totally not trying to make this a grow setup topic but guys I love doing this for real.
 
Budley Doright

Budley Doright

Well-Known Member
OldMedUser said:
High Tex!

You're pretty much right on with ppm at that stage of growth and you'd have to have the leaves really close to that bulb to burn them tho if the leaves closest to them are showing curling then maybe back it up a couple inches.

Low Mg and sulfur can also cause purple stems and some strains just go purple regardless so as long as everything looks healthy I wouldn't worry too much.

I'm not familiar with FF nutes but anything between 5.5 and 6.5 should be fine. You don't mention what kind of water you are using and I highly recommend RO water for DWC. It's all I've used for 16 years in DWC and soil/soilless growing and saves a lot of grief. I also use pH Perfect nutes and haven't checked pH in the last 3 years. Just check your pH when you top up and knock it down a bit if it's over 6.2. Plants like the fluctuations as it makes each nute more available at different pH levels. Most nutes are buffered to work best at a certain pH so trying to keep it steady at what you think it should be does more harm than good.

The best thing to do is top up first, then check ppm. Add nutes if needed to keep the ppm level you want or bump up to a higher level then check your pH an hour after that so it can stabilize. Even leave it overnight before checking pH to make sure it's reached a stable level. Don't worry if you have to go down a full point but be careful not to overshoot a bunch and have to go the other way to get back into your wanted range.

And don't go changing your nutes out every week like they say to do. Just a scam to get you to toss out perfectly good nutes and waste money buying them more often. You can just add small amounts of nutes in the proper balance to maintain or bump up your ppm. I change my nutes once during a grow right after the flowering stretch is over and sometimes never change nutes for the whole grow.

The minor leaf damage you have now won't matter in a couple weeks once vigorous new growth gets going good. The best way to judge how your plants are doing is how well new growth is coming in and that happens a couple weeks after getting things started in hydro.

How much space do you have for those plants? Do you have a fan blowing air around in there and fresh air coming in to keep the CO2 levels up? More light will be needed too in a while. Is each bucket a single grow or are they all fed by a rez as in RDWC? I like RubberMaid tubs and have had up to 20 plants in one tub just for fun. :)

I found a great spot to download FREE POT BOOKS . I downloaded a grow bible first and got lots more. Books looks great and complete like the real ones I have here. No web site but just a page of links. Just right click on what you want and then "Save Link As" to download so they don't open first as many are 50+ megs. They got lots. Enjoy.

:peace:
Click to expand...
Would just adding back possibly creat an imbalance of ratio's? I've never tried because the cost is neglible and it's just easier to add the exact same amount every couple of weeks for me. I use well water so a tad different but I change res as soon as PH starts to drop rapidly, a week or two depending, I drain and refill. I also add a fresh batch of benificials :).
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Each grow is different so I speak for mine. My DWC pH always used to rise and I used concentrated sulfuric acid to drop it down. I would go 3 days between top-ups with big plants then check things. It became so regular that I would only check pH every three top-ups and just drip in 4 or 5 drops of acid without checking the rest of the time. I would check ppm each time and adjust if needed.

I never saw problems just boosting my nutes in over 40 DWC grows and I figured out how to do DWC all on my own in 2001 when even Ed Rosenthal replied to my questions about it in a letter to Cannabis Culture magazine that it was an experimental technique that he didn't think would work for pot. He has since changed his opinions on that subject. :)

I'd like to say I invented DWC but I'm sure many were doing it the same time I started. The Mayans used floating gardens a 1000 years prior and that was my inspiration to go that way after reading about it and some other publications about hydroponic growing of vegetables back in 2001. I had no internet back then so invented it for myself from Cannabis Culture and High Times magazine hints. I'm an Admin at CC.

:peace:
 
Budley Doright

Budley Doright

Well-Known Member
Lol sounds kind of like my story except my DWC turned into root soup the first time I tried and never tried again. Lots just top up, I just think for beginners, to negate any issues, it may be easier to top up. I personally would steer a newb away from DWC. But I'm bias due to the soup lol. And yup in 1974 when I planted my first field no internet either lol.
Edit: how brave to admit using sulphuric acid, I got run out of the village by a screaming hord with torches when I mentioned it here lol.
 
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