ph shooting way down throughout the day please help

M

mlb55

Member
hello everyone, sorry if thiquestion as already bn asked
im in day 12 of flowering and i using 5gal dwc buckets 2 airstones per bucket, my ph keeps going way down to 1.8 or 2.8. i add nutes once a week at about have strenght with fresh water.i find myself adjusting my 4 or 5 times daily to try to keep them btw5.5 and 6.2. i HOPE green party bulbs dnt disturb your plants during the dark hours. im using foxfarm nutes with AD big bud.is it possible that the way u add your nutes can effect your ph. I DNT have a ppm meter. Could someone with help me
 
homebrewer

homebrewer

Well-Known Member
If your pH is shooting down, your nute strength is probably too high. Also, a pH of around 2 would kill your plants, which pH meter are you using?
 
M

mlb55

Member
im using oakton ph tester the guy at the hydo store said it reliable. i dnt have the funds to buy an good tds tester yet
 
M

mlb55

Member
do u think if i add ph balaced water every couple days will that help? i have a 3 5galbucket dwc recirculating system with sparyers in both buckets i use 5gal of water in the whole system this bullshit been happin for almost a week now. i hate having to adjust my ph every 3 to4 hours
 
M

MadSci

Member
Ok.. maybe my situation can enlighten you. I have a pH meter and an EC meter and have been running GH nutrients at about 45% strength, EC of .9-1 (w/ deionized water which adds no EC value). I have 3 huge plants in a homemade aeroponics unit w/ a 2.5 gallon nutrient reservoir. Lately I have noticed that my EC rises while my pH drops (a lot but not as much as yours).

I recently figured out whats been happening. Keep in mind plants will excrete into the water.. in an ideal system EC remains constant but pH slowly rises. Basically the nutrient concentration in = the waste concentration out (waste products tend to be basic). So in my system my reservoir stays great for the first 2 days after a complete change. The next 2 days (even with top offs) has my pH shifting down and EC rising. After that it just gets more F'd up!

To sum it up, "Your plants are eating their own shit!"
 
F

Fatrider

Member
I too have had the Ph drop and EC rise phenomenon. I get it initially after a nute change and then it stabilizes after a couple days. I also believe this is caused by too high a concentration of nutes. Different strains tolerate nute loads differently. Some like a lot and some not much at all. Dont always go by the manufacturers dosage. Its always a good idead to start off low and then slowly build up to a point where the plants are getting enough. For example, I run my veg plants at an EC of 1.8 and they just love it. When I put those same plants into flower on the manufacturers dosage of an EC of 2.4 they started turning crispy and dead.

Im not sure if the falling PH issue is definately related to a nute overload but so far my experimentation is pointing that way in my case. According to some it can also be cause by other environmental factors such as heat stress, nutrient imbalances and, Ive even heard root rot.

As with most things MJ, you need to take what you hear with a grain of salt. Make sure people offering you advice can back it up with experience or facts. In my case I tried to eliminate as many variables as possible. I started using RO water, I now control temps and humidity, I regularly monitor PH and EC levels and I try to keep my girls a safe distance from my lights. That narrows my issue down to nutes or sickness and I am leaning towards nutes. I will be putting them on a 75% mix at the next change and will see what happens.

The first thing you need to do MLB55 is put your kids on a plain PH adjusted water flush for about a day. Then change your nutes. Back them off to about 50% of the reccomended dose and see what your plants tell you. With a PH drop down to the 2 range you likely will have nute lockout and precipitation. A good rule for beginners is, when in doubt, flush and change.
 
M

MadSci

Member
Listen to Fatrider! The more experienced I become the more I realize that people just spew BS based on inaccurate observations.

I've heard that root rot can lower pH. Heat stress and light intensity will also do this. On the back of my GH bottle of nutrients it says "Reduce nutrient strength if plants show signs of stress, or if growing in very bright, hot or dry environments." Basically at this point the plant starts drinking more water to avoid drying out/burning, thus the nutrient strength has to be lowered to account for this. (as stated earlier I am at EC of 1.... this is only because my plants are right under the light, but unfortunately this is the EC they want).

Pertaining to the last thing fatrider said: For my nutrients (GH) they give a chart of volumes/ppm to use for a specific stage of growth. Based on what I found again and again online, you want to aim for 30-50% of that strength for cannabis. I don't know what nutrients you are using but it could be a similar situation (if i didnt have this growth space problem I would be past 50% though...)

OH!! Mlb55 you need to read up on EC/pH. They will play off of each other but they are completely different measurements. Just because your pH is dropping doesn't necessarily mean you EC is rising (though I bet is it!).
 
S

snocat

Active Member
mlb55 said:
do u think if i add ph balaced water every couple days will that help? i have a 3 5galbucket dwc recirculating system with sparyers in both buckets i use 5gal of water in the whole system this bullshit been happin for almost a week now. i hate having to adjust my ph every 3 to4 hours
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if you only have 5 gal of water for 3 buckets I think that is some of your problem also,Im running a bucket set up I built myself and I have at least 3 gal in each bucket,the more water the more stabil everything will stay,your pump may be heating up your water also recirculating 3 gal of water wont take long to warm up a little. good luck
 
SnOoPXIV

SnOoPXIV

Active Member
sumed it up for me fatrider just flush it from the base of the plant man but thats wat sucks about havin a small res the ph changes to quick in those. you just got to go with wat your plants are tellin you, you are either using to much nutes or to little i have a ppm meter but i dont have to use it. try changing the ph up and down to a different chemical
Fatrider said:
I too have had the Ph drop and EC rise phenomenon. I get it initially after a nute change and then it stabilizes after a couple days. I also believe this is caused by too high a concentration of nutes. Different strains tolerate nute loads differently. Some like a lot and some not much at all. Dont always go by the manufacturers dosage. Its always a good idead to start off low and then slowly build up to a point where the plants are getting enough. For example, I run my veg plants at an EC of 1.8 and they just love it. When I put those same plants into flower on the manufacturers dosage of an EC of 2.4 they started turning crispy and dead.

Im not sure if the falling PH issue is definately related to a nute overload but so far my experimentation is pointing that way in my case. According to some it can also be cause by other environmental factors such as heat stress, nutrient imbalances and, Ive even heard root rot.

As with most things MJ, you need to take what you hear with a grain of salt. Make sure people offering you advice can back it up with experience or facts. In my case I tried to eliminate as many variables as possible. I started using RO water, I now control temps and humidity, I regularly monitor PH and EC levels and I try to keep my girls a safe distance from my lights. That narrows my issue down to nutes or sickness and I am leaning towards nutes. I will be putting them on a 75% mix at the next change and will see what happens.

The first thing you need to do MLB55 is put your kids on a plain PH adjusted water flush for about a day. Then change your nutes. Back them off to about 50% of the reccomended dose and see what your plants tell you. With a PH drop down to the 2 range you likely will have nute lockout and precipitation. A good rule for beginners is, when in doubt, flush and change.
Click to expand...
 
M

mlb55

Member
Fatrider said:
I too have had the Ph drop and EC rise phenomenon. I get it initially after a nute change and then it stabilizes after a couple days. I also believe this is caused by too high a concentration of nutes. Different strains tolerate nute loads differently. Some like a lot and some not much at all. Dont always go by the manufacturers dosage. Its always a good idead to start off low and then slowly build up to a point where the plants are getting enough. For example, I run my veg plants at an EC of 1.8 and they just love it. When I put those same plants into flower on the manufacturers dosage of an EC of 2.4 they started turning crispy and dead.

Im not sure if the falling PH issue is definately related to a nute overload but so far my experimentation is pointing that way in my case. According to some it can also be cause by other environmental factors such as heat stress, nutrient imbalances and, Ive even heard root rot.

As with most things MJ, you need to take what you hear with a grain of salt. Make sure people offering you advice can back it up with experience or facts. In my case I tried to eliminate as many variables as possible. I started using RO water, I now control temps and humidity, I regularly monitor PH and EC levels and I try to keep my girls a safe distance from my lights. That narrows my issue down to nutes or sickness and I am leaning towards nutes. I will be putting them on a 75% mix at the next change and will see what happens.

The first thing you need to do MLB55 is put your kids on a plain PH adjusted water flush for about a day. Then change your nutes. Back them off to about 50% of the reccomended dose and see what your plants tell you. With a PH drop down to the 2 range you likely will have nute lockout and precipitation. A good rule for beginners is, when in doubt, flush and change.
Click to expand...
I flushed and changed lastnight i b4 i went bed my ph was stable till mornig they where 5.6-6.1. i think i screwed up bcuz i didnt relize how much water they were drinking and i did not add any water for almost a week. both plants are over 2 feet tall this is day 20 for flowering. ill keep everyone posted in the coming days. thank you guys for your for good tips, this is my1st dwc grow, so please keep them comin
 
F

Fatrider

Member
RO water is purified water that has been run through a reverse osmosis machine. See, plain tap water can have disolved solids in the form of calcium, magnesium and sodium. While these are all benificial minerals that the plants use and need you can never be sure what concentration they are in. This can lead to other nutrients getting locked out. It all comes back to eliminating as many variables as you can.

Should also use at least 2 gallons of water per plant in your system. This will ease some of the PH fluctuation problem.

Check your resevoirs every day at the same time and top of with water and adjust PH as needed. Plants drink up the water at a different rate than they take up nutes. As the water level drops the nute concentration can build which will cause your PH to drop as the nutrients themselves are acidic.

Change your resevoir about once a week.

After every couple res changes flush the girls with PH adjusted plain water for about a day. This helps remove built up deposits from the roots and growing medium.

The most common rookie mistake when encountering problems is to do more. This is usually a mistake. Rule #1 is less is usually better. An example is some problems that show as a deficiecny can actually be the result of too much of one nute causing others to get locked out, meaning the plants cant take them up.

And dont worry. The mistakes you are making are the same ones I and many others have made. Heck, Im still a rookie myself and have the abused plants to show for it. :lol: Learn from them, read everything you can find, experiment and see what works, and most importantly, be carefull about the advice you get on the internet. Much of the info you see is just nonsense that gets spread around because some guy said it on another site. If someone just tells you to do something without any supporting evidence then they are likely full of shit and talking just to feel important.

Cheers and good growing. :bigjoint:
Fatrider
 
M

mlb55

Member
Fatrider said:
RO water is purified water that has been run through a reverse osmosis machine. See, plain tap water can have disolved solids in the form of calcium, magnesium and sodium. While these are all benificial minerals that the plants use and need you can never be sure what concentration they are in. This can lead to other nutrients getting locked out. It all comes back to eliminating as many variables as you can.

Should also use at least 2 gallons of water per plant in your system. This will ease some of the PH fluctuation problem.

Check your resevoirs every day at the same time and top of with water and adjust PH as needed. Plants drink up the water at a different rate than they take up nutes. As the water level drops the nute concentration can build which will cause your PH to drop as the nutrients themselves are acidic.

Change your resevoir about once a week.

After every couple res changes flush the girls with PH adjusted plain water for about a day. This helps remove built up deposits from the roots and growing medium.

The most common rookie mistake when encountering problems is to do more. This is usually a mistake. Rule #1 is less is usually better. An example is some problems that show as a deficiecny can actually be the result of too much of one nute causing others to get locked out, meaning the plants cant take them up.

And dont worry. The mistakes you are making are the same ones I and many others have made. Heck, Im still a rookie myself and have the abused plants to show for it. :lol: Learn from them, read everything you can find, experiment and see what works, and most importantly, be carefull about the advice you get on the internet. Much of the info you see is just nonsense that gets spread around because some guy said it on another site. If someone just tells you to do something without any supporting evidence then they are likely full of shit and talking just to feel importan
Cheers and good growing. :bigjoint:
Fatrider
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thanks fatrider for the advice
 
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