PH swing and water replacement question.

Growing in MG AeroGarden Bounty. My question is on ph swing. When I get up in morning ph will be 8.4, I use vinegar to bring ph down to 6.1 to 5.8. Usually do it around 7am then 3pm. Between that time 7am to 3pm it will be back up somewhere between 8.4 to 7.4. I bring it down at 3pm back to .6.1 to 5.8. My plants are growing very nicely. Knock on wood lol.

So question is. When ph is above 7 and higher are the roots locked out for nutrients intake? So guess what asking is it only getting nutrients during the time I lower ph through the time it raises to high for a lock out?

Also it's drinking about 30 oz water a day. AeroGarden holds a gallon. As I add 30oz of water a day, should I try add some small amount of nutrients? Gallon is 128 oz so by 4th day I've almost replaced the gallon of nutrients water. I change water every 7 days. So 3 days almost no nutrients in water.

Plants are on day 27. I did 3 in AeroGarden in case i end up with a male.

When ph is swinging a lot like that, don't just bring it down to your target, bring it further down, like in the low 5's, that way it will spend more time in the middle zone. There are some things that uptake better at lower ph, and some things at higher ph. 5.8 is just a compromise, not the best ph for all micros and macros.

Also invest in some better ph down. A cheap option is gh powdered ph down. The effect will last longer, and it is made with 2 forms of potassium, so you're actually feeding the plant, not adding ultimately useless stuff to the nutrient solution.

And yes the higher it gets the more elements aren't being taken up.

Azazel35 said:

Also it's drinking about 30 oz water a day. AeroGarden holds a gallon. As I add 30oz of water a day, should I try add some small amount of nutrients?

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Yes I would add back nutrient. It sounds like your last 3 days the plant will be deficient in nutrients. A cheap ppm meter will tell you what amount you should be adding. I have a plain water bucket and a bucket premixed with 1000ppm+ nutrient. I like to keep the ppm fairly stable daily. With this method I only change out the nutrient solution every other week.

Thanks forinfo. I made 3 gallons with same amount of nutrients in them. I forgot to knock on wood lol. Got up this morning and plants look droopy. Leaves are very crinkly looking. Almost looks over water. Research I did on crinkly leaves looks to be under feed or nutrients lock out. So I dumped water, TDS 1140. Going try keep it in that range. My water didn't look bad, but my roots around base of the plug they are in, looks like root rot! But roots that are under water are nice and white. Bottom of bucket,walls has brown stuff , settlement around it. Cleaned it out best I could. Can't really lift lid up much where root mass is tangled everywhere. I use hydroguard so hope they recover. This is my second go at hydro grow, plants differently are bigger then my soil grow, but if these fail that will be 60 day that soil grow could be a month away from harvest. Man, hope I can complete this hydro grow.

Don't use vinegar or citric acid to stabilize your PH - they are weak acids and break easily so you need to re-adjust it very soon.

Add Phosphoric, Nitric or Sulfuric acid to lower and stabilize PH.
Just remember that these acids have "plant food" in them so they will change your "npk ratio".

You shouldn't have more than 100ppm of P in your solution, N is relatively safe in higher concentrations (but it messes up your "npk ratio" in bloom).

Maybe the best solution is Sulfur - because plants absorb it as needed and you could have it probably up to 400ppm (it is a essential macronutrient that is usually forgotten).

Ph isn't as critical as everyone thinks.

Blow4Life said:

Ph isn't as critical as everyone thinks.

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I let my ph drift between 5.4-6.2, but if it gets beyond that for more than a day or so, my plants become unhappy. They quickly lose that "wet" look and feel they have when they're feeling perfect, and quickly slow down their growth. After a couple days they look droopy and soon after start to show visual signs of deficiencies (light green new growth, slight inter-venial chlorosis). When I was newer to growing, I didn't pick up on these subtle hints, but my plants have trained me to immediately pick up on these clues and to quickly make adjustments.