New Grower Needs Advice

[Ganjee]

Hello, long time smoker noobie grower here. Having some trouble getting good grows.

I am growing is a 4x4x8 tent.
1500 watt Bestva LED light.
Cheap circulation fan
Humidity 35 to 40
Temp 75 to 78.
Soil promix HP
Water is RO water I purchase they said it’s around 6.0 to 6.2 ph
Seeded on Oct 4
Light approx 2 and half feet above plants

Symptoms lower leafs are turning yellow when I first planted the few leafs then grew turned yellow and have fallen off. The new top growth looks good but the lower is slightly turning yellow. Always some leafs look to be drooping down. I believe I might have nitrogen deficiency? Any suggestions?

 

[1diesel1]

Check the ph, lol, never heard of anyone buying prepared RO phd water.
Check for bugs?
Might be time for some nutes?

 

[crimsonecho]

Yeah i read people having some problems with promix. I guess it can be little acidic. So a soil ph test would be good.
Why are you using ro?
Your ph should be a little higher imo. More at 6.5-6.8 area.
How frequently you water them? Do you go by weight or do you stick your finger in the soil?

 

[Bigdawg15009]

If you want to see if its a ph problem and dont have a tester go buy walmart great value brand purified water its 6.5 ph and water with just water next time. Has to be the great value purified the distilled and spribg water phs are way off. But you really need a tester get one on amazon for about 15 bucks not the one you stick in the soil get the digital one you can calibrate. Ide start there dont just go adding a bunch of nutes and hope one works it will cause more problems and fix none. But with what you said about the ro ph'ed water im gonna say start with the ph. Im no pro though just my opinion though.

 

[Ganjee]

Check the ph, lol, never heard of anyone buying prepared RO phd water.
Check for bugs?
Might be time for some nutes?

Don't see any bugs anywhere. Yeah my tap water was high. Then I bought that General hydroponics PH down stuff. But I was not sure if I was using it correctly.

Yeah i read people having some problems with promix. I guess it can be little acidic. So a soil ph test would be good.
Why are you using ro?
Your ph should be a little higher imo. More at 6.5-6.8 area.
How frequently you water them? Do you go by weight or do you stick your finger in the soil?

I was told it should be around 6.0 but my tap water comes out around 7.5. So I figured ro water had a lower ph would be better. I stick my finger in the soil. When it feels dry to about my first knuckle I water. Im watering about 4 or 5 days. Fpr a soil PH test. Is there a different PH tester for Soil. The ones on amazon I saw were much more expensive then then water PH testers.

If you want to see if its a ph problem and dont have a tester go buy walmart great value brand purified water its 6.5 ph and water with just water next time. Has to be the great value purified the distilled and spribg water phs are way off. But you really need a tester get one on amazon for about 15 bucks not the one you stick in the soil get the digital one you can calibrate. Ide start there dont just go adding a bunch of nutes and hope one works it will cause more problems and fix none. But with what you said about the ro ph'ed water im gonna say start with the ph. Im no pro though just my opinion though.

Just ordered one of those PH pens off amazon. Will arrive tomorrow I am going to test my RO water. I had a old PH pen but it broke. Thats how I knew my tap water was very high. Good to know about the walmart brand purified water.

 

[Ganjee]

I have been running my light for 24hrs straight since oct 4 as well.

 

[crimsonecho]

Don't see any bugs anywhere. Yeah my tap water was high. Then I bought that General hydroponics PH down stuff. But I was not sure if I was using it correctly.


I was told it should be around 6.0 but my tap water comes out around 7.5. So I figured ro water had a lower ph would be better. I stick my finger in the soil. When it feels dry to about my first knuckle I water. Im watering about 4 or 5 days. Fpr a soil PH test. Is there a different PH tester for Soil. The ones on amazon I saw were much more expensive then then water PH testers.


Just ordered one of those PH pens off amazon. Will arrive tomorrow I am going to test my RO water. I had a old PH pen but it broke. Thats how I knew my tap water was very high. Good to know about the walmart brand purified water.

Now you are using your peat mix as a soil substitute so a ph of 6.5 is better. When you get your ph meter, don’t bother with ro anymore just use your ph down to take it to 6.5.

Here is a good way to take soil ph readings.
Also since these are pretty small pots, lift them before watering. I have some of those narrow, tall pots too and even when the topsoil dries, there is usually a good amount of moisture left in there.

 

[Bigdawg15009]

My tap water was pretty high to like a 7.8 or an 8.0 but when i added any nutes with p or k or both in it it brought it way down so much i had to actually use a little ph up to get it back to where i needed it. So just a reminder ph before nutes and after to see where your at. I cut back slightly on my feed and used my tap water and that brought my ph to right where i needed it.

 

[Bigdawg15009]

My opinion on the 24hour lights on. Well i tried both and even though its a lot less work to just leave them on call me crazy but when i gave them a break/a bit of darkness they seemed to grow faster to me. Idk just my opinion maybe its all in my head lol.

 

[Smoking Gun]

@Ganjee, first thing I notice in your tent is that you have no fresh air coming in, unless your doors to the tent are always open. I find that new growers very often overlook the importance of having fresh air circulating in the grow space. If you have the tent closed most of the day and only a circulation fan going the tent is running out of fresh air and CO2 and it is going to affect the growth of your plants.

Second, you are in promix which is not soil. It is sphagnum moss with perlite added in, there is no source of food in there for,your plants. It is definitely time to start feeding your plants, however, you only want to be giving 1/4 strength of the recommended dosage to start. As your plants grow you will increase the amount of nutrients you provide your plants. I have never used Walmart RO water but I typically do like RO water or at least some type of filtered water. But this does tend to remove calcium from your water which will need to be replaced. So if yo continue to use RO water make sure you get a Cal/Mag supplement.

About your light, are you sure it’s 1500 Watts? It seems pretty small to be using that much energy. It also seems pretty small to fill a whole 4x4 tent with light. I can see there is a lot of reflected light, but the beam that is coming from that unit likely won’t cover your canopy effectively to fill the whole 4x4, it may cover a 3x3 area more effectively but even at the edges there may be a noticeable drop off in light intensity. If it is truly drawing 1500 Watts and you are running it at full power it may also be too intense for those young plants.

My tap water was pretty high to like a 7.8 or an 8.0 but when i added any nutes with p or k or both in it it brought it way down so much i had to actually use a little ph up to get it back to where i needed it. So just a reminder ph before nutes and after to see where your at. I cut back slightly on my feed and used my tap water and that brought my ph to right where i needed it.

Do not pH water before adding nutrients, this will actually effect the mixing of your nutrients, plus it is a waste of time. If you are adjusting pH after adding nutrients than why adjust before, you are repeating the same step twice. Also you want to be using as little pH up or down in your nutrients solution as possible.

 

[Bigdawg15009]

I have never used Walmart RO water but I typically do like RO water or at least some type of filtered water..

Its not ro water from walmart its drinking water just purified. The distilled and spring water ph are way off. Im not sure if the purification process takes the calcium out of the "purified" water or not but i havehad no issues with calcium when using it. I was just saying if he didnt have a ph meter and was going with strait water the great value purified water from walmart is at 6.5 ph. At least every gallon ive ever bought was 6.5 ph.



Do not pH water before adding nutrients, this will actually effect the mixing of your nutrients, plus it is a waste of time. If you are adjusting pH after adding nutrients than why adjust before, you are repeating the same step twice. Also you want to be using as little pH up or down in your nutrients solution as possible.[/QUOTE]

If you have a digital meter you stick in the water how does that effect the mixing of the nutrients? I guess i should have clarified what i meant. That was if you ph your water b4 adding nutes just to get an idea of where its at before adding your nutes to see how much your nutes takes it up or down. I didnt mean "set" your ph before adding nutes that would def be a waste of time and ph up or down just to do it again after adding your nutes. Im guessing this is also what youmean as well lol. Yea i just meant check it real quik before adding to see where its at. Example: i check my ph of my tap water every time b4 adding anything then i add my nutes im going to need then i adjust ph as needed. But usually my tap water plus my nutes brings my feed to the right ph im looking for. So i use tap water when adding nutes and to save on ph down i use great value purified water at $0.88 a gallon when im not using any nutes and just using strait water. Hope that made more sence lol. Sorry bro im still kinda new at all of this myself to so if im still learning as i go as well..

 

[Smoking Gun]

@Bigdawg15009 thanks for clarifying what you meant as what you wrote was clearly not what you meant. But adding any pH up or down will effect how your nutrients bind to the water and it will inhibit proper mixing of nutrients if you add it before applying nutrients to the water. I did get a bit confused I thought Ganjee was using the Walmart water, not your suggestion for him to use it.

 

[Ganjee]

So I took the RO water I've been using reading it was 6.2 this is just drinking water you would buy from a water store. My tap water was exactly 8.0 today. I read about the light it says 1500wat but consumes only 280 watts of power here is the link to it.

 

[Ganjee]

Buddy at local grow store sold me this before. Should I give it a go with the RO water at 1/4 the recommend dose. Or I can add nutes to my tap water take a reading after adding nutes. Then PH down to 6.5 if not there.

I will do the soil test another night

 

[crimsonecho]

Buddy at local grow store sold me this before. Should I give it a go with the RO water at 1/4 the recommend dose. Or I can add nutes to my tap water take a reading after adding nutes. Then PH down to 6.5 if not there.

I will do the soil test another night

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Do the test dude, it takes 20 mins. It is important to know the ph. Get some soil from deep in the rootzone.

 

[Ina]

There is something wrong with the watering,you can improove it.also air humidity is too low for small plants and they love it to be above 50%.I think that is the main problem,not the ph...…..Ofcourse watch it but don't concentrate so much on it now:)Everything looks somehow dry there…….You can add humidifier or at least cups of water or something,spray on them from time to time......

 

[Monster762]

Buddy at local grow store sold me this before. Should I give it a go with the RO water at 1/4 the recommend dose. Or I can add nutes to my tap water take a reading after adding nutes. Then PH down to 6.5 if not there.

I will do the soil test another night

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I can say now you’ll be too high in nitrogen late flower if you follow their directions. Yeah I’d start equal parts 1/4-1/2 strength. Yellowing lowers is normal though just progression. You should def keep calmag in your arsenal. And I’d try the tap n see what ph reads. You got ppm meter? Compare em. 6.2 good ph. It gets a pain in ass getting gallons every other day. I’ve done it. Run em a little on dry side. Also I reccomend fabric pots. They just work better. Not expensive n wash n reuse. Silica too. At this stage. Silica will beef up things.

Those nutes me personally I’d read the micros in the 3-0-0 and see if calmag replaces them for flower. Or just get a bloom booster n drop these about week 3-4 flower.
I am no pro though.
And get some molasses for your microbes. Cheap $3 Walmart. Just every few waters put a tbsp per gal. Your soil has myco in it. And biofungicide if it’s the same hp I got. And future little t5 lights are perfect for seedlings n small plants to build under.

 

[crimsonecho]

There is something wrong with the watering,you can improove it.also air humidity is too low for small plants and they love it to be above 50%.I think that is the main problem,not the ph...…..Ofcourse watch it but don't concentrate so much on it now:)Everything looks somehow dry there…….You can add humidifier or at least cups of water or something,spray on them from time to time......

For sure there is a problem with watering, which may very well cause the nutrient imbalances or less than adequate nutrient uptake. But also read many things about ph imbalance wlth promix and watering at 6.0 it may cause nutrient imbalances too. It is an easy test after all, 20 mins :)

 

[SmithsJunk]

I perused the answers here but I didn't see if anyone said to try up-planting to bigger pots with good soil. Maybe? Do that and you should be able to cut out the nutes completely until they're well into the flower cycle.

 

[grbattle420]

IMO your getting to technical with these. I know people say this all the time, but there's a reason they do. (Keep it simple)don't try and reinvent the wheel. Just plant them in some Ocean Forrest soil and watch them grow and water with the 6.5 water and watch for those Pest.