Is my water killing my plants

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Buzzzz

Buzzzz

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Hey guys, I’m doing an organic style grow. My soil base is pro mix high porosity with mycorrhizae, Oly mountain fish compost, worm castings, down to earth insect frass, down to earth vegan mix, And down to earth Bio organic live.

I used about 5lbs of fish compost, 5lbs of worm castings, and 1.5cups of each of the down to earth to About 20lbs of the base soul mix.
Pehaps add some field lime to your mix to keep the PH stable
 
phxazcraig

phxazcraig

542
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I’ve been through 3 runs so far, all unsuccessful. I have recently invested in a PPM meter and Ph meter (should of done this earlier)

come to find out, where I live, the PPM of our water is 350. The Ph of our water is 8.

I Ph down to around 6.2-6.5. After sitting the Ph goes right back up to 8. I’m sure this is due to the very high alkalinity from the high ppm.

is this a problem? Should just Ph’ing my water be enough? What solutions are there for high PPM?
You'll have a lot easier time of it starting with RO water. That is the most economical 'solution' for high PPM - dilute it, or start with RO and add just enough calcium as needed.

I live in Phoenix, and we have *hard* water, similar to yours. Cities put calcium carbonate into the water (if it isn't there naturally) to buffer the water to an alkaline state. You do not want acidic water running through old metal pipes. Besides hardening the water and adding too much calcium in many cases, it buffers the water to avoid dropping into acidity. So you need to counteract this alkaline buffer to some extent. I'm using the GH nutes, plus calimagic, humic acid and silica. My pH starts out slightly alkaline (RO water) but ends up around 5.9 by the time I get done mixing all my nutes. I then add a capful of pH UP to get the nute mixture to 6.0 and dump it into my reservoir. From there, if it tries to rise, a Bluelab controller feeds it a bit of pH DOWN every 10 minutes until it is back to 6.0. On occasion I see my pH drop to 5.9, so I manually add some pH UP then. It is the nutes themselves both lowering pH and buffering it to stay there.

If you are growing in soil, the pH isn't going to matter as much because the soil will buffer the pH to where that soil wants it. But if growing in coco or hydro or rockwool, you do need to control input pH closely. (I'm growing in coco coir, and I've got my pH set to 6.0, which is lower than you would want for soil. I use a pH controller to carefully keep it at 6.0.)

It will help if you post pics of your problem leaves as soon as you see problems.

That said, your PPM is high (too high) for seedlings, but no big deal for mature plants. You might be overwater, and/or over/under feeding them, but we have no idea from your description.
 
CannabisCultivator

CannabisCultivator

25
3
You'll have a lot easier time of it starting with RO water. That is the most economical 'solution' for high PPM - dilute it, or start with RO and add just enough calcium as needed.

I live in Phoenix, and we have *hard* water, similar to yours. Cities put calcium carbonate into the water (if it isn't there naturally) to buffer the water to an alkaline state. You do not want acidic water running through old metal pipes. Besides hardening the water and adding too much calcium in many cases, it buffers the water to avoid dropping into acidity. So you need to counteract this alkaline buffer to some extent. I'm using the GH nutes, plus calimagic, humic acid and silica. My pH starts out slightly alkaline (RO water) but ends up around 5.9 by the time I get done mixing all my nutes. I then add a capful of pH UP to get the nute mixture to 6.0 and dump it into my reservoir. From there, if it tries to rise, a Bluelab controller feeds it a bit of pH DOWN every 10 minutes until it is back to 6.0. On occasion I see my pH drop to 5.9, so I manually add some pH UP then. It is the nutes themselves both lowering pH and buffering it to stay there.

If you are growing in soil, the pH isn't going to matter as much because the soil will buffer the pH to where that soil wants it. But if growing in coco or hydro or rockwool, you do need to control input pH closely. (I'm growing in coco coir, and I've got my pH set to 6.0, which is lower than you would want for soil. I use a pH controller to carefully keep it at 6.0.)

It will help if you post pics of your problem leaves as soon as you see problems.

That said, your PPM is high (too high) for seedlings, but no big deal for mature plants. You might be overwater, and/or over/under feeding them, but we have no idea from your description.
Thanks for this! I’m getting allot of great info here.

I am currently in the seedling stage. Growth is ver slow on my ladies. I had a general idea for the alkaline issue that’s going on here in the water.
 
CannabisCultivator

CannabisCultivator

25
3
Here are some photos. I recently transplanted from solo cups to these 5gal pots. It’s been over a week now. I’m not seeing any action.

before transplanting, I brewed a compost tea. 1cup earth worm castings, 1 cup fish emulsion, 1TBSP each of down to earth vegan mix, insect frass and bio live.

I watered the soil pretty heavy with this post transplant. Thinking it would boost the soil for these ladies. Was this a mistake?

I also added photos of my ph bites. I am using hades down and Olympus up.
 
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