Runoff @ 7.8 Ph

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Kepp89

Kepp89

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my runoff is 7.8 (ph'd water to 6.8). should i be able to use a low ph water (~5.0) when i flush? going to (remain) flushing for the next 8 days (1 gallon h2o every 2 days) in an attempt to lower the soil ph without additives if possible. i want it to be around 6.3-6.5, correct? it may be worth it to note that the only additive aside from water has been compost tea but i DID NOT ph the water like a dummy.

i learned about aluminum sulfate but thats a special store trip considering meijer/walmart dont have them readily available on the shelves i just learned. same goes for adding straight sulfur. or can i just use my highest N value fert? I have a fish oil fert with i think 5-1-1. alum sulfate is 20-0-0. so it seems doable?

my plant is definitely in a nutrient lockout of some sort. the top of the plant is pulling any and all nutrients from the lower of the plant. its nice and green on top and starting to tell me its dying on the bottom half. eeeek! bottom leaves are leathery but the top leaves are nice and soft and full of life.

i have lights on 24h to force the water to dry up so i dont suffocate the roots with flushing every 48 hours. am i OK to turn them off for 2 minutes to snap some pics with a flash and turn the lights right back on? that way i can get some proper help

THANKS!
 
Kepp89

Kepp89

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might be helpful to note its in a 7-gallon pot and has been growing in soil since dec 22nd (8 weeks) but it hasnt grown much in the last 2 weeks, basically when i added the compost tea it stunted even after a transplant. it took quickly after the transplant it seemed (maybe a burst of clean soil near the root tips) but then when i watered it again a few days later, it stopped growing. i had been waiting for the soil to be real dry before watering so i didnt over water.

and im not worried about this plant needing to veg for a long time. i just want a really high quality harvest. any tips for this is appreciated. most posts i see this problem they're in flowering. so i imagine technique is different for veg
 
JWM2

JWM2

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You must be from Michigan :)

Got any pics? It might be easier to try and clone the plant and ditch the one you already have.

I’m not saying you can’t get it to where it needs to be but it’s going to take some time with that amount of soil and you risk shocking it as you get the soil adjusted.

If you have shoots healthy enough to take cuttings from and can get them to root you can get them off to a good start and imo make it easier on yourself.

A good healthy plant doesn’t take long to grow but it will set you back some.
 
Kepp89

Kepp89

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JWM2 said:
You must be from Michigan :)
...
Click to expand...

yep

but i dont have recent pics. i have 24 hours light on lately. can i switch lights off, snap pics then turn the light back on? or should i wait a bit before turning (it) back on?
 
SoLowDolo

SoLowDolo

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Kepp89 said:
yep

but i dont have recent pics. i have 24 hours light on lately. can i switch lights off, snap pics then turn the light back on? or should i wait a bit before turning (it) back on?
Click to expand...
Yeah bro, when they're in veg, you can mess with the lights. The only time it really matters is during flower. You don't want to disturb their 12 hours of darkness in flower. But you can disturb their light cycle in veg and be ok.
 
Kepp89

Kepp89

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Idk what cloning entails aside from pulling some branch off and sticking it in some dirt with that weiry spelled word. So idk if these pictures are helpful but here they are
 
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7626E3D3 8F65 4031 884A 844F8026E7D8
4F11AA8C 5AE1 449E 9266 0135D0AA9486
0C977EE2 0568 4F4B 99CE 7805E0084E53
086E6B83 00AC 4CAC A516 95DE6EE28DC3
177C6569 AAA0 48F0 86F5 E67CB987F637
7FE293DE 3DB9 44F2 BE6B B85A0E7B10F2
JWM2

JWM2

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Oh actually the plant doesn’t too bad at all. I’m surprised your ph is so high. How are you measuring the ph?

I think you can get the soils ph down some over the next week or two and be ok. Although I question the method you’re using to measure the ph because that doesn’t look like a plant in soil above 7.
 
Kepp89

Kepp89

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JWM2 said:
Oh actually the plant doesn’t too bad at all. I’m surprised your ph is so high. How are you measuring the ph?

I think you can get the soils ph down some over the next week or two and be ok. Although I question the method you’re using to measure the ph because that doesn’t look like a plant in soil above 7.
Click to expand...
The more I read about this, the more I see the flush should leave a lot more water than I had.

I didn’t want to use a lot of ferts “year round” so I got some of reds biochar and read the less run off I have, the better because more nutrients stay in the soil.

So the first flush I only went with an extra maybe half cup of water. I watered, waited a minute, watered waited a minute, did that in the 4 quadrants. Maybe a gallon in total for a 7-gallon pot. Which may be underwatering but at the time I was concerned with suffocating and overwatering. I’m using a digital meter that I haven’t calibrated it since I got it (the yellow one) in December. But the dropper amount of ph down hasn’t changed to achieve 6.8 when I water so I imagine it’s still measuring true.

I flushed it a bit ago and it read 7.1 and I had about a half gallon of runoff. I used 2 gallons this time. Soil is soaked. I was watering with h2o @ ph 6.0 instead of my usual 6.8, hopefully she didn’t mind.

The nodes look like they want to burst on some of these but finally all leaves feel soft instead of near crinkle time. Probably 30 minutes after the flush they all feel soft. So that’s a good sign. Maybe I just reaaaally needed to water more than I have been.
 
JWM2

JWM2

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Testing runoff is not very accurate in soil. Do a search for the slurry test on here. Post the results.
 
JWM2

JWM2

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It’s not hard to do and it’ll give you an accurate reading of your soils ph. Don’t make any drastic adjustments until you do it.
 
Kepp89

Kepp89

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I’m about to do this — while at meijer I saw a soil tester electronic thing with 3 spikes to go into the soil.

I didn’t buy it but is that something I can use after this slurry method for a quick reference or is that just a waste of money?
 
Kepp89

Kepp89

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Im seeing 7.3-7.4

Stabilized at 7.4 — the first 15 seconds or so it read 7.3 but it’s steady @ 7.4 now
 
JWM2

JWM2

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Those meters are a waste of money. Very inaccurate. The slurry test is a much better indicator.

7.4 looks about right. There’s no way your plants would look that nice if it was up over 8. You should be able to gradually get the ph of the soil down by using water ph’d at 5.5-6.0 for a couple weeks. That should get you to the range you want.

If you want a soil ph meter the blue labs soil ph pen is the only real choice. It’s about $130 but worth every penny.
 
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