I'm in a pickle and need advise

cnw1970 · Oct 11, 2022

I'm growing 3 week old autos in Promix HP. 5 gallon fabric pots, Ac Infinity s44 Ionboard LED light, 4x4 tent, and using Homegrown Cannabis Co's standard nute pack. After reading the feed chart wrong, I accidentally gave them a double dose of the seedling booster. After realizing what I did, I took ppm readings from the runoff. I had readings in all 5 plants of 1,100 to 1,600 ppm. I did a flush and got them down to 300-320 ppm. They came out of their funk just fine and they are starting to show signs of needing fed. My problem is that a dog knocked over my cup that had my PH meter(cheap ass yellow one) soaking in probe storage solution. I live in a smaller town and you won't find anyone that sells them here. The probe got water inside and is being dried. I already ordered a much better probe to replace it. My girls are still wanting fed and I'm afraid to go ahead without the ph meter. I know as a fact that 5 ml of ph down will bring 1 gallon of my water in range, but not sure what the nutes will do ph wise. My new meter will be here Monday, but my plants are starting to lighten between the veins slightly. Should I go ahead and feed them, not knowing what the ph of the nutrients will be, or wait 5 days until my new meter shows up??

Buzzy12 · Oct 11, 2022

Any pics? pH fluctuations are never a good thing. Not as bad in soil compared to coco or hydro, but still not something to mess around with if you're not sure what the pH is with the nutes. You should know that info if you've fed them already. Always add the nutes first and then adjust the pH. Your pH will change after the nutes are added.

cnw1970 · Oct 11, 2022

Buzzy12 said:
Any pics? pH fluctuations are never a good thing. Not as bad in soil compared to coco or hydro, but still not something to mess around with if you're not sure what the pH is with the nutes. You should know that info if you've fed them already. Always add the nutes first and then adjust the pH. Your pH will change after the nutes are added.

5 days sure seems like a long time for them to wait. Pitfalls of small-town living, you have to order everything!!

Buzzy12 · Oct 11, 2022

Well you could try and get the solution right, or get the pH way out of range fairly easily with any pH down especially not knowing what the pH is with the nutes and potentially kill the plants. You will not do that with pH water. There is still some food in the soil. They will make it for 5 days. Up to you what to do, you are the grower, it's your plants. The difference between the potential of Hydrogen in a nutrient solution can be dramatic.

derkaderk · Oct 12, 2022

If you have access to a Home Depot, ace hardware, or pool supply store, you should be able to at least get ph testing strips….not ideal but can work in a pinch.

I’m not familiar with your nute pack, is it organic?

I stopped paying attention to ph much when I switched to living soil. As soon as I developed a soil mix I liked/worked(buffered) for me, I never paid attention to ph again(sorta).

Moshmen · Oct 12, 2022

cnw1970 said:
I'm growing 3 week old autos in Promix HP. 5 gallon fabric pots, Ac Infinity s44 Ionboard LED light, 4x4 tent, and using Homegrown Cannabis Co's standard nute pack. After reading the feed chart wrong, I accidentally gave them a double dose of the seedling booster. After realizing what I did, I took ppm readings from the runoff. I had readings in all 5 plants of 1,100 to 1,600 ppm. I did a flush and got them down to 300-320 ppm. They came out of their funk just fine and they are starting to show signs of needing fed. My problem is that a dog knocked over my cup that had my PH meter(cheap ass yellow one) soaking in probe storage solution. I live in a smaller town and you won't find anyone that sells them here. The probe got water inside and is being dried. I already ordered a much better probe to replace it. My girls are still wanting fed and I'm afraid to go ahead without the ph meter. I know as a fact that 5 ml of ph down will bring 1 gallon of my water in range, but not sure what the nutes will do ph wise. My new meter will be here Monday, but my plants are starting to lighten between the veins slightly. Should I go ahead and feed them, not knowing what the ph of the nutrients will be, or wait 5 days until my new meter shows up??

Ur pro mix has a ph buffer - I use promix hp and NEVER ph

Moshmen · Oct 12, 2022

derkaderk said:
If you have access to a Home Depot, ace hardware, or pool supply store, you should be able to at least get ph testing strips….not ideal but can work in a pinch.

I’m not familiar with your nute pack, is it organic?

I stopped paying attention to ph much when I switched to living soil. As soon as I developed a soil mix I liked/worked(buffered) for me, I never paid attention to ph again(sorta).

When I do test I prefer to use the strips as I’ve found the cheap metered inconsistent at best

cnw1970 · Oct 12, 2022

Moshmen said:
Ur pro mix has a ph buffer - I use promix hp and NEVER ph

Do you think it still has enough buffer left in after I flushed??

PipeCarver · Oct 12, 2022

cnw1970 said:
Do you think it still has enough buffer left in after I flushed??

Do you know the ph of your water? all this talk of ph we need to know where you're starting from...... my well water is around 7.2 , going through the promix its 6.6 so I don't need to add anything to it when watering. When I lightly feed I still don't add phup but mid veg through flower during feeds I'm adding 1 - 3 ml / gallon of PH UP keeping my run off in the 6's

Buzzy12 · Oct 12, 2022

If we're adding nutrients to a solution, the starting pH of the water is irrelevant. A lot of these nutrients will adjust the pH. My filtered well water is 8.8 pH out of the tap, after I put all of my nutes in, it's down to 5.5 whether I adjusted the water before hand or not. If we're just giving them water and some beneficial microbes/mycorrhizae that won't adjust the pH too much and the pH should be adjusted. With that being said, every nutrient line is different. I'm using Advanced Nutrients organic line now. In the past when I was using Fox Farm nutes for outdoor plants, I never worried about the pH. Like I said already pH fluctuations aren't nearly as big of a deal in soil, but they can cause serious problems where the plants will get nutrient lockout. No way all of the nutes or buffer got flushed out in one flush. There's still some food in there and the plant is young, doesn't need much food right now to thrive. If it does start going south, you could always just start growing another one...

PipeCarver · Oct 12, 2022

Buzzy12 said:
If we're adding nutrients to a solution, the starting pH of the water is irrelevant. A lot of these nutrients will adjust the pH. My filtered well water is 8.8 pH out of the tap, after I put all of my nutes in, it's down to 5.5 whether I adjusted the water before hand or not. If we're just giving them water and some beneficial microbes/mycorrhizae that won't adjust the pH too much and the pH should be adjusted. With that being said, every nutrient line is different. I'm using Advanced Nutrients organic line now. In the past when I was using Fox Farm nutes for outdoor plants, I never worried about the pH. Like I said already pH fluctuations aren't nearly as big of a deal in soil, but they can cause serious problems where the plants will get nutrient lockout. No way all of the nutes or buffer got flushed out in one flush. There's still some food in there and the plant is young, doesn't need much food right now to thrive. If it does start going south, you could always just start growing another one...

I only add nutes every second time I water and the continued use of nutes drop my soil ph below the 6's if I don't add up. I'll also use Lime if I veg longer than 2 months because my run off can get down into the low 5's high 4's if I don't. Nutes lower the ph in promix below where I want my run off to be so the ph up balances that for me.

cnw1970 · Oct 12, 2022

Moshmen said:
Ur pro mix has a ph buffer - I use promix hp and NEVER ph

Do you think it still has enough buffer left in after I flushed

PipeCarver said:
Do you know the ph of your water? all this talk of ph we need to know where you're starting from...... my well water is around 7.2 , going through the promix its 6.6 so I don't need to add anything to it when watering. When I lightly feed I still don't add phup but mid veg through flower during feeds I'm adding 1 - 3 ml / gallon of PH UP keeping my run off in the 6's

My tap water runs pretty consistently at 7.6-7.8

Gmix · Oct 12, 2022

Moshmen said:
When I do test I prefer to use the strips as I’ve found the cheap metered inconsistent at best

Heck yeah them cheep ones are dreadful. I Eventually brought a blue labs one never looked back .

If you in soil one watering won’t kill it

PipeCarver · Oct 12, 2022

cnw1970 said:
Do you think it still has enough buffer left in after I flushed

My tap water runs pretty consistently at 7.6-7.8

Check it after running some water through your soil....How I check my ph & ppm is. First I saturate the soil, 3 gallon pots take 1 gallon of water/feed. after I've poured all the water in I suck up all the runoff and let the pot seep out more liquid, that's the water I check my ph & ppm with....The first run off water is a not a representation of the soils ph...the later is closer to your soils living conditions and a better sample to read.

No I think the soil is still fine, it is all I've ever used and a little water won't hurt it......Flood the sucker when you water to get the whole pot wet.and full of water...They'll drain what they don't need if you've good ventilation under/through & around your pots.

I'm in a pickle and need advise

I'm in a pickle and need advise

cnw1970

Buzzy12

cnw1970

Buzzy12

derkaderk

Moshmen

Moshmen

cnw1970

PipeCarver

Buzzy12

PipeCarver

cnw1970

Gmix

PipeCarver

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