Is Phing Flush Actually Even Possible?

[1diesel1]

Lol man, some of these threads kill me. I was going to reply but by the time I got to the bottom I forgot what the damn thread was about haha.

You cant ph RO. There is no ions or cations in it. No ions or cations=no potential hydrogen to measure.

There is also no need to if you are using a soiless mix. Peat is not inert like rockwool, it has a cation exchange capacity and so it holds nutrients. As soon as you water it with RO, the water will take on the nutrients and then buffer to whatever the ph of the soil is. I always use either straight RO or rainwater for my last 2 weeks of bloom and have never had an issue, just delicious clean burning buds.

As for the ph meter. A rinse is fine with RO, just dont store it in there. The osmotic pressure will draw the KCL out of the probe bulb and cause it to read slow. Store it in KCL storage solution or ph4 buffer solution.

What happens when you ph RO water?

 

[Dirtbag]

What happens when you ph RO water?

I'm not sure what you mean, what happens if you stick a probe in it? The probe will give you a false reading. If you add ph up or down, it will make it basic or acidic, but the only thing in there will be the anions or cations you add to it.

A meter cant read what's not there.

But there is no need to adjust the ph of RO if you're using soiless. The ions in the media will determine the ph of the water once you pour it in there.

 

[1diesel1]

I'm not sure what you mean, what happens if you stick a probe in it? The probe will give you a false reading. If you add ph up or down, it will make it basic or acidic, but the only thing in there will be the anions or cations you add to it.

A meter cant read what's not there.

You sure about that?

 

[Dirtbag]

You sure about that?

Pretty sure yeah, based on what I understand of ph. Do you know something I dont?

 

[1diesel1]

The ph of RO is generally 6.0, correct?

 

[MIMedGrower]

Actually its potential hydrogen content would be 7 or neutral but without minerals it will instantly take on the property of what it contacts.

My gh test kit always said 6.3 or so until i bubbled it for a while. Then it rose some. From the air exchange it pics up minerals.

Cant test what is not there like @Dirtbag said.

 

[1diesel1]

Actually its potential hydrogen content would be 7 or neutral but without minerals it will instantly take on the property of what it contacts.

My gh test kit always said 6.3 or so until i bubbled it for a while. Then it rose some. From the air exchange it pics up minerals.

Cant test what is not there like @Dirtbag said.

So your telling me all these years I’ve been using RO water and ph, ing my nutrients has just been a waist of time and is not needed?

 

[Dirtbag]

The ph of RO is generally 6.0, correct?

Actually no, fresh RO will be neutral at 7. Once it hits air it will drop as low as 5-5.5 if it absorbs enough atmospheric nitrogen and carbon dioxide.

But my point is that it's in such a low concentration its moot. It has zero influence over the ph of the soil its added to. And its detrimental to the meter to put it in RO for any length of time.

Think about it, it takes more ph up to neutralize a feed of 1.5 than it does a feed of 0.5 ec because there is more negatively charged anions to neutralize.

If you have so few anions in the water that it reads 0.0ec, there is almost nothing to neutralize.

 

[Dirtbag]

So your telling me all these years I’ve been using RO water and ph, ing my nutrients has just been a waist of time and is not needed?

What? No, obviously ph balance RO if it has nutrients mixed in it. I'm saying it's pointless to test or adjust the ph of pure RO for "flush" water.

 

[1diesel1]

Tested it, closer to 6.0 then 7.0. And yes, I did just calibrate and mix nutrients and double checked my results.

 

[Dirtbag]

Tested it, closer to 6.0 then 7.0. And yes, I did just calibrate and mix nutrients and double checked my results.View attachment 856707View attachment 856708

Again, its contacted air, absorbed Co2 and that's dropped the ph. Stick an ec meter in there and itll have zero ppm. You cant have a valid ph without ions. It's not possible. What your pen is picking up on is infinitely small amounts of carbonic acid and hydroxide anions from atmospheric gasses that have absolutely no impact on the growing media. None. It's inert for all intents and purposes and a completely irrelevant number. Its pointless to measure it., and again bad for your pen. Itll cause it to read slow over repeated exposures to RO.

 

[Dirtbag]

And hang on, you mixed nutrients in there? I'm specifically talking about pure RO, not RO with Nutrients in it.

 

[1diesel1]

Again, its contacted air, absorbed Co2 and that's dropped the ph. Stick an ec meter in there and itll have zero ppm. You cant have a valid ph without ions. It's not possible. What your pen is picking up on is infinitely small amounts of carbonic acid and hydroxide anions from atmospheric gasses that have absolutely no impact on the growing media. None. It's inert for all intents and purposes and a completely irrelevant number. Its pointless to measure it., and again bad for your pen. Itll cause it to read slow over repeated exposures to RO.

You got me there! Realizing my mistakes, I apologize for my not reading the fucking directions to my ph pen. Always learning and growing. The Farm always helps me grow better and stronger!!

 

[1diesel1]

And hang on, you mixed nutrients in there? I'm specifically talking about pure RO, not RO with Nutrients in it.

I really appreciate all farmers that help with there knowledge and expertise here. Without our knowledge of growing and experience others would take a lot longer to hone there grows!
Kudos!!!

 

[Dirtbag]

You got me there! Realizing my mistakes, I apologize for my not reading the fucking directions to my ph pen. Always learning and growing. The Farm always helps me grow better and stronger!!

Its all good man, but apologize to your poor Ph pen, not me! lol

And I hear you, There is so much to learn with this stuff it really never ends. I've been at this for a long time, I have a greenhouse production horticulture degree, I'm the superintendent at a golf club and have my Pesticide applicator and IPM certification from the Ministry of the Environment, I've managed more medi-grows than I care to remember. And I swear to God I learn something new almost every day, or the science changes, or our understanding of the science changes. Gotta remain fluid in horticulture and keep an open mind if you want to stay on top of things.

 

[1diesel1]

Its all good man, but apologize to your poor Ph pen, not me! lol

And I hear you, There is so much to learn with this stuff it really never ends. I've been at this for a long time, I have a greenhouse production horticulture degree, I'm the superintendent at a golf club and have my Pesticide applicator certificate and IPM certification from the Ministry of the Environment, I've managed more medi-grows than I care to remember. And I swear to God I learn something new almost every day, or the science changes, or our understanding of the science changes. Gotta remain fluid in horticulture and keep an open mind if you want to stay on top of things.

Thanks bro, starting a new adventure along side my favorite hobby. Hemp farm coming this summers diary.

 

[Dirtbag]

Thanks bro, starting a new adventure along side my favorite hobby. Hemp farm coming this summers diary.

No way? Nice!! I have buddy who is transitioning out of his large medical grow to start a hemp farm. I seriously applaud you, Hemp farming needs to take over and be utilized for the insane amount of things it can be used for. It really is the future imho.

 

[MIMedGrower]

So your telling me all these years I’ve been using RO water and ph, ing my nutrients has just been a waist of time and is not needed?

No. You still need to get salt based nutes in range.

But i could tell you depending on the alkalinity of your source water that ro and phing may not be needed.

Turns out my well water works fine in buffered potting mix without phing nute mixtures.

 

[MIMedGrower]

Its all good man, but apologize to your poor Ph pen, not me! lol

And I hear you, There is so much to learn with this stuff it really never ends. I've been at this for a long time, I have a greenhouse production horticulture degree, I'm the superintendent at a golf club and have my Pesticide applicator and IPM certification from the Ministry of the Environment, I've managed more medi-grows than I care to remember. And I swear to God I learn something new almost every day, or the science changes, or our understanding of the science changes. Gotta remain fluid in horticulture and keep an open mind if you want to stay on top of things.

When i wanted to learn to grow i skipped the forums and studied greenhouse guides and university agriculture pages. And read a lot of books.


It is awesome listening to you display your extensive knowledge and it confirming what i think i have learned.

 

[Dirtbag]

No. You still need to get salt based nutes in range.

But i could tell you depending on the alkalinity of your source water that ro and phing may not be needed.

Turns out my well water works fine in buffered potting mix without phing nute mixtures.

You've gotta love simplicity when it falls in your lap. I actually dont mind using RO because it gives me the opportunity to add potassium silicate without having to use ph down. That, and my well water is almost 350ppm of god knows what. Mostly calcium carbonate I imagine as its ph 8.3-8.5

When i wanted to learn to grow i skipped the forums and studied greenhouse guides and university agriculture pages. And read a lot of books.


It is awesome listening to you display your extensive knowledge and it confirming what i think i have learned.

That's a great way to learn what's science and what's myth. There is a ton of knowledge on these boards but there's also a shit ton of woo, and way too much calmag.

And thanks man, I love to talk about pot growing and share what Ive learned, but I have to say I certainly dont know everything. I was in school a long time ago and never did work in a greenhouse (once I realized I had to be Dutch to make money in greenhouse growing lol). Most of my career has been in turf and my pot growing knowledge has been gained more through experience and networking among a lot of BC growers over the years than education. Much of the irrelevant information I learned in school has been long forgotten unfortunately.

One of the pitfalls of smoking so much dang weed lol.