PH & EC levels (before and after runoff)

[MisterSerling]

Hey everyone,

I've had issues producing any flowers/buds the past few grows due to what I believe is nutrient lock out. See the attached photos. Come flowering, the pistils barely make it out of the sacs and then shrivel up right away when they do. They basically turn to brown hairs immediately, almost like shooting blanks. My assumption is that since I'm not over or under watering, my PH levels are likely off & not allowing the plants to uptake nutrients because I was seeing EC runoff levels of 4000+ppm...indications that salt is left in the medium. I'm growing in fox farm soil by the way. I'm wondering if anyone can shed some light on what PH levels and EC levels I should be aiming for IN MY RUNOFF.

After much trial and error, I realize PH in my feed water is not the same as PH levels in the runoff. So, what is the ideal PH level for my runoff? Secondly, what are the EC levels I should be seeing in my runoff when transitioning to flower? Shouldn't it be around the 1000-1400ppm range? PH levels in my feed water have been around 6.0 but then are coming out lower in my runoff, so I adjusted and now put in PH water of 7.5 so it comes out at 6.5. What works for you guys? Help is needed. Thanks

 

[NoxFire]

pH targets depends on media. However run off pH is uncecessary and misleading. For coco to many ionic interactions are occurring for pH to be representative of what’s happening in media. Soil is not the case but the pH fluctuates frequently in general and watering to get run off skews results.

Best to ph and EC your feed and EC . You want your run off EC no higher than 300-400 than feed ec. If you have consistent measurements you can record each feed changes EC and cut out measuring the nute mix every time.

 

[nomdeplume]

Your runoff ppm is much too high and I can't tell you for certain what it should be, I use EC to measure the strength on my nutes. But 4000 ppm is way to high. You should leech those puppies with 1/4 strength nutrient solution, until the runoff and the flush solution are within a few hundred ppm of each other and put them on a diet stop feeding them so much and I personally feed, feed, then flush with 1/4 strength nutrient solution regimen to ensure the plants aren't getting a nutrient salt build-up from feeding them too much. With nutrients, less is more much of the time.

 

[Peat_Phreak]

Measuring runoff with dirt is likely to be deceiving. Runoff ppm is more relevant with coco or peat.

Input pH for soil should be around 6.5. Runoff should be 6.5-7.5.

Dirt is more difficult to grow with than peat or coco. Try a soil-less media next time.