Ph runoff is too low.

[CaliShark]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I try and keep my Hanna meter clean and calibrated the best I can. I appreciate the knowledge suggesting I use EC instead of ppm, I will start to use both to get a better accurate reading.

The next watering I will target my ppm to 250/ use a .5 EC mix and see where that takes me as far as build up and see if it flushes better. I'm in 7 gal smart pots that sit in round plastic saucers to collect the runoff. I usually let the runoff sit the saucer to evaporate/soak back into the smart pot...should i be removing the runoff from the saucer instead of leaving it there?

Tomorrow I will conduct some slurry test to gauge a better understanding of the salts/ EC level of my media.

My plants look healthy over all, only thing I notice is red petioles and some leaf tip burn on random fan leafs. I can't tell if this is due to a build up of salts resulting in lockout or if I'm deficient in something. I'm 33 days into flower going into week 5 and my buds seem small to me. Granted I'm running Cherry Pie for the first time and I believe she's at least a 9 week strain, so I could be a bit premature thinking they are small. The smell and trichome development seems great though.

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[Seamaiden]

I would let remove the saucers and let the feed drain away, especially if you're letting them get dried out a bit between waterings, that's going to lead to crazy run-off readings. You'll have a difficult time doing the slurry test through the entire depth of the media since you happen to be in SPs, so just dig down on the edge of the pot, disturbing a full vertical inch of roots shouldn't cause much stress to the plant.

Reddened petioles can be a sign of P-, but one thing at a time, IME. Burnt tips usually indicate that you've got them right on the edge of too much N.

 

[Chronic Monster]

Question @JACKMAYOFFER
In your coco thread you say " We always flush the COCO with straight RO PH at 5.5

I'm confused man, do you flush the plants with ro to prep the coco..
and if your having problems then flush with base and calmag?
Seems like conflicting info....

Yields the same as The#3 but a little more frosty but her smell and taste are out of this world she taste like a ice cold CORONA rite after you suck on the lime...

Drain to waist bro..

All the valves are tied into a sprinkler timer each bed gets watered for 3 min every other day the pump is on a sprinkler timer and a relay also so when the sprinkler timer comes on so does the pump...I will snap a pic..JACK

We always flush the COCO with straight RO PH at 5.5. This is exacatly what i use nothing more nothing less. HEAVY 16 A & B VEG and during VEG the only thing I add besides base nutes is CALPLEX at 80 to 100 ppm. I never go above 1000 ppm in veg. Then flower its Base nutes Heavy 16 -WITH 60 to 80 ppm of Calplex, Then week 2-5 I add Big Bud and After week 5 i drop Big Bud and Cal plex is dropped at week 4 Then week 6 and 7 or 7 and 8 depending on strain its MOAB HAMMER HEAD.base nutes cut in half.. We where brewing teas and using all kinds of different teas and we seen no difference when we stopped using them. Hope that helps.. The COCO AND SOIL beds are used over and over and every time they seem to get better...JACK


Beds with either COCO or Soil...

I never flush coco with just RO it causes all kinds of problems the biggest is PH.. Always flush you're coco with base and cal mag.. Never just RO . Alot of times when people are flushing it's just the opposite coco and the plants need something you're not giving them... Flushing plants with RO in coco has never worked for me... But flushing with nutes and calmag has... I have done it from 250 ppm all the way to 1200 ppm... Jack..

 

[sixstring]

Those posts are 2 years apart, so maybe he learned some things since that first post.i read the same thing in one of his older posts yesterday.
I run ro water myself and have not had issues using it clean with just a quick ph.

 

[ftwendy]

Jack's method is evolving, and has changed since his post in october, 2011 when he said to flush with ro.

If you want to do things just like him, then you should follow the most current advice from earlier this week: never flush with plain ro. The best results are achieved when flushing with base and calmag. I assume the same goes for prep.

 

[Chronic Monster]

thats what i figured, but i wasn't sure if this was advice for two different situations..ie... setting up a new grow with new media, or trouble shooting a problem

im sure a lot of people are trying to do it like jack, myself included.
although if someone showed up here a couple months ago before jack was posting here again and was doing it like jack that would be flushing with straight RO.

 

[Prime C]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I try and keep my Hanna meter clean and calibrated the best I can. I appreciate the knowledge suggesting I use EC instead of ppm, I will start to use both to get a better accurate reading.

The next watering I will target my ppm to 250/ use a .5 EC mix and see where that takes me as far as build up and see if it flushes better. I'm in 7 gal smart pots that sit in round plastic saucers to collect the runoff. I usually let the runoff sit the saucer to evaporate/soak back into the smart pot...should i be removing the runoff from the saucer instead of leaving it there?

Tomorrow I will conduct some slurry test to gauge a better understanding of the salts/ EC level of my media.

My plants look healthy over all, only thing I notice is red petioles and some leaf tip burn on random fan leafs. I can't tell if this is due to a build up of salts resulting in lockout or if I'm deficient in something. I'm 33 days into flower going into week 5 and my buds seem small to me. Granted I'm running Cherry Pie for the first time and I believe she's at least a 9 week strain, so I could be a bit premature thinking they are small. The smell and trichome development seems great though.

Thanks for the help everyone!

I think the coco/saucer combo isnt a real good idea. Same thing im doing to.:banghead: Im thinking its the cause of my problem in the first place. The run off has no where to go so the salts just stick around. I know it was a pain in the ass flushing them cause i had to use my little shop vac to suck out the saucers. A better approach is simply dtw with multiple feeds as needed. Im pulling my saucers out dammit!!:)

 

[GR33NL3AF]

Pretty sure he flushed with R/O initially, THEN pre-charged. My batch of Canna this round had 150-200 runoff...

 

[JACKMAYOFFER]

thats what i figured, but i wasn't sure if this was advice for two different situations..ie... setting up a new grow with new media, or trouble shooting a problem

im sure a lot of people are trying to do it like jack, myself included.
although if someone showed up here a couple months ago before jack was posting here again and was doing it like jack that would be flushing with straight RO.

When we first started coco we flushed with RO and then charged because that's what every one told me to do... Then we would be chasing our tales trying to get the ph to stabilize and EC at the rite spot. Then we started just hitting the new coco with full dose nutes and ph of 6.0 and the plants would just explode out the gate.. They would want more food.. So we realized flushing with RO caused nothing but problems.. We use either Cana or Gold label coco.

 

[Lowman]

I think the coco/saucer combo isnt a real good idea. Same thing im doing to.:banghead: Im thinking its the cause of my problem in the first place. The run off has no where to go so the salts just stick around. I know it was a pain in the ass flushing them cause i had to use my little shop vac to suck out the saucers. A better approach is simply dtw with multiple feeds as needed. Im pulling my saucers out dammit!!:)

I use the saucers...but I prop each pot up on a plastic coffee can to keep it out of the runoff. I run a drip system...so I like to see visual evidence that each plant is getting enough runoff by checking whats in the saucer. Every once in awhile I suck out the saucer runoff with a wet vac. Keeps the plants off the floor as well to help the root zone temps.

 

[Danked]

I think the coco/saucer combo isnt a real good idea. Same thing im doing to.:banghead: Im thinking its the cause of my problem in the first place. The run off has no where to go so the salts just stick around. I know it was a pain in the ass flushing them cause i had to use my little shop vac to suck out the saucers. A better approach is simply dtw with multiple feeds as needed. Im pulling my saucers out dammit!!:)

I use the saucers too, but usually only in flower. It sucks because I've got 4 (decent sized) plants in a 4x4 homemade grow box, and I've been moving them around every time I water/feed them (drain to waste)... cuz I didn't want them sitting it their run-off..sucking it back up. It's a pain in the ass to do that every time when you feed 1-2x/day. I'm so glad I read this because now I'm about to bust out the shop vac ; )

 

[CaliShark]

I can't remove the saucers because I can't have the runoff drain all over the floor. I've been sucking the water up with a turkey baster but I need to come up with a better idea. Shop vac won't work I only have about 1/2 inch of space between the saucer and the smart pot. I was thinking about a small pump that I can attach a piece of tubing to.

At least we know that it's better to remove the runoff from the saucer rather then leaving it there. I think Lowman is on to something. Gotta figure out what I can put in the saucer to prop the smart pot higher so it's not sitting in the water. I was thinking getting a milk carton crate and cutting to fit in the saucer...something along those lines.

 

[putembk]

Suck the runoff out with an aquarium pump.

 

[Seamaiden]

?? What kind of pump, putembk?

What I did was to go ahead and buy some trays and drilled 'em. Set them on cheap-oh plastic shelving that I simply set side-by-side to create tables. Put a block of wood under the back end of each tray (which with one I later learned wasn't really necessary, but oh well) to create a low slope to encourage run-off. Carved a couple of bottle corks to fit the holes I'd drilled (because I'm one of those who likes flood & drain sometimes), then set concrete mixing trays under the holes and left them there. Et voila, catch basins. I don't see why this same thing can't be done with washing machine pans or concrete mixing trays.

Anyone here remember TrichromeFan? He created a very cool system using corrugated plastic roofing and rain gutters for drainage.

 

[putembk]

I flush twice during a grow cycle and whenever I water or add Nutes/sups I give enough to get about 20% runoff. I am in 5 gal pots and use overflow saucers to retain all excess. I suck the excess out to a drain with a small pump and 1/4" hose to the drain. Simple and easy. I flush with straight R/O water and add a dose of Nutes on the first flush only, usually when I flip them.

 

[JACKMAYOFFER]

I can't remove the saucers because I can't have the runoff drain all over the floor. I've been sucking the water up with a turkey baster but I need to come up with a better idea. Shop vac won't work I only have about 1/2 inch of space between the saucer and the smart pot. I was thinking about a small pump that I can attach a piece of tubing to.

At least we know that it's better to remove the runoff from the saucer rather then leaving it there. I think Lowman is on to something. Gotta figure out what I can put in the saucer to prop the smart pot higher so it's not sitting in the water. I was thinking getting a milk carton crate and cutting to fit in the saucer...something along those lines.

Do you have concrete floors? If so you can rent a hammer drill from Home Depot and drill small holes in the concert it will act as a drain we do it all the time for the extra plants we throw on the floor..

 

[Danked]

Do you have concrete floors? If so you can rent a hammer drill from Home Depot and drill small holes in the concert it will act as a drain we do it all the time for the extra plants we throw on the floor..

haha... hell yeah! I wish I could rent a drill and put some holes in the basement flooring where I'm at right now....but that's a BIG no go, hah.

 

[Danked]

How are things now? I hope the flushing effort paid off

Are you using sea green?

Just got my bottle of Sea Green in the mail yesterday... started using it with my H&G program today. Looking forward to what this stuff can do. I've heard good things.

 

[Seamaiden]

haha... hell yeah! I wish I could rent a drill and put some holes in the basement flooring where I'm at right now....but that's a BIG no go, hah.

Maybe you could do a reverse and lay down some corrugated roofing.

 

[Danked]

Maybe you could do a reverse and lay down some corrugated roofing.

I like the idea of using corrugated roofing somehow to get the run-off to run where I want... but I don't quite understand what you mean by a reverse..?