Roots Organics - PH Too Low?

[Green Mtn]

First I would Get distilled water and do a slurry test out of the top of the pot. 1 to 1 water to soil a couple of ounces and actually see where thats at instead of run off. I would mix nutes and ph up with Nectar Olympus up, If your worried about synthetic adjust accordingly. Also I would not bubble for more than 24 hours if your going that route. The bottles don't bush it to the limit genetics and vpd do.

I did a rapid ph test with the soil and water and powder and it came out around 6.5. I also watered in about 3T of lime into each pot about 3 days ago with a ton of water and turbulence to work it into soil

 

[Green Mtn]

First I would Get distilled water and do a slurry test out of the top of the pot. 1 to 1 water to soil a couple of ounces and actually see where thats at instead of run off. I would mix nutes and ph up with Nectar Olympus up, If your worried about synthetic adjust accordingly. Also I would not bubble for more than 24 hours if your going that route. The bottles don't push it to the limit genetics and vpd do.

So the slurry test was difficult with the droplet tester but I did my best. Mixed up a 50/50 mix. a little more water.
let site for 30-40 mins till the solids settled out. Scooped up the relatively clear water. Tested out over 6ph for sure. Probably more like 6.2-6.4
I think either the flushing or the lime or both has help cool things down a bit. Wil wait till they dry a bit and run a few more gals or straight water through. But I''m hoping things are on the mend. Think I'll know tonight better. I think they're greening up & seems like less clawing too.

 

[JWM2]

Just cut down the nutrients when feeding them. Take a gallon jug and mix it full strength. Then pour 1/2 of it into another container and fill it up with water. That’s 1/2 strength. If you need 1/4 strength do it one more time. If you have a ppm meter you can mix your ferts based on the readings you get from the added nutrients. In fox farm I’d start with 1/4 strength and work your way to half or full strength by mid flower.

 

[JWM2]

Also another thing I’ve noticed with coco based potting mixes is the coco likes to leach the calcium from the medium and in turn this can allow the ph to drift down. A little bit of liquid lime seems to do wonders every couple waterings. I like Olympus Up by NFTG as my source of liquid lime. Lime also adds calcium which is beneficial especially when using water with very few dissolved minerals in it (under 100ppm).

 

[Green Mtn]

So an update here : 2x flushed the 5 gal pots with about 2-2.5gals each. Top dressed each pot with about 2T Lime. I’ve fed with microbes once since the 2 flushes. I just last watered with Cal Mag, the kelp and carb catalyst from Roots at 300 ppm & 6.5-6.9.
The plants have come back a bit. The soil (runoff) still seems a little acidic but close r to 6ish. Overall very pleased with where they are now vs the other week. I think I might give them another microbe tea next and another strong bloom mix next feeding. I’m about 15days into flower now. I’d still like to see them green up a touch and it looks like some calcium deficiency in the Durban Poison. ?

Question ? What do you all use for drain racks under pots to keep out of runoff ?

 

[Green Mtn]

Seem like they are little slow? Is this good progression heading from 2nd to 3rd week of flower?

 

[Green Mtn]

Update: Things are still looking pretty good. I’ve upped the Bloom formula to about700ppm. Alternating with recharge & plain water. They are 27 days into flower and most look like the last feeding helped green / plump them up. I’ve been adjusting the ph of the Roots Organics to 6.5-6.7 after bubbling for 24 hours. Interesting side note, I swear on their website the never mentioned adjusting the PH only bubbling to raise it to “acceptable” levels. Now they clearly state to adjust PH from 5.8-6.3. I think they got a lot of complaints from folks like me who followed their suggestion and didn’t use ph adjust and their plants suffered? Who know? I de-foliated at week 3 and will again at 5 I guess. If anything the Durban Poison seems to be suffering from a Calcium deficiency? Some of the plants directly under the 1000w get a little stressed, I moved the Durban’s over to edge to see if it eases up on them. The Durban poison runoff still seems a little acidic so I’m going to topdress with a little powdered dolomite lime with some calcium.
Any thoughts on the Durban Poison ? Maybe it’s just a big and they’re hungry? But the Blueberry and Sour Grape seem nice. THe Sour Grape is a little yellow under the light anything not quite so close is nice a lush looking. The Blueberry is a little more squat and seems to take the direct light a little better. Only the Durban Poison's are suffering as a whole. And one plant seems to be having a tough time drying out while the same size as the other?

 

[Green Mtn]

This is where I have a tough time deciding what to do next? The Durban Poison seems to be yellowing and has a deficiency of some sort. Although, I've read that Sativa's should do well without too much feeding.... I've measured the runoff from the Durbans and it seemed low still so I'm wondering if the symptoms are more a result of the PH being too low or do they actually need more Calcium? I just fed them with Cal / Mag last feeding and I didn't see any marked improvement? I'm leaning toward the PH being too low and soil (too wet)? Really hoping to turn those 2 Durbans around.....Question is do I feed or do they really need plain water?

 

[Green Mtn]

Day 39 Flower -


Getting nice development around most of them. I trimmed pretty tight. The Durban Pouson still seems to be giving me the most trouble. Cal/Mag? I dunno. Overall pretty happy. Been feeding up to 1100ppm ph at 6.6-6.8 Mostly the roots organic nutrients with the recharge microbes alternating with watering and plain water. I’ve added some cal mag supplement as well. It’s about 3-4 days between watering to let them get a little light. I think my timing is a touch behind and should flower just a little sooner so not wasting so much time getting vertical ?