# ph issue??



## Ruffy (Jan 23, 2012)

im not sure so im askin, is this high ph? it just started a day or so ago. ive checked my ph pen all is fine. i add food then set ph to 6.5.
i was trying a new adjuster ( banking soda) & i bottom feed, due to DE on top of soil, & i saw as fast as the plant drank it , it left the powder. i did stir it weel b4 and feed right away.c
could the ph change that fast?, from  soda being left behind?
& what to do to fix it? just water feed, set on 6.5?


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jan 23, 2012)

Ruffy said:
			
		

> im not sure so im askin, is this high ph? it just started a day or so ago. ive checked my ph pen all is fine. i add food then set ph to 6.5.
> i was trying a new adjuster ( banking soda) & i bottom feed, due to DE on top of soil, & i saw as fast as the plant drank it , it left the powder. i did stir it weel b4 and feed right away.c
> could the ph change that fast?, from  soda being left behind?
> & what to do to fix it? just water feed, set on 6.5?



I don't really understand what is going on from your posts....Are you trying to raise your pH with baking soda?  What is your starting pH?  What are you trying to get to?  What did the pH change to?  What are you feeding your plants?  In general, I do not believe that it is a good idea to use baking soda as a pH adjuster.  First, food products tend to break down very fast and the sodium compounds in the Sodium Bicarbonate can lock up calcium.  If calcium is locked up, other nutrients that need calcium can also be locked up.


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## Ruffy (Jan 23, 2012)

i think since ive tryed useing baking soda, the ph droped or raised on me.
whats the deficancy in the pic?
i add food, ph goes down. i use ro water. to raise it ive been told to use soda. it raises it to 6.5.
then 2 days after trying this, i saw the leaves in the pics, having issues.
whats your thaughts and what to do?


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## Ruffy (Jan 23, 2012)

food is gh, grow 3-3-1 & cal /mag ,organic. pro mix #4
i do have dol lime in soil mix. so it shouldnt go above 7 ph
r/o water to start, 7.0 ph, dropes to 5.5 ph when i feed, i raised it to 6.5  with soda.
when i added phd mix to bottom feed plants, i noticed that the soda stayed in the tray & didnt get sucked into plant.
that makes me think ph droped back down.
internet showes 1 pic like mine, stating ph has raised.
so what do you think???


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## Wetdog (Jan 23, 2012)

Stop with the baking soda for starters.

Stop with the RO water second, doesn't work all that well with soil and especially organics.

Stop with the cal/mag.

If you added sufficient dolomite lime there is no need to pH *anything* going in. Not water, not nutes. The lime will buffer it to where it's supposed to be. How much lime was added to the mix?

Cal/mag is not needed with the dolomite as it supplies both cal and mag and you could cause a lockout adding the bottled stuff.

2 days after trying your 'good idea' you see how it reacts. Stop trying to fix what isn't broken.

Wet


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## Roddy (Jan 23, 2012)

I wanted to say that PHing wasn't needed due to the dolamite lime, but wasn't certain enough...THANKS!!!

As for the RO water....does dehumidified water amount to the same as RO water?? I've been using the water from my dehum.


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## Ruffy (Jan 23, 2012)

i guess i said it wrong in first post.
soiless mix! promix #4 added in, some bat guano, dol lime, worm castings, green sand the plants have been in this mix for a month with no liquid foods till now. then i saw the leaf change.
 2 table spoons of dol lime per 1 gal was added


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## Ruffy (Jan 24, 2012)

what u think now?
very hard to see the fading in the leaves.
 first big leaf is the oldest.


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## Ruffy (Jan 25, 2012)

some more pics


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## trillions of atoms (Jan 25, 2012)

yeah dont use baking soda ever.....thats crack man.......


anyway this is a stupid question to some but ...does your container have drainage holes? or just one in the center? i cant tell of course in the picture and sometimes its a small oversight. Just wanted to ask and see.....

if so, have you tested the runoff??


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## Ruffy (Jan 25, 2012)

no i havent tested runn off cause i have DE on top of soil. bugs are gone so ill remove it wed and do it then. yup wholes in bottom.


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## Hushpuppy (Jan 25, 2012)

I am not a soil grower, strictly hydro so my knowledge here is from reading as opposed to experience. I think it is not a good thing to try to mix soiless meduim with soil additives and organic additives and then try to "bottle" feed the plants. I see that getting the ballance of nutrients and PH totally out of whack. 

It seems to me that if you are going to mix "soil" additives into the medium then you have to focus on being organic and letting the microbes control the feeding process. If you try to feed the plants from a bottle(whether its organic tea or chem nutes) then you have to know what the ballance is in the medium and how much the microbes have broken down to give to the plants. If you don't know very closely what the microbes are doing and what condition the medium is in, then you will end up causing conflicts with the ballance in the soil.

It appears that by adding the different types of feeding regamins together, you have upset that ballance and caused a nutrient lockout that is most likely from overnute of one or more chems or from PH issue. I see that you added dolomite lime and greensand to the mix. That is probably too much magnesium which could be locking out iron(which is kind of what the plants look like) but as I said above, I don't have any experience in soil or organics.

I am not sure where to go from here, but I am thinking that you should do a light flush to remove some of the chems in the medium. Did you add in any microbes to the mix when you started?


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## Wetdog (Jan 25, 2012)

Ruffy said:
			
		

> no i havent tested runn off cause i have DE on top of soil. bugs are gone so ill remove it wed and do it then. yup wholes in bottom.



Looking good, the new growth. Don't worry about the old ones, they aren't going to recover.

I think you just got a little burn from that first nute application and that's all it it was.

I wouldn't worry about the run off, not with 2tbl/gal of lime in the mix and don't worry about the pH of anything going in.

Just back off on the amount you feed them, say 25%, and give it a go. All in all, they are looking good.

Wet


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## Rosebud (Jan 25, 2012)

I see one older leaf that is affected. I think the plants look good. Am I missing something?


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## Ruffy (Jan 25, 2012)

ya rose bud, im freakin cause of super minor issues, lol and dont want to **** this up. i have a patient waiting for this and its been awhile since ive grown and lost my touch. itll come back after a grow or 2. im just paranoid to fail.
thanks hush p & wet dog


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## Wetdog (Jan 26, 2012)

Rosebud said:
			
		

> I see one older leaf that is affected. I think the plants look good. Am I missing something?



Not at all. Looks good to me also.

Wet


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## Roddy (Jan 26, 2012)

:yeahthat: Nice job thus far, Ruffy, my friend!


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## trillions of atoms (Jan 31, 2012)

how do you know the PH of the rootzone if you dont test runoff?


How did you "check" your ph pen? does it auto calibrate with a buffer or what? 

im trying to weed out the issue but you gotta have the proper PH in the containers or you will have issues. Making sure your QUALITY ph meter is calibrated correctly is the first place to begin. if it reads worng your in the dark. getting the ph in the rootzone is the next step... check the solution your watering with and make sure its PH'd properly, then apply and test runoff to get an idea what your looking at rootzone wise. if its reading higher at runoff you know to PH the next feeding lower and vice versa.

the dolomite lime at the right preportion is the way to go!


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