BioThrive/PH

[Dr. Manny Bowles]

So, after checking my pH pen and measuring everything out here's what I came out with-

Started with tapwater evaporated for 24+hours with air stone

Tapwater.......................7.3
add BioThrive Grow........5.5
add BioRoot...................5.37
add Ca/Mg+...................5.17
add BioWeed..................5.17

So, I'm stumped. I guess I will feed the coco girls with just the 'Grow' until I can get some more info from GH.

These samples did ship in cold weather but weren't frozen when I got them. Maybe they got too cold?

Jmansweed, do you recall what kind of pH readings were you getting with full strength veg week 2?

 

[Dr. Manny Bowles]

I talked to GH again and they said what I should do is raise my pH first, let it sit and stabilize for a bit and then add nutrients, 'Grow' first.
I asked about adding chemical up/down to the mix and they said they 'thought' that was ok as long as you did it first and let it sit for a half hour or so to level out.
So, I did just that and ended up at around 5.5, I'd like to be a bit higher, so next time will adjust accordingly. They did explain to me exactly what Jmansweed said earlier in this thread, that if your solution is a little low the beneficials will take care of raising it to acceptable levels in the soil. 5.5-6.3 should be ok I was told. I'm gonna add a little Dolomite Lime to the soil next run and I should be good. Thanks all :farm:

 

[OldHippieChick]

Thank you for the research - my plant doesn't look so good on the GO - but will go back to adjusting the ph up to 6.4.

 

[legalize_freedom]

Yeah I went back to the full foxfarm line up on mine for now until I do some more research on it, get some organic ph adjusters. I just don't want to screw this one up, I just started flowering 2 weeks ago, so I'm going to run with what I know for right now, I will mess with the GO with the clones from these ones. Thanks for the info though.

 

[Dr. Manny Bowles]

OHC- I noticed the GO isn't as strong as the FF I was using and my plants looked underfed at anything less than full-strength. I'm at 125% strength now in coco and the one I'm still feeding with the GO looks alot better than it did.

LF- I had to do the same thing due to my lack of info on the pH adjusting. So my GO/FF comparison will have to wait until next time. I do still have one plant in coco I'm using the GO line on and it looks good but is way behind its sisters that are in soil and not being fed atm. I'm thinking of trying a 70/30 soil/coco mix next time in two buckets and doing an actual side-by-side comparison with the 2 lines of ferts then.

 

[legalize_freedom]

I was thinking of doing the same thing,(side by side w/clones from same mother) not with the coco though. I was just thinking about running the GO with a good soil mix, and not adding any chems at all, and then do my regular thing with the FF lineup. I have been using the cal mag that GO sent though with my FF stuff, only because I ran out of my other stuff....hey it's free...lol. I did notice that the plants I had started running the GO on the bottom leaves had started yellowing awfully fast, but I don't want to blame the nutes as they may not have been being used to their full capacity when I added chem ph adjusters...I mean who knows what kind of beneficials I killed. So I just flushed real good, and went back to my regular line up. I'll let ya know when I start running my side by side...I need to do a little more planning, and reading first I think to be sure I got a 100% organic thing going though.

 

[OldHippieChick]

OHC- I noticed the GO isn't as strong as the FF I was using and my plants looked underfed at anything less than full-strength. I'm at 125% strength now in coco and the one I'm still feeding with the GO looks alot better than it did.

Thanks - I also have a under fed looking plant.... and to my shame, I didn't read to feed every watering so I am indebtet to you for pointing this out. I just got so brainwashed by reading to nute every OTHER watering by so many posts and articles all over the web, that it never occured to me to study the brochure and website. I have bad eye site and I was lazy . Lesson learned - I've spent hours reading on nutrient deficiency as payback . I really was thinking I had nute block because I could see several deficiencies. I'm following your lead and upping my levels as well. THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS !

 

[Dr. Manny Bowles]

LF- Please keep us posted, I'm looking forward to seeing other peoples results from these nutrients good or not so good. I think FFOF and the GO line would be a very solid combination for an organic grow. I was thinking of adding coco to my soil because my roots seem to love it. I just transplanted my vegging plants yesterday and the coco one had about twice the root system as my soil girls but the actual plant is about half as bushy with minimal side growth, go figure. The coco plant is the one that's been getting the GO BioRoot so maybe that is contributing also. Somewhere in all this is going to be a combination that works well for me, I'm convinced of that. I just gotta work a little to find it :farm:

OHC- I think we all kinda think to feed every other watering just because that's what other brands of fertilizers say to do. The instructions on the GO caught me off gaurd as well, especially the not pH'ing thing. When I upped the feedings, my plant bounced right back. I'm still not sure it's getting all it needs as it's in un-amended coco and just feeding on the liquid ferts so I'm going to keep upping it for now and see where it gets me.
Let us know how it works out for you :bong1: