PH 8.1

[connollyr123456]

I am growing in a general Hydro bucket and have been trying to figure out why the plant is doing so well in 8.1 PH water. My other plant seems to be struggling with 6.7. I am sure I killed it by trying to bring the PH up to 8 also but it really puzzles me. Any Ideas?

 

[sammyz2646]

You might need to check your gauges. Dont think anything would do well at that ph. You should be fluctuating between 5.4 - 6.0 max

 

[buddin_904]

i assume your buckets have an airpump with airstone? well the dissolved oxygen essentially raises the pH. however, your question is a good one that i dont have the answer to. it would be nice if someone chimed in who can account for this.

in my exp, i would pH nutes to 6.(going into coco btw) and put them in the res. then run the system. and the airstone would dramatically raise the pH to the 8s. well, the plants never looked bad, they looked great. i ran this for about a week or so, but then disconnected the system because i put mollases in the res and it was getting pretty hot everyday.

 

[connollyr123456]

I would have thought it was the gauge but I bought a brand new gauge (now I have two) and calibrated the units. I then tested and my readings for the plants were oposite of what you would think. The plants that weren't doing well had a PH of about 6.7 wheras the plant that is jumping out of the bucket reads about 8.1. really makes no sense at all.

 

[connollyr123456]

The really dilemma i face is how should I feed the 8.1 and how should I buffer it?

 

[Outportgrower]

Are these both the same strain? The ph issue/quandary is just that. People see and read one thing and think that every plant *must* remain within this set level but that is so far from the truth. Is the plant in the high ph growing well? Is it showing any deficiencies? If not, I would not worry about it too much since clearly everything is working out well for that particular plant. You could try to take the ph back down to the gospel readings and have it potentially die, but what would that prove, that it was fine at the higher than normal reading?

Get to know your plants. Seems that each-time someone comes along and tries to tell someone what will work they tend to forget that each system and plant are different. A good baseline is needed, but never to be written in stone. When you start to think that something needs to be one way or another you will see that nature has another rule all to it's own.

Good luck with it, and you never know you might just be onto something interesting.

 

[Dr Dog]

You might need to check your gauges. Dont think anything would do well at that ph. You should be fluctuating between 5.4 - 6.0 max

I agree, recalibrate your testing devices

8.1 is not ridiculous but will cause lockout pretty fast

My tap water is about 8.1 right out of tap

 

[connollyr123456]

I am going to add some pictures its really getting to be a puzzle, I am not sure where to go now on adding nutes and water.

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[connollyr123456]

Now here is the picture of my plant
I recalibrated just the other day that makes twice.
First on the upside then on the downside tested my tap water came out about 7.1

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[FreezerBoy]

You're right, it makes no sense. I say call it a mutant and give it what it wants. Though I'd check your meters against some pH drops.

 

[connollyr123456]

Well here is my High PH plant now running more like PH 7.1

 

[connollyr123456]

Here is the little guy running about PH 6.8

 

[connollyr123456]

This is my first real Hydro grow and so far it seems good the little guy had some problems last week but I changed out the water and lowered the PPM to about 300 that seemed to make a huge difference.
My question is how high should I run my PPM? I am using Fox Farms Grow Big and Big Bloom
I added some Big Bloom to both about two days ago (half a teaspoon) and it really seemed to make a difference in their growth.They are both running about 300.

 

[ureapwhatusow]

would love to see your pen read in 7.0 and 4.0/10.0

i do believe PH sensitivity to vary with strain but this seems a bit extreme

be interesting to know there are strains out there that have this level of tolerance

 

[connollyr123456]

Will do that today I agree it just made no sense, this is a new pen calibrated twice in 4 and 7
I actually need to pick up some more 4 but I want to really understand whats going on here.

 

[GroDoc]

Optimal ppm and pH obviously varies significantly depending on strain and setup. I usually run about 300 ppm at first for newly rooted cuttings, then increase by 100-200 ppm every few days till I see some nute burn (usually around 1000ppm) then drop back a touch and watch the new leaves. 800-900 is usually where it settles out. When I go to flower, I start at about the same concentration the veg's left off at then titrate my way up till I see a little burn then drop back as before. I agree ph8 is high. You might add some pHDown in small quantities till your pH stops "creeping". Stabilizing an optimal ppm will prob help w/ pH creep too. peace and good luck.

 

[connollyr123456]

Here are some pictures from this morning
Big plant seems to really be dropping PH 6.5 PPM 300-400
Small plant is 6.1 PPM 500

 

[BagseedBoy]

hey when I looked at the plants.. You can see the one with the high ph, the leaves are crinklin, and aren't growing like the smaller one is with the better ph. Ph will cause nute lockout and unusual growth. If the plant seems to be doing good, just imagine when the ph is where it wants it... Don't lower or raise more then a couple levels in a short period of time, that can cause other problems(a big ph flux). The plant should talk to you and tell you what it wants... So play with it a lil more, and find that plants happy medium, cuz like everyone has said... IT ALL DEPENDS ON STRAIN,. I have a chart for nute absorption.. let me try an post it>>>
Also when growing hydroponically if its done right you can practically watch the plant grow... SERIOUSLY

 

[connollyr123456]

This was a picture of the big boy this morning PH is coming down very slowly its at about 6.5 today

 

[connollyr123456]

Here is the small one its running a bit lower in PH about 6.1