ph????? LC mix not buffering for me
- Thread starter richyrich
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rckymtnthuglife
Member
To be honest... I'm drunk and stoned. Read the last page of this thread....more like skimmed it over and it made me chuckle. (I do feel a bit guilty about that) I read something about potassium hydroxide or the phosphoric acid I assume you're using as well.
Lockout city my friend.
Dump the AN bullshit. The humic and fulvic acids from them are good if stored in a cool place. I did a side by side for myself on that. Mother Earth Super Tea if ya want to be a super hippie. JUST MHO.
Just because you use LC's mix doesn't mean you can water your plants with diesel.
I have done the same shit you are doing and by no means disrespect. One point I will try to get across is if you have hard water from the beginning you will have to alter your plans. ie no lime for the seedlings....B1 or Suby, especially Suby, if he's around here can give ya details on it. You microherd is your nutrients and to be frank it sounds like your killing them with the chemical pH adjusters you are using. There is alot of debate about this but I don't give two shits about pH when using LC's mix. I feed my plants with a diluted tea almost every watering.
Peace
Rcky
I hope that was somewhat helpful.
What I like best about IC is evertime I get up from the computer the bowl and the lighter hit the floor...sometimes simultaneously.
Lockout city my friend.
Dump the AN bullshit. The humic and fulvic acids from them are good if stored in a cool place. I did a side by side for myself on that. Mother Earth Super Tea if ya want to be a super hippie. JUST MHO.
Just because you use LC's mix doesn't mean you can water your plants with diesel.
I have done the same shit you are doing and by no means disrespect. One point I will try to get across is if you have hard water from the beginning you will have to alter your plans. ie no lime for the seedlings....B1 or Suby, especially Suby, if he's around here can give ya details on it. You microherd is your nutrients and to be frank it sounds like your killing them with the chemical pH adjusters you are using. There is alot of debate about this but I don't give two shits about pH when using LC's mix. I feed my plants with a diluted tea almost every watering.
Peace
Rcky
I hope that was somewhat helpful.
What I like best about IC is evertime I get up from the computer the bowl and the lighter hit the floor...sometimes simultaneously.
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I just went ahead and limed all of my FFOF and 30% perlite. I liked the texture. It was not clumpy when wet in my hand but the LC pro mix is noticably much fluffier. I took 4 of my yellow zebras and tranplanted them into 5 gallon buckets from 2 gallons. 2 went in the FFOF and perlite and the other 2 went into the LC mix I already had. This time I watered them with straight RO water out of my collection drum. Even though it does not matter, I already know my RO is at a ph of 6.5. I'm gonna see how it goes for the next week. If all turns around with either one or both then I will transplant them all and flip. Then I think I will feed with just RO water and then a tea of EWC, Kelp meal and liquid karma every third watering. That's the plan and I hope the RO water works out ok. Heard both sides with the RO and I have to try one way first.
I was about to go half tap and RO water now. I did a test and added half tap and half RO. Readings came out at 7.5ph and 225ppm. My tap is 450ppm and 8.3ph, it sucks. I said forget it and stuck to the RO for now. Maybe if I have to I will go 1/4 tap and 3/4 RO. Got my fingers crossed that the RO will work fine along with the generous amount of lime at 2tbp a gallon.
I was about to go half tap and RO water now. I did a test and added half tap and half RO. Readings came out at 7.5ph and 225ppm. My tap is 450ppm and 8.3ph, it sucks. I said forget it and stuck to the RO for now. Maybe if I have to I will go 1/4 tap and 3/4 RO. Got my fingers crossed that the RO will work fine along with the generous amount of lime at 2tbp a gallon.
organick
Member
If I have gnats, I assume I have mites, over stimulation is a problem with all of our society today. B1 I sometimes think is acually a philosopher talking metaphorically at times.
All kinds of stuff can be in blood meal. I stay away from it myself. Read: Bhagavad-Gita
Air flow and easy meditation.
peace love and serenity.
EDIT: A human philosopher, 2 tbls. of dolo, for me, is a bit much.
EDIT numero dos: I prefer 1.7 tbls. of dolo (sometimes 1.832 tbls.). If this keeps up I may go metric.
All kinds of stuff can be in blood meal. I stay away from it myself. Read: Bhagavad-Gita
Air flow and easy meditation.
peace love and serenity.
EDIT: A human philosopher, 2 tbls. of dolo, for me, is a bit much.
EDIT numero dos: I prefer 1.7 tbls. of dolo (sometimes 1.832 tbls.). If this keeps up I may go metric.
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From all the threads I read some people said no lime, 1tbs lime and 2tbs lime. So, with all experienced advice given and read there still is no consensus. Of course, this is pertaining to FF Ocean Forest only. Knowing that FFOF has some oyster shells in it and whatever else, in my opinion it probably could of went 1tbs but I went ahead and added 2tbs; being generous to the FFOF, imo.
Left everything out - just straight RO water.
Left everything out - just straight RO water.
richyrich-
Dude, if what I think has happened to your grow has indeed happened (the killing of the microherd) then your going to have to get the microbes going again. Do that by using worm casting (or compost) tea. 1 cup worm castings or compost to 5 gallons of water plus 5 tablespoons black strap molasses. Without the microherd, your plants will starve. The microbes "eat" the organic material and excrete food the plants can take up through their roots.
I could be wrong here, but I think your problem is you killed the bacteria.
And besides, it won't hurt anything.
Also, add 2 tbs./gal. of ANY mix. FFOF, Black Gold nor any other commercial soil mix has enough calcium and/or magnesium in it for our type of growing. So use it.
Burn1
Dude, if what I think has happened to your grow has indeed happened (the killing of the microherd) then your going to have to get the microbes going again. Do that by using worm casting (or compost) tea. 1 cup worm castings or compost to 5 gallons of water plus 5 tablespoons black strap molasses. Without the microherd, your plants will starve. The microbes "eat" the organic material and excrete food the plants can take up through their roots.
I could be wrong here, but I think your problem is you killed the bacteria.
And besides, it won't hurt anything.
Also, add 2 tbs./gal. of ANY mix. FFOF, Black Gold nor any other commercial soil mix has enough calcium and/or magnesium in it for our type of growing. So use it.
Burn1
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BurnOne said:
I think you just may be right. I transplanted my mothers into the FFOF, perlite, lime and one of them is already turning around. New nice green shoots coming out.
As far as the others in my bloom room, two were transplanted in the LC mix and two others in the FFOF, perlite and lime. I have a five gallon bucket of RO water, 1cup of EWC and a couple of tbs of kelp meal with some molasses brewing right now. It should be ready tomorrow. This will be the real test when I give them the tea tomorrow and see how they react. I feel strong that the FFOF mix will work fine but I am rooting for the LC mix because that is what I want to use.
Thanks...
I found out something big time today that was completely environmental. I am very happy though because I have eliminated one problem in the endless variables.
I was vegging all of my girls under 2 1k lights in a 4 x 8 area. I had the lights 2-3 feet from the tops and they are air cooled and ac in the room, the works. I turned off the lights for 8 hours just to see what would happen because I was running them veg 24 hrs. I now fully believe in giving your girls a little rest in veg. I wasn't suspicious of the lights because I had them so high up. And before anybody says my problem was light bleaching it was not. I know what that looks like first hand from my first grow ever and besides check out these pictures. I walked into a room of praying yellow zebras. With the rest from the lights they all perked up. One problem solved, why my plants were so droopy all of the time - it was too much light for them.
So, now the proof is in that I have a for sure cal/mag deficiency. This is what they look like as of now. The ones I tranplanted into 5 gallon buckets of the FFOF mix and the LC mix look the same. A few days ago I watered with this.
I did not adjust anything but I took readings to know all variables. Starting RO water ph 6.5. I diluted the EWC/kelp meal tea at 4 to 1 with the RO and the ph went in at 5.7.
Now, I don't know if I am being impatient but I still have a cal/mag deficiency in both mixes. So, what is it now.
Could it be the RO water, I have heard both sides on the issue. Next watering I will use 1/3 bubbled tap in my EWC tea and see what happens. If that fixes things I will be very happy. Fingers crossed.
I was vegging all of my girls under 2 1k lights in a 4 x 8 area. I had the lights 2-3 feet from the tops and they are air cooled and ac in the room, the works. I turned off the lights for 8 hours just to see what would happen because I was running them veg 24 hrs. I now fully believe in giving your girls a little rest in veg. I wasn't suspicious of the lights because I had them so high up. And before anybody says my problem was light bleaching it was not. I know what that looks like first hand from my first grow ever and besides check out these pictures. I walked into a room of praying yellow zebras. With the rest from the lights they all perked up. One problem solved, why my plants were so droopy all of the time - it was too much light for them.
So, now the proof is in that I have a for sure cal/mag deficiency. This is what they look like as of now. The ones I tranplanted into 5 gallon buckets of the FFOF mix and the LC mix look the same. A few days ago I watered with this.
I did not adjust anything but I took readings to know all variables. Starting RO water ph 6.5. I diluted the EWC/kelp meal tea at 4 to 1 with the RO and the ph went in at 5.7.
Now, I don't know if I am being impatient but I still have a cal/mag deficiency in both mixes. So, what is it now.
Could it be the RO water, I have heard both sides on the issue. Next watering I will use 1/3 bubbled tap in my EWC tea and see what happens. If that fixes things I will be very happy. Fingers crossed.
Magnesium and Calcium are slow movers throughout the plant, too much light or too much heat will lock these elements out, the problem may not be in the rootzone, give them time to recover from the stress.
If used LC's mix with dolomite I find it hard to believe you have a Ca or Mg deficienty due to anything going wrong in the root zone.
Keep feeding with plain non RO water or mix it to 300ppms and see what happens
If used LC's mix with dolomite I find it hard to believe you have a Ca or Mg deficienty due to anything going wrong in the root zone.
Keep feeding with plain non RO water or mix it to 300ppms and see what happens
Excellent info to know. Thanks Suby.
The thing that makes me lean towards the RO water is because I have a control going on too. My mothers are in their own environment under floros - T5s. They are in the same soil mixes being watered the same way and they have had no problems with light. They are stout and perky besides that they too are suffering from the same deficiencies. Logical deduction would have you conclude that the light may not be the cause. I have to suspect the water. I'm still playing it out because I have to know so I can dial in later. Folks here say RO is no problem and some say that it is absolutely the problem. The control, the mothers, will get mixed tap/RO water and we will see what happens.
Here are some pics of the mothers in semi-recovery but still deficient.
The thing that makes me lean towards the RO water is because I have a control going on too. My mothers are in their own environment under floros - T5s. They are in the same soil mixes being watered the same way and they have had no problems with light. They are stout and perky besides that they too are suffering from the same deficiencies. Logical deduction would have you conclude that the light may not be the cause. I have to suspect the water. I'm still playing it out because I have to know so I can dial in later. Folks here say RO is no problem and some say that it is absolutely the problem. The control, the mothers, will get mixed tap/RO water and we will see what happens.
Here are some pics of the mothers in semi-recovery but still deficient.
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RO can grow great weed once you've dialed it in but initially it is very easy to sway the ph of RO water.
Tap water is much more stable ph wise and has added calcium and magnesium, if you have a more stable ph then your plants will be easier to recover.
You can make any water quality work for you in organics but it's origina; ppm and ph have to be taken into consideration when you mix your soil.
Tap water is much more stable ph wise and has added calcium and magnesium, if you have a more stable ph then your plants will be easier to recover.
You can make any water quality work for you in organics but it's origina; ppm and ph have to be taken into consideration when you mix your soil.
I would like to thank all of you for your help. I am pretty confident that my problem all along was the RO water. I had narrowed it down to two things, either I killed the microherd as Burn1 suggested or the lack of quick acting cal and mag such as in tap water because of the RO and a calmag hungry strain.
I had earlier tried adding a calmag supplement to my bloom room and didn't see any difference. I think I was inpatient and should of tried a few more feeds with the calmag. Also, I think the microherd was dead until I watered with a EWC tea.
Where I think I figured it out is in my mother room. I put my old mothers and some new ones in the mixes of LC and FFOF with lime. This was my control and what I was playing around with the most. I never added any ph adjusters here or anything else to kill the herd. I got the same deficiencies. Since seeing that I have done 2 waterings with a EWC and kelp tea, RO water and a half dose of sensical. I tried the calmag supplement first just because I did not want to hassle with tap and I dont like the thought of chlorine which can be taken care of but I wasnt sure of the chloramines. I had tried the calmag supplement before in the bloom room but this time I upped the dose and used it on the mothers. I will post pictures later, but I have to say that the yellowing is gone. Beautiful green leaves. So, from what I can conclude it was the plain RO water. I will now use the same waterings in my bloom room and flip them into flower.
I had earlier tried adding a calmag supplement to my bloom room and didn't see any difference. I think I was inpatient and should of tried a few more feeds with the calmag. Also, I think the microherd was dead until I watered with a EWC tea.
Where I think I figured it out is in my mother room. I put my old mothers and some new ones in the mixes of LC and FFOF with lime. This was my control and what I was playing around with the most. I never added any ph adjusters here or anything else to kill the herd. I got the same deficiencies. Since seeing that I have done 2 waterings with a EWC and kelp tea, RO water and a half dose of sensical. I tried the calmag supplement first just because I did not want to hassle with tap and I dont like the thought of chlorine which can be taken care of but I wasnt sure of the chloramines. I had tried the calmag supplement before in the bloom room but this time I upped the dose and used it on the mothers. I will post pictures later, but I have to say that the yellowing is gone. Beautiful green leaves. So, from what I can conclude it was the plain RO water. I will now use the same waterings in my bloom room and flip them into flower.
