Help with organic coco pH

Texaselias

New Member
How long has this problem been going on? 4 days
What system are you running? (DWC? Ebb flow? Aero? Water Farm? Flood Tables? and so on...) hand watered dna mills coco coir with cork mixed with 10% worm castings, dolomite lime, and azomite in 5 gal smart pots.
What STRAIN are you growing? Barneys cookies kush and their blueberry
What was the establishing technique? (Were the seed or clone?) Seed
What is the age of your plants? Approx 1 mo from when I touched water to seed
How long have they been in there mixture they are in now?(coco,soiless etc..) 2 weeks
How tall are the plants? 6-8 inches
What PHASE are the plants in? (seedling, vegetative or flower) are the plants in? Veg
What Technique are you using? Handwater, lst (bread ties, topped/fimmed)
What color are your roots? White? Brown? Are your roots slimy? white and very healthy
What Nutrient's are you using?(If growing soiless) earth juice grow, micro, catalyst, meta k, hygrozyme, botanicare cal mag plus.
How much of each nutrient are you using with how much water? *Knowing the brand is very helpful* 2tsp/gal grow, 1tsp/gal catalyst, 1/4tsp/gal micro, 1Tbsp/gal hi brix molasses. All of that is bubbled for 24hrs, then 1/2tsp/gal hygrozyme and 2tsp/gal cal mag+ added right before hand water to run off
How often are you feeding? (If using soiless) every 24hrs
How often are you giving nutrients? (If using soiless) every watering
What is the pH of the "Tank"? 6.2
How often are you testing your pH/PPM/EC/TDS? Not enough
Are you sure your calibration is correct on your equipment? Using strips
When was your last watering? 24 hours ago currently. I usually water around this time
What size bulb are you using? 1000w hps
How old is the bulbs you are using? Brand new
What is the distance to the canopy? Approx 6'
What is your RH Factor(Relative Humidity)? Hovers around 50-55
What is the canopy temperature? 75 constant
What is the Day/Night Temp? Doesn't go below 6 8
Is the fan blowing directly at plants? Yes
What water are you using? Reverse Osmosis (RO)? Tap? Bottled? Well water? Distilled? Mineral Water? Tap through a pur filter
If using tap water, what is the ppm/EC/TDS of the water right out of the tap? Ph:6.2 after I bubble it for 24 hours
Has plant been recently pruned, cloned off of or pinched. Yes, have grown past that but stunted again
Have any pest chemicals been used? If so, What and When? No
Are plant's infected with pest's. Gnats but they don't seem to hurt

Long time reader first time poster. Tried to include all the info I could, can do pics tomorrow. I never flushed my coco to begin with and now am kicking myself in the ass. My cheapo soil ph tester reads 6-6.2 through all plants. Run off reads super high like 6.8 for all. My water is bubbled and levels out to 6.2. Ej Nutes bubble for another 24 hours along with a daily fresh tea bag of my worm castings I produced myself, ph is a cool 6.1 after the cal mag and hygrozyme. I stunted my girls by fimming and too much with the meta k from the ej line as a noob mistake, way too much k. cut it out for now and they bounced right back within hours. New growth looks fine and they exploded with growth as they should've. Everything was going noticeably good for a few days, but now they are showing zinc deficiency and aren't growing at all. I figure it's zinc by appearance, it's affecting only New growth and the stunted growth. I'm starting to think it's that crazy ph, but there are those who say trust the bennies. I have ph strips and up and down, not enough money for a ec or ph or anything wand right now. Should I try to ease ph down? Should I full flush? With diluted nutes or no? I guess this is somewhat uncharted territory, so any and all info is appreciated. Also random pointers on organic coco are cool too
 
Interesting mix. Of course you are having a deficiency with a soilless grow operating at a 6.2 pH. Your proper range is 5.5-6.1 Adjust down to 5.8 and I believe that your problem will go away. These two charts should show you all the things you are locking out at your current pH.

Nutrient_Chart27.gif


NutrientPHRange.jpg
 
Any advice on swinging the ph? Like full on flush or try to adjust it gradually? Also, to achieve this, where should I be setting my ph? Eg, at 5.7ish and just put enough diluted nute mix through them or over time? I know if I were using synthetics id just flush, is this the case here? Thanks for those charts btw

Side question, any one have input on using earth juice nutes without bubbling prior? I did one time and people say it can send your ph crazy high as it breaks down, then others say since it's an active organic mix it is natural and shouldn't matter. Thanks guys
 
just make sure that every fluid hitting your system is set to 5.8... don't over think it. The medium will follow the fluid. Flushing is to remove salts, not to somehow artificially set the pH of your medium temporarily.

on your side question... bubbling is what is keeping your plants alive. Roots need to see oxygen, and this is how you are providing it since you are always keeping the medium wet. Again, don't overthink the pH... just adjust it to 5.8 before you apply it to the system.
 
Ah so flushing is just to get out salts. Gotcha thanks for the info, so you think within a week or so I could expect ph of medium to follow suit? I just don't wanna tank the smaller ones. I'll post update once I see change
 
when you saturate your medium with water set to the proper pH, the pH of that solution stays steady at pretty close to the pH of your incoming fluid, at least for a while... and then in most mediums you experience a bit of drift upward as the water reacts to the stuff in the mix, and with the coco mix you have created you are no doubt getting a strong upward drift with that dolomite in there, but I don't see why this wouldn't work... you just have to get your incoming fluids adjusted correctly so as to be able to pick up all the needed nutrients.
 
Excellent, thanks man. Might go with mills or bcuzz or something like ph perfect next time. You live and learn. I'm just surprised they're still alive haha
 
Nevermind I can't seem to figure out how to post pictures :h. Any way, I watered them through with 5.6 ph 1/2 diluted nutes. Also put little rocks under my smart pots so they sit above their drain pan and don't sit directly in the run off
 
Well flushed them good with 5.6 ph half diluted nutes. Any ideas how long it should take a mobile nutrient lockout (zinc) to correct itself? Also, anyone have tips on how to get pics on here? I'd love to contribute more to a community that gave me so much info.
 
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