My pH was 8+

[Emilya Green]

Thank you, I think I will wait until next paycheck and get the BlueLab... I'd rather not have to buy another one again lol. I grow in soil, is the pen adequate for my needs or would I be better off with one of the more expensive meters?

That will be a fine tool to add to your garden supplies. Accuracy counts.

 

[Detoxx]

I have a lot ... let me say that again... a LOT of experience in Fox Farm soils and in using their entire nutrient line. First of all, don't go by what is said on the bottles... actually do some research and find the easy to download feeding chart that explains exactly how to use the trio for each week of the grow.

Up your game... being satisfied with being in the usable range of soil pH, between 6.3-6.8 is not good enough. Get some accuracy... 6.3 is the sweet spot, and even a bit lower in FFOF. At least a few times during your grow you will want to dip down to 6.2 pH and let the system rise through the range from there, because without at least occasionally hitting the very bottom of the scale, invariably FFOF and FF nutrient grows will have a late season molybdenum deficiency that is very confusing and hard to diagnose. Come in low a few times so that these heavy metals can be picked up at the lower end of the range, and this deficiency never occurs.

I want to stress how much your inaccuracy is hurting you in this very scientific system. The difference between 6.3 and 6.4 pH is actually quite large on the chemical scale, and not knowing if you are closer to 6.3 or 6.8 is way beyond tolerable. You either want to take advantage of your expensive nutes, or not. Accurate pH adjustments are as much a part of it as regular 3x flushes are, in a Fox Farms grow. To directly answer your question, yes, wild inaccuracy in pH adjustment can easily cause lockouts of all kinds, including calcium and magnesium. The problem here is you, not your soil or your nutes... sorry to be so blunt, but you had to hear it.

Well sometimes you need to hear it like it is. I will purchase the milwaukee ph pen to ensure i am 100% accurate. This is my first grow. So i am still very new