pH, watering, and harvest questions

[brettweir]

Hey guys, I've got some questions for ya..

First, I've got what looks like a nutrient-deficient plant, and it's getting worse. I'm thinking it's a pH problem which is locking out the nutes, but the problem there is my new digital pH tester won't be in for a couple weeks. I've got about 20 more days left on this plant. Most of the leaf tips are dying/browning and curling upwards. The buds look perfectly fine, but I'm worried it'll get to them before I can harvest. If I decide to harvest early, will the buds be really low-quality as far as the high goes? They're looking frosty right now but i'm worried they won't be mature enough to get a good high if I chop the plant early.

Back to pH, what are the best natural ways to bring the pH up or down? I'm kind of worried that my water is a little too much on the alkaline side. I've got plenty of dolomite lime, although that just sets the pH to 7.0 right? The water may also be pretty hard. I've got a meter for that coming along with my pH tester. If the water has lots of TDS, is there any way to get the number down? And when testing, do I measure the water going INTO the plant, as well as the drainage?

Lastly, when my plants are in flowering stage, what's a good schedule for watering? They don't seem to use a whole lot. It can go at least 4 days without needing water. Is the easiest way to check if it needs water to just check the first inch or so of soil, and if it's dry, to water?

[Doctor Dread]

What up Brett,

If you harvest early, the high is more likely to be heady. Do you have any way to check the trichomes? A 30x pocket scope works great but a mag glass would work just fine.
Trichome development and harvest time: how to get the best high

You can add vinegar to get the ph down, just dont add very much... Yes, measure the water going into the plant, as well as the drainage. Make sure the soil ph is within 6-7 for optimal nute uptake.

As far as watering goes, If the soil a few inches down is dry, it needs water. If its moist, check the next day. If its soupy muddy, chances are your overwatering... You can also just lift them up to see if they are heavy or light, and go by that.

Some photos would help us to better diagnose the deficiency, it there is one.

Peace

[zolar]

if you are using dirt/soil you could loosen each affected plant and
aerate the soil with a ling thin wire [coat hanger or so] and soak them with distilled water until they are dripping out a lot of water

al;so pull a plant out of the pot and check the roots healthy roots are usually white and feel a flexible al dente firm sort of like pasta
thats about 3/4 to al dente if roots are black grey slimy etc
you might save the plant by trimming about and inch into healthy root on any bad tendrels and flushing they soil off completely in a large wash tub with bleach or peroxide or some commercial agri. fundicide added to the water and then all new
sterilized dirrt with some good compost in a new pot or wash that pot with hot!!@ water and lotsa bleach

look up soil flushing of container plants to get more explainations

just some steps we did regularly to preserve old stock lines
at a greenhouse i used to work at...

but back to the flush lots of water a light feed end stage fert?
lots water 2x -3x very light feed then last three waters plain water and lots could use some flush agent

that cycle could get you through last 10- 15 days on a soil plant
and save from either nutes problems or some rots and fungguses
if you change the soil and/or flush weith peroxide or trim roots of bad if needed

pulling a plant and looking at the roots and dirt at the bottom or sides when healthy can make a root rot over water etc real easy to tell if changing to plain water and flushing doesn't help when it acts sick

[Racefan]

was root rot mentioned in the original post? I'm trying to figure out why we got to root trimming and unpotting plants to look there when I thought the biggest problem was leaf tip burn? Pruning roots and unpotting plants at 5 weeks into flower is not the best course of action IMO. If your at 5 weeks your getting near the end. Some yellowing is normal but not a lot. IMO, without seeing pics, you have hot soil and need to flush really well and add back a 1/4 strength dose of nutrients.
For PH...quit screwing around with this crap like vinegar or citus juice or baking soda and use what's made for this purpose. Buy some PH down and some PH up. It's cheap and a bottle will last you a long, long time. All that other crap does work to a degree but it's about half as reliable and doesn't last half as long so more treatments and monitoring are needed. Never add both up and down to the same reservoir. If you add too much PH down you either add more nutrient solution to balance it out or start over but never add up and down together.
The easiest way to determine watering needs are to let the plant dry out till it just starts to wilt and then pick up the plant and container. Judge how it feels. Then water it till it's totally soaked and pick it up again. Now you know that when it gets close to being as light as it was when it was dry, it needs water.

[Ms.Fox]

^ I agree.

[brettweir]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I have some pics of the deficiency here, but the problem has gotten worse since then. It's weird though. It only seems to be affecting either the top leaves or the older leaves. Alot of the newer leaves in the plant's midsection are perfectly fine.

Anyhow, last night I flushed it. I used about 6 gallons of water or so. The colours were starting to run a lot clearer by the end of it. On the last gallon I mixed some dolomite lime in the water and flushed it with that, hopefully stabilizing the pH a little bit. I then used just a little bit of my nutes which is "blooming" bat guano. She seemed ok when I checked this morning, but I'll have to really watch as the week goes on. I doubt I'll see any change just yet.

Does anyone here use bottled water instead of tap water. I don't have the money to be buying a reverse-osmosis machine, and my water is pretty hard. The cheapest water around here has a PPM of 290, which isn't too bad. Chlorine-free too. I've been using straight tap water this whole time and I'm thinking the crap in there has been building up in the soil and blocking out nutrients to the plant.

Next time around I'm going to get some decent liquid ferts. I'm sick of screwing around and mixing guano. I don't think it's got any micro-nutrients in it, whereas using Fox Farms Big Bloom in conjuction with Grow Big/Tiger Bloom would give me all the nutrients I need.

[zolar]

bat guano is pretty "hot stuff" easy to burn plants with and usually quick acting

might be worth it to get a hard water fert also you could put a bucket under the downspout and get rain water

[Thomas Wooten]

U might want to pick up the marijuana Horticulture Medical Growers Bible by Jorge cervantes ! This book is really good for figuring out & fixing all kinds of problems ! I personally Have read this book and I cant find anything that this book does not cover ! Its a 10 if U ask me check it out its only $30.00 at borders !

[brettweir]

Heh, thanks Thomas but I've already got the book. Although she's a great read and pretty much a how-to of growing, there are some problems you might run into where only others' opinions/suggestions can help you out. Overall I prefer to have a forum full of helpful people when something goes haywire in my plant. I love reading that book though; so many helpful pics and tips. It's a great read!

[Thomas Wooten]

Well I just thought it might be worth looking at ? If U flush with R/O ph@ 6.2 & add 5ml of super thrive 2 1gal that WILL fix the problem ! I guarantee it, also check your run off ppm & ph ! Good luck & I will talk 2 ya soon !