600 Watt Hydro Jack Herer - GHS

[Lyra]

Re: 600 watt Hydro Jack Herrer (GHS)

Okay I got a new PH meter. I didn't have any distilled water so I tested it with some vinegar. PH was 2.4 exactly what it should be, so I'm pretty confidant in the accuracy of the meter.

Base Water (Per 4 Gallons)
PH: 7.4
PPM: 305

Water + Nutrients
PH: 6.3
PPM: 970

Water + Nutrients + 1.5 teaspoons of PH down
PH: 6.0
PPM: 960

I guess with a PH of 6.3 my tap water was OK right out of the faucet. I am going to adjust the PH of 2 more gallons of water to 5.8 and add it to the nutrient mix. My plant seems to like a PPM (.5) of 820, which is oddly only 515 if I were using distilled water. That doesn't seem like much, I've seen post where people say they use 1200 in flowering. But since that's all she needs I'm not going poison her with extra nutrients. I'm very interested to see if she uses more nutrients with the water at a slightly lower PH.

I will be posting bud pictures in about half an hour.

A few days ago I wound up pruning a lot of her fan leaves. It makes me sad she isn't as bushy and lush as before. There was such an abundance of leaves, however, that it was not healthy for her any longer. The humidity in my home has been very high lately. So high, in fact, that I've been miserable. When she stretched her leaves started to rest against the sides of the tent and against one another. This led to some moisture retention that I deemed unsafe. I would rather have a smaller yield than no yield at all due to mold and rotting. I have learned to trust my instincts and mine were screaming at me to do something. I will never know if it was unnecessary but all the same I'm glad I did it - for my peace of mind!

You will know for sure when you get your PH meter. Your thinking is correct, but how do you know your water has a high alkalinity?

The PH test strips I got indicated it. They actually appear to have worked rather well! Only .5 off for the nutrient solution and .2 off for the PH down!

I am going to see how much it drifts up over the next week. Next water change I may ADJUST THE PH to 5.8 to give a broader spectrum.

 

[Lyra]

Re: 600 watt Hydro Jack Herrer (GHS)

 

[Lyra]

Re: 600 watt Hydro Jack Herrer (GHS)

Sorry! I got a little picture crazy! She's just so pretty.

Final PPM 870 (Higher then I wanted but I got tired of messing with it. Hopefully with the lower PH she will be able to absorb the nutrients without getting any toxicity.)

Final PH 6.0

She got an hour long 'bath' instead of her normal 20 minute one. While I make her a new batch of nutrients I put her in straight water to flush any build up off her roots. She seems to enjoy it, and there's usually some broken roots on the bottom of the bucket after, so it helps to keep the reservoir clean.

 

[Lyra]

Re: 600 watt Hydro Jack Herrer (GHS)

She looks great this morning! Not sure exactly why she looks better, she's just more vibrant or something. She did in fact use more of her nutrients with the lower PH. She used 40 ppm of nutrients last night.

The stupid PH was back up to 7.0 this morning!! I had to add FOUR teaspoons oh PH down to get it back down to 6.1.

Does anyone know if an excessive amount of PH down will hurt my plant? If the PH stays within range? 4 teaspoons a day, that's what? 20 ml of it.. every day for a week. 140 ml in her reservoir by the time I do a water change. That can't be good. Anybody have some advice on this?

 

[TheCapn]

Re: 600 watt Hydro Jack Herrer (GHS)

She looks great this morning! Not sure exactly why she looks better, she's just more vibrant or something. She did in fact use more of her nutrients with the lower PH. She used 40 ppm of nutrients last night.

The stupid PH was back up to 7.0 this morning!! I had to add FOUR teaspoons oh PH down to get it back down to 6.1.

Does anyone know if an excessive amount of PH down will hurt my plant? If the PH stays within range? 4 teaspoons a day, that's what? 20 ml of it.. every day for a week. 140 ml in her reservoir by the time I do a water change. That can't be good. Anybody have some advice on this?

Lyra, you certainly have a "Green thumb". Very pretty pictures. I don't think you did too much damage by taking off fan leaves because it still has plenty.

A few things:

1. Remember alkalinity and PH are different. Think of the alkalinity as the ability of the water to hold PH higher. For growing, we don't need to worry about alkalinity, only need to worry about PH. And yes, for best results, we DO need to keep it in range.

2. >>>Okay I got a new PH meter. I didn't have any distilled water so I tested it with some vinegar. PH was 2.4 exactly what it should be, so I'm pretty confidant in the accuracy of the meter.
You will need to buy some PH calibration solution to accurately calibrate your meter. Any grow store should have it and it will be about $7. Calibrate your meter weekly. When you measure PH, be sure to let it sit in the water for a minute or so to make sure you are getting a good reading. And of course be sure to keep the probe wet in distilled water all the time.

3. >>>I had to add FOUR teaspoons oh PH down to get it back down to 6.1.
I don't know what kind of "PH DOWN" you have but that seems like a lot. I've used some PH down from the pet shop and it seems like I needed to use a ton of it. Now I use the GH power and it only takes a tad.

4. >>>During rapid veg growth, PH will have a tendency to rise, ESPECIALLY in medium-less growing, like DWC. It can be a challenge to keep the PH down, to the point where you might need to lower it every day. Again, make sure your PH meter is reading correctly. Using rockwool, you get near DWC growth rates and it really does help to stabilize the PH. Most of my PH problems went away after I started using RO water. It's not necessary, I'm just sayin ;-) Yeah, you don't want to consume a lot of PH down. I would say to get some better PH down and only use what you need to get it down to 6.3. Remember to use it conservatively and DO NOT over correct!

5. >>>She looks great this morning! Not sure exactly why she looks better, she's just more vibrant or something. She did in fact use more of her nutrients with the lower PH. She used 40 ppm of nutrients last night.
Again, that is your green thumb coming out. Nice job. But don't think about your plant "using" ppm of nutrients. It doesn't really work that way, even though you'll see stoners talking about it. As water evaporates or is transpired by your plant, the PPM will rise. There is no way the plant can use dissolved solids, faster than it uses water. These PPM meters we use are crap. Even the $150 24/7 meter I use is not very accurate. I can take the probe out, put it back in and it reads 20-50ppm different. If bubbles are flowing under the probe, that throws the reading off as well.

6. >>>Final PPM 870
I agree that is slightly high for 2nd week of flower but it's good.

You are doing fantastic with this beauty! Is it possible to get a side view picture so we can see more of the plant?

 

[Lyra]

This is what I'm using for PH down. It's the same brand as yours, only liquid. I don't know if that makes a difference.

I calibrated it today after I went to the store. I was planning on it, I just wanted to test it out before I could buy some distilled water.

Here are some side pictures. I tried my best to squeeze in there to get them. The way I have the tent set up I can only back up so far. The opening is about a foot from the wall. (So the neighbors can't see through the window when I have it open.)

I found this today. Not very happy. At ALL. I don't know WTF is wrong. I'm cursed when I mess with the PH!!!!!!

It's all crispy! grrrrr. Nute burn? I topped her off with some fresh water, hopefully that's all it is and I diluted her water well enough. I'm so pissed. She's been practically perfect this whole time, now I gotta deal with this BS. Stupid flowering! I should have just let her veg forever.

As for the PPM, I just recently read a thread that pretty much said, if your PPM rises as the water decreases, too many nutrients, if your PPM decreases with the water too few. If your PPM and water decrease at similar rates, it's just right. Maybe I misunderstood it. If this is wrong info that sucks! I was really excited when I read it, thinking that I just learned a way to make sure my nutrients were spot on.

 

[Lyra]

Capn, thanks for all your advice. I didn't really expect anyone to post in here when I made the journal but it's nice not being all alone!

 

[TheCapn]

>>>It's all crispy! grrrrr. Nute burn? I topped her off with some fresh water, hopefully that's all it is and I diluted her water well enough. I'm so pissed. She's been practically perfect this whole time, now I gotta deal with this BS. Stupid flowering! I should have just let her veg forever.

Don't fret over one leaf. Your plant is 100% healthy. We all pull off leaves like that now and then, especially ones toward the bottom. Trust me.... you have one vigorous beast here. She will do well. Do not adjust anything with your recipe in attempts to correct anything you saw on just a few leaves. You only need to worry when ALL the leaves start turning.

>>>As for the PPM, I just recently read a thread that pretty much said, if your PPM rises as the water decreases, too many nutrients, if your PPM decreases with the water too few. If your PPM and water decrease at similar rates, it's just right.

A stoner wrote that. But there is a BIT of truth to it. It would be more true, if your water level stayed EXACTLY the same every day, which it does not. Bottom line, don't follow that as a rule to adjust PPM. Instead, watch your plant. If leaf tips start dehydrating, back off on the PPM by about 100.

Thanks for all the pictures. She's a beauty. I'm subscribed to a bunch of journals but I really like this one. There is something about BIG plants that really excites me. It is difficult for me to get excited about little ones. Keep up the good work.

 

[Lyra]

I haven't forgotten about my journal! I've hit some snags in the road and have been working on them.

So long story short -

The picture of the leaf with the spots? Well, it got worse. From my perspective it was TERRIBLE but honestly it was only a handful of leaves mostly on the outer perimeter of growth. At first I pruned them off and ignored it hoping it was just a fluke. But as I pruned off the bad ones, more started turning.

My first thought was nute burn, because the tips of the leaves were turning brown as well. I fed half strength nutes for a while and got some awesome yellowing (very minor, but again to me looked terrible) for my effort.

So that made me realize it was a deficiency of some sort. What changed? This all started when I switched to flowering. My lights are high enough and it's been a lot cooler lately. Switching bulbs wouldn't cause this. So I looked at the nutrient bottles and tried to see what my plant was getting less of.

I settled on a mag deficiency. Weird, right? I'm using tap water... But reasonable deduction made me pretty sure... I've used this same line of nutrients in distilled water with no issues. But I guess every plant is like a snowflake and all that.. So I added 6 teaspoons of cal mag to her tote. Nutrients are back up to full strength.

I thought she was done stretching, but since I added the cal mag she seemed to have another growth spurt. I haven't noticed anymore spots. The leaves are a darker shade of green, and her water uptake seems to have increased slightly. So (knock on wood) I think I may have solved this issue. I will post pictures probably tomorrow but she's looking great!

Trichromes started to develop about three days ago and she's looking more frosty by the hour. It is day 27 since I switched the lights and day 20 of flowering. I guess the breeders of this strain gave a flowering time of 63 days from switching the light schedule. I hadn't realized this so we'll see when she's actually done. If it's on day 63 or day 56 of actually being in flower. About 36 more days! I'm so excited.

 

[TheCapn]

>>>got some awesome yellowing (very minor, but again to me looked terrible) for my effort.

Don't say the "yellowing" word! That scares me. When plants get pythium, (DWC is high risk for pythium in flower, because there is more roots breaking down) they start yellowing from the bottom up. So I am knocking on wood the yellowing was just from dropping to 1/2 strength nutrients?

Talk to us. Give us an update.

 

[David Bowman]

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