Lexort's Kaneh Bosm CFL Garden

[lexort420]

The plant in the pictures is idiot proof i swear lol for some reason you can't fuck it up hit it with high nutes you get very very small signs of nute burn for some reason it also just wanted to stay green i even kept its stalk as a trophy lol the thing was quite the trooper lol

 

[lexort420]

Here is today's update

 

[OldMedUser]

You got the exact same ppm pen I bought last year Lexort. Seems to work pretty good and I like the single digits for measuring my colloidal silver. I used it a couple weeks ago with my old Hanna pen to check the nutes in my tub and they both measured the exact same reading at 1170. Then topped up with RO water and the new one was 80ppm lower than the Hanna so I have no idea why.

Are you using RO water now for your plants? If so you should be free of problems from that real hard tap water of yours. The minerals in that tap water build up fast and keep your pH too high. After 3 waterings you'd have almost 1500ppm of high pH minerals built up in the soil just from the water. No way you can fix that with pH down without messing up your plants.

If I had town water I'd get an RO unit and make my own but with just my dugout water I'd need a lot of extra pre-filtering and UV sterilization to be able to use one here.

L8r

 

[lexort420]

Oldmeduser you have no idea how long that took for me to comprehend i am so out of my gourd it lol now to address your question i switched to distilled cause it is what I can find lol i tested it and it was 0ppm and sitting at 7ph but after adjusting it down to a ph of 6.2 the ppm's were somewhere in the 200's can't remember exact number right now lol distilled water is under a buck a gallon so I can live with that lol.

 

[OldMedUser]

Distilled water is just fine. Should always be 0ppm and there is no real pH. Just give it to the plants as is. If feeding the plants mix in all your nutes before testing pH then adjust if you think it needs it. There has to be minerals in the water for pH to be present and as distilled has none and RO should have none or very little they don't have a pH at all but just a few drops of up or down will move them a lot so don't bother trying to change it if you are just using plain water.

L8r

 

[lexort420]

Wow i didnt know that well that explains why the vinegar made the ppm go up when I adjusted it. Thank you so much for that information i will stop doing that. After i add the nutes the ph reads like 5.5 can't remember ppm right now i will check in a bit

 

[OldMedUser]

After mixing the nutes it should sit for an hour to allow it to stabilize before testing too. An airstone in it makes it go faster aswell.

Vinegar should make your pH go down. It's a weak organic acid but still an acid. Not the best thing to use for pH adjustment either. Regular pH down is phosphoric acid usually so it supplies a little P for the plants too.

L8r

 

[lexort420]

Apple cider vinegar is what was in my budget and it works pretty good for what it is. Not that I doubt you with all your wisdom but i gotta say I read alot of conflicting information about whether to ph distilled water or not and it seems most people say to ph it or it will cause problems, now im more inclined to believe you cause you haven't steered me wrong but why exactly do you say not to adjust distilled water is ot soley because it has a neutral ph? I figured even though it was neutral that still makes it a ph of 7.0 which is above the hydro range that I have been told to follow due to my soil less mix. Im just trying to understand fully why it doesn't seem to matter here.

 

[lexort420]

I just totally found a strain i want but can't find the seeds im so bummed man lol it's master yoda strain

 

[OldMedUser]

pH is a measure of potential Hydrogen and as distilled water has no ions in it, or very few, it has no pH of it's own. It also has no power to alter the pH of what it's used in and only takes on the pH that is already there. It will absorb minerals much better than tap water as it has none of it's own so for flushing it's the best to use.

If your pots are too high in pH and you put a few drops of pH down in distilled water the water may read 4 but those few drops of pH down will have little power to change the overall pH value in the pot as there are a lot more high pH minerals in there than low pH ions in a few drops of pH down. It's the limiting power of any chemical reaction. Hard to explain for me with a diploma in chemistry and harder to understand for someone with no training in chemistry. Not to mention it's been a lot of years since I've worked in the industry so I've forgotten most of what I learned.

Here's a good article about pH I took from a post here about Advanced nutrient management. You should check it out. It's mostly about hydroponic nutrients but a lot of it pertains to plants in general.

L8r

Water pH

A subject that is often discussed but rarely understood by many growers is nutrient pH. Generally, we worry about pH and its affect on nutrient availability. For example, if pH is too high, iron may become unavailable. Eventhough your nutrient solution may have an ideal iron content, your plants may not be able to absorb it, resulting in an iron deficiency: the plant's leaves will yellow and weaken.
On the other hand, advanced hydroponic plant foods contain special "chelates" that are designed to assure iron availability at higher pH ranges. The result is that your crop will grow reasonably well. even at higher pH levels. Nonetheless, high pH can damage plants in other ways, The cause of a high solution pH can be fairly complex. Most city water supplies contain calcium carbonate to raise the pH of the water and prevent pipes from corroding. As a consequence you are starting with water that has an abnormal pH, typically 8.0 for city water.

The best way to deal with this is to mix fresh nutrient with your water, let stand for a while to stabilize, then test and adjust the pH. With city water supplies you will often have to add a bit of pH down (usually phosphoric acid) to lower the pH to the range for most plants, between 5.8 and 6.2. (*note-Ozgrowa says 5.5-6.1 is best for MJ)

As the plants grow. it is a good idea to occasionally test the pH and adjust it if needed. You can safely allow pH to drift between 5.5 and 7.0 without adjustment. in fact, constantly dumping chemicals into your system to maintain a perfect pH of 5.8 to 6.0 can do a lot of damage. It is common for pH to drift up for a while, then down, and up again. This change is an indication that your plants are absorbing nutrient properly. Adjust pH only if it wanders too far.

A pH below 5.5 or above 7.0 can mean trouble. but don't overreact. An apparently sudden and dramatic shift in pH can be the result of a malfunctioning pH meter. If in doubt, double check with a reagent (color match) pH kit before adjusting your solution. Also remember that all pH measuring methods are temperature dependent. Read and follow all of the instructions that came with your meter or test kit.

 

[lexort420]

That was a great read OMU thank you again! Here are pictures from today and we got a new arrival lol

 

[lexort420]

Got the second seed planted now I'll get pictures after bit it's time for a smoke break lol

 

[lexort420]

For anyone who likes documentary's here is a good one its a bit long but interesting IMO

 

[lexort420]

And here is today's photo update

 

[lexort420]

I got some nute lockout on the clones plus overwatering going on too so i am letting them get completely dry before i water again im hoping the distilled water keeps bringing down the PPM's in the soil. It was high but after last watering the ppm was around 250 give or take. Dropping the ppm in medium would lower the ph as well right? I was just thinking maybe it would but im not a 100% on that.

 

[lexort420]

Well checked out the one in The Gatorade bottle and it was dry towards the bottom even so i watered just that one and the runoff was ph 6.5 and the ppm was like 276 roughly either way that is much better than what it was so im happy about that lol

 

[lexort420]

Picture of my bong lol

 

[ODtheGreat]

Fuck yeah Lexort. that's awesome about the pH. and nice double perk Gatorade bong lol. I'm about to dive in a grow with a few different strains, i'm so pumped

 

[lexort420]

Awesome ODthegreat you should make a journal I wanna see what you can do lol. Im totally happy about the ph coming down and ya i like my bong lol so many friends have hit that thing and next thing you know their lung is on the floor lol

 

[ODtheGreat]

I'm thinking about it. I haven't seen anyone do a detailed grow with the earth juice line and i'm wondering how well it does so i'm going to be experimenting with that. I'm either going to make a journal or document the whole thing and put it up when its all said and done. I'm just putting the finishing touches on the room i'm gonna use for this one. Prolly be up most of the night doin that I finally got some time off work.