New and not so good

[vyserage]

My tap tds is about 175. I still need to get distilled water to get an accurate measure of my soil though.

You will be happy to know thats roughly what my tds is for tap water and i have zero issues with tap water! No need to let it sit out before either (that whole chloramine nonsense is silly imo, its incredibly small amounts that wont truly hurt your plants or humans). An accurate measurement of the ppm of soil is to just measure the water out and subtract what your tap water is at.

I will slowly keep lowering ph with each watering as to not shock the plants. Is that a good strategy?

I cant really say for certain but tbh if your ph range is say 7.0 and you take it to 6.8/6.4/6.0 over 3 days, i dont bother. I just set it where i want it immediately so the plants can immediately start absorbing those specific nutrients at those ph levels. It also doesnt hurt to do it that way but that all depends on your current state of plants. Like if they have horrid deficiency's and leaves deteriating, i would immediately fix to a specific ph. But if it was just slight issues popping up then i would have no problem lowering it over 3 days so it slowly absorbs nutrients in between those zones. In soil its easy to just water in 6.0, next 6.5, repeat.

 

[Lilkanyon]

Thanks guys, gonna order the fert trio for fox farms next payday. Anyone interested in offering a decent watering schedule? For example, Im of the habit of only watering, say, my garden or house plants when the top inch of soil is getting dry. Also, Im not much a liquid fert person, so this is new territory for me. I know it seems like alot to explain, so if anyone has a link they trust that can help me getting started down the path, Id appreciate it.

Oh, btw. Got our first small fans in and did start drastically lowering the PH in thr soil. Whats left now, it seems it dragging up the ppm. The ferts do that?

 

[vyserage]

ferts are ppm

2 inches down if soil = dry, time to water. You can choose to wait a bit longer too.

 

[NOOOBIENOT]

Hello, get a tds meter and a good ppm meter off Amazon , they will cost about $20.00 each , they are the 2 best tools in your belt ,keep your ppm at 300-400 for the size of your plants(4 lt jug ) and your ph at a constant 6.2.I would give your plants a watering of just water(ph of 6.2) and test the run off to see really what you have going on with that soil if it is more than what you poured in the pot by 100ppm then you know to keep your ppm of water at 200 because soil will add the other 100 ppm for you , next take ph reading of the run off water and if it is higher than 6.2 than the soil is changing your ph also ,no more than a ph of 6.5 and no less than 6 .0 ph, a tiny fluctuation is a good thing but not out of these ranges, they are critical .keep your temps between 70 and 77 and your humidity between 50 and 70 %for veg, less for flower.
A slight breeze in the room is a good thing. Give them the full 4 lts of water(6.2) to flush the soil out and give them 4 lts of water of the proper ph , if your reading is of 7.5 ph you need to adjust your water to a 5.5 ph(5.5 plus the 1 ph over on the soil =6.5 in soil), till your ph numbers come down or need to go up depending on the test results . keep doing this every watering until you reach the numbers you need , after that just keep watering at the 6.2ph and 300-400 ppm(water ppm plus soil ppm plus nutes ppm =400 ppm total all water has a ppm unless you are using r.o.water) , the old leaves wont repair themselves just watch the new growth at the top and bottom ,yellow leaves means more nutes and brown tips means decrease the nutes.I went to home depot or Canadian tire and bought a laser digital temp gun ($28.00)mechanics use them on car engines , you can point it directly at the tops of your leaves and it will tell you exactly what your temps are on the plant , if they are over 73 degrees them move the lights up and vise versa, this a more exact control method for lighting distances , less fans needed and hydro, wont take you long to save the $28 bucks back. Leaf temps between 69 -72 are ideal. Stay away from vinegar and baking soda as they change their ph value over time . they work for outside growing but not on soil in pots .organic microbes in organic outside soil help to balance the soil out but the indoor count of microbes in pots are a lot less .WOW ,did I say all that ,ya it was a good dab, good luck and be patient.

 

[NOOOBIENOT]

p.s. I use a 20ml syringe from the local drug store to apply my ph up and down in drops at a time and to administer my nutes to my water 1-2 ml of nutes should get you there .sorry another dab kicked in .

 

[Lilkanyon]

Thanks, I was using just vinegar but now I am worrying about what it does to the soil. The Foxfarms trio is on order and just bought PH down for next watering. Learning as I go. Poor plants!

 

[Bilbobudkin420]

Ooh...just googled it...I will have to look into it...but we are always looking to stay on the cheap...which is why we are experimenting with growing (the stores in CA are torturing our budget!). Lol

Cocos cool and all but you'll burn through nutes and its constant watering allll the time. For beginners i feel its best to smash out a couple soil grows before mixing it up.
Ya doing well though lilkanyon. Does definitely look like temps hit em while they were young but new growth looks better. They do look over watered to me though judging by the rippling of the leaves, this can alter the PH of your soil aswell (i know you are getting the PH thing sorted anyway so good job).
Also i see you talking about fans for inside the tent but seen no mention of air extraction from the tent, I could be wrong cos i do tend to skim things a bit lol. But yer that will definely help matters aswell. Blessings

 

[NOOOBIENOT]

Hello , if you don't want to get in to the online fans and venting another way is to leave the flaps on your tent partially open on 3 sides , it allows new carbon dioxide in and replaces the oxygen in the tent , I use a 14 inch stand fan and blow air in the tent from 1 side and it (air) exits on the other side , I have a humidifier (small floor model ) -$30.00 on Amazon( rosewill) in 1 corner running constantly to keep the humidity up 65%.The only time my tent is totally closed is when I am running my co2 (4-6 hrs a day )and I allow my temps to get to about 80-83 degrees on co 2 . Only run co2 when the lights are on .I have 2 tanks and regulators on them .Co2 makes a big difference on growth but I find it too expensive to run for 24 hrs every day so I just do a supplement of co2 , I have a co2 meter and I get my co2 ppms to about 1800ppm for these 4-6 hrs .you can build a co 2 generator out of two plastic Coke bottles and vinegar and baking soda if you want to do it cheaply , these work also , just look on youtube for it .but It means sitting there making co2 bombs as I call them .Mj needs high levels of co2 to grow , not stale air .

try www.growweedeasy.com/co2 for info

 

[Lilkanyon]

Hello , if you don't want to get in to the online fans and venting another way is to leave the flaps on your tent partially open on 3 sides , it allows new carbon dioxide in and replaces the oxygen in the tent , I use a 14 inch stand fan and blow air in the tent from 1 side and it (air) exits on the other side , I have a humidifier (small floor model ) -$30.00 on Amazon( rosewill) in 1 corner running constantly to keep the humidity up 65%.The only time my tent is totally closed is when I am running my co2 (4-6 hrs a day )and I allow my temps to get to about 80-83 degrees on co 2 . Only run co2 when the lights are on .I have 2 tanks and regulators on them .Co2 makes a big difference on growth but I find it too expensive to run for 24 hrs every day so I just do a supplement of co2 , I have a co2 meter and I get my co2 ppms to about 1800ppm for these 4-6 hrs .you can build a co 2 generator out of two plastic Coke bottles and vinegar and baking soda if you want to do it cheaply , these work also , just look on youtube for it .but It means sitting there making co2 bombs as I call them .Mj needs high levels of co2 to grow , not stale air .

try www.growweedeasy.com/co2 for info

i never imagined growing would be alot like aquarium keeping! Co2 is a little much for me right now, but I do have a cool air humidifer. I may give that a shot to raise my humidity. Thanks!

 

[Lilkanyon]

Cocos cool and all but you'll burn through nutes and its constant watering allll the time. For beginners i feel its best to smash out a couple soil grows before mixing it up.
Ya doing well though lilkanyon. Does definitely look like temps hit em while they were young but new growth looks better. They do look over watered to me though judging by the rippling of the leaves, this can alter the PH of your soil aswell (i know you are getting the PH thing sorted anyway so good job).
Also i see you talking about fans for inside the tent but seen no mention of air extraction from the tent, I could be wrong cos i do tend to skim things a bit lol. But yer that will definely help matters aswell. Blessings

Yeah thanks, I did open two flaps on the tent to allow some cross breeze. I dont know if I should open more. I fear too mich heat loss. Its getting pretty cold here, specially at night and the tent is in the garage with no insulation. Even my washer can feeze up out there on really cold nights.

 

[NOOOBIENOT]

every few hours is all you need

 

[Stunned]

Cocos cool and all but you'll burn through nutes and its constant watering allll the time. For beginners i feel its best to smash out a couple soil grows before mixing it up.

For beginners, I would say that coco is probably the best medium to start with
True, it does mean daily or even multi waterings, but I find that you don't burn through alot of nutes because you can cut the recommended strength by at least half
The great thing about coco is that you never have to worry about over watering
Another bonus with coco is it's extreme forgiveness
If you find that your PH is out of whack or you have a lockout issue, flushing your plant is so simple
Coco holds oxygen really well too so your roots can easily breathe
Just my 2 cents

 

[Bilbobudkin420]

For beginners, I would say that coco is probably the best medium to start with
True, it does mean daily or even multi waterings, but I find that you don't burn through alot of nutes because you can cut the recommended strength by at least half
The great thing about coco is that you never have to worry about over watering
Another bonus with coco is it's extreme forgiveness
If you find that your PH is out of whack or you have a lockout issue, flushing your plant is so simple
Coco holds oxygen really well too so your roots can easily breathe
Just my 2 cents

Fair play. I definitely do see your point.

 

[Stunned]

Hey @Bilbobudkin420
My thoughts were that everyone has to start somewhere, right?
After reading more than I can even imagine
I did my first grow with coco
And I'v only done less than 6 grows
I want to master one type of setup before I move onto something else
Growing in organic soil definitely interests me. I love the whole idea
But that's time to be told... the future
I know coco works, and have barely scratched the surface with it
I know soil will be in my future

 

[Lilkanyon]

So, gosh, hereI go! Lol. Heres the plan. Got the trio of ferts from Fox Farm, got the PH down, got a 5g bucket, a 1g pitcher, a split off for my hot water tap to my washer and a hose.

My plan is to prepare 5g of PH downed water in a batch then fert the 1g pitcher every other watering. Since Im not flowering yet, just going to use the Grow Big stuff for now, per directions.

Since Fox Farms is supposedly engineered with low PH, Im going to have to trust them for now since I havent been able to test the soil with distilled water yet.

Anything Im missing or you guys suggest? I will answer any questions I didnt cover.

And again! i really do appreciate all y’all’s help!

Later today....well, did the plan. 5g bucket dosed with Ph down and a 1g pitcher dosed enough to bring tds to about 750, with a Ph of about 6. So our plants got their first dose of (hopefully) properly treated water. It was a bit of pain cuz we were also transplanting that 3rd plant into a 5g, adding a humidifier, all while stumbling over a new hose and buckets, lol. Humidity is now 68%. Win! Just need to remember to refill the stupid thing twice a day until we get a larger one.

 

[Lilkanyon]

I know, I pushed the questions a bit too far, blame the weed! But I wanted to thank you guys for all your help! Plants are looking healthier, got a trajectory into the future. With time, I hope I can also contribute to this forum and offer advice as you have all helped me! Trully appreciative my friends!