PH is dropping in a drip system

[Catwhisperer]

Hi all,

So I just noticed that my PH is dropping daily about 1.0 and im counter balancing it since a few days. This is happening since i changed my light cycle. As it is a drip system with clay ball medium and i only find pictures of root rot in DWC systems ,im not 100% sure that this is it. Also it is not easy to see because the roots are deep under/btw the clay balls.

Other reason ive saw is that it could be that the plant is absorbing more water than nutes. Not sure about this as my EC/PPM is somewhat stable.

Obviously i was trying to google for other reasons for ph drop ,but didn't find any. Does someone have some info here what i could use? Plants dont look unhappy, so i have not much clue what the problem could be.

I had 4 drippers dripping for a 30hour every hour/plant ,now i cut that to the half(drippers). Maybe too much watering?

Well ,im open for every thought so keep it coming if you have something.

Thanks!

 

[Papageno]

How far is this dropping a day?

Rot can happen in anything it is just a lot easier in a mistreated DWC.

One common cause for pH to drop is having too low of nutes in the res. This can happen easily when the lights flip. What happens is the roots will generally have a concentration of nutes in them"equal" to the res or water. As the plants growing and more photo synthesis is happening there is need for more nutes to balance that out. When the root concentration is below the water concentration it can easily absorb more. when they are the same nute balance is achieved and the plant takes what it wants at will. if the plant is at a higher concentration in the roots than the water it can reverse the process and leach the roots and cause lowering pH.

It is not obvious right away because plants can go on for a good long time just eating themselves and borrowing from lower leaves.

Now when the lights flip the actual ratio desired changes so the PPM may be "correct" but it is the wrong stuff and things leach trying to re-balance. I always start my bloom nute program a week before flipping the lights. Also helps to sex plants faster.

Anyway try upping the concentration like 10% and see what happens.

 

[Catwhisperer]

Thank you very much for your reply

The dropping was last time from 6 to 4,9 ,I adjusted it after again to 6,3. Obviously as Im an idiot I forgot to plug the dripper back yesterday after the adjustment so today when i had a look it was still around 6,3.....i dont want to make further comments on this....

So back to the matter: ill have a look tomorrow again ,if the PH is dropping till evening ill try adding 10% of nuts ,maybe change the whole reservoir.

Probably its a pretty stupid question ,but a air stone wouldn't help if i have a drip system ,would it? Im sure that the plants should take the oxygen easily from the air ,but as i have seen the statement "more air stones" in the past 30 hours about a 100 times ,i feel it would be safer if I make my hypothetical question a fact in my head.

Thanks & the drip system is ON this time.

 

[Papageno]

Air is the most important thing in an hydro fluid. Without Oxygen to the roots the plant will die and die fast. This is why Eb n Flow is the best Hydro. DWC and various forms of it only work because of the air-stone otherwise the roots will drown. If you can get more air in there the roots will grow faster and therefore the plant CAN (not will) grow faster.

There are many forms of Hydro and most of the people out there use the terminology wrong. So I hesitate to give too much advice without seeing your system. There are Drip to DWC systems that are commonly refereed to as RDWC but there are other forms of RDWC. Most of what people call RDWC is not RDWC and is something very different. So it is hard to really give advice without a good pic and understanding of what you are using.

So you have a drip system. Then what. The fluid goes where? Is it a gravity feed back to an external reservoir somewhere? Is there a low reservoir in the same pot like old school Aero?

Anyway some pics and an explanation of the water flow mechanism, and how you are getting air to the roots would help. Air to the roots is the most important thing. That is why Eb n flow, NFT and Aero are the standards. DWC is a proven supper lazy way to run a hydro that only works with lots of air and the more air you use the better it works...because cannabis roots were NEVER meant to sit in water.

 

[Catwhisperer]

Here is a awesome pic drawn in paint with the main things.
Short worded:
-Water is in the res
-Water goes trough the drippes to the plant
-Water is going back in to the res.

Another thing what might be some information: A few weeks ago the roots got out of the pot and they where building up beneath the container where the plant and the clay balls are. I assumed thats not very good so i placed under it another container but just half full with clay balls.
Bad Paint about this over here:

I did this because the tray where the plants are got a little bent in the middle so that would have been the perfect place where the roots would have started to rot while they are only soaking in water.

I was hoping that this would not affect the oxygen absorption ,but now im not sure anymore.

 

[Papageno]

I love the art work!!!! Totally awesome.


So yes an air stone would help in that for a few reasons. But if you think you have a rotting situation the first thing to do is add enzymes. they will eat up the dead roots and turn them back into plant food. That doesn't solve the problem just tamps down the results of the rot. It will also make every thing else we do work better as the "fixes" have better access to the problem.

To fix the rot you should either consider going sterile or going with beneficial bacteria that can try to overpower the bad bacteria. Anywhere good bacteria is breeding bad bacteria is not...plus good bacteria does lots of good things.

But since you may have a dire situation I would probably carpet bomb it by doing one then the other. I would add the enzymes, and an air stone, put frozen bottles of ice water in the res to chill it and add high concentration H2O2 which you can get at any grow store. The stuff you get at the drug store is like 95% water but you can get toxic dangerous H2O2 at a grow store. That will hopefully kill off the majority of any infection if not outright kill it all. After that has stabilized, you can flush the res and start fresh and add in beneficial bacteria that will colonize the pots and make the plants happy. When adding the bacteria mix it up and add it directly to the pots and let the runoff go into the res.


All of that advice will not hurt anything. You can do all of that and if we are wrong and there is no rot your plants will still be much happier anyway.

Again I love the artwork!!!

 

[Catwhisperer]

Thanks for your help! I didnt know before what these enzymes are doing and it turns out Canna (same brand as my nuts) does have this. Ill try it on Monday if the shopps will be open by that time.

Also ,now after i lowered the watering amount the PH didnt change ,so it might have been the over watering. Only the PPM is increasing a bit.

Do you lowert the watering after you change light cycles?

 

[uptheholler2]

Hey Catwhisperer! I have done drip for about 30 years I use rock wool. Just a few points. I don't use an air stone. You can just increase height of the water drop back to your reservoir. I run trays not pots and my water just runs into a section of pcv gutter and then it dros about a foot and a half back into my reservoir. That has always given me a nice white healthy rootball. Also I would check my ppms more so than my ph daily. I only check my pH once a week during my reservoir change. Also remember plants don't get oxygen through their leaves they expel oxygen during the normal respiration process. Last thing ( I promise) I never worry a. bout my root ball growing all the way through my rock wool and out of the tray even. Roots that don't stay moist will be air pruned, roots that stay moist will be getting plenty of air exposure. It's good to note the physiological changes that any plant goes through as it begins to switch from vegetative growth to flowering. It naturally and gradually slows down its photosynthetic processes and begins to draw it's energy from what's stored in the root ball. That's why I always suggest to folks that the goal is always aggressive vegetative and root development during the early stages of a plant's life. That in turn determines what kind of harvest that you will enjoy. It's true for tomatoes, melons , peppers , beans. weed and any other crop! Best of luck in all you grow and best wishes in the New Year!

 

[Lord Hydros]

What is your ec? That is directly related to pH.