Switching from well water to RO water Help

[Shoffman18]

Hey guys, new member been doing a lot of reading around here and other sites non stop. I can't believe the wealth of knowledge there is out there and everything that goes in to it.

I'm on my first grow and I'm running into problems. I have 5 big bang autos, 1 afghan kush auto, 1 fruity chronic juice auto, 2 ak48 clones that I purchased, 2 rooted clones from those, a PE bean and some love potion bean that have just sprouted.

The 7 autos are in 2.5 gal hempy buckets with straight perlite. I did sprout them in some cheap organic soil and transplant to the perlite. I germinated them on 5/20 they all sprouted and were planted within a few days. They pretty much haven't grown at all. They just have the first two little leaves that come up and the second. The first two leaves that come up are yellowing now I believe because I decided to give them gh nutes flora series 1/4 teaspoon g,m,b according to gh chart. In my defense it did say seedlings on the chart..

The older Ak48 clones are about 10 inches tall, they are planted in 50/50 soil perlite mix. I'm losing leaves left and right. Just turning yellow and fallen off. The smaller clones are getting some yellowing as well. I've fed these plants 1/4 ts per gallon gh nutes as well.

I've stopped with nutes on everything for the last week and have only watered with superthrive according to bottle.

Now here's my problem. For the first week or two I watered with well water straight out of the faucet no ph'ing. The clones at that point was getting some yellowing. I since then got a ph test kit and found out the water was 8+ ph. I lowered the pharound 6-6.5, watered a few times then added the nutes once or twice.

Im still getting a lot of yellowing and leaf die off. I have extremely hard water. I dont have a tds meter so I dont know to what extent but I get a lot of scale and sediment buildup and have to clean the screens on my faucets regularly.

I've said to hell with well water and I'm going to buy ro water until I have the money for an ro system.

For the last week I've only watered with phed water. My question is should I flush with phed ro water before adding nutes, or is it safe to go ahead and add nutes and calmag now on the switch? This will be for the clones. I will just give the autos ph'ed water and hope they come out of their lockup or whatever and start growing. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Also they are under t8 lamps for the time being and will go under hps when I'm ready. Thanks.

 

[Shoffman18]

I think I should also mention I used a Brita filter for the last two waterings and have decided that I want to go the ro water route so I know exactly what my plants are receiving. I know I've made a lot of noon mistakes but you know how it is when your excited about something and you just jump right in to it. Guess I'm learning the hard way.

 

[Shoffman18]

I went ahead and just watered with the ro water and no nutes ph'ed to 6-6.5. I tried to give them a good amount. All i have to check ph is a sunleaves test kit that you add 1 drop to the water your testing. Its hard to get an exact reading. I went ahead and tested the runoff from the ak48 clones and ak48 clone clones. They were both between 6-6.5. I have quite a bit of perlite mixed in with them for good drainage. I guess its good that its lowered from when i first started with the ph being above 8.

 

[labexperiment]

Welcome to 420

Yes it is good, however wild PH swings can cause problems of their own(usually wrinkled leaves). Now that it is done you are at the waiting point. Going to R/O sounds like a great idea, with your hard water you can expect to change the filter a little more often keep an eye on it till the first time you change it so you know about how long between filter changes.
I would recommend a mix more like 70/30 for your mix and if you can source vermiculite(asbestos free mining) in your area I would suggest 60/20/20. Cal/Mag will be needed with your R/O system as well. Maybe dilute your starting mix to 1/16th instead of 1/4 after seeing the first set of true leaves(after the Cotyledon Leaves.

 

[Shoffman18]

Thanks for the reply. I purchased R/O water from walmart. I definitely will be investing in an R/O filtration system when money allows. I tossed the idea around between using straight perlite or perlite/vermiculite and decided to go with straight perlite in my hempy buckets. Was cheaper that way. Cheaper isnt always better.. but others seemed to be doing alright with it in my research. I would have liked to tried the super soil I seen on one of these forums but again came to the cheaper start up option. I did buy CalMag along with the GH flora series but have not used it yet not knowing what is in my well water. I will be adding it to my nutrient solution now that im running with R/O water.

My goal is to let the auto strains run through while vegging the AK48, Pineapple Express, and another strain into mother plants. I planned on building an aerocloner and having clones ready to go into 12/12 as soon as they show roots for a SOG perpetual harvest every two weeks using 2-liter soda bottles following KoolKats grow journal and tweaking it to my plants needs. Its not going to well right now. Hopefully everything pulls through. I will try to upload some pictures of my setup and plants soon as I can. Maybe even start a journal.

 

[Shoffman18]

 

[labexperiment]

Are you using any nutrients in you R/O water?

Or does your medium contain any nutrients?

 

[Shoffman18]

the seeds were started out in organic seed starting mix mixed with organic potting soil. They both contain peat moss and the potting soil says composted green waste, doesnt contain human or animal waste. Theres no npk values on the packaging. i transplanted the seeds in straight perlite and used the same mix and added a lot of perlite when i transplanted the clones. the 2 new seeds are the same mix with a lot of perlite added. I did feed all the plants with GH nutes 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of each grow, micro, bloom. They were fed twice in one week. For the last week and a half I have just been using PHed well water. The last watering I used PH'ed R/O water. I want to feed the clones next watering and wont feed the seedlings again until i see 3 set leaves. I believe i may be overwatering the seedlings/sprouts and should have never gave them nutes. I was watering almost every day. I think they are pretty much screwed. They are about 19 days old.

 

[labexperiment]

Giving the nutrients was fine to do, now just wait till the medium is mostly dry(about less then 20% of just watered weight) before feeding again. Do 1/8th strength nutrients if you prefer and add cal/mag at 1 ml/gallon. Your plants are not screwed.

The opinion I am giving is for the photo period plants, I do not have experience with autos. Although I have read you should start them in the pot you are going to finish them in.

I am only seeing the one florescent light in there, do you have any more t-8's?

 

[Shoffman18]

Thanks, I went ahead and fed all the plants at 1/3 strength before I seen your post. I did 1/3-1/2 calmag as well. I will do full strength calmag next feeding and maybe up the nutrients depending on how the plants react. Yes, I do have more T8's going. I have 2 4ft bulbs going on the 5 autos on the bottom of my setup and 4 bulbs going up top on 2 auto seedlings, the 2 bigger clones, 2 small clones, and two new seedlings that have a photoperied. All the lights are on 18/6. They are 6500k bulbs. When things get going I will have the photoperiod plants up top with the three t8 fixtures. I have 2 150 watt hps lights, and a 4 ft 4 bulb t5 fixture I will be using on the bottom for flowering and to finish the autos off with. Should have around 52,000 lumens for flower. Will be around 5000 lumens per square foot. I read autos didnt like to be transplanted as well. I didn't let them get rootbound before transplanting. It's one of those deals were I got started ahead of myself. I wanted to get them planted but didn't have all my growing medium/perlite. Probably one of the biggest mistakes noobs make. Get too excited and go into things half azz.

 

[labexperiment]

Are you waiting till the medium is almost completely dry before watering/feedings? That is another common noob mistake.

 

[Shoffman18]

Ive been keeping an eye on it. I think that may be part of the problem.

 

[AMGrows]

You have some serious survivors on your hand,

 

[Shoffman18]

Yes they are. When I fed them on the 11th I foliar fed the older and smaller clones with the same nutrient solution. The older clones leaves got pretty burnt but the younger ones are fine. Dunno why that is. I don't think I will do that again. Some of the autoflower seedlings are starting to grow a little better. I fed them a small amount of nutrient solution on the 13th and plan to feed them another small amount tomorrow. I think over watering is what stunted them. I was watering the hell out of them when I did water, probably 10 oz per plant. The perlite I have has a lot of fine pieces in it and seems to hold water pretty good... I plan on watering/feeding them every 2-3 days with a minimal amount of water. Maybe an oz or two per plant until they start to get bigger and can take on more water.

If an autoflower is 70 days from seed will that include being stunted or will the time pick up after being stunted? Dunno if that makes sense..

 

[labexperiment]

For proper water you should thoroughly water the plant slowly till water comes out the bottom of the pot(it may be one quart it may be 5 quarts), then wait till the soil is about 80-90% dry before watering again. Watering 1 quart every 2 days weather they need it or not may result in over watering, which will stunt the growth of your plants.

 

[Shoffman18]

I wanted to give you guys an update on my progress. Its going really well i believe. Things have really turned around for me. I believe the problem was that i did not rinse the perlite before i planted everything. There was a lot of dust and small particles in the perlite still so it was all mucked up and having a hard time drying out. I rinsed the hell out of the perlite in a strainer and replanted each one. I ended up with half the perlite i started with but didnt want any small pieces of perlite particles in my pots. Im still using the GH Flora series 3 part nutes at full strength and they seem to be liking it so far. Ive been giving them a dose of superthrive once a week and i mist them twice a day with carbonated water. I took about 10 clones yesterday and hope the will take root within the next two weeks. Thanks for all the help.

 

[Shoffman18]

 

[Shoffman18]

Not to bad for going from stunted looking a lot better in 15 days. The other two clones are in the flower room right now. I will try to post a picture of them later on when the lights come back on.