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Runoff pH still climbing!

PitteJasKorels
PitteJasKorelsstarted grow question 3y ago
My runoff PH keeps climbing despite lowering water pH. Plants look great but have red stems. Is it possible that the bottom of my fabric pots are saturated with excess Calcium and Diatomaceous Earth? Thus, raising my runoff PH. Soil meter reads 6.8 though 🤔
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Week 12
Feeding. Chemical composition
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DutchDoobie
DutchDoobieanswered grow question 3y ago
High PitteJasKorels, You need to flush your soil. The reason for this rising pH is actually really positive and normal for a healthy grow on soil. Your plants are eating the nutritiens really fast. As the plants absorb these nutrients through their root systems, the system slowly loses its acidity to become alkaline. You can do this flushing by slowly pour water pH 6 onto the top of the soil, allowing it to drain freely from the bottom of the pot. Pour slowly, so the water doesn't overflow from the top of the pot. Use approximately four times the pot's volume in water to flush the soil. For example, use 1 gallon of water for a 1 quart pot. After the flushing you need to let the soil (almost) dry out completely. And start watering with a max EC of 1.8 (do not give more because this will cause nutrients lockout). And keep the pH lower. The best would be around 6 then the pH from your soil will be slightly higher. Happy Growing! 😋
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Hashy
Hashyanswered grow question 3y ago
I would be tempted to follow the advice from @growinggrannie. If your medium is soil then you shouldn't be watering with such low pH. I get your trying to lower your soil ph but it could cause ph lock outs. So if its soil put 3 times the amount of water through the soil, catch samples of runoff periodically while your doing it. Before you put the last bit of water through your runoff ph should be in range. Aim for ph 6.2 with the water going through.
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GrowingGrannie
GrowingGrannieanswered grow question 3y ago
Looking at your diary, seeing what you're trying to accomplish, I think you're going to have to do a couple of things: first is to do a hard flush which, given that you're growing in 3gallon pots, means running 9 gallons of pH'd water through each pot (keep checking your runoff - it'll come down). The second thing you're going to need to do is to cut the amount of BioGrow you're giving her... this has too much nitrogen in it for plants in the flowering stage, especially at the rate you're feeding it... An excess of nitrogen will cause a lockout of other vital nutrients resulting in the red stems and the yellowing/discoloration in the leaves. It means that no matter how much calmag you give your plants, they're unable to absorb it - pH also has a lot to do with how or IF the plant can absorb the crucial nutrients as well - aim for a range of 6.0-6.5 in soil... Once you've flushed, the first feeding (after she's dried out) should be 1/2 strength. Good luck! Looks like a really nice harvest is in your future!!
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