11/25/2025 New week and new water. I can't figure out why my pH is so messy. Always swinging super wide. This morning for example was 4.6 pH on both plants. The mix concentration went up to 1000 ppm on both as well. The big difference I'm seeing is what's in the water. Papaya Cookies has clean nutrient water while Lemon Cherry Cookies has root debris in it. No clue why it's happening. Hell I don't even know if this is a thing. But it's happening. Hopefully with the water swap, it'll go away. Maybe I'll have to dunk the roots in a different bucket to try and clear the stuff off. It's too bad I can't bring the whole plant to the sink. Lol. I could spray the roots down. As it is, that's never gonna happen. So aside from having my cousin come over and hold the plant up while I clean out the roots, I think I'm stuck with this and have no idea what it is or how to fix it. Personally I think the roots are self pruning. Why? Maybe the concentration is too high and it's eating away at the roots. I doubt it, or it could be not enough oxygen. Don't know how to fix that. My air stone is bad ass. But it's the same air stone and setup in Papaya Cookies, but no debris or old roots. Could it be because the size of the root ball? The one in Lemon Cherry Cookies is massive while the other one is big, but not massive like this one. Could that be it? Who knows. All I know is I need to figure it out. Any ideas anyone? Other than that, it's a new week and a new bucket of water. I think I'm gonna cut the nutes back a little bit from last week. Maybe they will actually show issues if there are any. I'm only cutting back a little bit. Just the bloom nutes. Instead of 1.25 teaspoons per gallon, I'm gonna cut it back to 1 teaspoon. If it shows signs of deficiency, I'll add a little bit more. But I have a feeling they will be happier with a lighter dose. Now I can't tell when these ladies will be done. I'm saying another 2 weeks. I said the same thing last week, but I'm not so sure now. They still have tons of white pistils. Especially Lemon Cherry Cookies which is odd. That's the one who should be done first. However, Papaya Cookies has more orange pistils and denser nugs. I really hope both plants come out masterfully. And I really hope they finish at the same time. I'm using this tent for drying. I don't have space for my 2x2 anywhere. Small apartment. Anyway, so yah, drying on the 3x3. Speaking of 3x3 tents. I'm pretty sure either one of these plants would have filled this tent out. They both filled out wide and deep. Luckily they aren't too deep where I can't access the back, but one of these would have filled out the tent. Especially with the training I could have done with that much room. I think they stopped growing where they stopped because of the size of the space. I bet if they were in a 4x4, they would be much bigger. Because they grow to fit the space. Or at least that's what I'm discovering. Of course there's the one off that grows to be a beast, but that was a one time thing. And I'm pretty sure the seeding had something to do with it. Anyway, I'm getting. A 4x4 eventually and will find out if my theory is correct. At least with autoflowers, that is. Photoperiods may be a whole different story. Actually based on how they grow, it's a completely different story. We can manipulate photos in how they grow and even when they get switched to flower. It would make perfect sense that a photo grow as big as they can in in a smaller space with manipulation. Anyway, rambling over. Alright everyone. I have changed the water and this reads. 5.85 pH for both. Papaya Cookies has an EC of 1.458 and TDS 725 ppm Lemon Cherry Cookies EC 1.65 and TDS 809 ppm We'll see what it's at in the morning. Don't really know why the mix is higher in Lemon Cherry Cookies, it's still low enough though. I have a feeling I should dunk both of them in plain water just to get the rest of the debris off. And maybe some of the nutrient buildup off. At least I think that might be the problem. 11/26/2025 2 days over the deadline, but whatever. I'm gonna get some damned good bud if I can fix this issue I'm having. Specs: Papaya Cookies: EC: 1.701 TDS: 838 pH: 5.5 pHed to 5.85 2 hours ago now it's 6.1 (ummmmmm?) Lemon Cherry Cookies: EC: 1.765 TDS: 885 ppm pH: 6.1 Well that's not good. I changed out the water and cleaned the buckets out. It has to be the roots. How the hell do I clean the roots? Or well, rinse the dead stuff off? I changed the water. I made sure the water they went into was clean as well. I have questions. Questions that need answers. To the forums! Hopefully I find a solution. Good morning. Afternoon for us. Lemon Cherry Cookies: PH: 6.05 EC: 1.77 TDS: 885 After pH: 5.8 EC: 1.80 TDS: 888 Papaya Cookies: pH: 6.44 EC: 1688 TDS: 837 ppm After pH: 5.8 EC: 1.70 TDS: 848 ppm 11/27/2025 Papaya Cookies: Before: pH: 6.35 EC: 1.955 TDS: 977 ppm After: pH: 5.75 EC: 1.634 TDS: 829 Lemon Cherry Cookies: Before: pH: 6.5 EC: 1946 TDS: 967 After: pH: 5.85 EC: 1.693 TDS: 843 ppm Lost power last night while the lights were on. 11 hours of no light and now it's lights out, so another 4 hours of dark. Not too sure what I should do. Should I turn the lights on? Or should I leave them in the dark until lights on? I feel like turning the lights on now when it's not lights on time would really mess with the light schedule and possibly cause some issues. I'm gonna leave them off. As we can see above, the concentration of the mix is still rising. But the plants aren't showing any signs of real stress. Or at least stress that could be seen. Still not sure what to do. I'm hoping the top off of plain water will help. But I think I need to dunk them both in a bucket of clean water a few times to get all the excess salts off the roots. That's what I think is causing the problem. The roots somehow have buildup in them and it's releasing it in the water. Or something like that. Maybe? I dunno. I think I figured out the debris in the buckets. It's from handling the roots when I remove the plant for pHing. Only Lemon Cherry Cookies though, her root ball is so large I have to lift half of it out of the bucket to put it in the reserve tank. Maybe the oils on my hands are causing issues? Maybe? So the two issues combined today with the power outage and the water mix still out of whack, I'm afraid there will be some sort of stress that we can see when the lights turn on. Let's hope it's mild. The environment was also pretty bad this morning. It was 56° in the house this morning. Apparently I lost heat and power last night. So it was cold and without the fan on, it was really humid too. Like 74% humid. But I think it was cold enough for nothing to start to grow. At least that's what I hope. I might have to change Lemon Cherry Cookies water though. There's a subtle smell about the water. I might change it today. We'll see how it turns out when lights come on. If I'm having the same issue with the increased EC and TDS I'm swapping out the water. I might have to buy some hydrogaurd or something. Maybe that will help clear out whatever is going on. I was thinking peroxide, but I'd rather use things that are designed for Hydroponics. I might change Papaya Cookies water as well, there's nothing funky about it, but the concentration is still rising. I'll pump a gallon out and replace it with plain water... Again. Maybe I'm just giving them to much to start. It's about 20% lower than the regular dose. Now that I think about it, that's pretty high. And these plants aren't big. Maybe I still need to drop the bloom down. Maybe the boost as well? I dunno. I'm gonna drop the Bloom nutes to 0.75 teaspoons per gallon. Should be 3 teaspoons for the 4 gallons of water. Let's see if I can get it to drop below 800 ppm and stays under there. 11/28/2025 AM readings. Papaya Cookies: Before: pH: 4.9 EC: 1.857 TDS: 945 ppm After: pH: 5.8 EC: 1.816 TDS: 934 ppm Lemon Cherry Cookies: Before: pH: 6.35 EC: 1.865 TDS: 934 After: Didn't do anything. Will top off with pHed water this afternoon. I want to see if they will do their thing with the higher concentration. Still, I know it's not good, but I really don't want to keep pulling Lemon Cherry Cookies out and mess up the roots. Btw, I've decided the issue with the debris in the water is because of me handling the roots when I pull the plant out of the bucket. I have to left about 2/3 of the roots by hand. So if I leave it alone in the bucket, and pH with top offs, I should be fine for the rest of the week. If the mix reads any higher, this afternoon, after lights out, I'll pull a gallon and replace it. But that means I have to handle the roots. I guess we'll see. 11/29/2025 I forgot to record today's measurements before I adjusted. Papaya Cookies had plummeted pH. 4.6. the EC and TDS were actually not too far off. Lemon Cherry Cookies on the other hand swung super high, guzzled a ton of water and spiked both the EC and TDS. We are talking a TDS of 1200. How?! I dumped a gallon of plain water in. It fixed it for the most part. This thing is taking in like zero nutrients. I've been advised that the issue with the pH swing is probably the size of the roots compared to the bucket. They said it is most likely shedding roots due to the size. I assumed that is based on a ratio. Ok, done. Lights turned off before I could get to Lemon Cherry Cookies. However I did dump the gallon of water in. Should be fine. 3 more days and we can change out the water and do a much lighter dose. Here's the afternoon specs. Lemon Cherry Cookies: pH: 6.5 (high) EC: 1.794 TDS: 882 ppm. Papaya Cookies: pH: 6.3? (Apparently I did not do my measurements right.) EC: 1.644 TDS: 820 ppm So that was just after lights out. So I couldn't take them out and adjust the pH again. But, Papaya Cookies keeps crashing, so this should at least get through all the nutrients she needs. Lemon Cherry Cookies on the other hand has been swinging up. With her pH up at 6.5, it's gonna spike even more. Maybe not though. I did add that gallon of plain pHed water. I need a bigger bucket. Lol. Anyway, the environment has been pretty good these past few days. Very happy with that. I've been following the VPD for the most part. So far it's right on the money beteeen 1.49 kPa and 1.59 kPa. While lights out hangs out around 1.30 kPa. Temp is 68° and humidity is 44% for a perfect environment. Day temp is 75° and the humidity at 45%. 11/30/2025 Morning Readings: Papaya Cookies: pH: 4.68 EC: 1746 TDS: 866 Lemon Cherry Cookies: pH: 6.49 EC: 1904 TDS: 950 Adjusted: Papaya Cookies: pH: 5.6 EC: 1519 TDS: 760 Lemon Cherry Cookies: pH: 6.2 EC: 1753 TDS: 876 So let me explain the way I did things today. Plain water for each. I left the water completely alone for Papaya Cookies and added that with its pH of 8.0. That mixed in pretty nicely. Not good enough, but close. After lights out, I'll probably pull both plants and pH them properly. But I'm trying to avoid lifting, moving or agitating the roots of both plants in any way. Obviously I'll have to pH properly at some point today or tomorrow. 12/01/2025 Measurements this morning were off. This time though, Lemon Cherry Cookies pH swung down to 5.6. That's new. But of course her EC and TDS were high again. So still not taking in nutrients. But she drank a gallon of water. Something is going on. I only lifted her a little bit to see where the air stone was. Papaya Cookies had a super low pH as per usual. Which is really bad. Her leaves are starting to show signs of serious deficiency or pH damage. I don't know the difference yet. But I do know there's definitely an issue. Anyway, her EC and TDS weren't that far off. So I dumped half a gallon of pH rich water to bring the lower pH mix up. Spot on at 5.8. it also lowered the EC and TDS. Not much though. Unfortunately, my water pump is too big for the access panel. I need to get a smaller one. Then I could pump the water out, pH and pump it back in. Oh well. Next time. Environment is good.