I have 4 plants in my grown tent of which 1 is an auto (Bruce Banner) and the 3 others are photos (Blue Dream, Sour Diesel and Gorilla Glue). My overall concern is some leaf yellowing at the bottom of the plants. Can I snip these? Will it make a difference? Also, how can I diagnosis what the problem is. I recently transplanted these to 5 gallon grow bags.
Regular, feminized, or autoflower? Autoflower (Bruce Banner-- upper right), photos all others
Origin of water. PH, EC/TDS of source water? Tap water but adjust the pH to 7.0
PH and TDS/EC of if mixed solution? I tested the runoff PPM which is 2640 (Not sure how to interpret this result) and RO pH 6.55
Grow method? Soil, Soil-less, Coco, Hydro, Aquaponics. Please explain. Soil FFOcean Floor (2 transplants: Bruce Banner and Sour Diesel) and Happy Frog (2 tranplants: Gorilla Glue and Blue Dream)
Nutrients or fertilizer system used. Coast of Maine 1-0-1 (2 tbsp) in transplanted hole
What typr of lighting are you using? LED, HID (MH, CMH, HPS), or Fluorescents? Please elaborate. LED 200W
What are the temps in your growspce? Day / Night? averaging 68-75 F
What is the RH = relative humidity in your growspace? Day / Night? averaging 60-68% (noticed the overnight or lights out humidity can get as high as 90%)
AC, Humidifier, De-humidifier? 2 Humidifiers in grow tent
Do you have a Ventilation system? Size? 4", 6"? Yes, but no sure of size
Co2 Yes / No? UNK
How long have you been growing? 1st timer
What budget have you set in order to grow successfully? A mid-range budget
If you grow hydro, then please explain your hydro method. DWC, R-DWC, Ebb and Flow, Or; Other? Other? N/A
16b. Size and temperature of solution in reservoir? UNK
RO has no pH and should not be adjusted. Ions must be present in a solution for a pH to exist. RO contains no ions and therefore has no pH. RO will take on the pH of the medium into which it is introduced.
Thanks @MidwestGuy. The I pH’d the water to 7.0 with pH up. I used this water to feed the plants during transplant to 5 gal bags.
I’m still quite new here and thought “RO” meant “runoff.” Yikes! I realize perhaps it means Reverse Osmosis? I’ve tested the runoff after watering my plants to test the pH after adding nutes (I believe nutes is short for nutrients?).
If you follow Midwests advice, check your runoff when using water only and when you get down to a bit above 1000 ppms, then you can resume feeding the next watering and keep monitoring the runoff to maintain the 1000.
Okay, so PPM is an indicator for how much residual nutes remain and aren’t absorbed by the plant thus indicating overfeeding? Should I flush with water now to lower the PPM to close to 1k PPM or water when soil is dry, test PPM and resume nutes once PPM stabilizes? Also, what is the ideal pH for the water? I use tap water but ph down as it is roughly a pH of 8 before I adjust the pH down to around 7.
You only adjust pH after you have added everything to the water on feeding days. If she doesnt need food but is thirsty, then if using RO or Distilled you have to add about 350 ppms or the water will adjust to the rootzone pH. I use cal/mag to stabilize when I am not giving her food.
Test the ppm’s in your tap. When feeding, if your tap is coming back at lets say 300, and your target is 1000, then you would add 700 ppms of nutrients to the tap and then pH it.
You shouldn’t allow the plant to sit in the run off Grow Bro, discard immediately. When you water or feed a plant to run off you’re basically rinsing the medium of the accumulated salts from synthetic fertilizer, when the medium wicks this back in it has a tendency to tank the PH and drive up the PPMs. This does not apply to organic growing
So, if using this technique, would I slowly add the nutes into my gallon of tap water, testing the ppm intermittently? If so, is there some ratio I should keep in mind?
It will be trial and error the first few times until you determine the correct amount of nutrients to achieve 1,000 to 1,100 ppm (this is where you want to be).
If just watering, and watering with RO, you do not need to adjust the PH as the liquid will adopt whatever PH your soil is (as there are no hydrogen atoms in purified water).
I know how many ppm’s are in 1 ml of each of my nutes. 4 micro, 4 Grow and 8 bloom get me to 1084 using RO. I would test 1 ml of each in the water you use and record that. Will never have to guess again and will have a table when you need to change it up depending on stage. I add each nutrient and shake it well and then add the next and so on. Once complete, ppm it and pH it and record that. Once you have an ongoing record of in/out pH and ppm’s you will have a map going forward.
What do these 3 categories represent? For example, when I buy nutes, I’ve noticed 3 different numbers. Are the 3 numbers on the fertilizer bag what you’re referring to here? I’m so green growing this green!
Remember that GH is in the business of selling products. Almost all grow feed schedules want you to run high salt levels. This is actually counter to getting a good harvest as plants like to see no more than around 1,100 ppm in a normal atmosphere. I personally would mix (in a 5 gallon bucket) 4 gallons of base water, then add the recommended amount of your 3 base nutes and then measure the TDS. If it’s too high; add water and re-check until you hit your target. If it’s too dilute, add more nutes in the ratio called out in the grow schedule and re-check again. Once you have data on how much is needed for 5 gallons you can mix with confidence. I also know how much PH down to add to my mix so I don’t even bother measuring anymore.
Just thought id mention.
As a soil grower myself.
I prefer to do a slurry test, rather than testing run off water.
I take a table spoon full of dry soil from the pot, add equal part water until it makes a slurry in a seperate container. Then test the mixture.
That tells me exactly whats in my soil prior to feeding.
I then top up the difference with feed.
I found this more reliable as a soil grower than testing run off.
Problem with that is you can’t get soil from around the roots, which is where you need to test. But soil is different too, in Promix and coco, gotta test runoff.
