First grow, need help?

@ThcinKC I wont be watering til 5 or 6 days later. but i put the nutrients to the side & only gonna need calmag for a while becauze i use nothing but distilled water & will continue to use distilled gallons water from the store when the Ppm meter & ph meter arrives.
I add 4 mL of Distilled water with calmag added on all plants for about 2 feedings (2weeks) but i have been laying low & not over watering but on the next batch of feeding using distilled water with a Quarter of what i used before which is 1mL. i will test ppm & Ph levels also will test Temp measures.
Tent always has plants at a steady 70% - 78% humidity. Temp always at 75F only drops when i open the tent & i will buy a new Temp & Humidity meter so i can have a measure of the top & bottom of the tent. i only open maybe once a day. i have a window on the tent i can look threw & make sure lights are on or off. I have lights 20inches away from the bottom baskets on the left which is plant C & 2 new babys. but i have the ones on the right top which is plant A & plant B at 16inches away. i rotate the plants a good 45degree angle every time i open the tent so the light hits all the leafs for a good amount of time.
My light time schedule is a 18/6 Hours at 7:00pm On & off at 1:00am but i have been thinking about doing a 16/8 Hours maybe the plants need more sleep.

Anything else you guys need to know ask. i will correct the Ppm & ph measures soon.
@raustin
@Familyman
@garrigan62.

Can any one help me on how to or what should the water be on the next feeding. i spent a good 45$ on these

Did the venkatool ph meter come with three calibration packets? If so, calibrate. If not, calibration reference solution is available on Amazon. The ppm meter, in my opinion, doesnā€™t need calibration.

I use tap water. I think you are using distilled, which has a pH of 7 (the pH meter canā€™t detect this because of the absence of anything in the water) and a ppm of ~0. Add your standard calmag dose, then measure the pH and ppms. This is your baseline solution. From here, I either just pH down to 5.8 for soilless (6.5 if in soil) and add to my plants; or add my recommended dosage of nutrients, re-measure the ppms, and then pH down to 5.8 (6.5 if in soil) and then add to the plants. I jot this info down to get a feel of what kind of water I typically start with and how it ends up.

During the watering process you want to collect run-off. This means that you have to add enough water to the plant to get a significant amount of water to come out the bottom (~30% for soilless, ~10% for soil is what I have read, opinions may vary). The only danger to this is the potential to overwater the plant. If the top inch or so of those big pots are bone dry it should be ready for water. Some people will recommend only water in a circle the is the approximate width of the plant until it establishes its root system. However, this makes it impossible to get to run-off. I think you flushed last week and they handled it ok?

Anyway, when you do water to run-off, you want to collect a little in a cup and then measure the pH and the ppms. For example, I have 5 gallon fabric pots in a shower stall. I water them with about 1.5 gallons. I let it sit a minute, then I pick up a pot handle with one hand and, as the pot tilts and water runs out the bottom corner, I collect that in a cup with my other hand.

If you are in soil, you want that pH to be between 6.3 and 6.8. If you are, your putting your plant roots in a position to succeed.

Second, you want your ppms of the run-off to be less than a 1000 for seedling and early veg plants, and over a 1000 for late veg and flower. Late flowering can be as high as 2000+ when the plant is eating up for the buds. Anything over 2500 is putting your plant at risk of nutrient burn or other issues caused when your soil is ā€œloadedā€. Anything under 250ppms, especially when the plant is established, is going to make her hungry and potentially nutrient deficient. Somewhere on this site there is a scale of what is ideal for the stages of the plant.

Let me know if you have any questions.

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Your answer is " YES " and hereā€™s why

Botanicareā€™s Cal-Mag Plus is a calcium, magnesium, and iron nutrient supplement used for marijuana plants. It is typically used to correct calcium and magnesium deficiencies in marijuana plants. In this tutorial weā€™ll walk you through how to use Cal-Mag Plus with marijuana plants, including dosage, frequency, usage with coco coir, ingredients, and alternatives.

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@Sixpackdad

I only have one last gallon of distilled water & i was about to use it to try to calibrate this Ph meter. so if i make a batch of Distilled water with calmag it wont be a full gallon. so im gonna wait for tomorrow to water & feed. hopefully the plants dont take that too bad since they do need a watering. I will post a picture of the Calibration manuel if any one can help me calibrate it. First time using Ph meter & i dont want to mess it up & have to buy a new one

@garrigan62

Yes Thank you for saying i have to add Calmag to all distilled water or else they would have lacked of nutrients the plant needs. any more advice i am open for. thank you all for your help!

Also i will be buying Pot trays tomorrow for the pots to collect or sit in the run off water instead of testing the run off one by one.

You will need to collect the run off of each plant individually. Doing so will allow you to assess each plant on its own. Most seeds are different phenotypes and will have slightly different needs.

@Sixpackdad @Familyman

I will be buying tray pots for all 5 but the two baby plants i can collect run off with out the tray since they are still in cups.
But for the others should i let the pots sit in the trays with the run off water for a few minutes or as soon as i see run off rush to take it out ?

I want to do everything right sorry i am asking so much questions. this is a really expensive experience for all of this guys! sorry in nervous

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Donā€™t ever be sorry about asking. We want to help. I started in July and am still learning new stuff.
I also had that pH meter and it worked well until I dropped it into a bucket of water lol. It dried out and works now and keep it as a back up/ secondary for reference. It was kinda a pain to calibrate. Just take your time and do it all. Save the solution as it keeps for a couple months in case you need to recalibrate the meter. Also, keep the electrode wet when storing.

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It will take a few times to get the hang of the timing of it. I think the key is to be consistent with how you take the run off. I pour the water in, wait a minute, take a sample, and record the pH and ppms. Then I wait another minute and do it again, record/compare results. The runoff results will differ if you take it at the beginning, middle or end of the water flowing through the pot. Thatā€™s why I take multiple samples.

Over time, you get more comfortable with the results you get, Iā€™ll back off to only taking a sample every couple of watering days. If a plant starts to show some decline, I increase the sampling until its back on track.

Like @Familyman says, we are here to help and enjoy this, so donā€™t hesitate to ask. It is an investment, but I pinky promise it will pay off once you reap that first harvest!

Also, get the pH and ppm of your tap water. What you are spending on distilled water probably isnā€™t breaking the bank, but those girls are going to get big and thirsty. For example, I have six adult girls in 10 gallon pots and I need 15 gallons of water every other day to feed them. Going with tap water or buying a filtration system may be a lower cost alternative.

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Also, if using tap water, make sure you declorinate it.

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@Familyman @Sixpackdad

thank you guys for the serious help! I have been looking at videos on how to calibrate it i think i know what i am doing with it but i still need to do more research. if i get it right & working i will get a journal for the everything i do to every plant instead of trying to remember.

Also i wanna ask if i should try my tap water like you guys asked after i calibrate & get the first batch with Distilled with cal mag water or if i should just try the tap water now?

This will be my permanent Thread for this first grow so i am ready to go on this jounrey with you guys!

Journey** lol

You just go and ask all you want bcause thatā€™s what we do here at ILGM we help each other to become better and what other way is there besides asking questions.

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I will just try my tap water after i get my Ph meter & ppm meter down & ready with distilled water.
I will update on pictures tonight here in a hour when the light automatically turns on with the timer i have set.
they looked so beautiful this morning when i checked.
if i have any questions i will surely ask.

Your water company should have data on the pH of the tap water for a reference point.

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great value distilled water. cheap 75cents a distilled gallon doesnā€™t have a reference point