I Need Somebody Really Smart to Convert Some Numbers Please

[ShureGreen]

Ok. Here I am. 2nd indoor grow. 1st went well. Yield was low but quality was phenomenal and well above top shelf. I grow Orange Bud, Agent Orange​:heart:, and Super Lemon Haze. This time, right now and for the past couple of weeks I been all cornfused. So I’m making this new thread for this hopefully final part of question.

Here goes…My Orange Bud #1 is dying.

I don’t have any distilled water so I tried to distill my own. I came pretty close, winding up with and at a temperature of 71.6°F, an EC value of 0020 and a TDSPPM value of 0012. pH value of 5.85.

I used that water to conduct a Soil Slurry with prior to Feeding my sickly one. The results of that Slurry were… at 71.4°F, EC value of 0706. TDSPPM value of 0360. pH value of 7.26.

What I’m trying to figure out is this…With those numbers can anybody tell me what the actual numbers would be if I had used actual store bought distilled AND what the numbers of my nutrient mix should be when feed this ill plant I have??? Nothing difficult there, eh? Hehe! I know there’s somebody here that can do this.

If it helps, here’s some more information and numbers from Karen Room tonight…
My Tap water(without me trying to distill it) is, at 78.8°F, EC=0130, TDDPPM=0056, pH=6.59.

My Nutrient Mix that I just prepared for seedlings at basically 1.9mpg each of the General Hydroponics 6 part light feeding series, at 71.6°F, EC=0626, TDSPPM=0309, pH=6.54.

So what say you guys? What is my next move? Add Nutrients? Add water to my Nutrient Mix? Go get some damn Distilled Water and redo the Slurry tomorrow?

I have 7 plants total in a 5x6x8’ tent with a Vivosun 4000 Full Spectrum LED. A few bells and some whistles. Nothing special. I intend to use the General Hydroponics Flora Series-Micro, Gro, and Bloom with Floralicious, Koolbloom and Cal-Mag Performance Pack at a light feed.

Here’s a pick of the poor gal. Say a prayer for her so that maybe she’ll put up a good fight and win it. The 2nd is the underside of my candles lid. Thought it might make someone’s day.

[Hashtonbutcher]

Happy New Year Karen
That first picture…
I will have to re-read your question…
I am a bit tired…
I have my EC"s around 0.6 for a plant that size.
I just use de-chlorinated tap water.

[ShureGreen]

I should mention that last Friday I did a RunOff Test on her and those numbers were as follows at 72°F. EC=1148.
TDSPPM=0570. pH=7.02. I’m thinking that I need to add about 1/3 more of those Nutrients for her so that I would be feeding in about an EC of about 850 and a PPM of about 0412, I think? But that doesn’t seem right.

[ShureGreen]

Things with faces. Gotta love it.

[Hashtonbutcher]

@ShureGreen
Just had a closer look at picture and noticed the crates.
What sort of pots are you using and what sort of soil?

[LateNightGardner]

@ShureGreen

redo the Slurry tomorrow?

Ok, I have run in soil in the past but am exclusively Hydroponic DWC now.

Here’s the tack I’d use. Get some distilled water but if you want to use your distilled water you want to start at 7.0
Create a bucket of pH 7.0 with your pH up for your testing.
Then…
To perform a slurry test on cannabis in soil, you will need the following items:

• pH Meter (e.g. Blue Lab pH Pen)
• Cup or Container (e.g. Solo Cups)
• Mixing or Stirring Tool
• Distilled or Reverse Osmosis Water

Here are the steps to follow:

1. Collect a soil sample.
2. Add distilled, RO water or your bucket of partially distilled to your cup or container. Use a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio of soil to water.
3. Stir vigorously into a slurry. Stir for a few minutes.
4. Let it rest. Then stir again. Do this over the course of about 15-30 minutes. The longer the better.
5. Insert your pH meter into the slurry and read the results.

Now to change your soil pH.

Here are the steps to follow:

1. Test the pH of your soil using a pH meter or pH strips ⁴.
2. Determine the amount of pH adjustment needed based on the pH test results and the ideal pH range for cannabis growth ⁴⁶.
3. Add the appropriate amount of organic material or pH adjuster to the soil ⁴⁵.
4. Mix the soil thoroughly to distribute the material evenly ⁴⁵.
5. Retest the pH of the soil to ensure that it is within the desired range ⁴.

It’s important to note that the pH range for cannabis growth is between 6.0 and 7.0.

[ShureGreen]

@Hashtonbutcher Ok. I use Pillow cases in milk crates to grow in. Works well fir me so far. I was in a bind last time and had to go with what I had on hand and that was it.

See, I was told to increase my EC with each feeding until my final would be 800-1000. With an … Darnit idk? It seems like people aren’t making sense. You know, my meter doesn’t even have any numbers with a . anything but I’m supposed to have an EC or 2.0?! Idk? I have a new meter coming tomorrow. I’ll see how it’s set up. Thanks Dude.

@LateNightGardner Ok. I know about pH. I learned that last grow. Pretty steady for all 7 plants, the pH I’ve put in is the same as what is draining out. So the pH isn’t at issue, nor the slurry test. I know how to do that as I did it several times last grow. But I didn’t know about EC and TDSPPM last time and it’s been brought to my attention recently. Those numbers are what I’m trying to figure out so that I know what to feed in tomorrow when I feed #1. So if I want, at the end of the grow, the EC to be 2.0 and the PPM to be 1000, then if the results, for this one plant, of the RunOff test done last week were EC 1148 and PPM 0570, then what should the EC and PPM that I feed into it be? See? Thanks.

[Hashtonbutcher]

@ShureGreen

I use Pillow cases in milk crates to grow in.

Great stuff Karen, I am all for recycling and repurposing.
I was thinking about using something like that.
I bought some fabric pots and the bigger ones can be pricey…
Not buying fabric pots anymore , I will repurpose something else.
Canvas bags would work too, I think.

[Hashtonbutcher]

@ShureGreen

It seems like people aren’t making sense.

Sorry about that Karen, I am tryin

@ShureGreen

You know, my meter doesn’t even have any numbers with a . anything but I’m supposed to have an EC or 2.0?

What sort of meter do you have?
What sort of soil?
This is just me but I would give it nutrients,it looks hungry to me, EC between 0.6-.0.8, Ph 6.5 and see how it goes.
Can you show your other plants, I am guessing that you are using same soil?

[LateNightGardner]

@ShureGreen

I don’t have any distilled water so I tried to distill my own. I came pretty close, winding up with and at a temperature of 71.6°F, an EC value of 0020 and a TDSPPM value of 0012. pH value of 5.85.

If you’re going to conduct a slurry test, and you want it to be accurate, I’d start with some distilled water. If you’re going to make your own then you want to start at neutral 7.0 not 5.85.
And btw, do you have a still? How’d you make that??
Most nutrient brands will stipulate a PPM for water content.
.Electrical conductivity (EC) is a measure of the ability of a solution to conduct an electrical current. Parts per million (PPM) is a measure of the concentration of a solution. The relationship between EC and PPM is not linear and depends on the specific conversion factor used. Here is a quick EC to PPM conversion chart

EC (mS/cm)	PPM 500	PPM 640	PPM 700
0.1	50	64	70
0.2	100	128	140
0.3	150	192	210
0.4	200	256	280
0.5	250	320	350
0.6	300	384	420
0.7 m9	450	576	630
1.0	500	640	700

[PhatPat]

Just an outsider looking in Karen but one thing i have noticed in your posts over the past few weeks is your runoff pH always seem to be over 7.0. Im wondering why this is? Are you adding additional buffering agents to your top soil? Just curious mostly…

[Spiney_norman]

I use RO water. It reads 0009 to 0012 PPMs consistently. Pretty much like Distilled water. Reading pH at those levels is not possible without very expensive equipment. Oh yes, your pen will read a number but its not accurate and doesn’t matter anyway. Low PPM water will grab carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and begin to turn acidic. But its such a low low percentage as to be unimportant. Imagine a stadium with 100,000 seats and only 4 people in the entire stadium. Drop in two more fans and you can sway the percentage of home or visiting fans by 50%, but its not really a true look at the fanbase until the stadium is full. Distilled or RO water has so very little dissolved minerals that measuring its acid/alkaline content is pointless. Drop a little dirt in it and you change it completely. So when you water with it, as is, it will become whatever the soil pH is. Thus the slurry test will be accurate as long as you don’t try to adjust the pH of your low ppm water before doing the test.

[ShureGreen]

@Hashtonbutcher I do like the bags. If you decide to try them, you should just find them on clearance or like at an Ollie’s. That’s where I get them for 2 for $3. Standard size are the best size.

Typical Vivosun EC/TDS, but I just ordered a digital 5n1. The soil is what’s causing my current issues. I have a real nice digital pH meter with a separate stick that I can submerge if I wanna. It’s not a name brand but is really a nice one and accurate as well. @PhatPat too, it’s because I am having to use last grows soil. There was an issue with the 8 bags I bought this time and I had to clean up last grows and reuse it with only new top soil mixed in. So it still had some nutrients in it, I guess. But I did slurries on each bag prior to transplanting and they were all good. I see they are high on pH, but last grow I shot for between 650-750. This time I am going for 650 all the waay around. So I’m guessing it will start going down?, Also, I don’t know anything about buffering agents at all. Don’t even know what they are.

Back @Hashtonbutcher How do I know how much EC to provide her? Also, there is no decimal on my meter? So that’s cornfusing also.

@LateNightGardner Lol! Well I am from WV. No really, to distill the water I put water in a pot and make it boil, then set a bowl to float in the boiling water, and then put a glass lid that is smaller than the pot but big enough so it doesn’t weigh down the bowl, fill the lid with ice and the condensation fills the bowl and it’s supposed to be distilled at that point. I guess it did bring it down quite a bit from the readings of the tap water but just not enough. I will go get some today. I just have the absolute worst time trying to figure out graphs. Smh. Always had issues with them. But ima try to look at that and compare it to some numbers and to this meter I have coming and see what I can see.

@Hashtonbutcher again. Here they are. That OB1 is way baf in comparison.

And hey you guys, thanks a lot with chiming in. -Karen

[ShureGreen]

So now that you’ve all seen my gals, when can I start using these things. I was hoping my new meter was coming today but it was these instead.

[ShureGreen]

What the heck?! Can y’all see my photos? All I am seeing in brownish squares. Well if you click one and then pretend you see the side arrows and hit them they show up, but not the last one. It is of the LST doohickies.

[WhatsupDoc]

@Spiney_norman

Distilled or RO water has so very little dissolved minerals that measuring its acid/alkaline content is pointless

@Spiney_norman is on point here! Always start with distilled water for soil slurry tests, I’ve used RO in a pinch

[WhatsupDoc]

Back to your original question @ShureGreen, looking at your first post, if your tds ppms were that low (disregard pH for reasons above) and you did the slurry test properly you were probably pretty close. Since it looks like you reused your soil your numbers make sense, start feeding seedlings slowly and you should be in good shape

[ShureGreen]

@WhatsupDoc I hope you’re right. Ima upload a photo just for you… He works too!

[ShureGreen]

Ok. @Spiney_norman @LateNightGardner @PhatPat @Hashtonbutcher

I think I know the words to ask my question now. I hope I do anyway. So here goes…

Just pretend all of the following is hypothetical, ok.

OB1 is still a seedling.

A seedling wants PPM of 100-400, right?

My runoff PPM was 0570 last week.

Do I add Nutes at 100-400PPM? To the 570 already there?

Or since the PPM is already 0570, would I add anything at all?

OR…

Am I adding PPM to the PPM I already have? Regardless of what I already have?

Or am I simply feeding 100-400 PPM each time I feed until it reaches veg state? Letting it build up to be higher each time?

So maybe y’all can make sense of that. I am tired and I am getting older and I lose my words sometimes, or really just can’t find the right words to put forth what I want to say. Sorry about that. -Karen

[PhatPat]

The way i understand it is lets hypothetically say youre target ppms in your soil you want ~1000. If i take a runoff measurment and it reads 600, i want to add 400 ppms next time to try and maintain that ~1000 ppms she can eat on.