I really need some help guys. First time inside grow. Having problems in flower . I believe my PH is too high in my soil

You are most definitely a book of knowledge my friend. I dont know squat about growing inside. But after reading your response, i think i can finally start to begin all the complicated processes that growing GOOD smoke involves. Excellent ,informative information. Thank you @Lostgirl . You are amazing at breaking it down to the less knowledgeable. :facepunch: :call_me_hand:

What jumped out to me was the high PH. Not sure FF soil could even get to 8.7. Suspect the meter is not reading accurately.

What do you mean by some places? Are you testing the soil?
Soil ph meters are notoriously inaccurate. The best way to test soil is to do a slurry test with a ph meter designed for liquids. Im not familiar with the nutrient line your using. Im bottom watering using AC infinity self watering bases. I try to keep the ph around 6.2-6.4 and the ppm’s around 800. 3 weeks ago I waterd from the top on one of my plants. It almost immediately turned all the leaves yellow. Then most of the leaves started dieing.


The one in the back is the same plant 3 weeks later

Welcome to the forum

Refering to a soil probe

So the question is: what PH meter are you using?

Also has the PH Meter been calibrated lately???

I second this :squinting_face_with_tongue::sweat_smile::sweat_smile::grin:

That was very informative and very beneficial to read for my own knowledge kudos on you @Lostgirl This info may be beneficial to me one day someone new to the game :thinking::grinning_face:

I could not respond because I just became a member.

Thank you so much for the feedback. You are very knowledgeable and I appreciate it.

I’m going to try and answer all the questions.

Yes, I have tested the soil in numerous places. The highest being 8.9 as referenced. Mainly in the plant that’s so affected being the highest. I do not adjust the nutrients. I am feeding slightly under the recommended amount. In the 7 gallon pots it does take a lot to get any runoff to test. I do have an AC Infiniti pen to test liquid and run off. I do have the AC Infinity automatic watering bases. After reading everything I will probably continue to feed and water from the top? Whatever deficiency I have caused, it seems like the two girl scout cookies are more effected at this point. The other one is also showing some minor but similar problems on the leaves.

I have read that the prong soil testers are inaccurate. When I first tested the soil with them it was about six. I have used the powdered soil tester. If my eyes were right I believe it was slightly alkaline also. I then added some organic soil acidifier in veg. That was my attempt to adjust the pH.

Also yes I am using the Sensi advanced nutrients.

Thank you for all the information Lost girl. I’m sorry I probably didn’t articulate that nearly as well as you needed. If you have any other questions please ask. Again thank you for all your help

These are the soil testers I’ve used. I also used peat in the beginning to try and lower pH in the soil.

Sorry for the late response. Got the flu again :sneezing_face:

Watering and feeding from the top has a lot of benefits because you can catch the runoff. You should definitely invest in a good pH pen and a good PPM pen as those soil probes are worthless. I guarantee your soil is not 8.0

You’re goal is to run off 1000PPM you simply feed your plant accordingly. If your ppms are over a 1000 feet over the less. If your ppms are under 1000 feed a little more. When you’re feeding your plants you want to get about two cups of runoff. 7 gallon ponds you’re probably feeding 2 gallons of water to get any runoff.

I’d be very interested in knowing what the PPM in your soil is it this time since you’ve been feeding very heavy. As long as you don’t pH adjust your feeds with the Advanced Nutrients you shouldn’t have any pH problems. It could be that you’re overfeeding slightly, again difficult to say as you don’t have runoff numbers.

So you are watering and feeding from the top recently correct?

You mentioned that you tested your feed and it was 1100 PPM what type of meter are you using to test the ppms? If possible can you take a picture of it?

Also, If you’re going to venture into this hobby you’ve got to invest in a decent ph/ppm meter. The meter below will do everything that you need to do in one pen. I strongly suggest you order this ASAP.

5 in 1 TDS Meter PH Tester, 0.01 High Accuracy Digital PH Meter for Water, PH/TDS/EC/Salt/Temp Tester, PPM Meter Water Tester for Drinking Water, Hydroponics, Plants, Aquarium and Pool Amazon.com

As far as your nutrients go mixing at 1100 PPM to feed is a lot as I said before Sensi A & B at full strength is 16 ml per gallon of A and 16 ml per gallon of B

If I were you until you get a PPM meter I would do 1/2 strength. I can give you a recipe to feed your plants for now based on what you have.

I’m assuming you’ll be feeding from the top. If so I would use 2-1/4 gallons per 7 gallon pot. This should give you sufficient runoff.

Also note
getting at least two cups of runoff every time you feed not only serves the purpose of measuring your pH and PPM it also flushes out the old nutrients with the new. (This is very important)

With that said this is what I suggest you feed your plants.

This recipe is milliliters (ml) per gallon also note add your nutrients to the water in this order.

Water
3 ml Calmag (per gallon)
8ml Sensi Bloom A (per gallon)
8ml Sensi Bloom B (per gallon)
That’s it. Do not pH adjust
If you have a PPM pen measure the ppms of your feed before you feed them and document it.

For now, (at least for the next couple of feeds) you’re going to discontinue using
Tarantula
Piranha
voodoo juice
Bud candy

By using just Sensi Bloom (bace nutrients) and Calmag low dose will take care of any deficiencies you may have. I don’t believe your leaf problem is a deficiency I believe it’s nutrient burned from excessive nutrients feeds. (My personal opinion)

To recap,
You’re going to use 2-1/4 gallons of feed per plant. Keep in mind the recipe above is per gallon so if you were mixing 2-1/4 gallons at a time you would double the above recipe.

Also note
When you were bottom feeding you were using Advanced Nutrients. Although there are some salts in the formula I wouldn’t worry myself about salt buildup in your soil as Advanced Nutrients is incredibly light on salt. This is why I didn’t recommend any flushing.

Also at a later time we can discuss all of your microbial and fungi additives that you have. I commend you for taking care of the microbial life. However, you got to be very careful too much it’s not good. Once again at a later time when we get your plans healthy I’ll tell you how to properly utilize them.

Keep good watering practices (don’t overwater), keep your temperature and relative humidity in check, make sure your light is set properly to height and power percentage and you’re going to be just fine.

Your plants will bounce back after the next couple of feeds and return to happy and healthy. (Trust me)

Just for reference, Autopots water from the bottom so any salts are actually flushed upwards by the capillary action of the media absorbing nutes from the bottom. Salts are flushed up to the very top layer of medium and out of the root zone, so plants should never be watered from the top after running Autopots as you would be washing the salts right back into the root zone. PH is controlled in the rez, with Autopots you shouldn’t need to do anything but mix the AN nutes to proper EC and the chelation should take care of it. I feel he has countered the chelation by PHing and got his PH out of whack, especially by the look of those leaves.

That’s exactly what occurred to me when I saw PH of 8.7.

Those soil probe meters have caused more problems


@Cory2
I got good news and bad news. As I told you before I have zero experience in bottom feeding. So it’s difficult for me to offer much help with that. However, I’ve got a very good friend that works for Advanced Nutrients since the day they open their doors. Not to mention he’s a master grower

I explained everything to him in full detail of your current situation. I was wrong, he anticipates a pretty good buildup of salt in your soil from bottom feeding excessively with nutrient rich water. He strongly recommends a flush of tapwater and Calmag to eliminate a good amount of that salt that’s built up in your soil.

Also, you need to make a decision are you going to top feed or bottom feed. Top feeding is always going to be the safer way to feed your plants as you get the runoffs that dictates your feeding patterns and overall nutrient level in your soil.

I specifically asked him is there a way to switch to top feeding after bottom feeding all this time. He said it will not affect the plant by top feeding as long as you flush. You’re not doing a soil reset you’re doing a simple flush that involves running 15 quarts (4 gallons) of tap water and cal mag that’s pH’ed to 6.5 through each of your 7 gallon pots. Then come behind it with the feed we discussed above as long as your numbers are right. Unfortunately we won’t know until we get run off. (Yes it’s a little bit of work) But he says it’s absolutely necessary.

Unfortunately, this is going to require a pH pen and a PPM pen so this is done correctly as you need to catch the first couple of cups of runoff when you flush so you can tell the overall status currently of your soil then you would remeasure the last couple of cups that you pour through to see how much nutrients were flushed out of your soil. So unfortunately that pen is very necessary.

I’ll be more than happy to assist whenever you’re ready.

I really appreciate your help. This is the pen that I have from AC infinity. I also sent an updated picture of that plant.

Would I wait for them to dry out again before flushing them?

(attachments)


That pens good for pH. Also do you have PH Up & PH Down to adjust the pH?

Do you have a meter to test PPM/TDS/EC ?
If you don’t have one when can you order one?

Yes you’ll have to wait until your plants dry before flush feeding again

Calibrate the meter too.

You are the Bomb @Lostgirl

I use one like the OP but just to check moisture level deep in the root zone. I adjust feeding schedule using that information, but have noted watering needs to be done at the 5-6 day mark past the last feeding. YMMV, but this works for me with FFHF w/15% more perlite in 7 gallon fabric containers.

edit: FWIW, the PH I’m getting in runoff has been between 6.3 and 6.5. I give them 2.5 gallons each to get good runoff.

Sorry it’s been awhile since I last wrote Lost Girl. With work and the very large vegetable garden I’m growing this year, there have been some very long days. T Ray is Right it does take much longer for the 7 gallon pots to dry out. I’m hoping we can do this tomorrow or the next day. I really want to try and correct what I’ve done so it doesn’t harm these girl’s anymore going forward.

I’m going to calibrate the meter today. The instructions say it does EC as well. I have an older EC meter I will try and find. If it’s not any good I will purchase one today.

I will have everything in order for when we’re able to flush them. Again thank you Lost Girl and everyone trying to help!