Hey man trying to pick best moms.
One is gonna be a nirvana NL, just cause I've read that they're easy for newbs & cause just an old fav.
But the others I can't decide.
Got these spanish beans from a breeder called pyramid.
Got x1- Wembley & x1 Pipi
http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/pyramid-seeds-wembley/prod_707.html
http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/pyramid-seeds-pipi-feminized/prod_708.html
Can't decide on of them, or also Yum47 & NY47 from WOS legends. Saw u ran the Y47 on ur utube, woulda think?
Oh and the Dinafem widow bean I told ya bout the other day. You know my space constraints & lack of wisdom.
Everything not a mom will obv. get vegged for a few weeks & then into the v thang to sog.
Ur opinion be def. appreciated.
Thanks as always doc
the yumbolt47 plants look amazing.. nice and full and big.. you cant go wrong with that or the ny47.. i like the looks of that wembley to... i suppose if i was to pick two i would go yum47 and wembley...
But won't not giving them nutes for longer periods of time possibly lead to more problems than raising the pH via higher pH feeding fluid?
the fluid you feed with and water you use wont actually affect the soils ph... here is sorta how this works...
ph in soil is based on the salt content of the soil.... the more salts the more acidic it is....
we ph the water we use not so that the soil is affected by it but to ensure the plant can absorb the water/nutes.... if you water with water/nutes that are all out of range then the plant wont absorb the nutes correctly which leaves salts left in the soil...
in between feedings there are nutes in the soil that dont get used... between whats actually available to them at the time and whats still locked in the soil you may have quite a bit of unused nutes... and also nutes get used at different rates... the plant wont eat everything it has available to it... so again some things get left behind...
now comes the confusing part where it all works together...
you start off with ph'd water and feed... your plant uses "x" amount of nutes and "y" amount gets left behind... over time the "y" amount starts to build up and slowly begins to lower ph... as the ph begins to lower certain nutes begin to become harder to absorb... thus meaning more get left behind.. and again the ph lowers more... so theres that side of things...
in order to fix the ph (properly) you need to remove the salts and such from the soil... there are 2 ways of doing it.. 1, a good flush... basically run plain water over and over through the pot until the run off water is the same ec/ppm as it is when it goes in.. this will ensure your soil is clean and will raise the ph.. it wont happen over night.. will take a few days to stablize.. and is much easier on the plant as it has time to adjust.. but thats one way.... then you can start feeding again on an even level...
the other way is to use ph up/down (earth juice is best) to get ph within range... doing it this way has its ups and downs.. first thing it does is allows the nutes in the soil to try to be used up rather than flushed out... which is good since its not wasting them.. the down side to it all is that you cant be sure the nutes that are left will get used up (since you cant be sure whats actually locked away), you still have to wait for the plant to eat the nutes (which means light feeding a couple times again), and if you over correct then your playing the up/down correction game..
the thing to remember is ph swings can reek havoc on your root systems.. it wont destory them or anything.. but large ph swings can cause osmotic stress.. this will affect how your plant absorbs water and nutes... which can cause issues in and of itself for a couple days until the plant has time to adjust...
either way you choose is affective... but (even if it seems somewhat counter productive) it is best to flush and start over... just so you know that you have a clean slate to start from... it will only take 1 flush to get things back level.. so its quick and easy... just make sure your soil drains well before doing this to avoid root rot and shit...
in the future if you mix some dolomite lime in the soil it will help keep the soil well within range... DL has a stable ph of 7.0.... over time in soil it will raise the ph to 7.0... since you are feeding it salts and some get left behind it will help lower the 7.0 to around 6.5 or so.. about perfect... if it starts getting lower than that with lime youll know you are starting to get a lot of salt build up..
Sam, could you explain the proper use and care of PH/EC meters in general? I haven't really found much on the subject, mostly only the numbers needed. I am clueless on the exact meaning of the buffer solution, and replacement probes and such...
well choempi i will do the best i can.... the problem is..... well i'll get there.. ill try to cover everything i can think of.. there are just a lot of options..
first lets start with the easy one.. ph.... ph meters are easy to take care of and maintain... the main thing is calibrating them on a regular basis (every couple weeks) and keeping the probe clean... the probe is the part that you actually stick in the solution to read it... if the probe is dirty it can cause varriances in the readings.. all you need to do to take care of it is to rinse it off well with water after use.. if you have the kind you can leave in your nute solution (mainly for hydroponic applications) the same rules apply.. except calibrating them is more important.. sitting in the solution can sometimes cause them to read off from what they should be... its best to make sure its always spot on (calibrate with res changes) to keep your plants happy...
you get what you pay for too... a cheap ph pen/meter will be just that... they are more likely to need recalibrating and are more likely to read inaccurately than a more expensive one.. i use a
http://www.wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=SPPM500&AC=1 for my res.. works great.. doesnt drift much.. and is all around a great meter... i like it too because the probe is seperate from the reader.. so if one goes out i just need to replace it and not the entire thing...
its important to check and make sure the meter you are using doesnt require the probe to stay moist... i guess i worded that badly.. some meters/pens require that probe to stay wet (not to dry out) between uses.. just make sure to check if the meter/pen you are getting is that way.. otherwise (if it even works) it will read wrong and probably wont be able to be calibrated properly...
also, as far as ph readers go, there are some that are used for solutions and some meant specifically to check soil ph.. make sure if you are getting one to check soil ph it is in fact a soil ph reader...
whatever you do try to stay away from the paper strips... they arent accurate at all... leave a lot of space open for "interpritation" since they dont display actual values.. and if you use nutes that arent 100% clear the colors from them can affect the reading...
when you go to check the ph of a solution here is the ideal way to do it... first mix your solution well... give it at least 10 minutes of good mixing before checking ph... once mixed well check and adjust ph as needed... allow the solution to sit for a few hours.... 3 to 5 is a good number... even over night would be good.. **if you have an air stone/pump is a good time to throw it in**.. after it sits a while check it one more time and adjust if needed again.. that should stablize the ph...
there are a lot of things that cause ph shifts... i am still learning a LOT about it.. but to make it easy, it takes a while for the ph to actual stablize... just because we add ph down and get 6.0 does not mean that 5 hours from now it will still be 6.0.. ideally it will be but unlikely at best...
now for the ec/ppm meters... first ill start out saying i highly highly highly highly highly highly highly reccomend sticking with a meter that reads EC vs. ppm.... or at least stick with the ec readings over the ppm readings...
here is why..
there are 3 ppm scales depending on who manufactures the meter.. but EC is constant.. only 1 scale for that.. and its much more accurate.. so i prefer to stick with ec so i dont have to worry about conversions and shit...
care is about the same.. make sure the probe is cleaned... ec/ppm readers dont typically dont need to have the probes stay moist.. so use, rinse, and store...
i pretty much follow the same basic guide line when checking ec as i do when i check ph.. after a good mixing ill check it to make sure its close to what i want.. and ill check it again later just to make sure.. they work by reading the conductivity of the ions in the solution.. since it takes a good amount of time for the chemical reactions to take place (also a reason why ph shifts) so the nute ions are combined with the water ions the initial reading can varry some from the final reading.. typically the final reading is a little higher than the first one.. but not so much it you will have to worry.. maybe .2ec increase.. if that....
i personally recommend
http://www.wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=TRU500&AC=1 they never need calibrating (i dropped mine in my reservoir and it sat in there for about 5 days before i realized it.. still works like a charm), have ec and 2 ppm readings plus another reading that i never look at... they are probably the best ec reader on the market..
now i know there are plenty of companies that make dual purpose readers.. ec/ph meter combos... DONT and i repeat DONT spend the money on them.. yes, it is convienent to be able to check everything with 1 meter.. normally if you can combined 2 products into 1 its a good deal.. and they are quite accurate.. the problem comes when one of the 2 readers decides to take a shit on you... you are stuck having to buy a whole new meter which sucks bad enough.. but while you are waiting on the new meter you cant check either ph or ec.... its best to have 2 seperate meters.. the blue lab truncheon i recommend for anyone.. the smart ph meter i recommend to anyone with hydro...
http://www.wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=TRU500&AC=1 this is a pretty good ph meter if you dont have hydro and just need to check ph of solutions once in a while...
i think that covers it for the most part.. if you have any other questions feel free to ask!