Is PH a good diagnosis for my clone problem?

[dapio]

So this is my second grow specs are

Lighting : 400w mh (veg) /hps (flower)
Medium: coco coir
Nutes : general hydro grow(veg), general hydro bloom(flower, general hydro floraNectar (flower)
WATER: Sadly,I have been using tap water un PH'd I live in SoCal I am desperately saving up my money to go get a digital ph meter the bastards charge 110 $ for the little piece of crap!

This pictures is about 4 days old but this clone is just not growing like my others I am LSTing all the plants and my others already have about 3 seperate nodes each well this one is acting as if it is totally ignoring all the great MH light shining above it and growing so slowly.
If you can see in the picture the Fan Leaf that is sticking up furthest in the air has now turned completely yellow and one of the leafs has these tiny yellow circles on it about 3 of them(3 circles on one leaf not 3 leafs). Anyone have any idea what the clone is experiencing? is it the PH? because I dont want to go spend 150 on a meter ph up and ph down if its not even the problem...

 

[Howard Stern]

They have PH test kits that you can find for $10. I use one it is a liquid one that you put four drops in with a water sample. Ph is very important! I would look around at your local nursery or hydro store for a cheap one and check you water soon! Ph can cause nute lockout and all kinds of problems. What about using distilled water? You will still have to PH up it cus it sits on the shelves for a little while and the ph drops but it is better than tap water.

 

[dapio]

ah thank you yes the papers I was told are to inaccurate for coco and the soil meters are useless to help me change the PH of my water so I figure in my head the only other thing to do is to go grab one of those digital meters n just do it like nike

 

[Howard Stern]

ah thank you yes the papers I was told are to inaccurate for coco and the soil meters are useless to help me change the PH of my water so I figure in my head the only other thing to do is to go grab one of those digital meters n just do it like nike

I don't use the paper ones. It is a liquid one where you put a little bit of water in a plastic vile and you add four drops and check the color of the water against a water chart.

 

[budalushious]

Go to wal mart or anywhere they stock aquarium supplies..........get a ph test kit for FRESH water. The type that uses drops. I belive I paid 6bucks for mine at Petco..........kind of a pain in the ass but it works well. Adjust the ph of what goes in check what comes out..........adjust as needed.
peace B

 

[dapio]

well I went n just got a digital ph meter and some ph up + ph down for about 65 bucks not bad I'll let you guys know if the plant makes it!

 

[kpac]

Hey dapio. What is your tap water at ph wise? Because you were watering for a few with that so your soil needs to come down as well its gunna be higher and take a moment to lower. Test the runoff (water it enough realy slow so that you have water running out the bottom ) and see what it is still sitting at. You have to water hard ( drenching the soil) for it to drop or flush the soil so you get the proper ph. see if this works.

 

[kpac]

Yah good going getting the ph meter

 

[dapio]

the plant failed kpac and I went and got another clone and the same deficiencies showed! I even transplanted to see if it was a bucket so I finally flushed completely with runoff of just pure 5.8 disitilled water and I see some nice new growth and it looks as if the purple in the stem that was dark and thick is fading away to a green color

 

[dapio]

plant died again lol it just stayed stunted with tiny growth and it was so slow it just didn't look right at all should have been growing far faster then the pace it was going my other 3 clones are evidence

 

[bird mcbride]

You still passed with 75%. Maybe next time you'll get a hundred. It just never got rooted well enough. Next time you see this happening don't hesitate to use the sprayer to give it extra water. This will help get the roots going.