FluffsTravels
Well-Known Member
Welp, after 25 years there is always something new to see and learn.
I'm currently growing the same very successful way I've been growing for over a decade. I'm in a new spot. Environmental controls are the best ever. The thing that is different, unless I got a high ph batch of Sunshine #4, is the water. Previously, I had been using RO. The new water comes from a well from a aquifer 700 feet deep. The water is considered super clean. My water rights guy told me someone is bottling directly from this aquifer. From the tap the water is consistently 110ppm and 8.2 ph. It's alkaline but those low ppm's don't equal hard. There is zero buildup of calcium or other hard issues in the house. I'm 35 days into flowering, the nugs are as big as ever, but I'm fighting a nutrient ph issue. It's mobile. You'd guess P or Mg. It's getting plenty of everything as slight leaf tip burn is how I always roll, but lowers are yellowing and dying off too rapidly. You see purple/red stems and leaf stems. Plants are lighter green the more the light they're receiving. Some yellow leaves have purple between the veins and some are just lighter with green veins (mg). All of this is abnormal. Lights are usually at 100% (1000w DE) from jump street, but I haven't gone above 93% without yellowing worsening. Back down to 85% today. CO2 is lower as well to avoid adding to much stress on them. But again, top buds are as big if not bigger then ever. So, when checking runoff starting a few weeks ago I was seeing 1800 and 7.0. Usually, plants are super happy as high as 2500ppm but the ph is usually 6.2+/-. Today, 1800 and 7.2. I usually water with 6.4 to 6.6. No issues. With the high PH runoff, I started running it lower, 6.0 to 6.3, which I think was what made them better. However, shit is losing too many leaves way too early. Everything has 5 to 6 weeks left. I make incremental greening only to feel they fall back a bit. They're sucking up a lot more water as well. My thought process is this... either the need for more water got ahead of me and the dryer soil (never wilting) caused greater salt evaporation and a lock out or soil ph spike, or even though the water isn't really HARD hard, it's hard enough to slowly spike the soil PH out of a good range. Or is the little bit of Ca and Mg in the water too much when adding normal amounts of Cal/Mag which is causing issues.
Here is the water analysis which from my understanding isn't very hard or high in anything.
Boron - ND (not detectable)
Sodium - 11.3 mg/L
Manganese - ND
Iron - .11 mg/L
Zinc - .118 mg/L
Magnesium 6.9 mg/L
Calcium 11.4 mg/L
Hardness as Calcium Carbonate 56.9 mg/L
Any experienced growers with hard(er) water or water analysis have any thoughts? Why the heck is my runoff ph going up even though I'm watering with lower and lower ph'd nutes? I mean, it can't be nitrogen deficiency. It has to be ph and/or lock out, but the water is the only different metric. I live in volcanic rock area. Do I need to test for some other minerals?
Thanks
I'm currently growing the same very successful way I've been growing for over a decade. I'm in a new spot. Environmental controls are the best ever. The thing that is different, unless I got a high ph batch of Sunshine #4, is the water. Previously, I had been using RO. The new water comes from a well from a aquifer 700 feet deep. The water is considered super clean. My water rights guy told me someone is bottling directly from this aquifer. From the tap the water is consistently 110ppm and 8.2 ph. It's alkaline but those low ppm's don't equal hard. There is zero buildup of calcium or other hard issues in the house. I'm 35 days into flowering, the nugs are as big as ever, but I'm fighting a nutrient ph issue. It's mobile. You'd guess P or Mg. It's getting plenty of everything as slight leaf tip burn is how I always roll, but lowers are yellowing and dying off too rapidly. You see purple/red stems and leaf stems. Plants are lighter green the more the light they're receiving. Some yellow leaves have purple between the veins and some are just lighter with green veins (mg). All of this is abnormal. Lights are usually at 100% (1000w DE) from jump street, but I haven't gone above 93% without yellowing worsening. Back down to 85% today. CO2 is lower as well to avoid adding to much stress on them. But again, top buds are as big if not bigger then ever. So, when checking runoff starting a few weeks ago I was seeing 1800 and 7.0. Usually, plants are super happy as high as 2500ppm but the ph is usually 6.2+/-. Today, 1800 and 7.2. I usually water with 6.4 to 6.6. No issues. With the high PH runoff, I started running it lower, 6.0 to 6.3, which I think was what made them better. However, shit is losing too many leaves way too early. Everything has 5 to 6 weeks left. I make incremental greening only to feel they fall back a bit. They're sucking up a lot more water as well. My thought process is this... either the need for more water got ahead of me and the dryer soil (never wilting) caused greater salt evaporation and a lock out or soil ph spike, or even though the water isn't really HARD hard, it's hard enough to slowly spike the soil PH out of a good range. Or is the little bit of Ca and Mg in the water too much when adding normal amounts of Cal/Mag which is causing issues.
Here is the water analysis which from my understanding isn't very hard or high in anything.
Boron - ND (not detectable)
Sodium - 11.3 mg/L
Manganese - ND
Iron - .11 mg/L
Zinc - .118 mg/L
Magnesium 6.9 mg/L
Calcium 11.4 mg/L
Hardness as Calcium Carbonate 56.9 mg/L
Any experienced growers with hard(er) water or water analysis have any thoughts? Why the heck is my runoff ph going up even though I'm watering with lower and lower ph'd nutes? I mean, it can't be nitrogen deficiency. It has to be ph and/or lock out, but the water is the only different metric. I live in volcanic rock area. Do I need to test for some other minerals?
Thanks
