pH

I went out and got some on stripes, unfortunately I don't have the money to go drop 100 on a digital reader but my water is between 6.0 and 7. And I know this isn't accurate but I took a sample of the soil put it on a strip and it says it's at 4-5. Again I know it isn't accurate as I cannot get it down deep in the soil but is that enough to come to the conclusion that it's too low? And if I just flush it will that balance it back out. Or was buying the stripes a complete waste of time.

don't check the ph of the soil . you need to check the ph in the water . and not worry about soil ph. 99.99 % of the time if you do as I say your good. you need to go out and but a http://www.hydrogalaxy.com/nutrients-supplements/ph-adjustment/gh-ph-test-kit-1oz/?gclid=CKz5jqGwq7sCFbQWMgod5zwAyA this is what I use. its very accurate. easy to use. just rem. always check your ph after you put your nutrients in the water and mix it then check ph .

Well there was a bit left in the jug after feeding this morning and that came in around 4, but that didn't make sense to me as I thought it would be higher after the nutrient was added. So after I feed them should I be giving her water to bring it back up, and should I keep giving her the cal mag with it or just plain water. The original prob was a calcium Def. The cal mag has I think seems to have helped some, but not completely.

what kind of dirt are you in? and what's your water source? tap or RO?

Ok so I test striped each of what was left in my containers for the nutes 3 out of the four are between 6-7 my high p one shows 4 or 5. And that one gets the the most per gallon of water. Is that dropping it and causing the deficiency?

dubcoastOGs said:

what kind of dirt are you in? and what's your water source? tap or RO?

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It's tap water and that's showing 7 by itself. Soil is Fox farms, but I won't be using it again. I don't like it feel like it may be part of the problem

well. You really shouldn't have to worry about PH in soil. With ocean forest, because it's peat based. It may drop towards the end of flowering, but it should stay a consistent 6.8 for a good while.

Having said that. There are definitely exceptions to this. Tap water being one of them. Do you know the TDS of your water from the tap? Are you giving them full strength nutes? About how much calmag/gal? do you know the tds after adding the calmag? what about the tds after adding nutes?

I know it seems like alot, but it will help narrow down the real issue, and not just side effects of the issue.

Me thinks, it's the hardness of your tap water, and your dirt is having a hard time buffering it.

FFOF is decent dirt, but who knows. You may have just gottena bunk bag.

See I didn't take any of that into account really with the tap water. How would I measure the tds. I am giving them full strength nutes and they get 1 tsp per gallon of water for the cal mag. I've been inspecting her, her growth I don't think has stunted. And since I've introduced it, only 1 fan leaf has become really bad, and the others show the def was there but not progressed and i know already damaged growth won't come back. I'm just trying to cover all my bases. First indoor grow.

you really need to find out more about your tap water. It may be just fine. It may be horrible.

But if your tap water starts out >400ppm, you add 1tsp calmag, and full strength nutes - you have a problem. not to mention all the other stuff your getting unwantedly for free, courtesy of your city's water treatment plan, and the pipes delivering it.

You are adding the calmag before the nutes right? I'm surprised they need calmag since your using tap water.

what's the runoff ph?

btw, the pictures in your journal dont look like mg problems to me.

I will start adding it before, and does fluoride have to do with the ppm? It say there is 1.00 mg/l if it in the water Here in my county and I can't get an exact ppm but that says it's from .7 to 1.2ppm does any of this sound right?

Mineral level

Mg 2.07
Ca 15.00
Na 1.6
K .90

And then it gives a mg rank of 17.

This info is a few years old and if I how accurate but it's a report I got for my city