sulfur deficiency?

K

krazysmoke

Active Member
hi everyone, I just wanted to get some advice about my plants, I just moved them from the clone room into small containers. a week later, they are showing light green on the new growth. I am using RO water, and am in soil. I ph the water to 6.5 before I water. any help would be appreciated.
 

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Doesn't look like sulfur to me. Whats your feed comprised of? Whats the PPM? What soil? You sure that your pH meter is accurate and calibrated? What one do you use?

Would like to know the soil pH but I understand most growers don't have a good soil pH pen. 90% of the deficiency problems I find are caused by the medium taking on a pH thats off. It happens. I check all my plants daily and water to correct. If the soil tests at say 5.5 and I want 6.5 then I water at 7.5 and check the soil pH again halfway between the next watering. It should be much closer. So lets say it's now testing at 5.2, then water with 6.8 and the next test should be pretty darn close. Usually takes me one or two waterings to get the soil pH to match the feed pH. Watering without ample runoff will compound these problems as salts accumulate in the medium. I have seen this with soil, soiless peat based mixes and coco.

If you think it's sulfur you could try adding a little epsom salt to see if that corrects the issue but I would find it very odd for any popular nutrient line to be lacking sulfur.
 
Potassium deficiency could be possible. Just jumping to conclusions, could also be an iron deficiency, RO water has no iron. Iron deficiencies typically show up more yellow though. Not sure about soil and iron, I am not an organic grower.
 
I don't like using straight RO water for anything. I would add some cal mag to it or mix it with some tap water. Then you probably won't need to ph it.
 
hi, I'm using the same light, im using store bought soil, nothing special. im also using plant prod for nutrients.
I will try the water run off and see what the ph comes in. I also water with the ppm around 300
 
yeah. its starting to get cold up north here, my run off was 5.8. im gonna try to flush and bump it up. thanks for all your in put.
 
Capn-Crunch said:
I agree with Renfro, keeping your soil PH in range will eliminate most nutrient issues
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Question for both of you ... what's your favorite SOIL PH tester?

I have not been tracking soil ph, just ph the feed water to 5.5 to 6.1 range. But, I have been reading about it and it seems that it may be to my advantage to do so.
I got one of those $20 two prong cheap ones ... can I trust it?
 
HashBucket said:
Also, OP ... that seems a bit high to me.
The range that nutes and minerals are easily taken up is 5.3 to 6.0 -- (depending on the nute and mineral).
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I always considered those numbers for hydro with chelated minerals, in soil I always felt like 6-7 was the optimum range and I personally like 6.5-6.8 but I'm sure mine has been all over the place cause I've never had a good soil meter. I ck'd mine with ro water with a handful of soil mixed up and strained, not sure if that's a good method but I dont grow enough in soil to justify an expensive meter.
 
HashBucket said:
Question for both of you ... what's your favorite SOIL PH tester?

I have not been tracking soil ph, just ph the feed water to 5.5 to 6.1 range. But, I have been reading about it and it seems that it may be to my advantage to do so.
I got one of those $20 two prong cheap ones ... can I trust it?
Click to expand...

Bluelab makes a good tester.
I try to keep my ph 6.2 to 6.5
 
HashBucket said:
Really.
That high?
I use Canna Cocco ... does that make a difference?
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Coco is similar to hydro since its basically a neutral medium and doesn't contain any nutrient value. Soil contains nutrients and holds them and slowly releases them to the plant over time. Soil ph is generally higher that what you would run in coco. In coco I feed at 5.8, one could feed anywhere from 5.5-6.5 as that range covers all the absorption target spots for all the essential nutrients. So ideally I guess one could skip around at different feeding times from 5.5 to 6.5 to make sure every element gets absorbed adequately. Akin to the swing in hydro, Jmho
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boybelue said:
Coco is similar to hydro since its basically a neutral medium and doesn't contain any nutrient value. Soil contains nutrients and holds them and slowly releases them to the plant over time. Soil ph is generally higher that what you would run in coco. In coco I feed at 5.8, one could feed anywhere from 5.5-6.5 as that range covers all the absorption target spots for all the essential nutrients. So ideally I guess one could skip around at different feeding times from 5.5 to 6.5 to make sure every element gets absorbed adequately. Akin to the swing in hydro, Jmho
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Good. That's kinda what I been doing.
If I look at the data sheet that I hang on the door, and it says that the last five days feedings were ph'd at 6.1, 6.0, 6.1, 5.9. 6.0 I will do a few in the 5.5 to 5.7 range just to bump it down a bit.
I think it's important to yo-yo the ph so that different nutes and minerals get picked up in the different sweet spots.
 
HashBucket said:
Good. That's kinda what I been doing.
If I look at the data sheet that I hang on the door, and it says that the last five days feedings were ph'd at 6.1, 6.0, 6.1, 5.9. 6.0 I will do a few in the 5.5 to 5.7 range just to bump it down a bit.
I think it's important to yo-yo the ph so that different nutes and minerals get picked up in the different sweet spots.
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Yep the yo yo is a good analogy and imo I think that is the best way to feed a soiless medium if your watering/feeding on a daily basis or actually doesn't have to be daily but say hand watering during the week vs a big rez that recirculates. A recirculating rez or rdwc will swing up a point over a 1 week period as long as the system or rez isnt to big and everything is going smoothly. But if your hand watering or mixing everytime you feed your not going to have that swing unless you mix it and do it manually. I guess it could drift some in your soil but imo it's not going to be like a hdro setup w/reservoir or rdwc.
 
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