Water and PH spikes? Please help?

Harvester315 said:

I am only on my second grow ever, first grow was in soil and I had a lot of issues. I wanted to downsize my operation while bettering my growing techniques before I add more plants. Right now doing a BB x WW in a premade Hydro bucket (5Gal)

My question is about water and PH.

I started a seed about 2 weeks ago. I started it in an unknown starter pellet that came with one of my grow tent kits (I say unknown because its not listed on anything, or in any pictures) I've heard that these are at a high PH and may also cause the bucket water to increase.

I am currently using tap water as I have yet to find a source of RO water and cannot afford a filtration system. My tap comes out at around 180 PPM, should I use distilled water (Locally it runs around 5-8 PPM) instead?

I ask because I am having a rapid PH rise issue. I started the first week in plain PHed water to 5.8 and didn't think it would rise but 7 days later it was at 7.4. I did my first feeding of 1/4 strength nutes (GH micro grow and bloom) and PHed to 5.5 (to allow a rise in PH since i kind of expected one again). The next day I was already at 6.6 and 2 days later 7.4.

I am still going to look for a steady source of RO water as I'm sure that would help, but in the meantime should I switch to distilled to help slow the PH jump? Thanks for any pointers!

(Soon I'll be able to attach pics with these but my phone is hardly in commission as of this moment)

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Harvester, your post takes me back to long ago and almost far, far away. I am a soil grower. Sorry you had so many probs. and went hydro. Hope you come back to soil some day, better taste IMO. The tap water in my area runs 374 or so ppm. the ph. hoovers at around 8.4, water co. does not use chlorine here, they use chlor. something or other (deadly to seeds germing. and seedlings) that takes days and days to evap. out. Learn what they use in your area, if you plan to keep using tap. Some thoughts on ph. and ppm. Do you live in the desert? Rain is your cheapest easiest source of pure water. A little prep and you can collect tons. Kept 4 or 5 gals. in the fridge, lasts forever. In emergencies I use the pure h2o machine in front of the store, $0.25 per gal. $1.00 for 5 gals. In general water will move in the direction of its starting ph. Get pure water to start and its ph. or ppm will not be an issue until you put in your additives. I add nutez., add up or down to desired level, wait 24 hours, check ph. and adjust again, my ph. stays acceptable after 2nd adjustment. The 180 ppm from the tap keeps your babies from getting things that may do them some good, either in the medium or things you might add. I add nitrogen at about 100 ppm. 5 or so days b4 first low ppm. feeding. I know nitrogen deficiency will be the first thing to pop up so I try to get a jump on it. Finally I see you are growing a hybrid cross between strains that are hybrids themselves. WWxBB is no big deal for an experienced grower, I have grown plenty of WW. For a noob., tho, maybe not so much? If I were ordering seeds, I'd order strains marked easy or beginner by the supplier. With a little TLC. you can get knock your sox off dankness and you WILL notice the more forgiving nature of the easier to grow strains. Good luck. Post and let members know how things go.

Yesdog said:

Yea the GH pH down will definitely be more stable (I think phosphates in general) so pretty sure that'll be my main one after the mix ready. Which amino acid thing?

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Vitanimo, didn't want to say the name because I'm really not sure if does anything lol. I do know that I no longer have any blotching but did a major revamp like chiller and hydroguard as well . An old grower told me to use it with my well water to make calcium available to plant . Also it's not GH that I use but sure that's irrelevant, is GH 85%?

GH down is 10-30% phosphoric acid according to the msds, so guessing 20?

Hmm ill have to see if i can find out whats in vitamino- sounds almost like super-thrive?

Yesdog said:

GH down is 10-30% phosphoric acid according to the msds, so guessing 20?

Hmm ill have to see if i can find out whats in vitamino- sounds almost like super-thrive?

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It's pricey but I don't use much in each res so it last for the season and I was getting blotching real bad in some strains .

Budley Doright said:

It's pricey but I don't use much in each res so it last for the season and I was getting blotching real bad in some strains .

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Hmmm really odd- I wonder if some of the amino acids (or whatever organics are in there) help stimulate nutrient transfer or something. Was reading more about mycorrhizae and they use various amino acid signals/stimulators to influence the plant uptake/excretion via the roots (beyond what it would normally do).

The splotching/mottling is definitely odd. 2 of my plants got it really bad this run- then it just cleared up over time (trimmed those leaves, never showed up on any new ones).

Something to do with calcium not being available and then the calcium from the nutrients makes it even worse, I read about it a few years ago. Just know that I got tired of looking st the brown spots and it worked but adding calcium made it worse.

A.K.A. Overgrowem said:

Harvester, your post takes me back to long ago and almost far, far away. I am a soil grower. Sorry you had so many probs. and went hydro. Hope you come back to soil some day, better taste IMO. The tap water in my area runs 374 or so ppm. the ph. hoovers at around 8.4, water co. does not use chlorine here, they use chlor. something or other (deadly to seeds germing. and seedlings) that takes days and days to evap. out. Learn what they use in your area, if you plan to keep using tap. Some thoughts on ph. and ppm. Do you live in the desert? Rain is your cheapest easiest source of pure water. A little prep and you can collect tons. Kept 4 or 5 gals. in the fridge, lasts forever. In emergencies I use the pure h2o machine in front of the store, $0.25 per gal. $1.00 for 5 gals. In general water will move in the direction of its starting ph. Get pure water to start and its ph. or ppm will not be an issue until you put in your additives. I add nutez., add up or down to desired level, wait 24 hours, check ph. and adjust again, my ph. stays acceptable after 2nd adjustment. The 180 ppm from the tap keeps your babies from getting things that may do them some good, either in the medium or things you might add. I add nitrogen at about 100 ppm. 5 or so days b4 first low ppm. feeding. I know nitrogen deficiency will be the first thing to pop up so I try to get a jump on it. Finally I see you are growing a hybrid cross between strains that are hybrids themselves. WWxBB is no big deal for an experienced grower, I have grown plenty of WW. For a noob., tho, maybe not so much? If I were ordering seeds, I'd order strains marked easy or beginner by the supplier. With a little TLC. you can get knock your sox off dankness and you WILL notice the more forgiving nature of the easier to grow strains. Good luck. Post and let members know how things go.

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A.K.A., thanks for the reply. I knew it would be a more difficult strain to deal with but I'm down for the challenge. Presently I am only growing one at a time. No need for a large grow and I want to dial in my process first.

The very best part about this (you guys are all going to love this... ) I can't test my own products. I mostly grow for the fun of it and for my house mates. I'm in a job that does random drug testing and it is not allowed. It's certainly a fun hobby, but I figured you would enjoy that bit...

Harvester315 said:

A.K.A., thanks for the reply. I knew it would be a more difficult strain to deal with but I'm down for the challenge. Presently I am only growing one at a time. No need for a large grow and I want to dial in my process first.

The very best part about this (you guys are all going to love this... ) I can't test my own products. I mostly grow for the fun of it and for my house mates. I'm in a job that does random drug testing and it is not allowed. It's certainly a fun hobby, but I figured you would enjoy that bit...

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Right, learning the tricks, small details, and things like making fem. seeds was beyond fab..

Harvester315 said:

A.K.A., thanks for the reply. I knew it would be a more difficult strain to deal with but I'm down for the challenge. Presently I am only growing one at a time. No need for a large grow and I want to dial in my process first.

The very best part about this (you guys are all going to love this... ) I can't test my own products. I mostly grow for the fun of it and for my house mates. I'm in a job that does random drug testing and it is not allowed. It's certainly a fun hobby, but I figured you would enjoy that bit...

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Hope you loose your job soon.....LOL.

Harvester315 said:

A.K.A., thanks for the reply. I knew it would be a more difficult strain to deal with but I'm down for the challenge. Presently I am only growing one at a time. No need for a large grow and I want to dial in my process first.

The very best part about this (you guys are all going to love this... ) I can't test my own products. I mostly grow for the fun of it and for my house mates. I'm in a job that does random drug testing and it is not allowed. It's certainly a fun hobby, but I figured you would enjoy that bit...

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Lol, every few years I run into somebody that grows and doesnt smoke... so, hats off to you for having respect for the plant and wanting to get into horticulture.

Yesdog said:

Lol, every few years I run into somebody that grows and doesnt smoke... so, hats off to you for having respect for the plant and wanting to get into horticulture.

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It's a bummer for sure, I love smoking just to relax, but its not worth losing my job. I just like having a hobby, something to do always. Working on cars, wood work, growing, all things I like to do, can learn and grow from, and become valuable. I am currently not in a place that allows it, but hoping that when it does go legal near me, I can hopefully work for someone or myself with my acquired skills.

Until then its still a very cathartic and fun learning hobby.