Indoor Maybe I was expecting too much... anyway, onward and forward!

[Corum59]

My memory must be really poor, I dont remember so many roots growing through the bottom with an air gap... ah well. I guess I had better get around to dropping them in the new dirty stuff and been very carefull not to damage the tap roots. (carefull not being one of my string suits)

 

[Corum59]

hopefully I didnt damage the tap roots, planted the 4 best looking in the 15ltr bags ( which is funny cos I mixed up 80ltrs of dirty stuff and barely filled the bags)
Any way, now under 4x CLU048-1212 3500k cobs @ 122watts, on 18/6, dli 25-26 according to PPFDapp.

 

[Corum59]

So here is the thing, these plants have been in what I think is a good soil mix, only one light watering with tap water.. and i see that the initial leafs have turned this shitty brown-ish colour and basically died off, I saw the same thing with the last grow of autos that I classed as a failure, and if I think about it most of my house plants have not done well over the last year, neither did the balcony plants last year...

I am pretty sure that my soils are ok, because the house plants and balcony plants grow well as a rule, and I do not imagine that house plants, balcony, grow tent, 4 different manufacturers of potting soils over 2-3 years are all complicit.

ph has been high for the past months 8-9, I have been lowering it to 6.5-7.0 but that didnt seem to make any difference.

So I am now 100 convinced that its a chlorine/chlorinate issue.

looking at these plants lower leafs I believe I am looking at classic chlorine toxicity, anyone have any others ideas I would be happy to hear them.

The autos that I dumped on the balcony which suffered in much the same way and which I put down to bad soil, seem to have picked up a little even after 3 weeks of none stop rain, which may or may not support my theory of chlorine toxicity.

I have set a bucket of water aside for the past 3 days to allow the chlorine to evaporate and watered today with that water. ph 6.5, the soil was shrinking visibly around the edges of the bags but still damp in the middle.
tbh I am stumped as to any other possibilities now, This last year and last 3 grows have all been very problematic and the only common denominator is the water.


This is one of the autos, drowned by rain for 3 weeks and suffering a little from that, but none of the signs of bad soil or Chlorine toxicity, I think that this also cancels out any thoughts of overwatering been the cause. these girls on the balcony have been in a soaked state since going out there, rain, rain, rain....



I guess the next step is to start bubbling the water with a pump and airstone, and then carbon filtering......... or maybe just quit and head back to the coffee shop.

 

[Rick Dirte']

Will be interesting to see if giving the water time to gas off will make a difference. Could bubble it but you’d have to get a pump and air stone. It’s always something with growing weed. lol As you say it’s better and cheaper than the dispensary weed.

 

[Corum59]

Indeed there is always something.... lucky for me I had an air stone and pump from past attempts with hydro etc....not sure how long I will need to run the bubbles but a few hours might suffice. we will see.

I can see from the local water companies annual report that over the year the chlorine didnt change too much (ph jumped massively) but I suspect that water shortages last year may well have have given cause to increase additives..
I also noted that they will be increasing chlorate content over the next couple of years which may have already made a difference.

 

[throxic]

When was the last time you re-calibrated your ph pen? How reliable is it? I use an Apera, but there are other reliable options out there. I wash it off after every use and put a little storage solution in the cap before storing it on the shelf. I re-calibrate, it seems, every 3-6 months doing it this way. I started with a cheap Yellow ph pen from Amazon and quickly realized I would need a more reliable pen. Good luck and I hope you get it figured out!

 

[Corum59]

I actually calibrated about a week or so ago, I first test with distilled water 6.9- 7.0 then test the tap water, add ascetic acid test again, rinse with distilled water and dry with a tissue after use, its also a cheap yellow one off amazon, along with this I often verify with litmus sticks when testing, just to be sure I am in the range,

My tap water used be a small variation 7.0-7.9 it can now be as high 7.0-9.5 according to the water company report, however it never goes above 8.5 in my experience so far.

I have so far gone through everything I can think of.... so one hopes this will be a new page and a good chapter. its a shame hope doesnt grow great plants!

 

[throxic]

its also a cheap yellow one off amazon

I'd get a reliable pH pen (Apera, Blue Lab, AC Infinity) as soon as you can if you want to ensure success. Also 4.0&7.0 calibration and storage solution too. GL!

 

[MedCzech]

I actually calibrated about a week or so ago, I first test with distilled water 6.9- 7.0 then test the tap water, add ascetic acid test again, rinse with distilled water and dry with a tissue after use, its also a cheap yellow one off amazon, along with this I often verify with litmus sticks when testing, just to be sure I am in the range,

My tap water used be a small variation 7.0-7.9 it can now be as high 7.0-9.5 according to the water company report, however it never goes above 8.5 in my experience so far.

I have so far gone through everything I can think of.... so one hopes this will be a new page and a good chapter. its a shame hope doesnt grow great plants!

I would just spend the $50 and get an RO filter and then your water won’t be an issue. I use RO water and I don’t even ph the water anymore.

 

[Corum59]

Thanks, I appreciate the suggestion and recommendations, you know though, I have gone 40+ yrs without checking or testing ph, only tried a couple years ago, then dropped it as a lot of messing around, now I feel like its not really making things any easier, especially as I grow in soil, which for the most part self regulates ph anyway, I really only check it because things have been haywire since I tried my 1st auto run, and because I see from the water company how large the range has become, so I have been looking for whatever is the issue, hence grabbing a pen and litmus sticks, I do think this cheap pen seems pretty accurate though and its quite fast to settle, also, litmus sticks keeps me in the range with a 5 second test, 6.0-7.0, in the range is pretty fair and should be enough to stop any ph issues,
I do not any longer think ph is actually the problem.