First Grow Durban Poison autofem

Water update. So my water comes out at 260 ppm realized that the 360 ppm is if the hot water is used i.e. having been run through the water heater. But I only use cold water and off gas it, that is at 240-250 ppm and what I've been using to water plants with
 
Soaked plant 2 collected runoff. pH in 8 - pH out 5.5
Ppm in 280 - ppm out 880.
Could my soil pH be below 5?
Should I not pH my water and run it through at 8 that's what it is at after 24hr aeration
 
Plant 1 today
 

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@BabyRoo I would recommend you get a small oil filled space heater so you can keep the night temperature up to 68°F and move to a 18/6 light schedule.

Your water is hard and you are adding Cal-Mag when it is not needed and may actually be locking out other nutrients? You may be over feeding but that is a tough call in your method because you do need to stay ahead of the curve. Just water at 6.4 PH for a while and watch the new growth.
 
Been a week still suffering a bit. Not sure what's going on. Here are the pics. Fixed the temp issue last week
 

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Also is my water with 105 ppm of chloride an issue
I have no idea about the chloride but if that is not the issue you need to figure out the pH of your medium.

Purple stems like that is usually caused by pH being off and causing 'lock out' of nutrient/nutrients.

You can test your soil/medium pH however you like, there are many methods (slurry test, squeeze some wet soil and test liquid that comes out, use a soil pH pen/testing device, run off test, send your soil to a lab, variations of all these and more that I don't know/am forgetting).

you said you are doing a runoff test. If you are doing a run off test, you must use water that is the pH you want the soil to be, i.e. If you want the soil to be 5.9pH, use 5.9pH water for your test. Then if the run off comes out, outside of acceptable range, you know you need to adjust your soil/medium pH, so, it becomes back in range. Water slow, and test the first run off and the last run off to test and compare but I also think to only have enough runoff that there is much to test also. I think to stay in 5.7pH to 6.2pH, but others use different and I'm still testing to see what I think is ideal.
 
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Run-off is not reliable and almost always different than the PH in the root zone. If you need to test the PH you need a soil probe like the Accurate 8 or a Blue lab soil probe. A slurry test can be fairly accurate if you take enough samples from the root zone but this is detrimental to the plant's roots.

One of the problem here is mixing peat and coco they are really different medias and IMPE don't work well as a blend. Yes I know a lot of peeps do it but after working in the infirmary for years now I have seen a lot of problems in this media. It gets complicated because the cation exchange for coco coir is so different than the peat. Coco by itself (20% Perlite) is a form of hydroponics and the inputs should be PHed to 5.8. Peat on the other-hand holds on to nutrients better than coco and should have the inputs PH to 6.3. Then you throw in FFOF? so you see the dilemma in this? I do not think you have a PH problem but It is always nice to have the proper tools to eliminate it from the suspects.

I think your soil is running out of Nutrients. The plants are light in color and the lower leaves are being cannibalized by the plant showing a Phosphorous deficiency. IMPO what you need is a healthy dose of Balanced Nutrients at about 600 PPM not counting your stating water so ~850 total. Fertigate to a little run-off Then start a feeding schedule Fertigate, water, water, water repeat.

Go here to learn what is meant by balanced nutrients and why giving Epsom Salt by itself is a bad idea.


Chloride is not a problem.

chloride.jpg


:goodluck:
 
you said you are doing a runoff test. If you are doing a run off test, you must use water that is the pH you want the soil to be, i.e. If you want the soil to be 5.9pH, use 5.9pH water for your test. Then if the run off comes out, outside of acceptable range, you know you need to adjust your soil/medium pH, so, it becomes back in range. Water slow, and test the first run off and the last run off to test and compare but I also think to only have enough runoff that there is much to test also. I think to stay in 5.7pH to 6.2pH, but others use different and I'm still testing to see what I think is ideal.
This is incorrect,... run-off is a lousy way to test pH to begin with in soil (conditionally soilless too), it's not an accurate representation of the actual pH in the root zone...
First of all, pH can vary place to place within a pot due to microbial activity and root exudates, nute build-up or lack of, and other factors... This is why direct in-pot measuring is the best way to test it,... slurry a close second but very impractical and damaging to the roots, having to mine up enough soil from mid-pot zone...
Run-off collected from the first seeping is literally concentrated, analogous to making coffee with a cone filter... This is one reason why this first batch of run-off isn't to be trusted..
Secondly, to get even a ball park estimate of soil pH via run-off, you need to use pure water, low ppm, no pH adjusting...This assures no influencing buffering action between the water and what-all is in the pot that's in the equation, so to speak. Anything you do to alter the buffering chemistry of the water and therefore pH will skew the accuracy of results. Pouring in pH adjusted water causes interactions with pH buffering, and what comes out is the net result of all this messy chemistry, not the "snap shot" of the true pH...

Run-off testing at best, even using the method in the Infirmary Sticky article section, will only really tell you if it's more or less OK, or badly off enough to indicate corrective measure to be taken.. I have tried and tested this myself with pots, confirmed with both slurry tests and pH probe (not a meter, liquids only on them) made to test directly....
een a week still suffering a bit. Not sure what's going on. Here are the pics. Fixed the temp issue last week
Roo, cool T's adversely affect many nutrients uptake and transport, P and micronutes in particular... Looking at those leaves, it screams P defc. which makes sense, due to in part at least the lower than OK temps.... Auto's especially do not like cool T's, it really slows them down,... stunts them, poor bud development...

You may also have some of what's called antagonistic uptake issues, where too much of one nute element interferes with the uptake of another(s).. This can happen well before actual toxicity levels are reached. Have a look in the Infirmary section, the Defc, Pic Depot diagnostic thread, and go to page 2 midway down and check out the charts on this,...
Knock off the epsoms, that unnecessary unless you have either Mg or S defc., which you don't that I can see... Be sparing with the CaliMagic too, your base nutes cover Ca/Mg well enough generally, and you're not in pure coco... true soil will also have lime in it (Ca source)...
pH adjust you feed solution last, not the water itself before... the nutes will alter the pH, so that's why you adjust if needed last - :thumbsup:
At 360ppm, I strongly recommend you cut that tap water with pure water, RO/Di, or even those self-fill units at stores... I do this myself even for my outdoor girls, the tap water here is hard as hell! I like to get the net ppm down to around 150...
Sodium levels are also too nasty! It's toxic at low levels for cannabis, and cumulatively it can build up in there and cause problems... the plant doesn't really use Na at all, so what goes in, stays in!
...looks like you have enough P going in... switch to Tiger Bloom now... things can get wonky if you start chucking in multiple sources of nutes, top dressing, etc,... and remember organic stuff takes time to become available, and you need warm T's and good microbial activity to make that happen properly...

Have you calibrated your pH meter recently, and kept it from drying out? They are sensitive instruments, easily knocked off calibration or damaged (dry-outs can ruin them potentially)... This is a must-do mate, or you'll be getting bogus info and acting on it! I've lost count over the years how many folks flailed around with issues, only to find out the key link to the problem was bad readings off their gear! ....They also need a storage solution made to preserve the electrode bulbs function while not in use....
TDS/EC meters need it too, but much less often,.. Both need to be fullt rinsed before storing, never put away "dirty"

With all this going on, it's hard to be sure your soil is too acidic, but it's a fair bet regardless... This can also lockout P, BTW....
Stay away from Fuxfarms soils, they are proven losers anymore for what was once a good brand. I have measured bag after bag in the low 5's! :yoinks: That is instant shit-show pH... lots of bummed out growers learn the hard way... They have hodge podge sourcing all over, a lucky few get OK bags, the rest get garbage....

The tea you make, from earth worm castings (EWC)? I ask because you need some sort of microbial inputs with the right cast of characters going to to work the goods,... inoculants are a smart thing to include here....
 
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