New Grower First grow: MI5 :D

[IggidyBiggidy]

yeah am deffinitly thinking its a P defficiency, all the higher up leaf stems are a deep red colour which i believe is also a sign of lack of phosphorus, but run off pH is always 6.2-6.4 so i guess the soil itself must be too high for some reason. Should i just water with pH 5.5 or something to try bring it down? or maybe my pH meter just needs recalibrating, it was pretty cheap so it could be that.

if it's the latter reason does anyone know any way i can roughly calibrate it using stuff i might just have around? (ie know the pH of some household items) because i've run out of the calibrating stuff it came with..

 

[IggidyBiggidy]

hah should have looked at those charts before posting!

looks like pH is too low then at 6.2 so will up that next feeding in a couple days, hopeully will resolve the problem

and thanks for the continued input muddy, much appreciated

 

[Killijin]

You should recalibrate and check your ph meter every other use with 7.0 and 4.01 solutions. Just being .2 hell even .1 can cause you problems depending on overall ph. What model PH tester are you using? Try to at least get an Oakton model. I wouldn't recommend using any stuff lying around. Borrow or pawn off to get 10 dollars and buy you a set of 7 and 4.01. Your plants will thank you for it.

 

[kicker308]

Coffee grounds will help lower your soil PH some if your running into $$ or availability issues, simply put some used x2 grounds on top of the soil and mix in really good to about 1 1/2" in depth. I put 2 tbsp to help my run off from hitting 6.8 even when using 5.0 water. This brought my PH to 6.3 to 6.5 I ended up using 4 tbsp though and I water with 5.5 PH'd water after a 5.8 nutes feeding to help buffer things..

I was thinking of using citrus skins but I found zero input on it when I did a search via google and youtube. This has worked for me for the time being.

Plants are looking great man I will be following along Mi5 was my 1st pic but when they got here zero germinated...I will most def get some going since they are exactly the meds I would like in my cabinets. AFN is awesome and the help here is amazing.

I can't list all the helpful people but growbean,igg,muddy are simply top shelf help can't go wrong with anything they say.Also check out Dr Autoflower on youtube.. follow his instructions my 5 yr old can grow weed.

 

[IggidyBiggidy]

What model PH tester are you using?

just this one, was the cheapest i could find! http://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Test-Calibration-protective-Warranty/dp/B004YD7W82/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337760078&sr=8-1

What sort of shop would stock pH calibrating solutions?

and kicker, yeah i was thinking maybe add something to my soil to try buffer it a bit, might give the coffee thing a bash.

Sucks that yours didnt germ though man! better luck for next time!

 

[Muddy]

Red stems can also be genetic but not with Mi5, so in this case it could also indicate a P deficiency. The accuracy of those inexpensive pH meters is always questionable. If it is out of calibration that very well could be contributing to your problem. The calibration solution isn't very expensive. Or pick up a cheap aquarium test kit and compare the results from it to your meter.

 

[JM]

Coffee grounds will help lower your soil PH some if your running into $$ or availability issues, simply put some used x2 grounds on top of the soil and mix in really good to about 1 1/2" in depth. I put 2 tbsp to help my run off from hitting 6.8 even when using 5.0 water. This brought my PH to 6.3 to 6.5 I ended up using 4 tbsp though and I water with 5.5 PH'd water after a 5.8 nutes feeding to help buffer things..

:thumbs: :clap: good stuff!

 

[IggidyBiggidy]

Ok so, just fed again with 3ml/l bloom, 1ml/l grow and 2ml/l of this ace of buds stuff i got free with my light. supposed to be some sort of bud enhancer, dunno if it'll do much good seen as its free but i'm sure it can't hurt!

Was wondering if there's any point continuing to use grow nutes seeing as vertical growth has now stopped?

Also added some baking soda this time to bring pH to 6.4, run off is now 7.1-7.3 which is obviously high but i guess the plants must be taking in their nutrients somewhere in between 6.5 and 7.3 if i understand correctly? so hopefully they can get a bit more P now.

Also i'm not sure on how best to measure run off? When i water theres always loads of run off straight away which measures closer to the original nute solution pH though still slightly higher, then 15 or so mins later the last bits of run off are higher, 7.1-7.3 in this case. so which is the correct time to measure it?

 

[The Squid]

I always measure the first bit that runs off. That is the best test IMO for what your ph water changes from immediately going through your soil. You shouldn't be getting 'loads' of runoff. You want to water until about 10% runoff, that's it.

My buddy Andy Botwin, also a good grower here, says he measure the same way, the first bit of runoff.

 

[Killijin]

http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Scienti...WYMQ/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1337789671&sr=8-5 you need these to calibrate your meter. I don't know if you can get them in the UK though. This or something similar. But looking at your product description, it comes with calibration powder for 9 and 4. So use these to make sure your meter is correct.