New Grower In need of some advice for soil ph adjustmentis

[Papa Munch]

Soil is Happy Frog and using nutes. I just finished 7 weeks and have tested the soil at least once a week. Typically the soil has been good at around 6.6 to 6.8. This is testing with an Accurate 8 soil probe before and between watering/feeding. I ph my water after nutes to 6.5. I've read this is a good place to be, well within the good range.

Last Thurs. I fed the girls. Soil before feeding was 6.8. When I mixed my nutes, the ph read more like 6.0. Again I felt this would be acceptable, averaging out the lower feeding with the higher ph of the soil to balance things out.

Tonight however I tested the soil and the typical reading I'm getting is closer to 5.8 to 5.6. I have also noticed that some stems are redder and I have read this could be lockout of phosphorous.

A couple girls will be ready for a watering, no nutes tomorrow and not sure how exactly to handle this. I was going to do plain ph'd water as they just got fed and one girl is experiencing N toxicity.

This is my thought. Following a method from Trapper, Flush them using some Sledgehammer till about 20% runoff, then run plain ph'd water through then follow up with a ph'd feeding of 1/4 nutes per schedule. What do you think?

I never check runoff as I feel if the soil ph is good and what I put in is good then things should be good. Right?

should I flush using this method? Again, they are beginning week 8 and budding. I don't want to stress them.

Won't the plant experience over watering symptoms from doing this flush method or will they be okay?

i need some help and advice.

pMunch

 

[HotBunz]

Papa,

I would just keep things simple and do a flush with plain PH'ed water and no nutes. One heavy flush is not going to cause overwatering problems. Then at the next watering go back to the feeding schedule depending on how the new growth looks.

 

[Papa Munch]

Possibly another rookie freak out. If my ph is low......raise it! So next feeding, dependent on what the soil ph is, adjust my feed or water to compensate. I think my soil ph was much lower cause the last feeding was lower. Actually simple.

Does anyone go through a grow without ever doing a flush with exception of just running plain ph'd water at the end?

 

[Bayes]

I think its likely/probable that some people have made it successfully through a grow using OF & HF with Trio nutes W/O rinsing mid-grow but this is probably due to specific strain, underfeeding, luck or a level of growing competence that very successfully moderates nutes based on plant appearance and health. But if you are feeding at 70-80% of scheduled amounts on a weekly basis, yeah, IMO you should definitely plan on a mid grow flush because this stuff WILL salt up at anything close to suggested feeding amounts.

I've changed the way I use Sledgehammer mid grow from instructions to the following: I run two gallons each with 2 tsp Sledgehammer. Then I run a pH-ed gallon with 2 tsp Big Bloom. Finally, I run a pH-ed gallon with 2 tsp of Big Bloom and 1/4 to 1/2 strength "other" nutes. I've had nothing but positive results using this technique for multiple grows (4)/strains (two).

 

[Trapper]

So nutes leave a pretty heavy salt build-up....SledgeHammer is essential to good grows in my opinion.
pH issues due to build up are NO FUN at all. It's so easy to just wipe the slate clean with a flush followed by
a snack...like Bayes is suggesting...it really helps the plant regain it's efficient uptake of nutrients.

The "essential-ness" probably depends on the pot size too, though. Smaller pots are going to be more
volatile and susceptible to salt build up....less medium.

 

[Papa Munch]

Thanks for the replies guys. As I am going on week 8, it is too late to do a veg to bloom flush. Is there anytime when it's bad or too late to do a flush? I know noob question but this is my first grow.

So so far I think I have been lucky as the girls appear healthy. I have been feeding with about 60%-75% of the suggested about once a week in happy frog. Would it be beneficial to do a sledgehammer flush this coming week or should I just let them go?

I watered 3 girls today with some molasses. We'll see how that goes.

Also, again a naive question. When is the best time to check soil ph? After you feed/water when the soil is wet or when the soil is drying out? As I mentioned my soil was reading upper 5's. But this morning I rechecked before watering and it was at 6.7. Confused...

 

[Trapper]

I would totally take the opportunity to Sledge before finishing bloom...it'll allow
the rest of the grow to be much more effective.

 

[Papa Munch]

Thanks Trap. I think for the next feeding/water I'm going to Sledge them following your method. As an anxious/nervous rookie....this'll be fun.

 

[Trapper]

It'll be good. You don't have to do a full volume feed after the large run-off sledge...since the soil
is already saturated, it won't be "soaking up" much. You're just looking to replace the Sledge solution
with something that has some food in it since you just flushed everything away.

I go Sledge, then 500mL of plain H20, then 500-600 of light snack (with some CaMg too).
You're going to really get the pot VERY wet so don't panic if you're a little droopy for a day
or two.

It really is like cleaning out the injectors of an engine...everything works better afterwards.

 

[Papa Munch]

Thanks for the support! I'm actually excited to do this now!