New Grower MCPD_Refugee loses his virginity to White Widow and Blueberry

[mcpd_refugee]

Day 33

I definitely do not have the Blueberry issues under control. I've ordered a new pH pen. I should have it by the end of the week. There's something going wrong and I can't figure it out. I am giving it 500 mL of distilled water every day with 2.0 mL/L of Bloom A, 2.0 mL/L of Bloom B and 2.0 mL/L of Cal/Mag. And it looks like she's starving.

The White Widow is doing fine. She's getting 400 mL of the same feeding solution.

The temperatures are between 68 and 82 F. The relative humidity is between 56 and 62 percent. The White Widow is 12 inches (33 cm) tall. The Blueberry is 14 inches (35.5 cm) tall. Here they are (you'll be able to tell them apart):

 

[mcpd_refugee]

@EvilScotsman thanks for the suggestions. I think you're right. I'm going to ease back on the White Widow a bit. I just wish I could figure out the Blueberry. She started to go south on me shortly after I topped her.

 

[EvilScotsman]

oh aye, i can see a bit better now that its morning lol. give me a bit to get the bairn sorted then ill go look out my thinking cap mate. : )

 

[EvilScotsman]

right, my notes are up the attic wich i cant get to but im pretty convinced the dark one is too much N. not only the colour but those tips clawing down. if those purple stems havent always been purple id say P def aswell. the big knackered fans on both plants at the bottom are fairly normal behaviour at this stage, i just cut them off.
the other id say was mag def due to the green veins on yellowing leaves but id expect there to be some rust spots by this point so i think theres something im missing. might just be your ph is outa whack actually. seeing as both plants are on same feed but totally different symptoms. @Waira can i get a second opinion when you get a moment please mate. while your here actually, whos the other medics we have? is it namvet and someone else? feel bad tagging as its you that gets it constant but i can never remember the other guys names lol.

 

[EvilScotsman]

waira might take a while mate, hes one of the busiest guys on here but he's worth the wait : )

 

[mcpd_refugee]

A couple of thoughts. The pH pen is on the way and should be here by mid week. I suspect that my pH might be a little low at this point. However, if it is a possible K issue, should I start with Overdrive. It would be a few days early according to TaNg's schedule, but it could help alleviate the K deficiency. The plants have both already stopped their flowering stretch already. Their height has held steady for about four days or so now.

 

[Waira]

@Z_Bop --- dude, I'm going to caution you about any conclusions you make about this pH experiment,.. At 5.8, I assume this is RO water that's been left out a while? Firstly, odd as it sounds, and without going into a chemistry lecture, taking the pH of pure water is of no help or enlightenment,..partly relating to how these meter's work, and in part because RO/Di water has no pH buffering minerals (CaCO3 mainly) in it,.. even CO2 dissolving into that type water will react, forming weak aqueous carbonic acid, and lowering the pH below 7.0 true,... this is because with zero buffering, even tiny inputs from a pH influencing source will cause significant to huge changes in pH,... consider, just how little CO2 there is in the air (0.04%), even less dissloved into water, and you still get this strong of an affect!
.. that Ca-Mg, is it all carbonate derived? If not, that's likely why it brought the pH down, not up (carbonates/bicarbonates are what buffer pH in water, Ca is not directly involved)... the "apparent availability" in this case here is a false equivalency, even for hydro, and absolutely not applicable for soil/soilless media,... there's way way more involved with pH in this scenario,...

MPCD-- AN nutes can self buffer in low ppm/EC water OK, but that's it,.. once in the pot, all bets are off; it simply doesn't have the chops to buffer pH in there, too many other things affecting/contributing to pH especially in true soil,... Speaking of which, soils are not to be trusted,.. we have seen, literally for 2+ years now, case after case of their soils testing in the low 5's pH, in-bag! fuck that!... the Infirmary is filled with folks with problems tracing back to this,... some get OK bags, likely having to do with the sourcing of local materials where they make it, but in general, their quality control is a sick joke,... I've taken an Accurate 8 soil pH probe to shops and tested several bags, all were shit,...... Roots is OK, many folks add a little more lime into it for better pH control down the road,...
....the pale plant looks like S defc. to me, with that overall color loss,.. N defc. always hits lowers first and worst, since it's a mobile nutrient within the plant; S is not... BUT if the soil is off pH, likely it's more than one thing behind this, which is what I'm guessing is the case here,... likely, P is locking out too in part... I see some lowers with N defc., normal to a point during early bloom,.... Problem is, getting an accurate in-pot pH reading,.. that A8 probe mentioned above is the ticket for this, otherwise, it's the sucky run-off test method, dubious at best,.. here's the catch: without knowing the in-pot pH, it's a dicey call as to what to do here; adding more nutes to off-pH soil with make matters worse,.. if it's a simple lack-of type defc. that's easy to fix,...
We have an "improved" run-off pH testing method and calculation here in the Infirmary, but it's a pain in the balls to do,.. Flushing isn't something I ever recommend unless things are really f'ed up, as it's a stress causer itself,... flush soil that's OK pH, with a underfed plant, and you'll make things worse again,.. usually, depending on your nutes, 1/4 strength is added to the last pour through when doing it,.. You're in a jam here because you don't the A8 unit to find this key info out! So, as a last resort, you can test some run-off from water only input collected in a clean saucer or something... it'll give a crude idea about what the pH is in there, then you can make a call about waht to do,...

 

[Z_Burp]

@Z_Bop --- dude, I'm going to caution you about any conclusions you make about this pH experiment,.. At 5.8, I assume this is RO water that's been left out a while? Firstly, odd as it sounds, and without going into a chemistry lecture, taking the pH of pure water is of no help or enlightenment,..partly relating to how these meter's work, and in part because RO/Di water has no pH buffering minerals (CaCO3 mainly) in it,.. even CO2 dissolving into that type water will react, forming weak aqueous carbonic acid, and lowering the pH below 7.0 true,... this is because with zero buffering, even tiny inputs from a pH influencing source will cause significant to huge changes in pH,... consider, just how little CO2 there is in the air (0.04%), even less dissloved into water, and you still get this strong of an affect!
.. that Ca-Mg, is it all carbonate derived? If not, that's likely why it brought the pH down, not up (carbonates/bicarbonates are what buffer pH in water, Ca is not directly involved)... the "apparent availability" in this case here is a false equivalency, even for hydro, and absolutely not applicable for soil/soilless media,... there's way way more involved with pH in this scenario,...

MPCD-- AN nutes can self buffer in low ppm/EC water OK, but that's it,.. once in the pot, all bets are off; it simply doesn't have the chops to buffer pH in there, too many other things affecting/contributing to pH especially in true soil,... Speaking of which, soils are not to be trusted,.. we have seen, literally for 2+ years now, case after case of their soils testing in the low 5's pH, in-bag! fuck that!... the Infirmary is filled with folks with problems tracing back to this,... some get OK bags, likely having to do with the sourcing of local materials where they make it, but in general, their quality control is a sick joke,... I've taken an Accurate 8 soil pH probe to shops and tested several bags, all were shit,...... Roots is OK, many folks add a little more lime into it for better pH control down the road,...
....the pale plant looks like S defc. to me, with that overall color loss,.. N defc. always hits lowers first and worst, since it's a mobile nutrient within the plant; S is not... BUT if the soil is off pH, likely it's more than one thing behind this, which is what I'm guessing is the case here,... likely, P is locking out too in part... I see some lowers with N defc., normal to a point during early bloom,.... Problem is, getting an accurate in-pot pH reading,.. that A8 probe mentioned above is the ticket for this, otherwise, it's the sucky run-off test method, dubious at best,.. here's the catch: without knowing the in-pot pH, it's a dicey call as to what to do here; adding more nutes to off-pH soil with make matters worse,.. if it's a simple lack-of type defc. that's easy to fix,...
We have an "improved" run-off pH testing method and calculation here in the Infirmary, but it's a pain in the balls to do,.. Flushing isn't something I ever recommend unless things are really f'ed up, as it's a stress causer itself,... flush soil that's OK pH, with a underfed plant, and you'll make things worse again,.. usually, depending on your nutes, 1/4 strength is added to the last pour through when doing it,.. You're in a jam here because you don't the A8 unit to find this key info out! So, as a last resort, you can test some run-off from water only input collected in a clean saucer or something... it'll give a crude idea about what the pH is in there, then you can make a call about waht to do,...

I'm not sure where I wrote anything about any conclusions I drew from this "experiment." I think I was simply showing that adding a few nutrients to a water of known pH can affect it.
Thanks for reigning things in. I'll definitely keep my big trap shut.

 

[Waira]

well, you had a point to make about the pH readings, didn't you? I just wanted to clarify what was happening in that situation, and why it's not something that will be helpful to somebody in soil,...that's all-

 

[Z_Burp]

I've requested that it be deleted. The last thing I want to do is steer someone in the wrong direction, which it looks like I did.
I'm very sorry, @mcpd_refugee