Patch7

Hi all,

It has been awhile since I have needed any help. I am currently growing one white russian in a 5 gallon bucket using a soilless medium consisting of 1/3 sunshine mix, 1/3 cocoa coir and 1/3 perlite. She is at day 1 of the 5th week of flowering and I have always measured nad adjusted my ph of my water and nutients to 6.15. The thing that has me a bit puzzled is I never measured the runoff after a feeding and the last 2 feedings, weather the plain water feeding runoff or the nutrient runnoff, the runoff is measuring in at a low 5.54 reading. Should this worry me and what should I do? I have been told this is a great mix of medium and really never heard of it being finnicky with ph. I use all foxfarm and a hint of rush cal-x bloom for the nutrients. What causes the p
h to change so quick from the watering to the runoff? Thanks everyone in advance for any feedback I could get.

Patch7

Patch7

BTW:

She gets a 2 gallon feeding of water on one day of feeding and than 2 gallons of nutrients every other day. The nutrient ratio is 2 tsp of foxfarm tiger bloom (2-8-4) and 1 tblsp of foxfarm big bloom plus a quarter tsp of rush cal-x bloom which is a bloom enhancer. I have grown 5 crops in the past and never checked my runoff so I am not sure if this has always been this way. What causes it and should I adjust it? Is it a problem?

naturall_mystic

Hi patch. The pH of the run off water isn't what you need to be measuring. Do you pH testing on the soil. Run off water simply put is polluted and doesn't reflect the actual pH of the growing enviroment.

Good Luck.

__________________

Quasi

Patch,

6.1 in flowering is low...should be around 6.8...6.3 in veg.

I occassionly test my runoff too...but not so much for pH...but ppm. If you have..or can obtain a tds meter...test your runoff for ppm....something tells me youre way high in ppm dept....just a guess tho.
You would want to flush with room temp to 90F water..until you get your ppm of the runoff down around 800 ppm or less.
If no tds meter is available...I'd get ahold of some 'clearex' and flush and start over...you might have an e.c. issue..anions/cations and all that.

Patch7

Thanks for the replies everyone. I was told that growing in sunshine mix, with cocoa coir and perlite was actually a "silless" grow which counts as hydroponics as far as the ph is concerned. The guy where I bought it from said the mix I am using should be ph adjusted to around 6.10 - 6.15 ph like in hydro. Is this info correct? I was told if I was growing in straight potting "soil", than I would be adjust the ph to around 6.40 - 6.70ph but not with my soilless mix. Is this true or not?

Quasi

okay....is hydroponics...I call it flood and drain..to be precise...normally I would leave this alone...but it's a beautiful morning and I feel like a hippy..heheh

I use something similar...1/3 perlite...1/3 hydroton, and 1/3 soil....the only reason I still use alittle soil is because I like to use mycorrhizal fungi in my grows...I'm not going to comment on the pH thing...but would still suggest testing your runoff for ppm's....maybe take a sample to this guy and have him test it??...and even with a flood n drain..you still must pay attn to e.c.



Peace

Patch7

thanks Quasi for the reply. I actually have a truncheon PPm, EC, TDS meter I use too. I have never checked the runoff on that only the starting ppm before adding. Currently my ppm is at about 1000-1200 per the instructions from foxfarm at its current stage of growth. Of course thats when adding it fresh, not the runoff. So I sould not raise the ph to around 6.40-6.50 before the feeding? Should I continue to adjust my preapplied water and nutrients solutions to 6.15ph?

Patch7

Ok, here is an update. I started with a nutrient based watering at 6.44 ph. It was 1 tspn per gallon of foxfarm tiger loom and 1 tblspn of foxfarm big bloom and a quarter tspn of rush cal-x bloom. I than adjusted the ph to 6.44ph. The ppm reading was 800-900. I fed my girl in her 5 gallon baucket 2 gallons this morning and the runoff is measuring in at 5.30 ph and the ppm is still at 800-900. What is going on here? Any ideas and do I need to worry about that? The runoff happens and is collected within 15 minutes of her feeding.

Quasi

sorry...I forgot where this thread was..

I dunno ...this is getting alittle beyond me...but I suspect.. ...that it is either the pH of the hydroponic fox farm ferts or the sunshine mix....I don't use hydro nutes or sunshine mix....so is just a guess...sorry I couldn't help.

ps...one other thing...you say you are feeding 2 gal.s?...that's quite a bit...how much runoff are you actually getting?