Soft airy buds

[hondagrower420]

Ph has nothing to do with the "hardness" of your water.

Refer to post above.

 

[nomofatum]

Ph has nothing to do with the "hardness" of your water.

Refer to post above.

PH and hardness are related in ground water. Most of the hardness comes from calcium, so higher PH generally = harder/higher PPM.

 

[GroErr]

Yes, I'll attach some pics. Those pics are in week 8 of flower

Have you tried a clone from a known source like another grower? You'd have something to compare it to, could be just a strain/pheno thing.

 

[hondagrower420]

PH and hardness are related in ground water. Most of the hardness comes from calcium, so higher PH generally = harder/higher PPM.

I don't know a bout ground water. I know RO filters that stuff out. Even if it comes from the ground.

Are you forgetting the op said it's RO? That filters out most everyrhing, including calcium.

 

[charface]

Hardeners were invented for a reason.
I don't use them but most commercial guys I know do.

 

[hondagrower420]

PH and hardness are related in ground water. Most of the hardness comes from calcium, so higher PH generally = harder/higher PPM.

And you are missing the point.

Your water CANNOT be hard if the EC is BELOW .3ec.

If the water had calcium, it would show up in the ec/tds measurement.

Fuck sake

 

[nomofatum]

I don't know a bout ground water. I know RO filters that stuff out. Even if it comes from the ground.

Are you forgetting the op said it's RO? That filters out most everyrhing, including calcium.

Yes, but RO will be 7.0 PH and 0 PPM.

I had just asked for his without RO PPM and he posted what looked like a PH in response. If we can safely assume that was a PH number, we can assume his PPM is going to be fairly low because his PH was only 7.3. If it were harder well water it would have a higher PH, even at 230 PPM I'm at 7.8-8.0 PH.

 

[Sativied]

Hello, I have been growing for a couple years and have had the same problem with every grow.
Plants always have good color, always seem to look good with many, many good size buds but the buds are always soft and airy.
And it's always been very good quality smoke (blue cheese) but I feel if the buds were more dense I would harvest more than 12 - 15 oz's with 2 plants.


In flower;
I use a hydro system with two 5 gal buckets.
6" baskets and 4" rockwool blocks.
Water change every 7 days.
Water level stays about 1/2" below the basket.
In the rez I have a float valve to keep the water level contestant and a small recirculation pump that is on for 15 min's every hour.
Using Flora Series (hard water) nutes at half the recommended strength. and cal magic because I'm using RO water. (well water)
I keep the PH about 6.0 - 6.10.
1000 watt Hortilux HPS bulb with Quantum electronic ballast.
room temp about 77 - 80.
water temp about 76 - 77.

I was hoping someone might have some ideas.
Thanks

No exhaust?

 

[nomofatum]

And you are missing the point.

Your water CANNOT be hard if the EC is BELOW .3ec.

If the water had calcium, it would show up in the ec/tds measurement.

Fuck sake

Lol, I wasn't disagreeing with the conclusion that his water isn't that hard. Just saying that PH and PPM are related in well/ground water.

 

[hondagrower420]

Yes, but RO will be 7.0 PH and 0 PPM.

I had just asked for his without RO PPM and he posted what looked like a PH in response. If we can safely assume that was a PH number, we can assume his PPM is going to be fairly low because his PH was only 7.3. If it were harder well water it would have a higher PH, even at 230 PPM I'm at 7.8-8.0 PH.

Yes. My water comes out the tap at .1ec and is 7.2ph.

If I add my silica. My tds does not raise but my ph goes up to 11+

If ph was linked to hardness then my water would be super hard after I add silica? Yes

No

Why?

Because ph has nothing to do with ec/tds.

A lot of "total dissolved solids" is what makes water hard.

 

[hondagrower420]

Lol, I wasn't disagreeing with the conclusion that his water isn't that hard. Just saying that PH and PPM are related in well/ground water.

I think you are trying to say that you can "assume" with ground water that a higher ph reflects a higher tds but that's not true.

It would depend more on what type of shelf you are sitting on. Limestone ect. What is in the ground where your well is detates what is in your water.

There is no true correlation between ph and tds. Sorry guy.

 

[Compatak]

That sounds like your PH, not PPM, but 7.3 PH isn't likely to be very hard. My well water comes out with 230 PPM at 7.8 PH, it works perfectly with most nutrients without any extra filtering. It's effectively 200 PPM of calcium and 30 PPM of useful trace minerals. I never need calmag because I leave my calcium in the water...

Yes, sorry that was the PH. So maybe with having tap water at 120 PPM I don't need the calmag. And are you suggesting that I don't need to use the RO system also. Simply use the tap water as it comes out of the well at 120 PPM.

This is what I'm getting out of this thread.
1) Bring my PH down to 5.5 - 6
2) Calmag is not needed.
3) Bring RH down to 30 - 40
4) Stop using hard water nutes

 

[hondagrower420]

Yes, sorry that was the PH. So maybe with having tap water at 120 PPM I don't need the calmag. And are you suggesting that I don't need to use the RO system also. Simply use the tap water as it comes out of the well at 120 PPM.

This is what I'm getting out of this thread.
1) Bring my PH down to 5.5 - 6
2) Calmag is not needed.
3) Bring RH down to 30 - 40
4) Stop using hard water nutes

If your tap is 120. Then use it. That is a very good starting point. You still don't need the hard water nutes. They take out micros in the hard water formula because you get it from the tap when you water is hard.

Guess what?

You water is not hard. So you are missing micronutrients that are not in your nutes, nor are you getting them from the tap.

See the problem now?

 

[nomofatum]

I think you are trying to say that you can "assume" with ground water that a higher ph reflects a higher tds but that's not true.

It would depend more on what type of shelf you are sitting on. Limestone ect. What is in the ground where your well is detates what is in your water.

There is no true correlation between ph and tds. Sorry guy.

You are an idiot. Give me a water quality test from any well anywhere in the country where the primary dissolved solid is not calcium. I've never seen one, and i've seen hundreds of these reports.

If you find one, I'm guessing it won't be drinkable.

 

[charface]

I think you are trying to say that you can "assume" with ground water that a higher ph reflects a higher tds but that's not true.

It would depend more on what type of shelf you are sitting on. Limestone ect. What is in the ground where your well is detates what is in your water.

There is no true correlation between ph and tds. Sorry guy.

I have well water and as the water table raises and lowers throughout the year my ph changes. So you are saying its not solids but instead the water at times is contacting
Interesting. I never payed attention to if my solids increase or not.

Also I just got a water softener and an ro system.

Are you saying I don't need the water softener?

 

[hondagrower420]

1. Let ph drift. Start low at 5.5 and let it drift up to 6.5

2. Calmag is strain dependant. You need to get the proper nutes first and then see if you experience cal or mag deficiency.

3. Lower rh in flower. High rh will cause airy bud to reduce the plants chances of mold.

4. I covered this is the post before, but yes drop the hard water nutes.

 

[2ANONYMOUS]

most cases of soft airy buds is caused from not enough light , extremely high temps , and not enough nutrients , as well as to much nitrogen in flowering stage
As for above posts about hard water or rich in calcium and other minerals most of these minerals are not readily available to the plant but what it causes over time is salt build up in your medium causing ph swings and lock outs

 

[nomofatum]

Yes, sorry that was the PH. So maybe with having tap water at 120 PPM I don't need the calmag. And are you suggesting that I don't need to use the RO system also. Simply use the tap water as it comes out of the well at 120 PPM.

This is what I'm getting out of this thread.
1) Bring my PH down to 5.5 - 6
2) Calmag is not needed.
3) Bring RH down to 30 - 40
4) Stop using hard water nutes

The difference between hard water nutes and regular nutes is the amount of calcium and other trace minerals. Calmag should not be needed if you choose the right nutrient selection. Your water isn't very hard at 120 PPM, so you would likely need calmag with hardwater nutes, but with regular nutes you should be fine for calcium/magnesium/trace nutes.

You don't have to go to 30-40, but get it under 50 RH.

Yes, I would use your well water directly, skip the RO. Run regular nutes on non-RO water from your well.

 

[hondagrower420]

You are an idiot. Give me a water quality test from any well anywhere in the country where the primary dissolved solid is not calcium. I've never seen one, and i've seen hundreds of these reports.

If you find one, I'm guessing it won't be drinkable.

There are other countries besides the USA.

Why do you give me some info about how there is a correlation between ph and tds?

 

[Corso312]

Your pics don't load, the ones I see that up look healthy.. I'd grow out some strains that are known-proven for hard n dense buds and see if the problem exists.

Most indica dominant hybrid I've grown had very hard n dense buds.. My tap water is 480 ish.. I mix rain water (15-20 ppm). Or RO water to get to 150 -175 ppm .