Soft airy buds

[Compatak]

No exhaust?

Oh yes I do have a good exhaust set up.

 

[hondagrower420]

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?

I use a softener on my water. I'm not telling anybody to use anything.

My water is soft and I use a softener.

Ph swings with temp. It does not mean that there are more tds.

 

[nomofatum]

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

Without PH down being added they are not available, but once the acid reacts with the calcium and other trace minerals, most of it will become available to the plant.

 

[RELPHY82]

Ppm or ph?

If your water comes out the tap below 300ppm (.5 conversion) you do not have hard water.


For the airy buds. Try something that has og in it. Og produces dense goofball nuggets.

Hello whats Og ?

 

[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.

Did I say that there wasn't calcium in well water? No

Show me one bit of evidence that shows correlation between ph and tds.

I just said this but temp affect ph.

 

[hondagrower420]

Hello whats Og ?

It's a kush. Known for producing smaller dense nuggets.

 

[Compatak]

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?

Yes I do see the problem now. That makes a lot of since. I will also shut the RO off as of today.

 

[Compatak]

That is something I have been thinking about for some time now is by using the RO am I loosing a lot of the micronutrients out of the water.

 

[hondagrower420]

Yes I do see the problem now. That makes a lot of since. I will also shut the RO off as of today.

You can use RO. I would. It will give you a better control of having nutes the plant can actually use.

But there in no harm if your tap is 120 ppm. If that is the .5 conversion, that's .2ec. It is the same as fresh spring water.

 

[nomofatum]

There are other countries besides the USA.

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

TDS and PH are not related in a hydroponic system. TDS and PH are quite related in ground water. The correlation is the available and soluble solids available at the source. Calcium is by far the most common and most soluble solid at the source of ground water. This is because the ground water can penetrate calcium better than it can any other type of rock structure.

Now we know that in almost all ground water examples that calcium will be your primary TDS contributor. The PH of this calcium ranges from 9.4 -12.4. So you can see the more calcium the higher the PH...

Yes, what I am saying is based on the assumption that you don't have a freak of a well that is different than what comes out of 99% of all wells on earth.

 

[hondagrower420]

That is something I have been thinking about for some time now is by using the RO am I loosing a lot of the micronutrients out of the water.

If your water is .2ec. There is not a lot there in the first place.

I get mag deficiency with my .2ec tap water. But you can use Epsom to correct mag. Calcium deficiency ussally a lock out issue. If you feed a balanced diet you really shouldn't see a calcium deficiency.

 

[2ANONYMOUS]

Without PH down being added they are not available, but once the acid reacts with the calcium and other trace minerals, most of it will become available to the plant.

The majority of the PPM, or EC reading, you obtain from a measuring device is cal-mag. The most typical form of these minerals in your untreated water is calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate. Unfortunately, contrary to popular belief, these forms are virtually unusable by plants, especially fast growing plants. The molecules of these compounds are far too large and immobile to be absorbed by the roots and transported to where the plant needs them. Relying on the cal-mag in tap water can lead to many problems
Wonder
Having hard water would be in fact a growers dream come true no need to add cal/ mag as well water or tap water has sufficient amounts guess what i bet if a grower stopped adding cal mag and started using Hard water would be a day or 2 before major deficiencies would happen

 

[2ANONYMOUS]

Think about it this way: the cal-mag in your tap water has a large molecular structure and is very immobile in that form. These molecules try to go through your roots and up into the plant where they can be used. The molecules are too large to be absorbed efficiently and end up accumulating on the outside of the roots. This causes a road block that can lock out the good forms of cal-mag you are trying to feed them. Other key components of the nutrient formula can also be locked out and the problems escalate until your plants appear to be stunted and yellow and growth crawls to a hault.

There are ways to mitigate this problem. Fulvic and humic acid, as well as living beneficial biology, can help break down the relatively immobile cal-mag in your tap water and allow it to become more available to the plants. This process takes time and is not guaranteed to free up all the cal-mag in an efficient manner. The whole idea behind hydroponics is to minimize your time and maximize your harvests. There is no time to wait around for the cal-mag to be made available. What the plants need is cal-mag that they can readily absorb and use immediately.??

 

[hondagrower420]

TDS and PH are not related in a hydroponic system. TDS and PH are quite related in ground water. The correlation is the available and soluble solids available at the source. Calcium is by far the most common and most soluble solid at the source of ground water. This is because the ground water can penetrate calcium better than it can any other type of rock structure.

Now we know that in almost all ground water examples that calcium will be your primary TDS contributor. The PH of this calcium ranges from 9.4 -12.4. So you can see the more calcium the higher the PH...

I understand. If your ph is higher it COULD be cal. It COULD also be temp or dissolved oxygen.

I can see why that would be the first thing to say about ground water if the ph is higher. But there are other variables to look out.

This is why the proper tools are a must.

 

[Compatak]

I thank you all for your suggestion's and ideas in here. I think I have got a lot of really good advise.

This is what make sense to me and I'm going to change. Let me know if you disagree.

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. (to bad, just bought a gal) Lol...
5) My tap water is fine as is, No need for RO system.

 

[nomofatum]

The majority of the PPM, or EC reading, you obtain from a measuring device is cal-mag. The most typical form of these minerals in your untreated water is calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate. Unfortunately, contrary to popular belief, these forms are virtually unusable by plants, especially fast growing plants. The molecules of these compounds are far too large and immobile to be absorbed by the roots and transported to where the plant needs them. Relying on the cal-mag in tap water can lead to many problems
Wonder
Having hard water would be in fact a growers dream come true no need to add cal/ mag as well water or tap water has sufficient amounts guess what i bet if a grower stopped adding cal mag and started using Hard water would be a day or 2 before major deficiencies would happen

I've never used calmag, i've never added calcium, and I've never had a calcium deficiency without a PH issue.

Calcium Carbonate + Nitric Acid = Calcium Nitrate + CO2. The reaction of the PH down will make calcium carbonate highly available. The myth that the calcium in hardwater is unavailable in a hydroponics system, is just that, a myth.

A similar effect happens if you use Sulfuric Acid.

 

[hondagrower420]

The majority of the PPM, or EC reading, you obtain from a measuring device is cal-mag. The most typical form of these minerals in your untreated water is calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate. Unfortunately, contrary to popular belief, these forms are virtually unusable by plants, especially fast growing plants. The molecules of these compounds are far too large and immobile to be absorbed by the roots and transported to where the plant needs them. Relying on the cal-mag in tap water can lead to many problems
Wonder
Having hard water would be in fact a growers dream come true no need to add cal/ mag as well water or tap water has sufficient amounts guess what i bet if a grower stopped adding cal mag and started using Hard water would be a day or 2 before major deficiencies would happen

Yes. This is why you can have a plant in 2.6ec solution and it not burn. The salts that polute the water are not able to be absorbed by the plant. Making them trash.

This is why I have not referenced ops ppm level. You don't know what in your tank is trash and what it usable nutrtion for your plant.

 

[2ANONYMOUS]

Although a grower can use a hard water formula for his or her plants it doesnt mean they should. People, are in many relations, the same as plants, what you put in is what you get out. We can feed ourselves fast food everyday to become full, but it doesnt mean that is the healthy best choice for living. Starting with R.O. water and building a quality nutrient profile from scratch is like home cooking. It takes more preparation and time but the results equal a higher quality of life.

 

[Compatak]

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 .

Yes the plants are healthy. I've just been having the same problem with soft airy buds.

 

[hondagrower420]

Although a grower can use a hard water formula for his or her plants it doesnt mean they should. People, are in many relations, the same as plants, what you put in is what you get out. We can feed ourselves fast food everyday to become full, but it doesnt mean that is the healthy best choice for living. Starting with R.O. water and building a quality nutrient profile from scratch is like home cooking. It takes more preparation and time but the results equal a higher quality of life.

This is why...

I told him he didn't have to remove the RO. But he would also need to understand the ratios at which marijuana absorbs nutes the best. Which is strain dependant.