Plants Constantly in Cal/Mag deficiency?

[Budzbuddha]

Ph at 6.5 ... also not sure of “ your water source “ but you may want to get a ph/ ppm pen or strips to “ baseline “ where your water falls in ph and dissolved solids. That way you can see what’s going on instead of going in blind.

 

[Nefrella]

Ph at 6.5 ... also not sure of “ your water source “ but you may want to get a ph/ ppm pen or strips to “ baseline “ where your water falls in ph and dissolved solids. That way you can see what’s going on instead of going in blind.

Water source is just city water.

Have a meter just haven't used it lately, but if the ph is going to cause issues with my plants, I'm going back to phing

 

[Budzbuddha]

Water source is just city water.

OK ... definitely you want to know the ph and ppm from that. City water can run all over the place regionally , hard water deposits ( calcium/lime , etc. ) . I have California water source and it chimes in 7.1 ph and about 285 + or - in ppm. Not great , but usable with some tweaking. I run FFOF for my base soil mixes , tweaked with more perlite / EWC / kelp meal / myco and that’s about it , on same city water. I adjust to 6.5/6.6 to allow for swing.

I stopped bottle use ( synth or otherwise ) since FFOF can feed alone for the initial 5-6 weeks by itself. Top dress or dry nute scratched into top of container , watered in . That’s it.

 

[Nefrella]

OK ... definitely you want to know the ph and ppm from that. City water can run all over the place regionally , hard water deposits ( calcium/lime , etc. ) . I have California water source and it chimes in 7.1 ph and about 285 + or - in ppm. Not great , but usable with some tweaking. I run FFOF for my base soil mixes , tweaked with more perlite / EWC / kelp meal / myco and that’s about it , on same city water. I adjust to 6.5/6.6 to allow for swing.

I stopped bottle use ( synth or otherwise ) since FFOF can feed alone for the initial 5-6 weeks by itself. Top dress or dry nute scratched into top of container , watered in . That’s it.

Nods, sf bay. Have a pen and a dropper tester, dropper will get it in the range I need with not as much fuss. Thx!!

 

[Budzbuddha]

GL with your grow .... we are just providing our 2¢ on things . No garden runs as everybody else’s .

Keep us posted.

 

[BeatrixKiddo98]

3 things ...

1. Next time ph your water / and or “ feeds “ . FFOF is prebuffered at 6.3 ( right out of bag ) , even if you are “ trying to grow organic “ ,
you should at a minimum try to MATCH the host medium. Look at your leaf and the following... Ph swing

View attachment 4574493 ..... look familiar ?

2. You are overloading a medium that is already adequately charged ... by dumping excess into it . EWC is a fine addition to “ any soil “ .... CALMAG can be a necessary evil at times ( especially led grows ) when symptoms call for it. And that can be caused by lower transpiration in led grows compared to HID / HPS that provide IR and heat .

3. Believe it or not , that soil ALONE on PH water would have squashed much of those issues .
Also , that bottled feed would be surpassed by simply “ top dressing “ more FFOF ( alone ) and just watering in.
Think about it .... plant begins life in host medium ... it becomes acclimated to it ( without excess outside Nutes ) , you top dress MORE when necessary ..... plant is not overwhelmed because it’s the same host soil. All you are doing is recharging it as it is depleted during grow.

How simple is that ?

Many growers trip themselves up with this soil and its for the same reasons that you have going on.

Gotcha, lots of useful advice in here thank you. It is my first time grow and I didn’t realize the ph was of such high importance. I will buy the equipment for it and take it seriously now, I really would like to see my plants flourish.

 

[LinguaPeel]

"Ph doesn't matter " - outdoor grower who's never grown in a container

"eat my ass" - me to outdoor grower who's never grown in a container