Help please. Plants are getting worse. (5 weeks into flower)

[ComputerSaysNo]

@Pawtz The printing on that bottle is really bad. On the GHE bottle "6.5" is clearly light green, which makes sense because it's right in the middle of 6.0 (yellow) and 7.0 (green).

Mind you GHE is the European brand, but most probably the same product.

Here's a good photograph of the bottle I'm holding right now in my hands (I got this from the Interwebs, can't be bothered to get a photo from my phone to the PC right now; my bottle looks exactly like this):

 

[PadawanWarrior]

Ph is my guess.

 

[Pawtz]

@Pawtz The printing on that bottle is really bad. On the GHE bottle "6.5" is clearly light green, which makes sense because it's right in the middle of 6.0 (yellow) and 7.0 (green).

Mind you GHE is the European brand, but most probably the same product.

Here's a good photograph of the bottle I'm holding right now in my hands (I got this from the Interwebs, can't be bothered to get a photo from my phone to the PC right now; my bottle looks exactly like this):

Seems like there's different variations of this product.
It's a tad different as Cotyledon420's bottle. Coty's bottle may have faded a tad as the color has even bled through the white area of the label a little bit.
Mine was purchased 2 years ago. There may have been a new revision of the color indicators to give a more accurate portrayal of the color the droplets makes (either in mine or his if his is newer).

http://imgur.com/a/Py95DEv

Test your run off 4hrs after your last feed…..do this by adding just enough water to collect enough to test your ph…..if it’s 1.5-2+ph lower than what went in you got root rot…….iv run into this a dozen or so times…..looked a lot like yours do now….do that and check back in

My lights kick on @ 7pm (30min from now).
What should I do with the water? Just straight from the tap and then check it or pH it down to yellow w/ my pH test drops and see if there's a jump/dip in pH?
What's currently in my run off catch pan thingy (I'm using a hempy setup) is from when I was using my last nutrient solution (here: https://www.rollitup.org/t/help-please-plants-are-getting-worse-5-weeks-into-flower.1063601/post-16569459 ).
If I push water through it now it will spill out what I put in it from yesterday/early this morning, which would be that yellow reading I posted yesterday/early this morning.

 

[ComputerSaysNo]

Just straight from the tap and then check it or pH it down to yellow w/ my pH test drops and see if there's a jump/dip in pH?

I suggest you start feeding immediately with correctly pHed water. Apparently you fed too low pH because your meter is so far off.

I've been using the test liquid only for my coco grow; I really like it, it's easy to get a good reading and very inexpensive.

If it's bright yellow, maybe slightly leaning into the orange you're good.

 

[Buddernugs]

Ok so the optimum range for coco is 5.8-6.2…..honestly man if I where you I’d drop the 100$ and get. Blue lab pen…..they hold calibration for months.…..if you really wana take it to the next level with your grows you really need to stay within that range…..a lot of people will tell you that 5.5-6.5 is fine and that as long as that’s going in it doesn’t matter……..those people are not pulling 2lbs per plant on a 9 week veg from seed……you need a quality ph pen for coco you can’t cheep out, if u want optimum growth that coco provides you need it

 

[Buddernugs]

Oh shit I just see. This is a Hempy bucket grow lol……forget the watering just tilt her untill water comes out and test that lol

 

[ComputerSaysNo]

a lot of people will tell you that 5.5-6.5 is fine and that as long as that’s going in it doesn’t matter……..those people are not pulling 2lbs per plant on a 9 week veg from seed……you need a quality ph pen for coco

When growing in coco it means growing hydroponically (unless you fully amend the coco of course). The nutrient solution needs to be spot on, there's no soil organics to do any corrections. I think the pH pen is not absolutely necessary, the test solution works really well (at least for me it does). Getting very close to 6.0 reliably is not a problem with the test kit. The pH pen is a little more convenient in the long run, but one does have to take great care of it, keep it clean and recalibrate regularly.

I've thought about buying one for sure, but now I think I'll actually skip it because the test kit has worked so well -- and it really lasts a long time and costs only around $5.

 

[Moabfighter]

Looks like lockout. I don’t know how to fix but I’ve had this happen a few times.
Lighten up on your feed. Good luck.

 

[xtsho]

I'd ditch the Bud Explosion.

 

[Pawtz]

I tested run off containers from 2 plants.

I haven't been logging the ppm, but I recall it being between 800-900ppm before feeding. So it's probably not taking anything in since the pH is off. Could also be mistaken though.


same picture as above(just on imgur):

http://imgur.com/i9XTEdW

same picture as above(just on imgur):

http://imgur.com/UBCUzFL

These are some of the leaves I plucked off. One of them fell on it's own. The rest I could have been blown off with a fart. They were barely attached to the plant anymore. Just a light flick.

same picture as above(just on imgur):

http://imgur.com/nMP6KTk

I'd ditch the Bud Explosion.

I'm going to go with everything I've been using except the bud explosion. I'm really more concerned with a healthy grow than optimizing anything at this point. Will try to get it as close to 6.0 as possible. Really hate reading these pH drops. The pee green looks close to yellow. Can't really tell the difference depending on the lighting.

 

[ComputerSaysNo]

The pee green looks close to yellow.

Hold it in front of a white sheet of paper with normal lighting.

Your test vial looks like it's about ~6 pH on your pictures (slightly greenish; towards 6.5 rather than 5.5). Your pH meter seems to be reading way, WAY too high. You've probably fed very low pH water to your plants in the past.

It's really quite easy to see the "6.0 yellow" after a few times, you will immediately know when it's tilting into the green or orange.

 

[Bukvičák]

Where your tap EC starts at? Too much calcium may lead to potassium defficiency. I know shit about calcium ascorbate so hopefully you know what you are doing.

 

[Buddernugs]

That’s waaaaaaay to high for coco

 

[ComputerSaysNo]

@Buddernugs His pH meter is completely decalibrated, it shows ~7.5 when the test kit shows ~6
Probably what was given to the plants was way too acidic, because when the meter would show 6 the water would probably be around 5 or lower.

 

[Three Berries]

You should get a 7.0 test solution and adjust the meter to that before using every time. Then store the meter with a bit of that solution in the cap for the bottom.

Without calibrating it to a standard testing different solutions is a no win.

 

[ComputerSaysNo]

Without calibrating it to a standard testing different solutions is a no win.

What's your experience with decalibration of the meter you're using? How often do you think you would have to calibrate it before it becomes too inaccurate? I've heard that some meters stay accurate for quite long, but have no experience; not going to spend $100+ just to try.

I do not want to buy a meter if I have to babysit it beyond some acceptable point. Having to recalibrate before every use would be too much hassle for me, in that case it's easier to just use a test kit.

 

[Three Berries]

What's your experience with decalibration of the meter you're using? How often do you think you would have to calibrate it before it becomes too inaccurate? I've heard that some meters stay accurate for quite long, but have no experience; not going to spend $100+ just to try.

I do not want to buy a meter if I have to babysit it beyond some acceptable point. Having to recalibrate before every use would be too much hassle for me, in that case it's easier to just use a test kit.

Well you have to test them to see how good they are. So if you should test them daily before use. The cheap one I have ($9) has an adjustment screw on it. It almost always needs some minor adjustment daily. But it will give true readings when properly calibrated.

I suppose if you have a huge grow and need to use it a lot daily a higher priced one would be better. But I have no experience with them as to how well they hold calibration.

And going by color, not everyone sees color the same.

 

[ComputerSaysNo]

And going by color, not everyone sees color the same.

To go deeply philosophical here: I don't even know what your "green" looks like at all .

That is not a problem with test kits, however, because the bottle should show a color very close to the color in the vial. That does not seem to be true for the GH bottle, their printing for 6.5 is way off.

It's not possible to measure pH to 0.1 accuracy with test kits; but since I'm only going for 6.0 (+/- 0.2) it is acceptable to me; it's easy enough to see with the GHE test solution.

I've also used test strips (some unknown brand off Amazon) and I've found these a lot less convenient, and more difficult to "read".

 

[Buddernugs]

@Buddernugs His pH meter is completely decalibrated, it shows ~7.5 when the test kit shows ~6
Probably what was given to the plants was way too acidic, because when the meter would show 6 the water would probably be around 5 or lower. Oops lol I didn’t see that lol ya he’s right your meter is off, looks within the normal range going by the drops

 

[Buddernugs]

Bottle could have been sun bleached as well, even bleached From grow lights….. I use ties for my training and their always a diff color after harvest. Let me see if I can find a link for a cheep quality ph pen…if I had a spare I’d dm you ask ask where u want me to ship it to. 2 weeks ago I had a spare until one of my cats knocked it off my boa cage and the probe shattered…… little fuckers lucky he’s so adorable and cute……