Help me properly PH and Nute my water, My plants are not growing.

[Organique04]

First off I have the el cheapo DWC growers choice kit. It has a 4 Gallon reservoir. I am wishing I got a 5 gallon bucket at this point....but let's move on. So I filled the water level up to the bottom of the net pots with 4 gallons of distilled Walmart water. NOTE: I did not PH the water as I hadn't received my PH Pen. I know... anxious...kinda dumb! From this The seeds sprouted in the Rockwell. So I immediately put 2 CFL's (bright white 23 watt 100 watt equivalent) an inch over each seedling. The seedlings are small....picture a set of cotlydons on the bottom and two more sets of leaves above branching out. My problems is that they have stopped growing. They are green and don't appear dead so I continue to nurse them. Now onto the PH! Finally I receive my meter two weeks into my grow. Test my water and it is a 4.5. I calibrate my pen by putting 6.86 PH powder in water solution and reading it with pen (it was close so, I adjusted a hair) then I did the same with the 4.5 powder. I don't know if that was right I never calibrated a pen. Now I am SOL as I have no more calibration powder. My question is how to nute and calibrate PH when you change the water? I mean step by step! My fist attempt was way off and the water looked cloudy and bubbly this morning with a high 8.0 PH So I dumped that water cleaned everything, and now have some fresh distiller water with half strength veg notes and adjusted to a 5.8 PH. Hydro has got me more frustrated than anything.

 

[insan3]

Hydro is more time consuming at first once you know what ur doing u wont be so fustrated. first thing is make sure everything calibrated both ph pen and pppm pen.

To start make sure everything is clean. Take ur bucket and fill it up to ur desire water level. Add nutes ur using. Then ppm the solution to ur desire ppm. Then adjust ph level. Then check it after 10 to 15 mins later after is been bubbling away again for ph and adjust it

Since u didnt gives all the info we cant really narrow the problem. And there more reading you need to do.

 

[BigBuddahCheese]

Here is what I do in my individual DWC buckets. No way near your correct way to do your grow, but it will give you a baseline.

1. I PH my water to 5.5 since it usually is upwards of 7.0 - Now I used to not do this but I find my particular nutrients like starting low and raising the ph.

2. I add my nutes (some require specific order of addition to your RO so becareful) to my RO water.

3. I will check EC (ppm) and adjust if needed to my desired EC(ppm) range. I will check the PH but will not adjust.. usually near 6.4 or somewhere.

4. In 24hrs I will check PH and then adjust. Giving your res 24hrs to adjust with the actions of the nutrients will give you a better PH stability I found. I used to adjust right away the next day it was off, then solid from there on. Now if I wait 24hrs the PH will be pretty much spot on or few tenths too high I will add a drop of PH down.

 

[Organique04]

I am thinking of using white vinegar and baking soda as ph up and down. Is that better than powders and chemicals?

 

[mike91sr]

No. Vinegar doesn't hold, baking soda will work but not as well as other things.

For pH down, go with phosphoric acid or citric acid. Phosphoric will provide the plants with P.

For UP, potassium carbonate is your best option IMO. Provides K to the plant. See the trend here? Baking soda(sodium bicarbonate) would be better if you baked it into washing soda(sodium carbonate) by placing it spread on a baking sheet in an oven at 300 for about an hour. It results in a higher ph for the same amount of weight, CO2 and h2o are gassed off, so you'll see the powder gets disturbed and changes texture when its done converting. Or buy some at your local walmart. Arm&Hammer Super Washing Soda.

Spend $30 on concentrated versions of those and make yourself dozens of gallons worth of OTS product.

Your other options for down are: muriatic acid/sulfuric acid. For up: sodium hydroxide. But those don't provide nutrition to the plants while they do their work. Just adds sulfur and sodium. Makes them more stable over the long-term because your ph adjusters arent being absorbed by the plant, but that's a trade-off you can decide for yourself. I dont like to have anything in my res that doesnt need to be. Even if it means adjusting my ph twice a week instead of once.

 

[Organique04]

My biggest problem is stabilizing ph. I spent all of yesterday adding ph down powder, then up powder. Then just when you get it to a good number like 5.8. Come back a few hours later and it's up to 8.0! It just won't hold!? I put so much damn powder in there adjusting my reservoir looks milky and bubbly. That can'tcan't be good for plants!? I feel like I have more ph crap in my water than veg nutes! So I emptied it out and started fresh. Now I am using Vinegar and t doesn't hold PH either!!! Come back in an hour and its right back up. I just don't see why this is so difficult to stabilize Ph?

 

[dtischerd]

adjusting ph is easy if you have the right stuff..were you not told that vinegar does not hold ph?

get your self a bottle of each ph up and down. ebay is your friend.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p3984.m570.l1313&_nkw=ph+up+down&_sacat=0&_from=R40

 

[arrozkongandulez]

Here is what I do in my individual DWC buckets. No way near your correct way to do your grow, but it will give you a baseline.

1. I PH my water to 5.5 since it usually is upwards of 7.0 - Now I used to not do this but I find my particular nutrients like starting low and raising the ph.

2. I add my nutes (some require specific order of addition to your RO so becareful) to my RO water.

3. I will check EC (ppm) and adjust if needed to my desired EC(ppm) range. I will check the PH but will not adjust.. usually near 6.4 or somewhere.

4. In 24hrs I will check PH and then adjust. Giving your res 24hrs to adjust with the actions of the nutrients will give you a better PH stability I found. I used to adjust right away the next day it was off, then solid from there on. Now if I wait 24hrs the PH will be pretty much spot on or few tenths too high I will add a drop of PH down.

hey man is there a difference in adjusting ph of the water before adding nutes to adjusting ph after adding nutes?

 

[kenny ken 77]

Hey bro, everything I've ever read say specifically, DO NOT MIX p.h. Up and p.h.down in the same mix, you are creating a toxic mess. Check the p.h. Of the water you use, if a high p.h. Buy p.h. Down, usually phosphoric acid 81% add your nutes at recommended dose then add required buffer, either up or down, never both!!! All this shit, vinegar, and powders, making your own etc, fuck that! Maybe when you are more experienced, you can try such, at the moment stick with proper products for your needs, as said check your plain water, add nutes,then adjust, simple, your p.h. Is more than likely raising because of what contamination is left in you medium,I.e. Rock wool, flush it with p.h. Adjusted water at 5.5 then next day do as I described, honestly, proper products= no problems. Again I say, NEVER BOTH in same reservoir at the same time. Good luck! Read weed farmer .com, very useful, spend a little time and a little money and reap your girls rewards. Kenny ken

 

[kenny ken 77]

hey man is there a difference in adjusting ph of the water before adding nutes to adjusting ph after adding nutes?

It is always best to adjust after nutes, some nutes lower p.h. Others don't, all good nutes have a p.h. Buffer so once set it should stay relatively stable, though always adjust after adding nutes, hydro ideal 5.5-6.2 best range,5.8! Soil 5.8/6.5 best 6.2. Good luck and good growing, hope I can help.

 

[kenny ken 77]

Also I've read that you can allow a swing, say you set at 5.5 you can easily allow it to swing to 6.5 then adjust back down again, this allows your girls access to the full range of nutes at differing p.h. Levels, thus avoiding deficiencies, when I change my water I p.h. To 5.5, after two days it's up to 6.1/6.2 there it stays until I change my water again every four days, and no! I don't have any deficiencies, my girls look and feel happy,consequently so do I. I really hope this helps you peeps. Good growing 'n' smoking! Kenny ken.

 

[BigBuddahCheese]

Also I've read that you can allow a swing, say you set at 5.5 you can easily allow it to swing to 6.5 then adjust back down again, this allows your girls access to the full range of nutes at differing p.h. Levels, thus avoiding deficiencies, when I change my water I p.h. To 5.5, after two days it's up to 6.1/6.2 there it stays until I change my water again every four days, and no! I don't have any deficiencies, my girls look and feel happy,consequently so do I. I really hope this helps you peeps. Good growing 'n' smoking! Kenny ken.

Thanks Kenny but yes that should be common sense as to PH down to 5.5-5.6 and let your nutes naturally raise the PH like a healthy plant does. It is really no secret you stumbled upon.

 

[legallyflying]

Jesus, it amazes me about how a simple question can have such varying answers. If I were you, I would do the folowing:

1. buy some PH calibration liquid. You likely have a cheap PH pen and they can drift ALLOT, even my very expensive pens (well, one of them anyways) is prone to drift. Calibrate before mixing your nutrients. Don't ever pour back used calibration fluid back into the bottle. store your PH meter wet.

2. buy some proper PH up and PH down. Don't use lemons or baking soda or start buying pool acids. You can use those, but for right now, lets just keep it simple.

3. DILUTE your ph up and down. I would say one part aduster and 5 parts water. This will help prevent your from see-sawing your ph level when trying to adjust. I like to "glug glug" my ph adjusting fluid.. not measure with a eye dropper. pus it helps from zapping your nutrients out of suspension... see that grey could when you add concentrated ph up?... those are nutrients coming out of suspension. Yeah, you can do as they will go back into suspension.. but why put your nutirents through chemical hell.

4. Take your water and mix in your nutrients. let it swish around and get real mixed, then add some PH adjuster. record the volume of adjuster you added and the resulting PH change. the stronger your solution, the less the change but you will at least get an idea of how much more you need to add to get to the desired range.

5. Set your PH at about 5.5 or so. It will rise naturally, it will rise very quickly if you have a small volume of water compared to the size of the plant so you may want to think about getting a larger container for your plant. And when I say may, I mean you really really should. My large plants drink over a gallon of water per night. You WANT your ph to float around, just don't let it get off the charts.

And lastly.. DON"T over nute. I did this for years even though I was pulling good numbers. This last run I only mixed nutes over 1000 ppm for week 4-5 and then really dropped it off in the last couple weeks.. around 300ppm. Best results ever.

It depends allot on temperature and humidity in terms of how much they are drinking. If it is hot and dry in your room (upwards of 80 and less than 50% humidity). Your plants are going to have to uptake water.. whether they need nutrients or not. Having a really concentrated nutrient mix when they are uptaking to stay turgid is going to lead to problems. Think of it this way, if it was hot and hell and your sweating and thirsty.. which would you want to chug down? A tall glass of water or a warm milkshake?