Coco issue

ninja1 said:

essentials.

I don’t want to speak to soon, still got the funny growing leaves but guess that will take longer than one watering. Seem happier looking though and with a bit more of a colour in them. Guess as with the correct ph the nutes are more freely available. Hopefully couple more waterings and things look alright.

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See that's why I asked. The black ones I'm assuming?


I've been using them years and the first 2 I had lasted ages and were brilliant, stood on the first one, hence why I had a second.

But roll on 5 or so years and I've bought them for several other people and had nothing but problems with them.

One does like you say, gives an initial reading and then no matter how much you adjust ph it just keeps reading the same thing.

I've compared 4 of them after calibrating and all gave different readings by several points.
One of them just goes up and down constantly.

I've given up with them permanently now because I can't trust them , which is a shame because they used to be a reliable brand at a good price.

I've gone back to drops now.
Can't go wrong then.

Not sure if this is related but a couple of years ago I'd told my mate to get one and he sent me a link to ebay, there was a guy selling them in bulk for way too cheap.
I feel like there might be fakes getting sold. Mind you, they could of just been knocked off

I’ve never owned a ph pen…only drops

Thanks for the replies. Worrying about the idea of there being fakes. Wouldn’t surprise me though. I tell you what I won’t be buying another one. I got a pretty good idea with my water how much ph to add tbh. So I should of known better but where the pen was fairly new, less than a month. I thought nope just go with it and trust the pen lol. Next for me it’s either a Bluelab ph pen. Or I’ve had my eyes on sensi perfect ph which takes out the need to even bother with ph.

These plants im hoping I start to see an improvement by the end of the week. I am also tempted to kill whichever one looks the worst. Then pot up into bigger pots with some fresh coco. give them a quick two week to root the new pot then flip. Don’t wanna be wasting time. Just want to flip them asap.

coreywebster said:

I've gone back to drops now.
Can't go wrong then.

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Here here.

Gonna kill one plant just to make more room but they’re getting flipped Monday. They’re getting the right ph now so everything should be fine. Just wanna hurry up and get a crop down tbh. See how it goes.

GreenNotYellow said:

I would say the roots do not feel free, perhaps changing the pot for the one that allows tips of the roots to come out, the plant will drop off the excessive part, or just a bigger pt.

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That's a soil protocol. Due to feeding coco at least once a day, tall smaller pots is preferred. I'm in 1g pots.

ninja1 said:

Thanks, feel like I’ve finally got better with coco. I also did wonder if root bound plants could be the cause. Thing is I don’t think they are root bound just yet. Another couple weeks and I’d probably be looking to pot up. Quite proud of the roots, spent a long time always thinking it was an area I needed to improve on. Would always have slow veg and poor roots, was watering coco completely wrong as for some reason. I was stupid and packing down the coco too much so it could be over watered. Now seems like I’ve got it going decent…View attachment 5366319View attachment 5366320

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Those are bound. If you tried to up-pot, you'd have to take a comb to the roots (or scruff the roots with your fingernails) and break them apart first, otherwise the roots would just continue to grow in a circle in the bigger pot and not use the new media.

The only reason to transplant into a bigger pot is if you wouldn't be able to keep up with the fertigating demands.

ninja1 said:

Or I’ve had my eyes on sensi perfect ph which takes out the need to even bother with ph.

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Don't bother with that. It is just marketing and the science is flat out impossible. If you have RO water maybe (because everyone has the same RO) but for different tap waters. On has a pH of 8 and TDS of 400, the other person has a pH of 7 and TDS of 100. How is their marketing bullshit compensating for that?

Get a good pH pen (they cost 100 bucks, need maintenance and are worth their price) or pH drops (cheap, need no calibrating, quick).

Lou66 said:

Don't bother with that. It is just marketing and the science is flat out impossible. If you have RO water maybe (because everyone has the same RO) but for different tap waters. On has a pH of 8 and TDS of 400, the other person has a pH of 7 and TDS of 100. How is their marketing bullshit compensating for that?

Get a good pH pen (they cost 100 bucks, need maintenance and are worth their price) or pH drops (cheap, need no calibrating, quick).

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chill man.....

advanced nutrients is cool,

im 99% sure they're stuff is made specifically for RO water not tap.

I will not be using advanced nutrients ph perfect line anymore,

but my brother has used it for the past couple of years with RO water and he has never needed to even check ph so advanced nutrients ph perfect actually works......

it sets the ph to around 5.7/5.8 if im not mistaken.

i used the sensi coco ph perfect the past 2 grows with RO water and it kept my ph perfect! i mean 100% perfect!.

but honestly i will be growing organic from here on out im ditching coco and salts.....

and for what its worth advanced nutrients is expensive for what you get........... your better off buying a 16lb container of maxibloom for 80 bucks, i used too think advanced was magic but know i realize its all about UVR8 receptors...... not expensive fertilizer.

I will check if their coco range requires ph water. If it comes to it I’ll just fork out the money on a Bluelab ph pen to be honest.

ninja1 said:

twisted leaves and the leaves plus stems are growing weird and small. Some more photos which probably show things better
View attachment 5366315View attachment 5366316View attachment 5366317

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This looks more genetic/environmental than anything. If your pH or feed was off the leaves would be showing problems other than being twisty.

Also if you're using AN PH perfect you don't have to PH it if you try to ph adjust your going to fuck shit up. I ran that line for a couple years until I couldn't afford it anymore. I Use General Hydroponics Maxigro/MaxiBloom 1tsp/gal @ 5.8-6.0 pH.

Lou66 said:

Don't bother with that. It is just marketing and the science is flat out impossible. If you have RO water maybe (because everyone has the same RO) but for different tap waters. On has a pH of 8 and TDS of 400, the other person has a pH of 7 and TDS of 100. How is their marketing bullshit compensating for that?

Get a good pH pen (they cost 100 bucks, need maintenance and are worth their price) or pH drops (cheap, need no calibrating, quick).

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I have 450 ppm well water that is coming from a 35 foot deep well, their tech isn't impossible. It used to mix at 5.8 pH every time and hold the value for up to a few days in a standing reservoir. I also used the same product with RO later on and it was still 5.8 pH. I don't understand how it works either, but it does. Also it's very hard to change the pH of solution made with the "ph perfect" stuff. I used to try and you'd have to use 2-3x more adjuster than normal to move it off 5.8.