Leaf's tips STILL burning and dying. Could it be soil's PH?

nick88

Well-Known Member
Well I gave them all about 10 gallons each. I was feeding them hose water with a ph of about 8.5. The run off was coming out at 6. So I hope this did the trick. Im going to give them a partial flush again in 2 days and then give them nutes on the next watering. This that this will raise the PH and get rid of any built up salts? Thanks again
Hey bro, i doubt very seriously that they'll be ready for watering in 2 days. Just wait til the soil is good and dry then you can flush again if you want. You can't over water by the amount you use, but by the frequency of your waterings
 

Schwag Bag

Active Member
Well with the fan in there and their current size of 4-6.5 feet they are usually pretty dry after 2 days. But they are definitely looking sickly still. I guess the soil is just super acidic and is hurting them.
 

Schwag Bag

Active Member
what I dont understand is why the soil is still so acidic after I have treated it with lime twice? Isn't this suppose to bring the ph up?
 

nl3004.kind

Active Member
well it ought to... just be careful to not give full strength nutes, it might shock them or otherwise stunt them... good luck man.
 

Schwag Bag

Active Member
Ok, I was thinking about foliar feeding some fox farm grow big today, maybe putting like a couple drops in a spray bottle? I just don't know what to do here, my plants look so sick and nothing I do seems to help any. After the flush, some parts are looking greener and healthier while other parts are looking yellow and blacker. I just don't get why they are doing this. Can acidic soil burn the leaves bad?
 

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
Can acidic soil burn the leaves bad?

Of course it can. That's why you were flushing in the first place, for the PH being too low(acidic soil). And, I still don't think you got a good flush in yet(from what I remember), and are also keeping the soil too wet. Even if the temps were 120*, they wouldn't need watered every 2 days.lol So, it's pretty safe to say that the soil has never dried out since the first heavy watering(maybe even the first regular watering), which is your problem, most likely. IDK whether to tell you to flush, or let it dry out, at this point. Hmm.....
 

Schwag Bag

Active Member
well I was watering whenever the soil felt dry on top and two inches down. So I did do a flush the other day where I gave all of them about 10 gallons each. I think I also might have burned the plants that were healty with the bloom nutes. Cause they are turning yellow now, when they were green before haha. Everything I do seems to mess them up, and Ive only given them full strength nutes once. I was thinking about giving them all 4 gallons of 8.5+ water today or tomorrow to try to lower the ph some more
 

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
Yeah, 5.8 is a little low. If your pouring in 6.5 and getting 5.8 on the runoff, that tells you that your soil PH is lower than 5.8, probably close to 5.0. You probably have some nutelock going on, or maybe even just plain underfeeding, hard to say. When you "treated them with lime" did you flush, or did you just give them a heavy watering, mixed with the lime? Whenever I flush for PH problems, I use water PH'ed to 6.8 and keep flushing til my runoff comes out close to that(at least 6.6). Then, I know the PH is okay, rather than hoping it's okay. I usually end up using about 6 gallons for my 3 gallon pots, and it works perfectly. But, the only way to know for sure, is to have your meters handy. I also make sure the runoff PPM is below 150, and flowing almost clear.​
Just follow my first response, and you'll be on the right track to recovery. :wink:
 

Schwag Bag

Active Member
Ok, so I do believe that my plants are on the road to recovery now. They are looking greener and fuller and I believe if I flush again and get the soil's PH higher I will be ok. I have just two more questions.

1. Should I add a top layer of lime to the soil before I water to help raise the water's PH and therefor raise the soil's PH?

2. Even though they are better, I believe there is defiiencies in a couple of the flowering plants. The leaves are turning all yellow without burning, so maybe nitrogen? Anyway, would it be totally bad to foliar feed a little grow big nutes since I ran out of the bloom nutes? Would this hurt my plants/flowers to feed them grow nutes? Or should I just give like a teaspoon per gallon after this next flush?
 

Schwag Bag

Active Member
Ok so I have now given all the plants 2 flushes, and I am intending on doing that once more with the last 2 gallons having 1/4 strength nutrients in them. The leaves are turning yellow on the flowering plants, looks like a N deficiency, and the rest seem to be greener. However, the water runoff is still at 6.0! I am pretty sure my soil is still acidic so I need something to bring it up now!

I have dolomite lime and baking soda. Tried lime twice, 2 tbl spoons per gallon, and it didn't raise it. How much baking soda would it take to raise the soil's ph without damaging the plant? I can also go get some PH UP, would mixing this with water being my run off up to 6.5 or 6.7? Thanks in advance.
 
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