This is my 3rd grow

Hello my fellow hobbiest.This is my 3rd grow.First one was curiosity,2nd was confirmation.This time it's bubblicious +experience+A grow tent.Might be a great success.Without further ado...I have 3 plants,one 5 gallon tub.(I know,1 plant per container but im comparing seeds in this 5 gallon pail,1 unknown good herb,1 bubblicious,and 1 bagseed.)I'm using a zero water pitcher,letting sit for 24 hours to let chlorine dissapate.So starting out my ph is sitting at 6.2 when I last checked.Before the zero water pitcher my water from the tap was at 310ppm,after the zero water pitcher ppm at 20,I added 36ppm of Foxfarm "grow big" (6-4-4).Right now I am using a "300"watt compact flouro.I do have a concern though.I have been growing these plants for about a week now,I just transferred them out of a smaller "light friendly" container,my ph was fluctuating badly...right before my eyes.my plants don't look healthy,they appear to be missing something.Any Suggestions

here is some pics,not much to look at right now

I think that I just figured something out!Now I know that a person can use baking soda as ph up and vinegar as ph down,but I didn't understand why it was so discouraged,( I mean who don't have baking soda and vinegar at home?)Why not just use those instead of buying ph up and down?Well from what I saw,One day I lowered my bucket to 4.8,had to bring it up so I used baking soda -The good,it raised it up,-The bad...it keeps going up gradually,even when you add ph down,it takes a few hours,but say,"if you started off with a ph of 5.0 added a little baking soda,now your ph is at 5.8,after about 10 hours check again and now the ph is at 6.2..."Maybe that was just my personal observation,if i'm wrong,let it be known!Well below is my new pics,seem like the bubblegum was a little stressed,I'm thing it could've been the ppm was too low,this morning I checked 6.2 109 ppm,I corrected to 5.9 270ppm.Should I feed more?

Come on guys,help me out here,I know this is the 3rd grow but everybody needs help sometimes.Give me your opinions

Come on fellas,subscribe to this thread because this is going all the way!

guyfromchi2004 said:

I think that I just figured something out!Now I know that a person can use baking soda as ph up and vinegar as ph down,but I didn't understand why it was so discouraged,( I mean who don't have baking soda and vinegar at home?)Why not just use those instead of buying ph up and down?Well from what I saw,One day I lowered my bucket to 4.8,had to bring it up so I used baking soda -The good,it raised it up,-The bad...it keeps going up gradually,even when you add ph down,it takes a few hours,but say,"if you started off with a ph of 5.0 added a little baking soda,now your ph is at 5.8,after about 10 hours check again and now the ph is at 6.2..."Maybe that was just my personal observation,if i'm wrong,let it be known!Well below is my new pics,seem like the bubblegum was a little stressed,I'm thing it could've been the ppm was too low,this morning I checked 6.2 109 ppm,I corrected to 5.9 270ppm.Should I feed more?

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Do not, do not, do not use vinegar and baking soda to adjust the pH. They aren't stable enough to keep it at a certain pH long enough to be effective. Might as well not even bother pH'ing if you're using that stuff. Get pH up and down from the hydro store.

Also, ppm numbers shouldn't mean anything to anybody without a conversion factor. Without a conversion factor, it is impossible to know the nute concentration of your water.

SickSadLittleWorld said:

Also, ppm numbers shouldn't mean anything to anybody without a conversion factor. Without a conversion factor, it is impossible to know the nute concentration of your water.

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<br>I don't understand this statement,if I start off with 20 ppm and I add 250 ppm of food,I should have 300 ppm,right?I don't think I quite understand this statement

guyfromchi2004 said:

<br>I don't understand this statement,if I start off with 20 ppm and I add 250 ppm of food,I should have 300 ppm,right?I don't think I quite understand this statement

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Yeah, that's right. However, ppm is not a universal measurement. It should make more sense with this article: https://www.rollitup.org/view.php?pg=faq&cmd=article&id=76

I thought I was compitent,guess I was nowhere near.Thanks buddy...The odd part is I still don't understand what I need a conversion factor for....I'm not trying to be redundant,I just don't understand

guyfromchi2004 said:

I thought I was compitent,guess I was nowhere near.Thanks buddy...The odd part is I still don't understand what I need a conversion factor for....I'm not trying to be redundant,I just don't understand

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I don't mean to confuse you. I'll try to explain it a little better...

All meters read EC and then approximate ppm using a conversion factor. EC is universal, ppm can vary greatly since it is an approximation derived from EC using a conversion factor.

Say for example, I read with my meter an EC of 1000 millisiemens/cm. Your meter reads the same for the same solution. Now we set the meter to convert to ppm. I use the conversion factor of .5, so my ppm reads 500 ppm on the meter (EC x conversion factor = ppm, in case you're wondering how ppm is calculated). Your meter is set to read a conversion factor of .7 because your meter is from Europe where that conversion factor is standard. Your ppm is 700 ppm. See the problem if you don't provide a conversion factor? There is a 200ppm discrepancy even though the solution hasn't changed. At bigger EC numbers, the difference becomes more drastic. Look at the chart in the link I posted and you'll see what I'm talking about.

post ahead,send suggestions,all are welcomed

Ok,I haven't updated for a while,been a little busy.I started flowering about 3 weeks ago with the 2 plants,after 2 days of flowering the bubblicious turned out o be a boy,I clearded him out and did some LST on my remaining plant.I put it back into veg for 2 weeks,,now this is day 1 of flower.

Well I am about 19 days into flowering and I noticed that I have been using soil ferts for hydro "foxfarm",didn't really see anything detrimental,here are some pics below

here we go