New grower problems

[Daskahn]

Hello everyone.. I'm glad to be here as a old enthusiast with new spirit and drive.
ive done some research and come up with my own home built set up.. I'm not growing anything specific just random bag seeds.. yes I know it's a bit more tricky to get specifics but this is my learning process and I rather not waste the good stuff on mistake time...
so here goes Basic run down
im using a bubbleponics system
and a 600w mh
every was going splendidly (much better then previous grows in soil)
used tap water (never phd) and nuts no problems grew better then I've seen before

switched to fruiting one started showing signs of possible ph problems. With strips down the edges and what no and the others had a much lighter green where the colas were suppose to start forming so I wasn't sure which sign was bad if not both, a few days after switch..
so did some more reading..
what I noticed was I should test ph and or change water every week(🤦🏼♂️ I hadn't changed the water at all)
figured changing water would fix everything
so I tested ph of the water in the reservoir(I rushed to my local Walmart and got a fish tank ph test strip kit..)
the ph strip didn't go below 6.2 and that's what it tested at..
so I became confused tested the "fresh" tap water it tested 6.8 confusion grew..
changed water anyways added the tablet that came with the fish tank test kid (said it neutralized the chlorine and made it better for the fish so figured it'll be worth a shot..
all plants became real droopy so 1 I figured that means they soaked up a lot of water real fast(could be good sign)
so I waited slowly and surely they started to perk back up..
but growth has slowed way down.. and leaves seem a little leathery...
mil assuming I probably atleast temparily improved the situation with the water.. what are you helpful hints about the leathery leaves and growth cus I'm not really seeing any fruit yet and extra growth.. but more importantly we are on a time crunch cus lease is up in september

ps I do have pictures but when I tried to upload them it said the size was to large.. no idea how to change that

[Beach_Town_Brit]

A quick trick for posting images is to screen shot the picture and then post the screenshot.

I don't do hydro but you'll want to give yourself a good 10 weeks before move date for flowering and drying (it may happen quicker, or slower hard to know with bagseed (to be safe 12-13 weeks)). In other words you may want to think about switching to 12/12 pretty soon. Plants will get much more sensitive to Ph (and everything really) once they start flowering so I think it'll pay to watch your Ph carefully from here on out.

Good luck posting pics

[Burny]

You need to get some ph up and ph down. You use this to adjust the ph of your reservoir to somewhere really close to 6.0. It can range up and down a little but needs to be adjusted regularly. You should probably change your reservoir water at least every 7-10 days.

[Daskahn]

New update picture I've notice growth has returned pretty well but the ph issue seems to have returned I'm going to buy some distilled water if I can find some and order some ph up and down if I can
im fairly obsessive so if I'm being overly worried let me know but anytime I see a slight change I'm frantically trying to figure out what's wrong lol

[alltatup]

Hi Daskahn welcome to the forum. I would not use products made for fish tanks in my cannabis water.

[Beach_Town_Brit]

Hi Daskahn, they look pretty healthy to me. I do see some yellowing, a few leaves curling up on the front left plant, a bit of dropping on the front right, but really overall they seem pretty good.
Personally I use a gallon size Brita filter to clean my tap water up a bit. If you do go ahead and use distilled water you may want to consider some CalMag supplementation.
Which nute system are you using?
When are you planning to flip them into flower?

[Daskahn]

I'm using fox farm nutrients
maybe I should get a Brita instead?
I switched them into flowering last Sunday 7-16 I'm trying to give them 8 weeks before harvest(I know this might not go well) but I'm moving in the beginning of September

[Daskahn]

So I bought a pur water filter hooked it up... took forever to get the ten gallons I needed.. but I got it.. then I thought let's do a little experiment
1 cup of distilled water (my constant)
1 cup of filtered water
1 cup of currently used water
1 cup of tap water
ph tester them all
The cup of distilled tested at 6.86(what it should be ruffly)
cup of filtered water 7.45
cup of tap water 7.2
cup of currently used water 7.2

so my new question is
is it better to use the tap water which is closer to the desired ph or should I filter the water and bring ph down to desired level? Also I read using milk is a good way to bring ph down and add calcium specially if you've over spent your budget

[ellz]

The deciding factor would be in your PPM reading. If your tap water has a low amount of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) then you should be fine using that versus filtering the water. That is the main reason people filter water. The pH can be adjusted using pH UP/DOWN solution but the TDS can only be changed using filters. Hope this helps.

[Daskahn]

Thank you ellz
i was waiting for ph up and down to arrived.. it just arrived today.. I think I'm just going to go with the filtered water being that it filtered out the chlorine..
now I do have another question should I add the nutes to the water test the ph and then add up or down or should I ph the water then add nutes.. I was also previously suggested to just add phd water for a few days before adding the nuts.. but to add cal somingthin.. can I substitute milk?
Also I don't have a Ppm tester

[alltatup]

Add all your nutes and then pH the mixture before giving to plants.

[ellz]

When you pH your water, you want to first add all the nutrients to the water, mix it thoroughly and then test for pH. The nutrients will change the pH on their own. For example...my tap water test at 7.01 but if I add HydroGuard to the water, the pH goes up to 8. Then, I add my nutrient mix and the pH drops all the way down to 5.99 meaning I don't have to add anything else to pH the water.

CalMag is very important if you are filtering your water. The filters remove calcium and magnesium from the water so adding it back is crucial to plant growth. That being said, I don't think I would substitute milk for that. Milk has a lot of other stuff in it that would likely harm the plant. As for alternatives to CalMag, here is a good article on Rollitup: http://www.rollitup.org/t/diy-calciu...calmag.697149/

As for a TDS meter to test for PPMs...I bought one from Amazon for about $15 but they had others for like $10. It's a good thing to have if you are filtering your water. I imagine you could get by without one but it would be harder to gauge what to add or remove.

[Daskahn]

Update pictures...
I trimmed the ladies up today.. not sure what to do about the runt.. she sprouted about a week after the others so growth seems about right but she is smaller and I'm not sure if she had enough veg time.. and I'm not sure how much if any I should trim

[alltatup]

They look great!! I like the little runt: she can be your micro grow, your mini me!!!!

[Aloner]

All cases could be different but my runt is now one of my biggest plants. If she looks big enough (without comparing to your others), I say go for it.

[ellz]

I agree with the other two responses. They look great and I would stick with the runt. Sometimes they can be the best surprises!

[Daskahn]

Ok I've made a decision.. since I'm still learning but want to share my bumps and bruises as well as my successes I will consider this a follow along.. I'll still ask questions if I run into hurdles but I'll also post updates all the way into harvest and after.. cus let's face it I'll probably still need help after this hurdle lol and I'm actually proud of this grow..

[ellz]

The grows in which you make a lot of mistakes are also the grows that teach you the most!

[alltatup]

And you should be proud!! We all feel that way for each grow. It's like hitting the top of some mountain.

[Daskahn]

Ok so update.. I added nutrients to my filtered water brought it down to 7.2 so I added ph down to about 5.89 still in good range?(I assume so since range is 5.5-6.5. Haven't taken pictures I had to run to work and left my spouse to finish the job of pumping into the reservoir

new issue may have poped up today..
hot a called from the spouse about two hours after being at work..said the storm caused a power outage
only momentarily but it caused the light to shut off and even though the fan and air pump turned back on.. the light did not.. had to unplug everything let it cool and then plug it back in.. now I fear to think what would have happened if the spouse wasn't there.. does anyone know of a remedy to this? Would the light have eventually turned itself back on? I'm not sure about this. Pictures to come later

[ellz]

That pH should be fine. The range is between 5.5 and 6.5. Some nutrients may not absorb as easily at 5.89 as others, but should still absorb.

As for the light problem...the only real way to prevent the light from going off during a power outage would be to plug it into a battery backup instead of a surge strip. This will allow the power to stay on for up to 60 minutes depending on the size of the battery even if the power is out. When the power comes back on, the battery charges back up.

[alltatup]

Also, an interruption during the lights on isn't going to mess a plant up. After hurricane Matthew last year, I was out of power for a week, and I just kept my Chemdawg plants, in around week 6 or 7 of flower, on a 12/12 schedule. They sure weren't getting a lot of light during the day for a week, and they turned out just fine.

[Daskahn]

Up date pictures

do they look look like they are flowering?
Also because of the problems I didn't switch to hps lights I stayed with mh now that ph seems to be solved should I switch?
Also when I tested ph earlier today it was 5.89 now I tested again it's at 6.66( I didn't empty all of the water from previous pump couldn't pump the last half inch

[ellz]

It's hard to tell if they are flowering or not from the pics but I would say they are not yet.

As for the pH change, that could be caused by a couple of things...
- Leftover, higher pH water could have changed the stuff you put in (quite possible depending on how much water was left in the pump)
- The temperature could have changed dramatically from when you tested the pH (not very likely)
- The pH meter could be inaccurate and needs to be re-calibrated (it happens from time to time)
- The water was not completely mixed when the pH was tested originally (did you shake it thoroughly before testing?)

Really not much you can do about that other than draining the reservoir and starting fresh. You could try to pH down and up the reservoir but it may shock the plants.

[alltatup]

I have a little Stanley shop wet dry vac (2 gallon) that comes in very handy for cleaning out all the reservoir water that the pump can't get.

[Daskahn]

Update...
did a little lite defoliation today(kinda do it everyday or every other day probably should stop that?) but either way they are doing good I can visibly tell there are buds.. mad a hard choice and removed a few colas I'm pretty sure would go no where(shaded light)

[Daskahn]

For a comparison first picture July 24th second picture today August 1st

[Daskahn]

Lovely discovery
so after I posted the oboe pictures I was thinking about the lighting in the pictures noticed a lot of light on the wall and shadow on the closest plant.. went to see if adjusting light placement would help.. it did.. woo..
but while standing there I kinda took notice of my lil runt.. I haven't messed with her much for fear of damaging her. But I figured she's pretty leafy on top and nothing's getting through light wise so I lolipoped her.. gigity.. I smelled her leaves as they came off one by one.. and to my surprise she smelt limony.. so lovely.. I could brew a tea.. and I just might
so I've come to a new theory.. I am growing three different strain.. left two have a strong earthy smell, limon runt and the front right is much darker and even though not fastest or biggest grower budded first.. now all are random seeds I collected from friends cus I was never lucky enough to find any seeds lol so their true identity will probably forever remain a myster. Any who pictures lol

[alltatup]

Each plant I have grown is entirely different from the others, I don't think I'm imagining this. And what a pleasure it is to smell their individual terpene aromas!! I'llbe i terested to know who the tea tastes if you make it. I just keep throwin leaves in bag for dry ice hash...