Root PH - Runoff levels

[AlrightAlright]

This is my first grow and I'm growing in Dr. Earth potting soil and watering with straight PH'd water and no other nutrients. I'm a little confused as to why the PH level of my runoff continues to measure at approximate 8.0 + as I keep PH'ing my water between 6.0 and 6.7?

Also I'm seeing signs of Potassium Deficiency...

[ChronicGrower]

Hi, sorry your having problems. Proper pH at your root zone is critical. Since your growing in soil, you might have to add some dolomite lime to bring your mix down to the correct pH. Just top dress it and water as usual. Keep testing your immediate runoff until you get the correct results, probably about 7-10 days. Another route you can take is to over compensate the pH of the water going in. If your going in at 6.7 and coming out at 8.0. Try pH'ing your water to 5.7 then test to see what is coming out. Best of luck

[AlrightAlright]

Thanks for the reply! I watered yesterday with PH'd to almost 6.0 and runoff came out at 8.2 and this has been pretty constant for the entire grow.

I thought about taking that route with lowering the PH below 6.0 but wasn't sure it would be a good idea because I thought the root zone wouldn't get any nutrients at that point.

I'm about 10 weeks in to veg as I have implemented Nebulas Mainlining technique. At this point my manifold is all set and I'm just waiting to hit my growth point to flip them over to flowering which I'm assuming will take about another 3-4 weeks.

[Royal Nugs]

I thought dolomite lime raises ph?

[Green75]

any signs the plant is not liking it ?

[AlrightAlright]

Not yet...

[Green75]

Keep rolling with 6...

[South Sierra Dude]

I have always taken Greens advice and watered 6Ph, dogmatic like. It has not failed me.

[AlrightAlright]

Should I continue with a nut free grow all the way through flower or use GH Florabloom ?

[Green75]

Not sure what all is in the medium...

[AlrightAlright]

[Green75]

lots of good stuff in there...id hold off till you see defieciencys than add your bloom.....im sure they designed that to never need to add it...or anything......if the plant is in there long enough it will need some n for sure sometime....just 6 ph water right now.....see it out

[AlrightAlright]

As i mentioned i am seeing what appears to be a potassium deficiency. But im wondering if that is due to dressing the plants with additional soil during the previous watering?

Ill continue with your suggestion to PH at 6.0 and then right before i switch over to flower i will start with the FloraBloom

[AlrightAlright]

It appears the potassium deficiency is moving up the plant... Should I water with the FloraBloom or do a flush first? I'm getting concerned now that I'm getting closer to flowering...

[Green75]

I'd feed good first..

[NebulaHaze]

Could you post a picture of the plant in the setup? Sometimes that helps us spot problems and/or identify the deficiency. Just curious, what are you using for your water source?

[AlrightAlright]

Im using well tap water

[AlrightAlright]

I removed most of the yellowing curled fan leaves with the hope to focus energy on new growth. I will post a pic later today

[AlrightAlright]

[NebulaHaze]

That yellowing is definitely problematic. I agree it looks like a nutrient deficiency. If possible, can you post a picture of the plant in the setup? Sometimes that gives clues that help us help you Did anything different happen just before you noticed the leaves turning yellow?

How old is the plant? I'm not familiar with that particular soil, but it's possible your plant may have used up the nutrients in the soil, or it doesn't have the right mix of nutrients for your plant. It's possible that supplementing with extra nutrients might help, though it does look like nice soil except for the pH, and there appears to be plenty of it.

Kind of a long shot, but sometimes growers have better luck using natural PH Down products for soil. My guess is that the pH is what's causing this problem, but it's always good to cover all your bases!

[AlrightAlright]

The only thing I added was additional soil to all the plants....
All the plants are 11 weeks
Yesterday I watered all 4 again (PH in @ 6.0) (PH out @ 7.9)
One plant I flushed with strait water PH @ 6.0. See what happens in a couple days...

I agree with you that it is related to a PH issue.

I'll post pic of the set up shortly.

I hope I can get this resolved quickly I want these ready to flip to flowering in a couple weeks

Thanks for the suggestions!

[AlrightAlright]

[AlrightAlright]

Here is the setup

[NebulaHaze]

Just one suggestion, I've found that plants with deficiencies seem to recover faster if they have slightly lower levels of light. Your setup looks great but you LEDs look powerful! It might help the plants if you moved the LED up a few inches until they're growing green and healthy again. That just makes it so the leaves don't have to work as hard It sounds like you're doing all the right things!

[AlrightAlright]

It's private well water and yes very hard water with minerals....