HYDRO pH dropping like a stone

[YYCannabis]

I got one plant (DWC) that will be going to flush in 10 days. But for the last 6-7 days the ph seems to be dropping like a stone. For example, last weekend it was dropping from 6.x down to under 5.5 but drinking lots of water. I did a fresh water change with nutes. Stayed stable at 6.0 pH until Wednesday. Then dropped to 4.9. I did a water top up and pH balance to 6.2. Last night was 6.0 and today 3.7!!!

She got another fresh water change and nutes ASAP. Since she’s at end-of-life very soon, i might just flush her earlier than planned.

What I’m interested in, is what would cause it to drop down to 3.7pH? Is it signaling it’s dying?

Curious minds wanna know.

Cheers
YYC

 

[Obi-Wan]

Are you checking the EC/PPM? If so what is it? If the plant is taking in water at a higher rate than the nutrients pH will fall rapidly. If this is the case it may just be a signal to drop the nutrient levels.

 

[RagWeedDWC]

Do you use Rockwool? If so, while researching this I came across this little tidbit. Everything I have in tubs at the moment is with Rockwool, but the next seed will not. Just to see if there is a difference.
dI'm chasing the same issue.

Ph Problems

– By itself, rockwool is much more alkaline than other media, which means that you may have to make special adjustments to your nutrient solution pH to create an ideal pH for the root zone. This can be troublesome if you are using multiple media, as it might require you to create one pH balanced nutrient solution for one media and a separate one for your rockwool-grown plants. Rockwool can also shift its pH balance fairly rapidly, which means you may have to be extra vigilant about regularly checking your pH balances and making necessary adjustments.​

 

[RagWeedDWC]

I also found this, seems to be working for me.

 

[Tersky]

Agree with obi-wan. Check ppms. May need to adjust nutes. If you do a fresh res change test ppms then wait a day and check ppms again. If the ppms have gone up then your plant is drinking more water than nutes and your nutes are too high. If the ppms go down then the plant is not getting enough nutes. Im talking +/- 100ppms not like 20.

 

[YYCannabis]

PPM wasn’t changing much but was slightly climbing. She was thirsty, though...close to 2 gallons over 2+ days.

No rock wool...hydroton.

Getting out the microscope tonight to have another close look. She’s all nice and milky with very few amber last week. If I spot some more amber tonight I might start the flush soon.

This pic was last weekend
**edit** trichrome pic is incorrect. That’s from a different plant

 

[RFheavy]

How did you germinate your seeds and how did you put your plant into the hydroton?

 

[YYCannabis]

@rfheavy..I didn’t think of that. Ya, there is rock wool cube that held the sprout. But it’s not a topfeed setup. That rock wool hasn’t seen a drop of water in 19 wks.