2nd Grow Z-Kittles, Converted My Closet

spankyjr1 · May 2, 2021, 11:23am

Runoff PPM of the soil which I’m in the numbers are very important it tells you how much feed is left in the soil so you don’t over/under feed and the PH tells you if it is in a range for the plant to uptake the feed in the soil

Example: you feed with a PPM and PH of 1000PPM with a 6.5 PH you check your runoff and it’s 2500 PPM and 5.4 PH that would tell you 2 things first you currently have 2 much feed in the soil so it’s either not using it or you’re overfeeding and the PH is low so that may be why you have to much feed since the plant is not uptaking it correctly

I had issues when using the TRIO feed with yellowing of leaves it was low PH and I was feeding with a PH of 6.3-6.5 so now I’m feeding with PH of 6.6-6.8 which keep my runoff between 5.8-6.4

Work4iT · May 2, 2021, 11:26am

Spanky,

What is your “Arsenal” of Chems you use to feed and bathe the kids in?

Are you doing Dirt or CoCo?

If Dirt, are you using Fox Farms- Frog on Bag?

Always looking for new angles to add to the Ritual of the Grow.

spankyjr1 · May 2, 2021, 11:32am

I’m using a mix of FFHF, FFOF, worm castings and perlite 60% of equal parts of soil 30% perlite and 10% castings (I don’t layer it like a lot of fokes I just mix in a wheel barrow and fill bags)
I did stop using the TRIO and went with Jacks 321 this round and will not go back

Work4iT · May 2, 2021, 4:12pm

When all else fails read the directions. I carefully measured out 250 ml of Pure Distilled and added the 3 bags of PH mixes into clean, new plastic cups, and I prepared a 4th a rinsing glass for in between measurements. Proceeded to mix them well not to cross contaminate the solutions. I made sure I dabbed the probe with a paper towel to blot up the moisture inbetween readings.

I watched a couple YT videos just for extra good luck on calibration of the Y&B El Cheapo.

The replacement meter (2nd POS) I could never get it to calibrate with the first 6.86 solution. After playing with it awhile I finally thought…let me get my original POS cheap meter, and try and calibrate that one.

I kept replaying the PH saga and it was all OK until I mistakenly Pressed the CAL button a few weeks ago, or so I remembered it. I thought turning it off would revert it back to normal operations. Apparently not.

I was able to easily calibrate the old, original #1 El Cheapo meter within 7/100th of what the PH packets said was on the label. Actaully the 6.86 and 4 packets are almost perfect on the money/ Think I am back on track now. Watering due tomorrow and time will tell.

Instead of worrying over the PH, I am going to load up the Grav 16mm and inhale deeply. All should be good here in a few.

Work4iT · May 3, 2021, 11:44am

5/3/2021 Update:

I successfully calibrated 1 of the 2, the El Cheapo PH Pens yesterday afternoon using distilled and the 3 PH test packs that came with the Y&B meter. I could never get the replacement meter I bought recently to calibrate. I dropped out the battery pack hoping to erase anything in memory.

I was able to Cal the original pen, but not the second. That fact right there leads me to believe I am dealing with Junk Equipment. Who knows what the city is doing to this water at the treatment plant also?

After pouring the 3 Gal from RO I let is sit a bit and was reading 5.6 PH, somewhat steady. Put in 3 drops of PH UP (Blue) and my reading was trending down to 4 range. I immediately thought and said out loud, WTF??? F-It!!! …… Added 3 more drops of blue and mixed well and put away the meter out of disgust.
Went ahead and watered both plants to full run off.

I checked my PPM afterwards, thanks for the Explanation @spankyjr1

Wedding Cake: PPM 1000 with a steady 5.8 run off. PH meter is locked on.

Gold Leaf: PPM 1400 with a steady 5.8 Run off. PH meter is locked.

I guess I am going to start checking weather forecast by the old Lick the finger and hold it up in the air method. Why Not? I want to mirror my PH ritual and I feel it is somewhat the same. Guessing!

I then took a reading of the watering solution at the completion of the watering and it was reading a solid 6.8 in the mix bucket. Do I need to add the PH and wait 10-15 minutes to read it? It did not seem that way before…the issues started.

Observations the wedding cake leaves overall not too bad, lots of white Pistils.

The Gold Leaf has had the leaf issue from early on. Lot’s of ambering Pistils.

Am I going to smoke these later? Oh hell yea! With Pleasure.

This point of the Grow, and with not another Grow until the Fall later this year, I am going to limp across the finish line and not purchase the new PH Quality Pen until I am nearing the Fall Grow Kick off.

How long do I need to let the chemicals PH UP and Down sit mixed in the solution before watering? I am still getting fluctuation after the 30 seconds immersed in the feed solution?

Fall Grow I am going in with new PH UP and Down along with that Quality PH Meter.

Can’t make Chicken salad with chicken sh*t equipment.

spankyjr1 · May 3, 2021, 11:56am

I think you are getting nonstable readings of PH when you are testing your RO water since there is not enough PPM to get accurate readings from what I understand if the water being tested has less than 100ppm you won’t get an accurate reading

Low ionic strength solutions, like distilled, deionized and reverse osmosis water cannot be measured with Bluelab pH Pens or probes. The reading will be unreliable because the pH -sensitive glass needs lots of ions to provide an accurate and reproducible reading.

spankyjr1 · May 3, 2021, 12:14pm

This is the cheap camera I purchased off of amazon about $50 but I seen others here paid about the same for higher magnification than this one you may want to research a little more.

Sorry for the delay my back is f-ing with me
These pictures are from 5 different plants I’m currently growing all different strains
Now the hard part when will these be ready for chop?

Work4iT · May 4, 2021, 3:25am

@spankyjr1 I am clueless. It seemed more stable before? Sure has been whipping my ass as of late. BTW, I am 30 ppm coming off the filtered side of the RO.

Beware of getting operations when you get old. I am worse off after on the ones I got done recently.

spankyjr1 · May 4, 2021, 10:28am

I don’t use RO water I only know you won’t get reliable/accurate/stable readings with that low PPM

I had 4 surgeries 2 the result of doctor errors and ended up with CRPS (chronic regional pain syndrome) type 1 and 2

Work4iT · May 4, 2021, 12:01pm

5/04/2021 Update:

@spankyjr1,

Trying to make sense of it all. Your words stirred me to get off my stoned ass and do some very Unscientific testing. I am supplying real time data below.

Today I measured some water….

(Tap) untreated Water: 750 ppm @ 8 PH (Locked on rather quick) so there may be some truth to you words about the PPM being low?

(RO) Triple Filtered Water: 35 ppm @ 5.6 PH (long time +30 seconds to steady out)

When you mention the meter being unable to read PH in low PPM solutions, is yours a different style? …

Meaning better to measure PH with low level of PPM, meaning superior to my Y&B (El Cheapo) one I am using?

I have noticed, our PPM of tap use to be in the 500 PPM range, recently. Seems a lot higher now +200.

This last RO triple filter exchange a few months back, I inserted a more spongy final filter. I made the purchase online and had never used that filter pack / brand before. I know my old finishing filter was real HARD, and the PPM was around 20 when I measured the RO a few months after the filter was in use. This one here seems to already be letting some muck pass thru.

I saw where some guy had high PPM in his water and he said his plants were thriving. Not sure or can’t remember who had stated that. Around here who knows what type of carcinogen those PPM are? I am about half tempted to make a experiment on one of the fall plants RO vs Tap.

Unless a more quality meter will solve my PH issues reading in low PPM?

Any thoughts on the matter? Love the opinions. I need to quit guessing on what the PH is.

Wheel of PH Misfortune around here.

Anybody? @Hellraiser @beardless

spankyjr1 · May 4, 2021, 12:17pm

Don’t think any meter will be accurate with that low of PPM
Wait for the others to chime in but I’m pretty sure hell uses a mix of well and RO

beardless · May 4, 2021, 12:34pm

I have been told tds / ppm need to be around 100 in order to get an accurate pH reading.

Breezy · May 4, 2021, 1:57pm

Just skimmed through your entire journal @Work4iT, Looking good!

Hellraiser · May 4, 2021, 4:39pm

I use a mix of RO and tap water, 6 oz of tap water to 1 gallon of RO, with Jacks puts me at the perfect ph for coco - 5.8.

Yep, need some ppm (100 or so) to actually hold a ph, sure a ph meter will give you a value for distilled or RO but it’s meaningless as that clean of water won’t hold ph at all.

Work4iT · May 5, 2021, 1:24am

I see said the blind man. Figuratively speaking. @spankyjr1 I am going to promote you to All Star. Atta Boy, Spankster, smacked another Homer for me.

Notice, I believe you, but I still am asking @Hellraiser and @beardless if it is true, LOL. No… seriously… appreciate your words. You got Grow-Game.

At 700+ PPM I will mix in a bit of Tap with RO to dial in PH to experiment bringing PPM up a bit, maybe 32 Oz tap of 3 Gal total fluids.

I am just going to play with brew ratio of the baseline water solution to get me a readable solution in PH scale.

Makes sense as PH pen Locks on to Tap water quick and CAL lock quick too. In RO it just almost never ending scroll on LCD.

I am going FFHF Dirt again this fall, but I will get me a mix of RO with a couple splashes of this hard ass tap water as I want to be sure at least I got the PH nailed.

This <100 PPM bit of knowledge, is going to be as beneficial as watering to run off I think.

Let’s all go Get Stoned!

Work4iT · May 5, 2021, 1:29am

Thanks Breezy, I will come back to re read and reinforce some techniques for fall grow.

Got any buds popping out the dirt currently?

Love this ILGM Wedding Cake Strain (Auto). It can take some abuse, grows nice and big also.

Breezy · May 5, 2021, 1:42am

Work4iT · May 5, 2021, 10:39am

Here is a question to anybody who may want to chime in. I am guessing PH checking might be done differently, but I thought that first I need to PH the water then add the Trio Chems, Cal Mag etc. in that order?

If PPM being lacking is a problem for me, can I add the Trio then try and nail down the PH first? I am assuming that the feeds / trip Chems are adding PPM to the mix as I add.

Will this be a better way to mix and measure, i.e. give me some ppm to bind to the water for measuring? I have always been somewhat confused when I should check the water for PH and when I should add the Feed/Chems. Maybe changing the order of when I check the water for PH?

Still going to mix in a small amount of tap playing with the numbers. Ideally I want to keep my PPM low as I can, I am guessing…Low from the water source that is, not adding too many of the mystery PPM which I a guessing is bad stuff as the is all taking place from Petro Central with plenty of crappy water for all.

Breezy · May 5, 2021, 10:49am

When mixing up your nutes if using silica you mix that first then the cal mag, then whatever nutes you’re using. After you have it all mixed up you ph the mixture as the very last step. Hope this helps! Also good morning!

Hellraiser · May 5, 2021, 5:17pm

No point in ph’ing until you’ve added silica, CalMag and nutes. This is the order I do things.

Add silica (if using)
CalMag (if using)
Whatever nutes you are using in the order they should be added (Part A, Part B, etc…)
Ph adjust it (5.8 for coco, 6.5 for potting soil)
Add root enhancing stuff like Recharge or Fishsh!t.

I don’t like to use ph up/down if I don’t need to, so I’ve figured out that adding a certain amount of my tap water will make my ph where I want it.