Leaf Issues need second opinion

@MacGyverStoner
My soil is formulated between 6.3 and 6.8 so im using 6.5 ph on all my feedings so i assume im keeping a equal ph in the soil . Now this being New soil with plenty of nutes in it from start i was just watering with a 6.5 R/O for first 3 weeks until i gave it i good dose of Cal/mag and that when she starting showing signs of recovery, i let her go about ten days and as of now im starting some Nutes to see how she does. Thanks for the advise!

Unfortunately this is not true, especially it seems with fox farms soils, they can often become overly acidic and get much below 6.3, and even more so when used with R/O water, as it doesn’t have some of the naturally occuring “lime” like mineral compounds found in most tap or well water, that can help counter organic acidification of many of their soil’s ingredients, like peat moss substrates.

A way to be sure your pH in the soil is correct you can monitor the pH of the runoff. And a pH slightly lower, about 0.5 lower than what is going in the top is usually tolerable and expected.

But the best way to be absolutely sure your pH is staying stable without an expensive and very accurate pH soil probe, is feeding in a drain to waste method.

This is done also with the saturate the soil completely and let nearly totally dry between watering or feeding to be sure the roots deep down and in the middle of the container are getting plenty of oxygen and to avoid those cal-mag deficiencies from over watering.

When you do feed, in DTW, you totally and evenly saturate the entire of the container’s soil to max, and then continue until you flush at least about a quarter of the container’s volume out in the runoff, many flush even more – as much as 1/3 the volume of the container. This does two things, the fact that you are running nutrient salts in your feed through the soil means it also flushes excessive nutrient salt buildup out in the runoff, helping avoid nutrient salt toxicities through the grow. And by flushing this nutrient solution throughout the soil at the proper pH, you also correct the soil’s as well.

Happy growing,

MacG

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Also, I am not familiar with Strawberry Fields, but if you do a google search on fox farms soils, you will probably notice, often new soils from fox farms often seem to come too acidic and far lower pH than claimed.

This isn’t necessarily fox farms fault, pH can change due to conditions the soil was exposed to or stored in after it leaves the factory.

Happy growing,

MacG

In order to get the run off ph of the soil i would have to saturate the soil .Is it safe to saturate this soil and not over water the plant at this stage? She has been fed very little nutes so far.

Your plants are looking much better, if the soil is still too moist to water, there is probably no harm in letting the drying process continue, but be careful, you don’t want to let it get so dry the plants droop.

But if you really want to feed/water and are worried about low oxygen at the root zone, you can try and increase dissolved O2 in your feed solution by using something like an aquarium air pump and airstone in the mixture for a few minutes before you pour it into the soil. There are other ways to increase dissolved oxygen levels, but this is one of the most readily available and least expensive.

FYI, many people use this practice to also help chlorine gas in tap water to “gas” off and be removed from the water as not to harm the good microbes in your soil.

Using the drain to waste method from now on would get your root zone’s pH in order in no time, if it is off, and if it is off, the fact the plants are doing so much better in the more recent pictures leads me to believe it isn’t too far off where more drastic measures might be needed like a complete full flush, about 2 to 3 times more than the volume of the soil’s container to, for example, correct extreme nutrient salt build up or severe pH problems far from the ideal range.

happy growing,

MacG.

I had a couple other thoughts

The really cheap pH probes don’t have the best reliability, but some seem to work ok for many people when they know how to make sure they are working correctly and you have a reasonably moist soil with a reasonable amount of nutrient salts present.

However, the cheap moisture probes seem to work pretty reliably, and this could be a useful tool for you if you don’t mind poking a little hole, or maybe a few little holes in different areas of your cloth pots to be able to monitor moisture much deeper down and lower in the pots.

Something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Moisture-Outdoor-monitor-Hydrometer-gardening/dp/B00XOIR206/?tag=greenrel-20

happy growing,

MacG

Maybe there is a problem with too much light; it can increase temperature.

Not a light issue im sure of it. Im not having any issues at all atm i fixed the last issue.

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I too may have an issue, using fluro lights for veg, about to flower, going to use my own LED light bank build.
since adding Dolomite/lime 7 days ago, I also added a concentrated powder with seaweed base with 16% potassium 3 days ago.
Ph 6.8, TDS 600
26 deg, occasional sun, killed fungus gnats.
The new foliage seems healthy, should I just wait it out for another week before flowering?

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I would, it’s always good to go into flower as healthy as possible

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Adding dolomite lime is certainly a good way to counter acidification of your soil or soil like substrate.

Fluro lights can burn plants if they get too close, and don’t get me wrong with my above comments, LEDs can indeed cause burns from heat as well, but for both types of lighting, to get that type of “heat” burn the plants have to almost literally be touching the bulb or diode itself.

Fungus gnats is often a sign of overwatering.

I agree with @TDubWilly’s comment, for the best developing buds and best yields, you want your plants healthy.

I assume you were also having a low pH problem and the reason for adding the lime.

And so yes, your problems could be for similar reasons, low pH related nutrient deficiencies, low pH related toxicity issues, as well as over watering related deficiencies.

Happy growing,

MacG

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Thanks Mohammed,

Kick off flower on monday, aussi time👍

Best Regards,

Greg Hay

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Thanks M,

No heat issues, lights I can touch + I have 3 fans running 24/7.

Thought I had a Ph of 5.5-6 about a week ago, but it was my bad eyesight was 6.5 - 7.

Just got some soil from root level and mixed with water, readings Ph 5.6 & TDS 700, how does that sound?

Best Regards,

5.6 is a bit low for soil, you want closer to 6.5 depending on the composition of your soil.

Generally you want to be between about 6.2 to 6.8pH for soil and super soil. Some soilless but soil like media, like coco coir or pure peat substrates do best much closer to hydro’s target pH of 5.8

~MacG

Soil is organic, potting mix. Looks like some wood chips in there

I’d suspect you want to target at 6.5pH

You can verify with the manufacturer.

And certainly you’d want it above 6.2pH.

~MacG

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Ok Ill mix some more dolomite & lime in

Best Regards,

Greg Hay

Be careful with the dolomite lime, some can be slow acting and you don’t want to over do it.

Hi Greg,

don’t forget to remove your personal details from your email signature when replying to the public forum. I just removed your phonenumber and email address from a couple replies for your privacy.

Take care,
Roy

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Ok thanks again 🖒