good idea. ill add the slurry test to my battery tomorrow
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Definitely doesnât look like nute burn. Looks like PH issues. At 7 ph your plant cannot absorb manganese or iron
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wanna know something stupid? ive been saying âkelpâ this whole time and i meant âfishâ
went down to go make a solution in water and saw the bag. nearly smacked my forehead clean off.
sorry about that. it appears, though, the ph is actually down below neutral - which is good. ill check it again tomorrow to be sure.
I plan on checking separately :
soil
castings
fish
perlite (why not)
Honestly the additives are not needed with that soil. Itâs basically water only until flower or deficiency. This is my white widow in a 2ft x 2ft tent in pure ocean forest. It netted a little over 4.5oz and could have been more if I had bigger space. You can see the buds curling back in because they hit the wall off the tent.
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yowza - gorgeous and incredible that you got that with soil alone! I was wondering about FFOF and what goes into it and I came across this post
could be anecdotal but worth a look
of course, it doesnt really apply here since my readings are high - but if QA is an issue - i should definitely test the soil bag leftovers.
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Good find. It is 5 years old though so not sure if itâs still an issue. The last two bags I had sat at low 6 ph.
I just made a slurry of the remainder of an OF bag i used to mix yesterday and it tested 7.1
water from kitchen tap was 7.0
im letting that slurry sit overnight, but seems like that could be the issue. if so, how would i go about correcting it?
FFOF soil is the root of all your problems. Try an find potting soil with a very low
N P K
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Im gonna agree with Bobby. When people buy the ffof its because they donât have to do or add anything to it. Maybe more perlite but thats it. It is LOADED with nutrients, almost to much. A combination of you adding things and your ph not being in range is the deal. Everyone goes through a teeth cutting stage. Hell im still in it. Good luck!
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FFOF is loaded with nutrients but you adulterated it by 30% with perlite so I think you are good there. Your particulate count being so high could have something to do with the perlite as well if it wasnât washed before using.
You are right in that the low solids count in your water will move easily to different PH levels. PHâing such low TDS water isnât even necessary in soil as it will instantly adopt whatever the parent media is. Once you add solids (nutes) itâs a different story.
You might let them dry out and recover from all the attention before further watering.
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Interesting about the low ppm water and pH. I didnât know that.
The odd thing, or perhaps itâs not, is that my 3 way meter reading the soil right in the 6.8 zone. But itâs a cheap POS and I donât trust it 
. The digital pen has been consistently reading 7.1-7.3 in the runoff.
The perlite was unwashed ( didnât even think to do that!) But I did test tdi on it yesterday and saw minimal particulate change.
Just to reiterate, I only tried flushing one plant that I have lost hope in. The rest are comfortably relaxing (I hope) after the transplant. Maybe Iâll take in a sample to my supply store and see if they can get a reading with their bluepen to confirm this situation while I source deionized water to calibrate my el cheapo pH pen.
I am kicking myself this morning for adding to the soil beyond just perlite, but oh well. Live and learn.
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Aquafina is DI water. I use it with those pH sachets for calibration. I would bet itâs off if you havenât calibrated in a while.
Similar answer/explanation to what I suggested last night.
ah. okay thanks ill grab some later.
the meter is brand new - so my thought is that it is either accurate off the line or is a waste of plastic. tested white vinegar @ 2.4 which is pretty close to standard, not that its a great test of calibration or anything.
Fox Farm replied to a mail i sent last night:
Ocean Forest Potting Soil comes pH balanced at 6.3 to 6.8 right out of the bag. While a slurry test is the recommended method for testing the pH of the media, we do recommend distilled water and not tap water. The pH of your tap water can dramatically affect the results of the slurry. I would recommend calibrating your pH meter and retesting with distilled water.
If your pH is still high after retesting, you can try to counteract it by lowering the pH of your water and nutrient solution to the lower end of the acceptable pH range of 5.6 to 6.8. This is a slower method of bringing down the media pH, but if you are looking for a faster acting solution, then we recommend amending the soil with soil sulfur. You will have to contact the manufacturer of the soil sulfur for specific use directions.
A strong base or acid will cause a pH meter to throw its calibration fast. All pH meters should be calibrated initially because of the way the probe is produced and stored for long term dry conditions prior to sale.
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thanks. just as ignorant to the mechanisms as to the theory.
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A good read on PH measurement:
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It might be worthwhile to get schooled on PH and TDS meters.
Both measure the conductivity of a liquid then convert it into some rational number we can relate to the real world with. In actuality the meters donât read non conductive stuff (try white sugar) but can be used in general for what we are doing. The only accurate means for measuring the TDS of a solution is to remove the water and weight the solids against the original sample weight.
PH stands for âpotential hydrogenâ and is a standard measure for determining the acidity or alkalinity of a solution. Every change of .1 is 10 times the acidity/alkalinity of the solution.
The PH meter has a glass bulb that is âhydroscopicâ (likes water) and needs to remain hydrated or it will crack and fail. The unit is best left stored in storage and reference solution. If you want something for a cross-check pick up some 7.0 Standard Reference Solution which doubles as a storage solution.
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thanks, super informative links the both of them.
i also want to restate that half of my crop is really healthy.
just as an example:
I saw when he posted another thread regarding the wrinkled leaves and directed him to this post a few days back actually. thanks though - it is similar looking for sure
I took my ph and ppm meter into my local grow shop and had them checked/calibrated. both meters were on point and the readings I am getting are good. just to reiterate: tap is around 7.1-7.2, runoff was coming in at 7.3. I want to check soil from the healthier plants tomorrow to see if there is any variation since I have used 3 bags of soil by now.
I discussed the issue with the guys there and I got a strange response from one of them regarding the runoff - he seemed to disagree that it was problematic to be coming out at 7.3. He gave me some reasoning about organic soil and microbial processes that might make the pH less important or exact. I agree that I might be overthinking the whole thing, but the basic info about pH and nutrient uptake is sort of the basis for plant health. So the fact that I am getting readings out of the optimal range should be considered a problem and potential root cause of some of or all of these issues.
Also, after having shown the images to the owner, he was also baffled. He mentioned the possibility of a viral infection. I definitely see some strong similarities in the symptoms but I am hesitating since the pH is still an issue (and it seems that the idea of TMV could be jumping too far to conclusions). here are some shots I took today that look similar to others ive seen in the various TMV threads.
SO - hereâs where I need some (more) guidance:
if @garrigan62 is right and FFOF is the root of all my evils, what are my solutions? I would really rather not dump all that soil and buy new stuff. Is there a way I can amend it to bring that pH into the correct zone since pHâd water is not going to do the job? I understand that I could add some nutrients to bring the pH of my water down, thereby adjusting the soils pH with the buffering phosphates - but because FFOF is so hot to begin with, wouldnt I run the risk of burning? What are some other options? Soil sulphur? Peat?
As you can probably tell, im way out of my depth here and grasping at straws.
I appreciate all your help immensely!