MJ-XILE
New member
Hey IC folks, I am having a pH issue with my nutrients. I was having trouble with GH recently, after about 3 years of successful gardening with the advanced GH line, and was having weird yellowing and drop off issues so I decided to give Botanicare a shot as my buddy uses them and that's all he will sell and recommended at his retail store for his hydro systems.
I am using the schedule he uses, the add-back program which lets you premix your nutes and add-back water and pre-mix each week instead of doing a rez change every week. With this schedule I will be able to do a rez change every 4 weeks in Veg, and every 5 weeks in flower (5 weeks in Bloom schedule, 5 weeks in Ripen schedule)
I flushed my plants good for an hour with cleerex, and then filled each rez (I did not Pre-mix) using the following chart:
I checked my pH after I got back home with my new replacement probe, (I am using the Milwaukee 802 Smart Meter pH/TDS/EC) and it was around 3.7!!!
I called my friend and he said it was most likely my plants leaching and that I should flush over night. I went to go drain and flush this morning, but decided to mix up a 5 gal bucket first and see if it was my nutes and/or water. I mixed up the bloom schedule from above and here's what happened:
Starting water pH: 7.5
Starting water ppm: 010
After Pure Blend Bloom pH: 4.8
After Cal Mag pH: 4.8
After Karma pH: 4.8
After Sweet pH: 4.8
After Hydroplex pH: 3.6
After Aquashield pH: 3.6
Ending pH: 3.6
Ending ppm:1360
Obviously something isn't right here. Hydroplex had a 100x drop in pH, and the Pure Blend brought it down almost 300x. I checked the feeding schedule from Botanicare and they had Hydroplex at 5 ml/Gal and Bloom at 25 ml/Gal as well, so it doesn't seem like it's the feeding schedule. He is usually at 5.9 and between 1200-1500 ppm, and has been working on his add-back formula for years...
What could bve causing this? My water is at 10 ppm's, the highest I have ever seen it is 30 ppm's, and I have great water where I'm at. The pH has ranged anywhere from low 7's to low 8's since I have been here.
Like I said I was having Yellowing/dropping off problems with GH, but my meter was broken and I couldn't take radings prior to switching to Botanicare. Should I mix up a 5 gal of GH and see if the same thing happens?
What could be causing this?
I am using the schedule he uses, the add-back program which lets you premix your nutes and add-back water and pre-mix each week instead of doing a rez change every week. With this schedule I will be able to do a rez change every 4 weeks in Veg, and every 5 weeks in flower (5 weeks in Bloom schedule, 5 weeks in Ripen schedule)
I flushed my plants good for an hour with cleerex, and then filled each rez (I did not Pre-mix) using the following chart:
I checked my pH after I got back home with my new replacement probe, (I am using the Milwaukee 802 Smart Meter pH/TDS/EC) and it was around 3.7!!!
I called my friend and he said it was most likely my plants leaching and that I should flush over night. I went to go drain and flush this morning, but decided to mix up a 5 gal bucket first and see if it was my nutes and/or water. I mixed up the bloom schedule from above and here's what happened:
Starting water pH: 7.5
Starting water ppm: 010
After Pure Blend Bloom pH: 4.8
After Cal Mag pH: 4.8
After Karma pH: 4.8
After Sweet pH: 4.8
After Hydroplex pH: 3.6
After Aquashield pH: 3.6
Ending pH: 3.6
Ending ppm:1360
Obviously something isn't right here. Hydroplex had a 100x drop in pH, and the Pure Blend brought it down almost 300x. I checked the feeding schedule from Botanicare and they had Hydroplex at 5 ml/Gal and Bloom at 25 ml/Gal as well, so it doesn't seem like it's the feeding schedule. He is usually at 5.9 and between 1200-1500 ppm, and has been working on his add-back formula for years...
What could bve causing this? My water is at 10 ppm's, the highest I have ever seen it is 30 ppm's, and I have great water where I'm at. The pH has ranged anywhere from low 7's to low 8's since I have been here.
Like I said I was having Yellowing/dropping off problems with GH, but my meter was broken and I couldn't take radings prior to switching to Botanicare. Should I mix up a 5 gal of GH and see if the same thing happens?
What could be causing this?