Adjusting the PH up with azagaurd for scales burned my leaves

[tentgrower]

After a year and a half I recently figured out I've been battling scale/barnacles. I thought they were mites originally and treatments naturally failed because scales resist foliar sprays due to their waxy shell. I bought some azagaurd to work into my IPM program. The manufacturer recommends adjusting the PH to 5.5-6.5. I've added the PH up twice and each time it damaged my foliage. My last spray causes considerable damage. Has anyone else experienced this issue with potassium hydroxide added to the foliar spray?

I've sprayed w/o the PH adjustment and no damage was observed. I know PH up is a highly caustic chemical so it would make reasonable sense cannabis is sensitive to potassium hydroxide. I'll snap a picture and post later tonight.

Scales really suck. They form a knobby growth on the stem starting at the base rapidly spreading upwards. The waxy knob is where the females live. They lay a batch of eggs in the shell then they hatch and spread over the plant. They do not move once they find they're happy place and their legs fall off. They kinda just look like a oval spider mite egg white and creamy but with irregular shapes rather than perfectly round. I'll snap a pic of a scale infested plant. Mites are easy. These things are like the black plague.

 

[Creeperpark]

You have two things going against you when mixing Azagaured with tap water. You have water impurity and you have buffered pH when you use tap water. You can't mix azagaurd with tap water and then use pH UP without having problems. The same goes for RO water because it has an unsuitable pH. It best not be mixed with water that has ever had any lime or anything in it. If you mix the stuff with pure rainwater or distilled water you shouldn't have to adjust the pH at all. At that point, the mix would be the most effective. Anything in the water will block or buffer the Azagaured making it less effective. .

 

[Three Berries]

KOH will strip Ca out in a heartbeat. Use potassium bicarbonate maybe.

 

[Cerathule]

KOH will strip Ca out

what does this mean chemically?

 

[Three Berries]

what does this mean chemically?

The KOH and free Ca will form CaOH or Calcium hydroxide. it is basically inert and take the calcium out of suspension. KOH is a very strong base.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Please be sure to notify your users of the azadirachtin product you are using. I, and a growing number of cannabis users, will thank you for the info and decline your cannabis. Contrary to published information, we have a bad reaction to azadirachtin and would rather skip all that nonsense.

Thank you so much!!

 

[Cerathule]

The KOH and free Ca will form CaOH or Calcium hydroxide. it is basically inert and take the calcium out of suspension. KOH is a very strong base.

and the potassium will be free through this process?

 

[Three Berries]

and the potassium will be free through this process?

It is when it does the actual neutralization of the acid. Or until it hits 7.0. Then it starts to act as a buffer. You will get some CO2 also.

 

[tentgrower]

The KOH and free Ca will form CaOH or Calcium hydroxide. it is basically inert and take the calcium out of suspension. KOH is a very strong base.

Thanks for the great info! You confirmed my suspicion. The KOH feels like it's melting my skin if I get a drop on my finger by accident. That can't be a good thing for leaves. You rock dude!

 

[Three Berries]

Thanks for the great info! You confirmed my suspicion. The KOH feels like it's melting my skin if I get a drop on my finger by accident. That can't be a good thing for leaves. You rock dude!

I bought a pint and was using it but when I added it to a nute mix with calcium chloride, as soon as I added the KOH to pH up, the calcium dropped out as a white solid, instantly.

I was just reading too that Potassium bicarbonate is a good anti fungal foliar treatment. I use it for my pH up.