ph ? for stitch

[dontlockmeup]

Yo Stitch. thanks for enlightening me the other day in the "first grow, slow growth" thread.

I had a quik question for you.
I use Fox Farm OF soil. I use metanaturals 3-3-3, maxicrop, wormcastings and some molases while in veg and water with a ph of 6.0-6.2.
My plants look great during veg
When I flower I ussualy use metanaturals 1-5-5, maxicrop, some liquid bone meal in one tea and wormcastings, mocha bat guano4-12-1, and molases in another tea, with 6.0-6.2 ph. My fan leaves start to yellow from the bottom up at 4 weeks of flower. I thought that the plants could be running out of nitrogen so in my last run I kept the veg nutes going for the first two weeks of flower befor switching to bloom nutes. my plants didn't start yellowing until 5 weeks.

I guess my question is "is my ph o.k. for use with FFOF or is my ph causing my plants to yellow early"?

Thanks for your help,
DLMP

 

[dontlockmeup]

here is a pic from my last run. the plants are a few days from harvest now, but I would like to fix my problem for my next harvest. I noticed that a few plants that I transplanted like the day befor flower have stayed green through out and have no yellowing at all. Maybe I just need to time my last transplant. I used to give them a week of veg after the last transplant to let the roots grow into the new soil.

plants are at five weeks flower

 

[gramsci.antonio]

it really look like a N def.

 

[dontlockmeup]

That's what I've been telling myself. So I keep trying to add more N. the buds taste great but I think if I can get the plants to hold some more N a little longer my yeilds would improve.

 

[gramsci.antonio]

That's what I've been telling myself. So I keep trying to add more N. the buds taste great but I think if I can get the plants to hold some more N a little longer my yeilds would improve.

How do you raise it? using ferts? because the soil 3-3-3 is too poor, and wormcasting isn't supposed to be rich in N. There are around wormcasting rich in N, P or K. Or none of them.

 

[dontlockmeup]

In the past I have top dressed my soil with some of the mocha guano 4-12-1. this last run I fertilized with veg nutes for the first 2 weeks in an attempt to keep more nitrogen in my plants. I also started making a tea with the mocha guano 4-12-1 instead of using fox farms big bloom(what ever their casting and guano tea is called) because the mocha guano has more nitrogen. I just use wonderworm wormcasting I don't think there is much if any NPK in it. I bubble the wormcastings with guano and molasses for the boost in benificial micros.

So my ph seems fine to you then? just looks like I need some more N. I think I'm going to start doing my final transplant a day or two before bloom instead of 7-10days before. When do you guys do your final transplant?

 

[gramsci.antonio]

worm casting can have nutrients inside. And it looks like your N/P ratio is too low. If you give some nitrogen, but also three times the P, than your plant will have a nitrogen def.



Anyhow wait for Stitch for more and accurate help.

 

[EasyBakeIndica]

I concur with gramsci, if anything I would use a worm casting tea. Castings can be a very mild source for balanced N/P.

 

[MynameStitch]

That is totaly normal for plants to yellow at that time in flowering as long as it's not a long flowering strain 8+ weeks; this would be mostly sativish strains though....

So when they start to yellow around 5 weeks I would not use a tea; you want them to natrually yellow towards to end to help with the flush; they use stored nitrogen deposits and this helps when you start the flush for harvest;

Is the pH your giving me the pH of the nutrients after they are mixed? Or is the the pH of the run off after you water?

 

[dontlockmeup]

Sorry I should have been more clear. the ph is the water with nutes in it.

easybakeidica- I think i'm using a wormcasting tea. maybe my definition of tea is off though. I use a big handful of the castings and a couple teaspoons of molases in a five gallon bucket of water and bubble it with an airstone for 24-48 hours before watering. That is a wormcasting tea right?

So you guys think i need some more N in my ferts. I didn't know that high ratio of p to n would cause a nitrogen deficiency.
I'm always worried about adding a new nute to my recipe because I don't want to effect the flavor of my bud in a negative way. I'm a little weird about it I guess. I like to use ferts that smell pretty sweet and good. almost good enough to drink. I don't like the smell of fertilizers like pbp or LK. they smell funny and even with a two week flush I can taste them in bud that was grown with em. Should I look for a guano with a better n to p ratio or is there something organic that I could add to my mix for a quik two week fix of N?

Also I thought that bud grown with a lot of nitrogen tends to be leafy. Thats another thing I don't like about buds grown with pbp and lk. every strain grown with them turns out looking pretty close to the same with a lot of leaf to trim. With the way I grow now all of my buds look different and unique, you can actually see the difference in the way the flowers grow from one strain to the next.



I'm glad I was right about wanting my plants to yellow in last couple of weeks but isn't starting to yellow at 35 days too soon? wouldn't my plants be healthier and yeilds bigger if yellowing started closer to 45 days?

Thanks everyone for your input.

 

[dontlockmeup]

sorry for the second post here just wanted to add that I don't want to have to add more ferts that late in the game. I start flushing at 5 1/2 weeks with 8 week strains so putting more fertilizers for me to have to flush out a few days later doesn't make any sense. Like stitch said the plants should yellow as they finish. I was just hoping there was something I needed to do earlier on during flowering to keep the plants green for an additional week.

I was thinking ph. like maybe mine is too low and not allowing the plants the right range to absorb as much nitrogen as they need during flower. That is why my original question had to do with ph?

Thanks again

 

[MynameStitch]

Yes, the pH had a little bit to do with it the more poitns you are off the higher chances of it being locked out; so for it to start one week earlier like that as long as your nutrients are the same and you have enough nitrogen being added; then yes; some, but little bits of nitrogen are being locked out; FFOF should be pH balanced at around 6.3 to 6.5

those little incretments can cause an issue when the pH is around the 6.0 range....

You are also right, buds grown with more N there buds tend to be airy.....
nitrogen inhhibits the growth of buds if you have too much during flowering; high levels of P will not cause a deficiency in N, but it will cause an aggravated up take of potassium, zinc and magnesium if I remember correctly.

 

[dontlockmeup]

Stitch, let me make sure I'm understanding you right.

The nutrients I'm using sounds fine and I don't need more N.
I really should be mixing my nutes and water and adjust them to a ph of 6.3-6.5 when running FFOF.

The lower ph of 6.0-6.2 has been causing my plants to yellow a little earlier than they should.

If I start watering with ph 6.3-6.5 my plants should get me through another week with green leaves.

Man it's only taken me four harvest to hopefully figure this out.

I've got plants 4 days into flower. I've been watering with my normal 6.0-6.2 ph. I'm going to immediately start watering with 6.5 ph and we'll see if this solves things. If not I'l start a new thread that will have the full details of my grow so you'll have as much info as you need to help me figure things out.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions and for helping me become a better gardener.

DLMP

 

[MynameStitch]

yup, that would be correct on everything you just wrote.
IT does make a difference, but it's a small difference some people would not bother with, but since you are concerned and want a fix, raise the pH to that level a bit and you should not have these problems; but monitor the pH at all times to ensure your pH is being kept stable.

 

[dontlockmeup]

Will do Stitch. thank you very much for all of your help. I have learned so much from your post without ever having to chat with you myself. I just wanna express my gratitude.

One last question mainly because I don't have the time to search for the answer myself. what should my run off water ph be at? 6.8-7.0?

 

[MynameStitch]

your run off can be in the range of 6.4 to 7.0 range

I find the best pH is around 6.5-6.8

Hey glad I could be of some assistance to ya
If ya ever need something feel free to ask!

 

[dontlockmeup]

wow. what a quik response. I was trying some searches myself right now cause my lights come on in 2 hours and I need to water tonight. I was gonna check everything and make sure it was all kosher.

thanks again. I'll give you an update in 5 weeks or so and let you know if things improved this time around.

 

[MynameStitch]

Good! I always love updates

 

[dontlockmeup]

Just wanted to update. My plants are now aprox. 6 1/2 weeks into flower and the ph change did help them stay greener a little longer. I am growing different strains this time but in the past genes didn't play much of a role in the yellowing of my plants(they all yellowed in the fourth week), so I have to believe that my issue was ph related.

Here are a couple of my plants just starting to yellow.






Thanks again for your help Stitch.

 

[MynameStitch]

Whoa, what a difference just a few points of pH make ehh


Glad to see they are nice happy and very perky for ya!