The OrigF/clred
Member
we finally figured out what the cause of the problems were -
we'd suspected root compact and that one really bad (dying) plant, that had not been transplanted, he moved it into a 5 gal bucket.
When he cut the sides of the 2.5 gal bucket to remove the plant, we found massive root mass and worse, the root mass was covered in a liquid almost gelatinous slime, so it looks like root rot was the cause of the nose diving pH.
After transplanting, he's started a H2O2 regimen on it, and the other plants showing the same symptoms.
on another note, while i agree chasing pH is not wise (i'm a newbie just learning but can easily see the value of consistent plant treatment, the one time my bud watered with the 11.0 pH water, the next few days saw a resurgence on that dying plant's . leaves that had started to "yellow" - they seemed to darken some back toward green - not totally but definitely a delay if not reversal in the rate the leaves were turning yellow.
Then he flushed 3 times with filtered & aerated water (generally pH 6.75 to 7.5, whatever it generally comes out of the aeration tank at). Plants reverted to yellowing their leaves, and almost at the pre 11.0 pH watering rate.
Yesterday he hit a few of the plants with water at pH 8.5 (adjusted with pH UP liquid) and this morning those plants are showing signs of growth - upper leaves on the colas are straight out (or nearly so) and the white hairs (trichromes) at standing straight out (think don king after sticking his finger in a light socket).
and on another note, what i think helped kick the root rot into gear. Obviously soil compaction, root bind played a big factor, but something that i hadn't mentioned, he'd had a sudden infestion of fungus gnats just before putting the plants into flower. He went the Diatomaceous Earth route. I'd pulled it up as a suggested control in the fungus gnat sticky over in the infirmary forum. Now for the issue - per some posters in that sticky, he poured a 3/4 - 1" layer over the soil in the pots. Right away the gnats went crazy and it was working.
The problem began when he watered those plants and the DE turned to clay, and when it would dry was as hard & cracked as scenes of dry arid african riverbeds that have gone dry. I believe that clay sealing the top of the soil, acted to keep the roots & soil from drying out and optimizing conditions for the root rot to begin. He pulled or scraped all the DE clay out of the pots he could, when he transplanted just before flowering.
If there's anything contrary to physics, biology, botanical science etc that i've described, please correct me - but in advance, i sure would appreciate it if, those that are inclined to talking to me like they're my drill sargent, if you can contain yourself, and assume for the moment that i wasn't born with the knowledge you have, already genetically encoded.
I have done all the due diligence i could, researching every thing i could in the infirmay, and to be honest, there's a lot of contradictory info out there, and a lot of confusing info so he's had to fly by the seat of his pants so to speak, on some issues (like to get the pH out of the toilet).
anyway, fwiw, from a newbie
http://www.1000bulbs.com/product/92589/GROW-SF51702.html
we'd suspected root compact and that one really bad (dying) plant, that had not been transplanted, he moved it into a 5 gal bucket.
When he cut the sides of the 2.5 gal bucket to remove the plant, we found massive root mass and worse, the root mass was covered in a liquid almost gelatinous slime, so it looks like root rot was the cause of the nose diving pH.
After transplanting, he's started a H2O2 regimen on it, and the other plants showing the same symptoms.
on another note, while i agree chasing pH is not wise (i'm a newbie just learning but can easily see the value of consistent plant treatment, the one time my bud watered with the 11.0 pH water, the next few days saw a resurgence on that dying plant's . leaves that had started to "yellow" - they seemed to darken some back toward green - not totally but definitely a delay if not reversal in the rate the leaves were turning yellow.
Then he flushed 3 times with filtered & aerated water (generally pH 6.75 to 7.5, whatever it generally comes out of the aeration tank at). Plants reverted to yellowing their leaves, and almost at the pre 11.0 pH watering rate.
Yesterday he hit a few of the plants with water at pH 8.5 (adjusted with pH UP liquid) and this morning those plants are showing signs of growth - upper leaves on the colas are straight out (or nearly so) and the white hairs (trichromes) at standing straight out (think don king after sticking his finger in a light socket).
and on another note, what i think helped kick the root rot into gear. Obviously soil compaction, root bind played a big factor, but something that i hadn't mentioned, he'd had a sudden infestion of fungus gnats just before putting the plants into flower. He went the Diatomaceous Earth route. I'd pulled it up as a suggested control in the fungus gnat sticky over in the infirmary forum. Now for the issue - per some posters in that sticky, he poured a 3/4 - 1" layer over the soil in the pots. Right away the gnats went crazy and it was working.
The problem began when he watered those plants and the DE turned to clay, and when it would dry was as hard & cracked as scenes of dry arid african riverbeds that have gone dry. I believe that clay sealing the top of the soil, acted to keep the roots & soil from drying out and optimizing conditions for the root rot to begin. He pulled or scraped all the DE clay out of the pots he could, when he transplanted just before flowering.
If there's anything contrary to physics, biology, botanical science etc that i've described, please correct me - but in advance, i sure would appreciate it if, those that are inclined to talking to me like they're my drill sargent, if you can contain yourself, and assume for the moment that i wasn't born with the knowledge you have, already genetically encoded.
I have done all the due diligence i could, researching every thing i could in the infirmay, and to be honest, there's a lot of contradictory info out there, and a lot of confusing info so he's had to fly by the seat of his pants so to speak, on some issues (like to get the pH out of the toilet).
anyway, fwiw, from a newbie
http://www.1000bulbs.com/product/92589/GROW-SF51702.html
