ph problems...need advice

[built2last]

I am currently growing 5 AK-47s. Everything has been going good until I sprayed them down with some Organicide three days ago. That night I noticed the new leaves were beginning to twist along with a few of the fan leaves. I then watered the following day and that is when things got worse. I am growing in the three bag fox farm mix with perlite. I took the ph of the soil yesterday and I am in the mid 5's too acidic. I am watering with only distilled water and want to get the problem corrected before more damage takes place. Sorry don't have photos yet will get them up tonight. I guess what I am torn between is using dolomite lime with the next watering (which would be tonight) or flushing.

If I flush, I will be losing all of the goodies in the soil, but am not sure if because the ph is off I have lockout which may only be compounded by the lime. In which case I should flush. Not sure what to do but I now know that the Organicide was not agitated enough and needs to be done with airstone and a pump.

Will the leaves come back or should they be taken off. They were just topped before this happened.

 

[uefear]

Hey brotha I was in the same boat as you at one time, switch to spring water (you get trace elements in spring water but it also has some chloride in it) instead of distilled and get yourself general hydroponic's pH down. Do you have a pH meter or at least test strips to test the pH of your water? I know you have something to check soil pH but wasn't sure if you did for your water.

 

[built2last]

also growing under 400W in a silver edition hydrohut. I sprayed the plants because they appeared to have the beginning of mites. The plants were outside before being moved indoors and transplanted indoors into 1 gal pots.

 

[built2last]

i need to bring the ph up not down...right? Currently I am in the mid 5's and should be in the 6's. Thats why I m thinking lime and to save the trip to the hydro store

 

[uefear]

What your saying is true man, but you need to correct your water...Distilled water has a neutral pH and you arn't adding anything to it. I recommend you switch to spring water because you will get calcium and magnesium and iron and stuff in the spring water but not in the distilled.

If you wanna stick with distilled then get general hydroponic's pH up and something to test your water's pH.

Dolomite lime is usually mixed into soil before use and is a natural pH buffer that tries to maintain 7.0 in your soil.

Hydrated lime is what you need to bring your pH up quick but be warned its strong and use a little at a time because pH swings are bad.

Shoot for 6.5-6.9 pH in soil.

 

[built2last]

Thanks for the advice. I agree I should switch the water. What about tap? I was trying to avoid it because of chlorine, do you think a few waterings with the spring water or tap would be enough, I guess it is hard to explain without the pics but I am also worried about the lockout and if I should just flush or switch the water.

 

[uefear]

Well, you need to check the pH of your tap and I am almost sure it will need some adjusting with pH up or pH down. You also wanna let the water sit out for 24 hours so the chlorine can evaporate.

 

[built2last]

So you would not flush and just focus on the ph of the water going in the plant. By fixing the ph, this should solve the problems of curling leaves etc... typically when you have either high or low levels of ph doesn't that cause a buildup of the salts causing lockout?

 

[uefear]

True I mean if you want you can flush next time you need to water and then wait a few days to see how the plants react.

 

[built2last]

i think i will raise the ph in the water next time and see how they react. hopefully i can correct the problem this way and resort to flushing as a last resort. do you think this will set me back much?