soil ph at 5

[kamezzle13]

So my plant recently got sick. It was given to me, but potted in straight MG potting soil (im guessing its been vegging for about a month now, i think its bagseed). I've been wanting to transplant into some better stuff, but there are two plants growing in one pot, and i'm guessing that the roots are all bound together. I honestly had thought about giving up and starting over completely, but the plants are still alive, so i got to do my best for them!

I flushed the plant using RO bottled water (it had a ph of 6 out of the jug?) I haven't watered it since, but i went out and bought a brita, and it drops the ph down to 6 just as the RO water was (our tap water starts at a ph of 7.8). I've been adjusting the water to about 6.5 everytime i water, but the plant just kept to getting worse, so i tested the soil last night, and the runoff came to 5.0! no wonder in having deficiencies of just about ever type.

I'm going to add some wood ashes or bone meal - to raise the PH, and possibly a tad of garden lime - to help buffer the ph, but i want to make sure that this is what's recommended. also, how long after should i wait before feeding it nutes? it got a complete flush last watering.

sorry these are such beginners questions, i've been doing tons of research and this is the information i've collected from the sick guide and forum searches. I just fear that if i mess this up, the plants will be gone for sure this time.

THANKS!

 

[Weedhound]

Id treat them as one plant and transplant into one larger container and start over with a ph
of 6.8ish. ...good soil should already be buffered to a correct ph already. They sound hungry as well nute LIGHTLY after flushing. And ph is pretty critical .... like the old saying that close doesn't count except in horeshoes and atom bombs. PH EVERYTHING that goes in. How about a photo?

 

[Weedhound]

Also RO water has no stable ph as it basically has very close to nothing in it. With no bufffers the water will "take on" the ph of whatever you use it with. ALWAYS adjust to proper levels before adding ANYTHING

 

[kamezzle13]

i already have made a soil mix that i got the recipe for off here with a ph of 7 (could easily be lowered) that i was going to transplant them into, but i feared as a newb i should probally get advice first.

as for the RO not having a stable ph, that makes sense because the slightest addition of ph increaser and decreaser made the ph jump dramatically. I adjusted one jug up too far (by adding just a tiny amount) and had to dilute with the untouched water.

I'll post some picks when i get home if i can, it looks like a mess right now but still alive

 

[kamezzle13]

here are some pics, hopefully the plant makes a full recover, ill post an update up in about a week.


sidenote - damn is perlite hard to find around here!

 

[hazy]

had you used nutes before you had this problem. Just wondering because MG soil has built in nutes. and they last a long time because they're time released. It's probably a little acid to begin with. Most plants like it that way.
Hard to tell in the pics, but is the top growth looking better? seems to be in the pic. Any time you see twisty leaves, you know that your pH has dropped in the medium. From overferting.

 

[kamezzle13]

i had used nutes once, because the plant had been showing a nitrogen and what i thought was possibly potassium deficiency for a couple of waterings. I figured all the miraclegro stuff had been released in its month of being in the pot, but you were probally right. When i did add the nutes (shultz 10-15-10) i added them at such a sssmmmaallll amount,1/6th the recommended dosage, but the plant def did seem to get worse after (either that or it was on its way to getting worse because of the soil.

the top growth wasn't affected as much as the rest of the plant, what you are seeing is the result of the plant needing training. She was too tall to start a good LST program, although i was gonna bend her over untill she got sick. Once she's healthy, she's in a bad need of a topping, but that'll come when i know she's doing all right.

my one question for the dead yellow leaves is, do i remove them? I already removed a few bad fan leaves, but it seems debatable whether to remove dying leaves or not. Some people seem to say that they are just sucking energy away from the healthier parts of the plants, while other say the plant will suck all the resources out of them before they die? soem of the leaves that were partially dying around the tips/edges seem to be doing alright now, the dead parts pretty much fell off and left the green leaves.

 

[kamezzle13]

oh i also forgot to say i appreciate the help from both of you! i checked out weedhound's grow and all i have to say is goddamn! if i could every grow a plant 1/4 as beautiful, i'd be happy

 

[hazy]

leave em till they're ready to come off.

 

[kamezzle13]

i'm not sure what you mean by that? they look like they are ready to come off, but does the plant decide that and just drop them off by itself when they are completely dead? I dont care if the plant looks ugly, i just wanna do whats right for it.

the new soil dries out much quicker, with the miraclegro i was waiting 4 days in between waterings to let it dry out. the new stuff went dry in half the time. maybe see was just thirsty from sitting in the right PH for a change