Diary White Rhino & Friends. Fall 2021 Grow.

[exploziv]

Measure ppm before you add ph down.. If that raise is from the ph down.. then ditch it.

 

[aliceklar]

Measure ppm before you add ph down.. If that raise is from the ph down.. then ditch it.

I'll check that. The base ppm of the tapwater is about 320. I added 2ml of Dutchpro pH- Grow to 5 litres of tap water and used that as my base - cant imagine that this made such a huge jump tho...

 

[PCBuds]

Measure ppm before you add ph down.. If that raise is from the ph down.. then ditch it.

I'm curious about that,..
Do you mean ditch the reading or ditch the solution?

If you meant disregard the reading,..
I thought that the calcium carbonate in the water isn't usable by the plant and builds up in the soil.

If nitric acid is used, I thought it would create calcium ions, nitrogen ions, and CO2 and that the calcium ions and nitrogen ions should count as part of the total PPM?

Wouldn't it be the same as if I measured my PPM before I added my Calmag?

 

[exploziv]

I meant ditch the ph down if it's too much of a rise from it. Who needs extra N when growing weed? A few ppm of P on the other hand, are great. Phosphoric acid is the better choice.
Sorry I didn't make a more clear post before.
And it still sounds like too much ppm, no matter the source.

 

[PCBuds]

aliceklar Keep in mind that if you've got a cheapie TDS meter, they aren't very accurate and tend to over read.

These are my two EC meters reading the same solution at different temperatures.
My better meter does fluctuate, but not as much as the cheapie.
(and I didn't give them much time to stabilize.)

The cheapie was reading over 1000 at one point, but I didn't snap a picture.

At one point a week or so ago it was reading 1200. I turned it off, then back on and tested the same solution 5 minutes later and it read 2300.

That's why I stopped using it.
The numbers are almost erroneous.
(although it's a better meter than a cheap PH meter.)

The cheapie doesn't have a temperature sensor, and it looks like they faked it in the sensor.
It just looks like a lump of plastic.

The better meter looks like a functional sensor.

 

[PCBuds]

I meant ditch the ph down if it's too much of a rise from it. Who needs extra N when growing weed? A few ppm of P on the other hand, are great. Phosphoric acid is the better choice.
Sorry I didn't make a more clear post before.
And it still sounds like too much ppm, no matter the source.

OK thanks.

What about aliceklar?

Should he (or she) just use rain water and some tap water to adjust the PH instead?

 

[exploziv]

Do you mean to adjust TDS? I don't belive rain water is low ph enaugh to be used as ph down. But it should much less ppm than those 300 on the tap for sure. If collected off unpolluting surfaces that don't leak bad stuff to the rainwater, and maybe not in a polluted area, for sure rain water with a bit of tap to add like 50 - 100 ppm would be best. Some rain catching systems ditch the first run of rain (like 30 mins off it) to not capture as many pollutants from the atmosphere or off the roof. Those would be best to have if living near a city or in one. But for PH down, phosporic acid would still be needed, I think.

 

[PCBuds]

Do you mean to adjust TDS? I don't belive rain water is low ph enaugh to be used as ph down. But it should much less ppm than those 300 on the tap for sure. If collected off unpolluting surfaces that don't leak bad stuff to the rainwater, and maybe not in a polluted area, for sure rain water with a bit of tap to add like 50 - 100 ppm would be best. Some rain catching systems ditch the first run of rain (like 30 mins off it) to not capture as many pollutants from the atmosphere or off the roof. Those would be best to have if living near a city or in one. But for PH down, phosporic acid would still be needed, I think.

I meant to adjust PH (although it would help with PPM too I guess)

That's what I'm doing now.
I use about half tap water and half RO water and I don't need to adjust my PH.

My nute solution with just RO water is less than PH 5 and the tap water is PH 7.6

 

[PCBuds]

The meters are pretty close at measuring low PPM.

These are my meters reading my RO water.
(my RO water is actually 4 PPM.
It's amazing how little contamination it takes to raise the number)

And you are supposed to rinse your PPM meter with distilled water to rinse off any salts that could contaminate your electrodes and throw off your next reading.
Then dry it off to put it away.
(unlike the PH meter that likes it salty and wet.)

 

[aliceklar]

Thanks all! I think it must have been a glitchy reading - the ppm meter is cheap-ass. - I've not been able to duplicate that super high reading (maybe I was super high at the time... user error - doh) but have done a few tests and got some more consistent readings. The base water stock I'm using is tap in 1 gallon demijohns that has been sat out for a couple days to off-gas. I cant remember the exact amount of nitric pH- I added to it originally, but think it was 2ml/gallon (4.5l). Results in pH 6.1, ppm 400 - so an addition of about 80ppm over the tap baseline of 320ppm, I guess as N? I can live with that.

so this is the difference adding 1ml/litre of different nutes makes to ppm:

1ml Biobizz calmag +50
1ml Biobizz bloom +80
1ml Canna A +225
1ml Canna B +150

the Canna A in particular seems to add a lot. +225ppm from 1ml/litre is an average of 3 different tests.

I've got a water butt I plan to install this weekend, and have both Nitric & Phosphoric pH-, so aim to work out a ratio of rainwater to tapwater adjusted with a little of both (maybe leaning more towards Nitric in veg and Phosphoric in bloom).

I watered the C6 in perlite this morning with exactly the formula listed above (ie, only 1ml each rather than 2ml of Canna A+B) which totalled c 800ppm. Adjusted down to pH 5.7 w/ citric acid. Figured the BB Bloom at 2-7-4 + the extra N would make up for reduction in the A+B. Will hold that formula for now and see if she likes it. Its an easy mix to make up.

Is 800 a good ppm for perlite / coco?

In other news, I topped all the MMxJ F1s and MMxWR F2s. All at 4/5 nodes, all growing well although I'd like some of them to be greener.

White Rhino, Purple Bud, BSGxA, BSGxJ, Green gelato, SQxA, all growing green and vigorous. The BSG x Johaar F1 is lush - pretty, narrow leaves & mature growth with alternating nodes and a spicy sweet citrus stem rub. Seems really happy in perlite. Hope its female. The "father" was a hermi flower from one of the best of the 2nd generation Johaars late in flower that I used in a "what the heck, why not just pollinate that lower bud?" moment (glad I did, as I lost the BSG mother plant to mites shortly after) so I'm hoping I made fem seeds - this is the last surviving plant tho... Medical Mass still pallid yellow, hopefully I can nurse it back.

 

[aliceklar]

 

[PCBuds]

Your plants are looking happier now.

 

[aliceklar]

Your plants are looking happier now.

Thanks man. I so nearly killed em all would have, for sure, if you guys hadnt helped me out.

 

[aliceklar]

Will take a couple of cuts off this BSGxA today, and also the tallest SQxA, which is growing like a beast. The other SQxA, GG & Purple bud also almost ready. White Rhino not far off. am getting excited now at the prospect of getting some of these into flower... finally! I really thought I would lose most of these plants.

Thanks to 0j4Udcfr8z for suggesting the perlite rescue trick. it worked wonders.

 

[aliceklar]

Cuttings taken from Bagseed Gelato x Afghan #2 and Sherbet Queen x Afghan #1 (both F1, same father plant from the RSC mystery Afghan mix). Set up a new clone box.

Going to run out of space soon. Maybe time to get to grips with grafting to back up multiple plants in a small space. Lots of headroom, so might see if I can build a platform, put the vegging plants on top and fix some lower power LEDs or fluorescents underneath for cuttings and seedlings. I think f-e suggested something similar.

 

[PCBuds]

Is 800 a good ppm for perlite / coco?

I think you're good with that number.
Maybe a tiny bit high.

This is the feed chart for my nutes where they list the PPM for a drain to waste setup...

 

[zif]

aliceklar If you dive into grafting with the same focus you’ve used to turn these plants around, you’ll kill it! Especially since you’ll be working with the flexible, green, sappy stems of happy plants.

 

[aliceklar]

Nice one. Thanks zif. Thought you might be interested in the grafting plan I'm imagining that little flower space with a multi-strain grafted scrog. Could be fun.

And thanks PCBuds for the ppm advice. the sooner I get my waterbutt fixed in the better, then I can cut that ppm down. My tapwater is hard as nails.

 

[aliceklar]

Took cuttings off the Purple bud. All the MMxWR F2s and MMxJohaar F1s growing well. Quite a range of form and leaf colour. some still looking kinda pasty, tho need to let them dry out a bit before feeding again.

real

real

Sherbet Queen X Afghan 1 & 2 growing vigorously - took cut off #1 yesterday. they have sturdy stems. Might use one as the host plant for grafting experiments.

 

[aliceklar]

Last couple of grows I thought I knew what I was doing. I was mistaken. Just now I thought for a minute that I knew what I was doing again. heh. Every bit I learn there's more. And sometimes you just get lucky. And the further you move from plants with their roots in living soil, with the sun above them, the harder it gets. Sigh. but prohibition. Sucks. Still. Happy to have my cupboard of joy.