Ok, today I am going to re-Ph my distilled water that has been sitting around for a few days. I have used a Ph Pen in the past, it crapped out and I have gotten used to using a test/correction kit. No calibration solution, and I know that my results are always accurate. I use the same brand of water every grow so I have it down pat. Pretty much every gallon is the same - 3 drops of the GH Ph down and I am at ~6.8 .I am not knocking pens, I will probably buy another one at some point.
I usually store 5 gallons of water in the garage at any given time. If the water is really cold when I bring it in, I usually pour about 1 cup of the water into a glass and microwave it till it is hot. Then I pour it back into the jug and shake it up. This evens out the entire gallon to a nice 68-70F or so.
Here is my test and correction kit. You can buy these sets for about 15-20 dollars at just about every hydro shop. They also sell bottles of the testing fluid ( small bottle ) for about 7 bucks.
Now since my water is at a good temp., I will skip warming it up. Now
the first thing you will have to do is add any nutrients or additives to your water and shake or mix very well. I am not adding anything to the water today so I just fill up my vial about half way with the distilled water and add 3 drops of test solution. The color we are looking for here is a very, very light green color - almost a yellow-green.
The initial test is very acidic. Note the reddish tint. I will add Ph up.
I add 3 drops of Ph up and put the cap on and shake the jug for 5 seconds. I always put the caps back on the Ph up and down bottles before I do anything else! I have never spilled a bottle and I do not want to.
I repeat the first two steps and find that my water is now at the right Ph - 6.7 in this case. I allow my Ph to fluctuate by a tenth of a point either way, and I have not had any Ph issues that I can remember. There is a color key chart that comes with the kit that lets you match up the color and determine the Ph. After you use this kit for a week or so you know exactly what color the water should be without having to refer to it.
So here is a better comparison:
Very acidic water before we Ph'ed
And after adjusting to the proper Ph
Now I am ready to wake the plants up and give them some water.
Here is today's group shot:
The White Russian are still in the lead. I am going to pass on watering today. The soil is still moist on the surface on many of the cups and I found 1 gnat walking around on the soil surface in one of the Purps. I am just going to let the soil get bone dry before watering again.
Here are some close-ups:
And the deformed Purps we saw in a previous update:
All things considered, they are going pretty well. I think they are growing a bit slow, possibly from mild overwatering. I'll get things dried out. Thanks for stopping by again, I will be transplanting Thursday so stay tuned!
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