brightlites
Member
Long time lurker, first time poster, first time grower. I think I have a pH problem, but I'm not totally sure and I'm not sure how to fix it. I have four, 7 week old autoflowers going. They're growing in Coast of Maine Stonington Blend, in 5 gallon smart pots. They're under 400 watts of 3000k 90 CRI Vero 29s in a 3x3 tent with good ventilation and air movement. Temps range from 62- 76, and RH from 45-55% generally. The closest top is about 14" from the light. I have a GH Go Box, but I've barely used it since the soil is fortified. I've used cal-mag a few times. They were looking great for the first 4-5 weeks. I was using Galaxy Hydro blurples for the first 5 weeks, and hung the COBs about 2 weeks ago. They started going down hill shortly after the COBs were in place, but were showing signs of problems even under the blurple. I'm around 1000 PPFD according to Timber Grow Lights.
The Amnesia Haze is by far the smallest, but also the healthiest one and seems to be thriving. It's all nug! It's the front left plant. The back left and front right are Northern Lights. They're droopy often, but not all of the time, and the leaves are a very pale green. Some leaf stems are purple, and the leaves are recently showing purple.The back left plant is doing much better than the front right. The back right is a blueberry and it looks the worst of them all. The main stems have purple stripes, the fan leaves form brown and purple spots that spread and eventually the leaves die and easily pull from the plant. Big purple areas on the ok looking leaves, especially the veins. The purple started in the fan leaves, but is now showing in the budding areas also. Even with all of the unhealthy looking traits, it's still cranking out buds that are getting bigger daily. The Blueberry and front Northern Lights also show nute burn on the tips of the upper leaves, even with all the signs of deficiency. Hence, I think it's pH related.
I didn't check pH for the first month or so until I realized that it seemed like I had an issue. I know, noob mistake! I'm watering with softish tap water and the pH is around 8 before adjusting, plus or minus a few tenths. My runoff has consistently been in the 7.4- 8 range since I started testing. I started watering with tap pH'd to 6 for a couple waterings, and the last 2 have been pH'd from high 4s to low 5s to try to correct the soil pH. I've read that to really correct a large pH problem like I think I have, I should flush with 15 gallons of lightly fertilized, mid 6 pH'd distilled water to "reset". I also read that should only be done in an emergency because the plant won't like it.
So, here I am, at a loss. Should I flush the blueberry? Any recommendations?
TL;DR: Didn't measure pH for a month. They were growing like MFers for that month. Swapped blurple for 400w of COBs and plants look like hell since shortly after. Not sure what to do next.
The Amnesia Haze is by far the smallest, but also the healthiest one and seems to be thriving. It's all nug! It's the front left plant. The back left and front right are Northern Lights. They're droopy often, but not all of the time, and the leaves are a very pale green. Some leaf stems are purple, and the leaves are recently showing purple.The back left plant is doing much better than the front right. The back right is a blueberry and it looks the worst of them all. The main stems have purple stripes, the fan leaves form brown and purple spots that spread and eventually the leaves die and easily pull from the plant. Big purple areas on the ok looking leaves, especially the veins. The purple started in the fan leaves, but is now showing in the budding areas also. Even with all of the unhealthy looking traits, it's still cranking out buds that are getting bigger daily. The Blueberry and front Northern Lights also show nute burn on the tips of the upper leaves, even with all the signs of deficiency. Hence, I think it's pH related.
I didn't check pH for the first month or so until I realized that it seemed like I had an issue. I know, noob mistake! I'm watering with softish tap water and the pH is around 8 before adjusting, plus or minus a few tenths. My runoff has consistently been in the 7.4- 8 range since I started testing. I started watering with tap pH'd to 6 for a couple waterings, and the last 2 have been pH'd from high 4s to low 5s to try to correct the soil pH. I've read that to really correct a large pH problem like I think I have, I should flush with 15 gallons of lightly fertilized, mid 6 pH'd distilled water to "reset". I also read that should only be done in an emergency because the plant won't like it.
So, here I am, at a loss. Should I flush the blueberry? Any recommendations?
TL;DR: Didn't measure pH for a month. They were growing like MFers for that month. Swapped blurple for 400w of COBs and plants look like hell since shortly after. Not sure what to do next.
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