Soil ph / lockout thread

[maximum autism]

I've got 4 plants in soil+perlite+vermiculite, they're week 4 of 12/12 and everything has completely stopped growing, it's been a week since I saw any bud growth and my week 2 fan leaf defoliation has not been replaced by any of the plants, they're just sitting there with miserable little fluffy buds and no foliage.


The soil is at 7.5 - 8 across all of them, I've been watering with 1tbsp/gal ph down + nutrients twice a week and the overall ph refuses to budge.
what am I doing wrong? Please advise.

 

[Xs121]

What kind of light?

You mix ph down 'after' you've mix everything else to get to the desired ph level and soil have a natural buffer of ph 7. But I think, your plant need more light.

 

[maximum autism]

I cheaped out on the lights and as a result I have two "200w" blurple chinese cobs and a "300w" mars hydro for my 4x4. It definitely feels like there's enough light over the canopy, I've moved everything into the brightest spot as well, but I'm sure that the quality of the lights has something to do with it. I don't have a lumen/par meter in my arsenal quite yet.

Saving up for a 400w timber or a mixed spectrum diy cob grid, but it's a ways away and I was hoping to pay for it with this yield, but that's probably not going to happen.

Incidentally, I switched my veg closet from another mars hydro to a couple 35w t5 bulbs and the plants started growing faster, the heck?

 

[maximum autism]

these photos are outside of the 4x4, btw, it's impossible to get a photo with blurples going

 

[Johnei]

What nutrients are you feeding and what kind of dosage?
(too much pH is not good at all and that sounds like a SHITLOAD! Nutrients on their own are acidic.)
(removing leaves is huge stress for plants and some react better than others. can stop growth for quite some time, in some strains, especially if you removed too much at once.)

 

[maximum autism]

I'm on the foxfarm soil regimen with grow big, big bloom and bembe, I can't say that I'm all that satisfied with their flowering nutrients albeit I'm obviously doing something wrong outside of them.
I just watered with the nutrient mix, waited half an hour and watered again with ph4.5 water. This is carbon filtered aquifer well water, out of the tap it's always around ph7.
I'll check the soil ph again in an hour, I don't know why I can't keep it down in the optimal range.
Could it be my base soil? It's from a local compost farm, I'm a noob and I figured that it would be pretty good stuff for my blend.

 

[im4satori]

I'm on the foxfarm soil regimen with grow big, big bloom and bembe, I can't say that I'm all that satisfied with their flowering nutrients albeit I'm obviously doing something wrong outside of them.
I just watered with the nutrient mix, waited half an hour and watered again with ph4.5 water. This is carbon filtered aquifer well water, out of the tap it's always around ph7.
I'll check the soil ph again in an hour, I don't know why I can't keep it down in the optimal range.
Could it be my base soil? It's from a local compost farm, I'm a noob and I figured that it would be pretty good stuff for my blend.

youd be better off with the GH floranova and flora grow

its a well rounded one part fertilizer that contains everything in 1 bottle
kelp, amino, fulvic everything!

1 bottle for veg
1 bottle for bloom
nothing more
the mixing directions are good and accurate

 

[maximum autism]

I'm thinking of the AN pH perfect sensibloom 2-parter for my next nutrient purchase, and I actually just went out and bought a bag of Stontingten blend soil to see if it works as advertised.
I want my next crop to do much better than this one

 

[Johnei]

First thought, check your pH meter calibration.

 

[Johnei]

example, stick it in some lemon juice, if pH is up above 6 you know it's showing too high. or vinegar, just giving you alternative if you dont have pH calibration fluid.

 

[im4satori]

I'm thinking of the AN pH perfect sensibloom 2-parter for my next nutrient purchase, and I actually just went out and bought a bag of Stontingten blend soil to see if it works as advertised.
I want my next crop to do much better than this one

youll be better of with the GH floranova

seriously!

im not suggesting it cuz I use it... I don't use it cuz im cheap

but its good shit

 

[im4satori]

another option that's good is the GH maxibloom and maxi grow

personal imho
I don't like the liquid fox farm nutes and id run from anything advanced nute has

im sure I will catch some heat for saying this cuz peeps grow to love there fertilizers but,

they don't list all the ingredients on the label
they'll sell you 6 bottles to mix and its just confusing and all wrong

AN has a long history of doing shady shit and I don't trust the "PH perfect" sales hype

 

[maximum autism]

example, stick it in some lemon juice, if pH is up above 6 you know it's showing too high. or vinegar, just giving you alternative if you dont have pH calibration fluid.

I REALLY should have though of this weeks ago. I just put the meter in vinegar, then lime juice, both times it gave unstable readings that were between 5 and 6. Totally whack.
Thanks, I wasn't even considering that there was something wrong with the meter. I goofed pretty bad on this one, and I've had it for 2 months now without once giving it a real test, byebye warranty!
My poor plants...

AN has a long history of doing shady shit and I don't trust the "PH perfect" sales hype

So I've heard, and at that price range it's short-sighted on their part. I'm open to trying out anything that's well established.

 

[im4satori]

youll need to figure out how much you want to feed

I tend to feed on the low/safe side

some guys are using the maxi at 7 grams per gallon but id likely use for like 4 or 5 grams

if it was me id feed for full strength

maxigrow 5 grams per gallon during veg

maxigrow/maxibloom 50/50 2.5 grams each (5 grams combined) for most of 12/12

maxibloom alone 5 grams per gallon last 3 weeks before harvest of bloom

shouldn't need anything more

if you go with the floranova + floragrow(which might be slightly better since it has the kelp,fulvic in it)

id dose max strength 8mls per gallon of one or the other
grow for veg
bloom for 12/12

 

[maximum autism]

maxigrow 5 grams per gallon during veg
maxigrow/maxibloom 50/50 2.5 grams each (5 grams combined) for most of 12/12
maxibloom alone 5 grams per gallon last 3 weeks before harvest of bloom

if you go with the floranova + floragrow(which might be slightly better since it has the kelp,fulvic in it)
id dose max strength 8mls per gallon of one or the other
grow for veg
bloom for 12/12

I'll give it a shot, I'm going to start a journal for my next crop soon