Indoor Salts Buildup in Soil

So, I'm 21ish days into flower and started noticing a Lil leaf drop. Got on RIU, came across the all the helpful advice of everyone regarding food and pH. However, neither of those seem to be my issue. K here we go

7 gal pots, peat based soil, sunshine brand with a 6.8 pH out the bag. Using Nectar for the Gods nut. Line. Was feeding at roughly 6.3 pH, gonna bump that up to about 6.7 now. Anyways I started noticing falling leaves many of which looked healthy about 3 weeks into flower. So I started checking things. Found out my pH on or around the surface of pot was high 6s, but lower 2-3 inches from drainage holes my pH is between 5.0-5.5. I flushed that night with 4 gals of water at 7.3 ph. PH looks to have went up in the lower zone some since.

That all being said, I don't think this was a pH issue, not directly anyways.

I'm not throwing pH out the window... Just realizing that pH in soil is hard to mess up if you feed and water properly. My surface pH being 6.7. And the pH at the bottom of the pot being lower shows a build up of salts. My leaf drop is not necessarily due directly to pH, more due to over feeding and not enough run off, in turn causing salts to build, messing up pH levels, and slowing hopefully not stopping uptake. Trying to fix ph and not knowing the the source of the issue id surly be in this boat again soon. Make sense?


So what r the better ways of monitoring salt buildup and control/managing it?

How does my flower production look at 3 wks? My first time around indoor.

^^ looking good. Salt buildup in the bottom of pots is not that uncommon when growing in peat moss (pro-mix or sunshine mix). I've found that using some Clearex or FloraKleen, every other week, in peat based mixes helps prevent that. Use it on watering days, as per the label. You can pick up a pint of (either one) on Ebay for about $ 9 shipped.

ProPheT 216 said:

So, I'm 21ish days into flower and started noticing a Lil leaf drop. Got on RIU, came across the all the helpful advice of everyone regarding food and pH. However, neither of those seem to be my issue. K here we go

Click to expand...

And there go your leaves too. Plants look good but if you don't get off the bloom food kick you'll really compromise your yields. The neurosis over pH is just that, being neurotic or following the forum paradigm. I wrote a thread on it.

UB what would you recommend as a nutrient regiment? More importantly, why?

I think it's more wise to put pictures of leaves that drop instead of upper part where plant is forming budsites and looking alright.
Listen to UB. He's the one who you need to follow and listen blindly. If you want to see your colas forming throughout the flowering, (not only till your plant will drop fan leaves that drives production) make sure you feed them with some grow food like dynagro foliage pro all the way. Be aware of calcium or magnesium deficiencies. Leave the ph aside for now, there is way more important things to deal with i.e. temps, light, watering habits, feeding etc.
Good luck!

Thanks guys. I appreciate the help!