PH out

This is my first post and I'm on my first grow. I have 2 Northern Lights and 2 blue Mystic's from Nirvana 3 1/2 weeks vegging and doing very well. I have them in Fox Farms Ocean Forest. I'm growing them under 150w CFL's in a well ventilated crawl space. I'm watering with store bought water which I adjust to about 6.5 to 7 ph if need be. I suppose this has likely been asked before but I can't find an answer. The PH of the water coming out the bottom of the pot after watering is reading 4.0 although a meter ( cheap one from Home Depot) stuck in the soil is reading about 6.5. As they seem to be thriving should I just assume this is okay? Is this normal?

I don't worry about run off personally. So long as you know what is going in, all good.

Why are you buying water? I use a Pur filter attached to my faucet and it works great.

I suppose because I was concerned about what might be in our town water and I don't have a filter. Being my first grow I didn't want to screw them up with something. I recall reading suggestions to use RO water. Do you think tap is okay? I realize all our other plants do fine with it. Thank you for responding. I wouldn't have made it this far without researching these forums and a few websites.

I use rain water but I would use tap water if we didn't have a water softener. I have never had success using water softener water on any type of plant.
Some people let tap water sit out for a time and/or aerate it before use. Try it, it's not going to kill your plant after one use. IMO, the biggest problem people have with water is overdoing it.

I have managed to figure one thing out and that's not to screw around with them to much. I watered them last Friday the 5th raised the lights a bit and had to leave them till today. When I checked in on them they were doing just fine although the soil was getting dry.

You'll eventually just 'get it' when you lift your pots up. You'll recognize when they need water. You'll learn to listen to your plants too if you pay attention.

I too am on my first (indoor) grow, and I made many mistakes, yet through determination, research, asking questions and asking for reaffirmation, I'm 8 days off of harvest.

pH is key... in soil, I keep it 6.4-6.5, but 6.3-7.0 is acceptable. Stay within pH, don't over water (it harms worse if you over-water than under water, as it's easier to tell if you've left them too long without water), and just be patient.

If you just stay by those guidelines and keep doing your research, learning about nutes will come naturally.

Good luck, and happy grow

-spek

Sounds like a good time to try it.

The thing you will find about water on RIU is that people seem to forget we don't all have the same tap water. My opinion is that if we filter the water, we get most tap to a pretty close starting point, PH aside. like I said, I filter and theones that attach to the faucet, as opposed to normal brita pitcher, filter out more (chloramine in particular) plus they are easier to use.

I let my water sit out a few days. I have about seven one gal containers and as I use one I fill one, keeping the rotation in order.

I water via a halo drip system out of a 5 gal bucket. I do run an airstone in the bucket for about half hour before I turn on the spigot (check out my journal for vid on set up, I love it). I don't know that the airstone helps, but my plants are happy so why fuck with it.

While many will say othwerwise, my problems all disappeared when I became religious about PH. Some people don't need to, soil does buffer, lime does help, but some of us still need to PH.

Still, buying water is costly and a hassle. Prob not nevessary.

RO, I think, is more important in hydro. It is the only thing that gives you a truly blank canvas to start with. But my advice would be to buy a filter, let it sit for a day, And PH. Do that and you will be fine.

I water every third day because I don't trust my judgement. I use 3 gal pots with a mix of soil, peat moss, vermiculite and perlite. I water until I get a little bit of run off. On my last grow (4 plants), every third day worked perfect with the exception of one incident where the two plants closest to my fan got a bit too dried. But once I watered they perked right back up.

Good luck!

Actually I did try earlier in the year but my grow space was too cold. Here's a photo (I hope) of one of the plants after 3 1/2 weeks in the soil. I started in Solo cups and transplanted after 2 weeks into these paint buckets that I cut some drainage holes in. I mixed the FFOF with 33% perlite. I put a layer of perlite in the bottom of the bucket. So far I'm pleased. Does this look good for this time frame?

Here's a recent thread, I'm sure there are many others.Redroot1954, I would investigate your tap water. If it's suitable, if will make your life much easier. And a bit cheaper. It's worth a look.

Does anyone think there's a market for bottled water marketed at home growers? <- (send me an lb if you get rich off this idea)

The plant in the red pot looks good, the one behind it, not so much.