The pH Or Not To pH Grow Journal

[Buds Buddy]

Hey All, I keep seeing all these posts questioning whether or not to pH your nutrient solution prior to feeding. I'm a believer in pH-ing my nutes so I figured I may as well do a grow this way & see what happens. I started 2 Blueberry plants less then a week ago so I will use these as my test dummies so to speak. I'm growing in FFOF & using Mega Crop only. I'll try feeding both plants the same strength nutes but 1 plant pH will be 6.4 & the other unknown until I check it. See if there's any Toxicities or Deficiencies in either plant. If there's a reaction to one & not the other due to nutrient uptake I think pH may be why. I'm not looking for personal opinions on whether or not to pH nutes. I'm doing this as a comparison type grow so we can see what happens. Yeah, I'm bored & have 2 Fresh plants so why not ?
I'll get pics up in a few hours. Have to go to the shed & take some for this & label them pH & NO pH.
See ya later !

 

[TorturedSoul]

Nice.

Several (like eight, ten, something like that) years ago, a lot of people were having issues with Fox Farm soil. There was some speculation about "bad batches," that there hadn't been enough lime(?) added to some, or that the stuff just wasn't getting mixed up properly.

I haven't heard/read anything of that nature in quite a while, though. But remembering it is causing me to ask: Did you happen to dump the bag out into something so you could stir/mix it around really well before filling your two containers, to ensure that the contents would (inasmuch as possible) each be 100% the same?

Did you amend either (or both) with additional lime? That might make a difference, depending on the length of the grow. Or, rather, length of the grow might affect your results (IOW, a long-flowering sativa, an extended growth period, or both could allow the buffers in the soil to get used up before harvest (I'm thinking/speculating here)).

What is your source water, municipal tap (chlorine? chloramine? removed?), RO/distilled, well water, rain water, etc.?

Are you consistently watering to the point of runoff (if so, approximately how much)?

EDIT: Forgot one. Well, probably forgot dozens (lol), but I remembered one: Would you happen to know whether that Mega Crop product contains any type of pH buffering agent(s)? If it does, that could skew the test.

BtW, thank you for performing the test/experiment. I love stuff like this, and have a bit of admiration for folks who are willing and able to say, "Sure, I might be setting myself up to grow 'a loser' (in terms of yield/etc.), but am taking one for the team," as it were. It can be difficult to run a grow in which one plant - or set of plants - performs significantly differently than the other, have some idea as to the cause... and basically sit on one's hands, letting it happen. That's assuming that there is a significant difference between the two, of course (there may or may not be).

 

[Buds Buddy]

Yes, I keep the soil in a large plastic bin. Haven't amended soil with anything. I only grow Indica's or Indica Dominant Hybrids. Water out of the tap (pH usually around 7.6) not sure about ppm yet. Yes I water til run off every 2 - 3 days depending on pot weight. Not sure about buffering agents but I think it does.
I mainly want to see if one plant gets a toxicity or deficiency or if they both do fine all the way through the grow. If they both do fine I can say "No Need to pH nutes". Guess I'm hard headed & have to see for myself. I have 3 Blueberry plants so I can sacrifice 1 if things go south. I've got fresh seeds in my mailbox right now I need to go get so it's all good.

 

[Buds Buddy]

OK, Let's get this party started. I have my 2 Blueberry Seedlings & my Nutes mixed for them. 2 grams MC per gallon.
One gallon will get pH'd to 6.4 at feeding time & the other I'll just feed at what ever pH it comes out (I'll post the pH).
So here's the 2 girls.

 

[Buds Buddy]

Got my 420 Seed Guy order & a 50 mg. Brownie for desert !!!

 

[MrSauga]

 

[Buds Buddy]

Hi there Mr. Sauga. The test is on !!!

 

[Buds Buddy]

Today both the lovely ladies got their 1st feeding. 2 gr. per gal. of MC. Fed just 35 ml. to each plant. the one is at pH 6.4 & the un-pH'd one was 6.6 pH so still within good parameters. Not sure if this will change with stronger nutes or not so we'll just wait & see. Both girls have 2 sets of leaves. I up-pot around the 3rd set just to give it time to adapt while growing the 4th set for the topping. Not sure how long I'll veg. Just until I like the looks of it I guess.

 

[Stormblessed]

I’m in

 

[Emilya Green]

Good experiment! Thanks for doing it. I am here to see if the results are as I expect them to be... no difference between the two.

 

[Buds Buddy]

Good experiment! Thanks for doing it. I am here to see if the results are as I expect them to be... no difference between the two.

I'm hoping so too. But like I've been told several times ... Test it for yourself.

 

[Buds Buddy]

Last night I up-potted the girls to 1 gallon pots. When I lifted the clear cups out of the Red cups I had roots 4" long coming through the holes. After up-potting they both got a 24 oz. feeding of MC @ 2 gr. per gallon. 6.4 ph on 1 & the other non - pH'd one @ 6.8. Both at about 450 ppm. Lights are at 50,000 LUX right now. Temps at 77 F & RH at 55%. So far, So good; but it's still early.
Sorry, only got 1 good pic. Others came out blurry. I think the fan was blowing the leaves around.

 

[Ganjagrandaddy]

Hey All, I keep seeing all these posts questioning whether or not to pH your nutrient solution prior to feeding. I'm a believer in pH-ing my nutes so I figured I may as well do a grow this way & see what happens. I started 2 Blueberry plants less then a week ago so I will use these as my test dummies so to speak. I'm growing in FFOF & using Mega Crop only. I'll try feeding both plants the same strength nutes but 1 plant pH will be 6.4 & the other unknown until I check it. See if there's any Toxicities or Deficiencies in either plant. If there's a reaction to one & not the other due to nutrient uptake I think pH may be why. I'm not looking for personal opinions on whether or not to pH nutes. I'm doing this as a comparison type grow so we can see what happens. Yeah, I'm bored & have 2 Fresh plants so why not ?
I'll get pics up in a few hours. Have to go to the shed & take some for this & label them pH & NO pH.
See ya later !

The only way to fly buds. I try all sorts and as you may know I did the same. Nuff said.lol no opinion just fact. Did a 5 day dark before harvest last run too. Have to try stuff. Some great techniques have emerged from growers pioneering stuf as we know. Good luck mate. I am in.

 

[Buds Buddy]

I'm starting to try several things that are new to me. Next up is STS on 1 branch of a couple different strains. Try my hand at crosses & seeds.

 

[oldsmokey]

I have already made my mind up on the subject. But I am in I love a good experiment.

 

[Buds Buddy]

Still nice to see if there's any different reaction anywhere along the way. Unless the pH of the un-pH'd nutes get out of line I think both will do fine. I start seeing 7.2 pH ... well I'll have to see what happens.

 

[oldsmokey]

You have peaked my interest with this side by side comparison.

 

[Ganjagrandaddy]

I'm starting to try several things that are new to me. Next up is STS on 1 branch of a couple different strains. Try my hand at crosses & seeds.

Brave move . Haven't played as such in that area but having accidentally had a pollen spread from a hermie and seeing how productive this was , i can only imagine how good an actual attempt at it could produce. So far so good on my crosses with 2 for 2 so far and stunning results. Good luck mate. Look forward to that too.

 

[McRib]

I have to follow this one now after seeing them born in your DWC journal. Good luck with the pollen making. Should be interesting.

 

[StRoostifer]

Dude I’m along for the ride as well.