foliar feeding, wetting agents and ph

[altaholic]

Wondering what the proper ph is that one should use for foliar feeding. I am using hydro and aim for a ph in my res of 5.6. AN says that you should have the same ph as your res for foliar feeding. I am using the DM penetrator as a wetting agent with my foliar solution but the label says "to not adjust ph" and this stuff is super alkaline. Using it with Spray n Grow gives me a ph of 8.8! Ive tried the organic wet betty from AN and although I like that it recommends a fraction of what you need to use with the Penetrator, a 1/2ctsp a quart vs 4 tbsp a quart. You can tell that it that it doesnt do as good a job as the penetrator. So any one have any thoughts or opinions? Thanks!

[oldmac]

I have used DM Penertrator with DM Liquid light and have never had a problem. DM has pretty good directions, including thier nutrient line. Follow them and you should not have a problem. I would tend to use DM's foliar feed nutes with thier penertrator tho.:) I have seen too many reports of problems here based on using multible brands of additves/nutes used together.

[altaholic]

Old mac, do you ph your solution of just trust it?
both of those products also say you can leave the lights on when you spray?!
That sounds crazy to me! Do you spray with your lights on? THanks

[oldmac]

Hey altaholic,

There is no reason to ph the solution, in fact when using Penertrator and Liguid light it is not reccomended to. When I use Folitec & Penertrator I don't adjust it either, but I use RO water that I check and it is ususally 6-6.1. If you know your ph runs very high or low, then adjust the water first then add the nutes.

In my personal grow where I use foliar, the light source is a hybred LED/T5 and it does not have the radiant energy of an HPS, so I do apply it when the lights are on. It'd be hard to apply in the dark, you would not be able to see what you're doing.;)

A friend I know uses Folitec/Penertrator with his 1000w HPS, he usually raises his lights, applies, then about an hour or two later lowers them.

BTW the reason that the PH is not critical, the plant is taking everything in thru it's leaf pores. It is when we are dealing with the grow medium and roots that it becomes an issue. Hydro likes lower ph like 5.5 while soil likes 6.3 or so.