Quick ?'s starting first grow!

Ok so I have been reading reading reading for several hours a day and am buying everything to grow in couple weeks here, but i have a couple questions that werent clear in the threads i have read:

1. When testing pH is it just of the water being poured on the plants? or does the soil actually have a pH?
2. Whats topping and pruning? is it just cutting off the main cola or branches so they turn into 2 so u have a shorter bushier plant?
3. Is it possible to do an entire grow without using ferts? in a 3 gallon grow bag?
4. How neccesary is a ec meter or wat is used to determine ppm?

Thanks for your help, soon I will post pics of my grow closet which will feature a 4' 6 bulb t5 system with 10 plants of white satin (mandala, low odor), I figure that will be enough light to make it to flower and then when i throw out the males so it should be enough light!

1. The water that you use on the plants has a pH straight out of the tap or source, and it has a different pH when you add fertilizer to it. The soil has a pH of its own. The Soil, Water, and Fertilizer interact and give you a 4th pH number, which is the runoff pH when you pour enough water into the pot so some comes out the bottom. You will become familiar with ALL those numbers as a grower, and get in the habit of testing them at the start of the grow and if anything goes wrong. If you are in hydro, you will be testing pH at least once a day. In soil, a liquid indicator kit is fine. In hydro, you will want to spend the $$ on a GOOD QUALITY pH meter, or stick with the liquid kits. A shitty pH meter (*cough* Hanna *cough*) should be used for nothing but shoving up the bunghole of the manufacturer. I've seen crops KILLED by failed pH meters.

2. Topping is removing the primary growing tip. It lets secondary growth (branches) get bigger. Pruning is a general term for cutting anything off a plant. Topping is a type of pruning. Removing side branches to focus energy on the main cola is another. Taking cuttings to make into new plants actually functions as pruning too. Topping gives shorter bushier plants but should never be done less than 2 weeks before flowering, or in flower.

3. No.

4. In soil, you don't need one. You can take your tap water down to the hydro shop and if it is a good shop they will be able to tell you on the spot if your tap water is too 'hard' for growing in. If they have 'live' displays of plants in a hydro system, they have a EC meter that they can give you a reading with. After that, you are golden.

That's a sick light, have fun with it. And Mandala has always done good work.

So if i went to a hydroponics store and brought a water sample wat should i ask them?

And the pH number so commonly referred to on these forums is the pH of the run-off?

Thanks stinkyattic i have read many many of your posts, im very eager to start my first grow and appreciate the help! you are an asset to these forums!!

If you are taking 'em in some tap water, ask 'em what the ph of your water is.
Unless you take a sample of your runoff water, (water that comes out of the bottom of the pot after watering) they can't tell ya that one. If you take some in, they can usually test it for ya tho.
A freshwater aquarium ph test kit works for tap water, or, there's all sorts of ph pens.
Aquarium test kits are good because they are cheap, but you can only use them for clear water. (it's color-coded results get thrown off by additional colors being added)
Another prefered method of testing, is to get a ph pen. Below is a link to the cheapest one I could find, and it's working good so far....$60.00 plus shipping.
Discount Hydroponics - Milwaukee Testing Pens

Thanks, yo!
Ask them if your water hardness is too much to grow your tomatoes in (insert type/brand of soil you plan to use).

The runoff pH tells you the soil pH in this manner:
For example you know your tap water pH is 7.0. You pour some through the pot and catch the first cupful out the bottom. You test it and find that the runoff pH is OMG!!! 6.3!!! Aieeeee! Somehow in transit the pH dropped a FULL POINT!!! You then guesstimate in your most scientific fashion that your true SOIL pH is close to 5.5 (6.3 being the average of 5.5 and 7-hush up, I'm rounding-, and actually 5.5 is not an outrageous number if you are using a peat based medium). To remedy this, you adjust the rest of the flush water up to 7.5 tops- never go higher; it's stressful to da plants- and keep flushing until it comes out at 6.8. The pH you want is between 6.5 and 6.8 in soil, and if your soil tends to go LOW you adjust to the higher end of the scale.
Sorry I am in a burrito-induced afternoon stupor so that might be hard to follow.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stinkyattic

Sorry I am in a burrito-induced afternoon stupor so that might be hard to follow.

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Not all that bad. (but I did major in burrito-stuporonics in college, tho)

Oh- pick up a pH test kit that includes pH up and pH down.
pH problems are relatively easy to fix. But if your hardness is too high, you might have to look for an alternate water source. Bleh.

Rusty, the college town where I did my time has a place called Bueno y Sano that has the best burritos I've ever had. The chicken with roasted red peppers and yoghurt is to DIE for. *drool. Then I cooked line at a different burrito bar for a while that was also totally killer- the owners were adamant about supporting local agriculture so the ingredients were awesome. For example, the sour cream and cheddar cheez both came straight from Cabot in Vermont. Doesn't get much better than that. And the peppers and tomatoes are supa fresh from the CT river valley. I have a HUGE burrito 'thing'. Their Thai peanut-chicken-cilantro burrito with lime wedges will blow your mind. DAMMIT cafeteria food sucks. I need to quit my job and cashcrop so I can avoid it.