pH confusion :S help please stinkyattic :)

[darbolah]

Hey im sorta new to growing so i thought i would ask the person who seems to know the most :P

Im growing in strait perlite using an autopot system and need some help with testing my ph. Do i measure the ph of the water or the drain-off and what would be optimal for growth. Also should i test the water before or after i add the nutes and chlorine remover ?

Thanks so much :hippy:

darbolah Reviewed by darbolah on 03-13-2008. pH confusion :S help please stinkyattic :) Hey im sorta new to growing so i thought i would ask the person who seems to know the most :P Im growing in strait perlite using an autopot system and need some help with testing my ph. Do i measure the ph of the water or the drain-off and what would be optimal for growth. Also should i test the water before or after i add the nutes and chlorine remover ? Thanks so much :hippy: Rating: 5

[stinkyattic]

Whoa whoa! Lose the chlorine remover- if it's the stuff I'm thinking of that is made for aquariums, it's NOT going to be good for your plants- it precipitates unwanted chemicals out and they are meant to get stuck in the fish tank filter, but in the case of hydro, can interfere with your other nutes instead.

Autopot? Like a self-watering pot? That's a hydroponic technique and you should be checking the pH of your reservoir. Since it is passive/wick style, there is no 'runoff'. I don;t recommend this method for cannabis. Look into a drip system instead if you are using perlite as your substrate.

Optimal for hydro is between 5.5 and 6.3. I set my hydro at 6.0 to allow for slight fluctuations in either direction.

Read up in the hydro section to see what people are using and what problems they are having, and how they fix them. DWC, ebb n flow, and NFT are all easy methods for beginners to learn hydroponics. There are some neat links in the 'styles' sticky at the top of 'basic'.

[darbolah]

thanks heaps stinky
So you think auto-pot is not a good idea ? Iv already bought a system and its aparently one of the best way to grow tomatos so im not to sure. If you think its worth giving a try il continue, Im doing a grow log also so if it works out sweet it could be a good venture.

Let me know what you think

[stinkyattic]

can you post pics and explain how the system works- is it indeed a wicking-type system?
IT MAY be possible- and it may need some extra attention/adjustment. Or post a link to your grow log so we can pop over there and have a look.

[darbolah]

http://boards.cannabis.com/closet-ca...-grow-log.html

there you go, any advice,hints or tips you can give would be great as im sorta noob :P Im keen to get some nice buds in the near future so i need to learn the ways of the plant care :jointsmile:

[darbolah]

also if you want to see how it works google auto-pot and you can see. It was highly recommended to me by the local hydro shop and they knew what i was using it for :P