nutes for veg & bloom

[sirruler]

ah thanks for those tops RT, first thing monday morning i will get one of those pond PH test kits and give it a try. infact i might see if they are open tomorrow as i have to travel past that store anyway. any results i will post back here
the leaves that have curled under feel like leather and are pretty tough but are also really dark green (something ive never seen before) and with many of the leaves disformed was making life hard to fault find but im pretty sure that your right and that its the ph to blame.
our water supply here isnt that good at all and the last 2 years its started to smell more like bleach which isnt good at all. i wouldnt ever drink from it unless it was boiled first if plants had toes they would have curled upwards too by now after drinking our tap water

[sirruler]

back again! well i just ordered a digital PH tester, i know i know i should have gotten one of those packet testers but the price of them here is crazy and it worked out a LOT cheaper in the long run to get a digital one. im hoping it will arrive tomorrow so i can run a test on it. if i am still not sure about the results the i will take a water sample up to the aquarium and get a freeeeeee test

ive flushed all of my plants with 4 - 5 times the pot size of clean fresh water directly from the tap. although i dont know the PH yet it has to be better than leaving all that excess food in there.

BTW i did forget to mention that i was also feeding them general tomato feed as well. for some reason it did wonders with my first grow and gave me 2ft long buds (seen in my avatar) but i think a lot of the probs this time was mainly crap soil and the other stuff i added durring flowering but time will tell
since i have flushed them (2 days ago) they have grown even more in height and they stink a LOT more but i think the moisture from the pots is contributing to that. the air in the tent sure feels moist and there is no way to stop that appart from wait until most of it has evaporated. this soil does hold water a little too much. i'll post back with my PH results as soon as i get them

[sirruler]

ah im back and this time with a PH reading
i poured water from the tap into a cup and inserted my PH meter and it reads 7.9 so i guess thats a little too high. on one of my growing vids it says you can use vinegar to lower the PH or baking powder to higher it but i'd like a second opinion on using any of these? ive not measured the PH coming out of the pots yet because i am due to water them tomorrow.
also im not 100% sure how to use these digital meters lol i got no instructions with it its a red meter with a black cap but has no brand name on it at all. when i remove the cap i see a LED so i am not sure if i am supposed to submerge it into water ot to keep it just above the water but i took the reading by submerging it. im not 100% sure what is the best PH to achieve anyway so tips would be great. thanks again

[LOC NAR on probation]

Show us a pic of the meter please. I bet someone can id it for you.

[sirruler]

this is the meter i have

[LOC NAR on probation]

It looks just like a milwakie PH600. The one I have is yellow but I thought I saw some red ones when looking. You take off the cap and soak it in water over night and keep alittle water in the cap. Only submerge it to about half way so you can still read it. They are water resistant not water proof. You also need the 7.01 calibration solution because there is a small hole in the side where you ajust it with a small screw driver and then your set to go. Mines works very well and gives a quick nimber.

[sirruler]

i didnt get any calibration fluid with it (got it from ebay ) only payed £9 so i cant complain but it looks brand new, no marks at all. i dont think even if i had the fluid i'd know how to calibrate it anyway.
i found tho by taking a reading yesterday and leaving the bucket of water out over night then testing it again i got 2 very different readings. seemed the PH went up by 0.5 over night which is quite a huge jump for a standard bucket size. hmmm now to get some calibration fluid, i bet that will cost a lot too can it be used more than once? anything to save on money

[LOC NAR on probation]

Calibation fluid is the only way . 7.01 solution is what you want. It takes a small screwdriver and the small hole on the side of the meter is an adjustment screw. It's real easy, you just turn untill you get 7.0 on the meter. solution can be used again if kept in an air tight container and you clean your meter before calibrating. And don't mix the used solution back into new solution. Just in case you need to check against itself.

[sirruler]

would this be the right stuff to use? HERE
i cant seem to find 7.01 but i was only looking on ebay

[evilgunny]

Hey, as far as the Big Bud goes, it's an additive, not the whole package. I'd use with SensiBloom or Conniseur, I believe starting second through the fifth week of flowering (try the advanced nutrients calculator, I could be/probably am wrong) Advanced Nutrients - Nutrient Calculator
It's really simple, just change reservoir size to however much water you're using, what kind of feeding you want(ie light, heavy), and the flowering period of the plants and they'll recommend when to use it. I say WHEN to start using it because every plant is different, so I wouldn't just go off their chart for amounts...

Try the B-52 for midflower if you're pushing them hard. The Overdrive is the last of the AN bloom additives I use, but you could honestly probably just use Big Bud instead.

Good luck :]

Oh, thanks for the tip about shaking nutrients Rusty :thumbsup: Mine are a year and a half old, is there any way to tell if they're still good? I have AN and Botanicare.