Cael's problem thread

[cael69]

Hi, I am trying to deal with a problem that maybe someone here can help me with...I have a soil pH meter (not an expensive one) that gives me readings from my three Srawberry Haze plants in the too acidic neighborhood of 5,0 to 5,8. My plants are at 36 days of flowering and I´m using bio bizz organic nutrients.
The thing thats got me stumped is that after flushing with de-chlorinated tap water with a pH around 7,7, I used my Hannah Gro check pH and TDS meter and it gives me a reading of 7,8 - 7,9, which, according to what I´ve read here, means the soil pH is closer to 8,0 - 8,1 which is in the too alkaline neighboorhood.
Im worried because the tests give me such different results and both in pH ranges which will most definitely produce lock outs either way. What do I do? Trust the run-off and take measures too acidify the soil or should I trust the soil probe and try to raise the pH?
I am already seeing signs that could be indicating lockouts of nitrogen or possibly magnesium deficiency but I don´t know which direction to push the pH to free up the feeding, I am worried about my girls...snifff...

cael69 Reviewed by cael69 on 08-04-2009. Cael's problem thread Hi, I am trying to deal with a problem that maybe someone here can help me with...I have a soil pH meter (not an expensive one) that gives me readings from my three Srawberry Haze plants in the too acidic neighborhood of 5,0 to 5,8. My plants are at 36 days of flowering and I´m using bio bizz organic nutrients. The thing thats got me stumped is that after flushing with de-chlorinated tap water with a pH around 7,7, I used my Hannah Gro check pH and TDS meter and it gives me a reading of 7,8 Rating: 5

[Dutch Pimp]

need more historical info on your soil. transplants, type of soil, additives, etc......this is a sticky wicket?..

[cael69]

The soil I am using is a mix of aprox. 60% soil, 15% perlite, 15% peat moss,
10 % humus. I have had a very hard time finding lime here where I live, I´m not sure why but at the Home Depot the gardening sections don´t carry it, at the moment I am trying to find lime (CaCO3) at companies that produce and provide agricultural chemical additives, I´m getting closer. Any how, the point is that since I did not find lime I looked for an alternative soil corrector in the garden supplies area and found CaSO4 (calcium sulfate) which claimed to correct soils below 5,5 and above 8,2. The only thing is that the additive came in those tiny ballbearing sized pellets, so I tried pulverizing the pellets to a fine dust and dissolving it in water to give it to the plants...truth is I am not sure if this has made things worse...

[cael69]

Here are some images of the plants, the thing that called my attention most was the appearance on the tips of the buds in formation of calyxes that have taken on a red tint and the surrounding calyxes look deflated without sufficient turgor yet the leaves and stems are not showing any lack of turgor. Small leaf tips on the bud tops are getting some brown areas...

[cael69]

Sorry, made a mistake concerning the soil mix...this is the real deal:

33% peat moss
33% perlite
33% worm castings (humus)
1% Hidralong (hidrated volume).:thumbsup: