Furbrain Posted June 14, 2022 Share Posted June 14, 2022 Hi folks, What should the pH be for seedlings in clay balls and roughly how old is a seedling when it officially enters veg. Also, is the dripper arrow in the right position please. She is 5 days old (gorilla glue). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prom Posted June 14, 2022 Share Posted June 14, 2022 Hydro ^^ is kinda sexy you hover in the 5.5-6.5 area in hydro. To give your plants a little edge, don't stick to the same value, look to vary with each new batch from 5.6 to 6.4. Stay once above 6, next below 6 and so on. You see the first 5 finger leaf, plant is out of germ. If your dripper is right, the plant will not die ^^ i prefer halo drippers. Looks healthy, the roots will find the water. If you feed organic.. you can't use pH up or down or you turn it into chemical feeding. Need organic up and downs.. Lemon juice/vinegar (diluted) or liquid limestone do the same trick, just keep you organic. Drop of pH Up or Down in your organic fertilizer mix turns it chemical. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furbrain Posted June 14, 2022 Author Share Posted June 14, 2022 Hi Prom, so it's 5.6-6.4 pH right from the start?. I've been giving 7 as I thought there are no nutrients yet. Please confirm. Your comments much appreciated. Cheers... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prom Posted June 14, 2022 Share Posted June 14, 2022 Yes, and remember to let the new batch stand at least over night and take a new pH reading before you change tank.. just to be sure. In water culture the nutrient intake is a bit different. Magnesium and Manganese have a different window and swapping the pH gives the plant the best way to increase the intake. Stick for germination to 5.8-6.2. And next time use rockwool. Hope that helped.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furbrain Posted June 14, 2022 Author Share Posted June 14, 2022 Many thanks Prom, I have been steadily decreasing the pH. Waiting for pump cycle so it helps mix the PhDown. Got it down to 5.73 so I'll leave it there for now and check again tomorrow. Seems I'm on the right track now . I have 3 more seeds in for germination so I could try the rockwool for them. Will update in around a week unless I hit any panic stations!. Cheers.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin7318 Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 (edited) 20 hours ago, Prom said: you hover in the 5.5-6.5 area in hydro Wow. That is a big range. Considering 5.5 is 10 times more acidic than 6.5. I noticed big differences in my plants changing my PH by 0.3, surely a change of 1.0 can't be good? Or is Hydro just hugely different to soil in terms of PH? Edited June 15, 2022 by Martin7318 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ill_Evan Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 1 minute ago, Martin7318 said: Wow. That is a big range. Considering 5.5 is 10 times more acidic that 6.5. I noticed big differences in my plants changing my PH by 0.3, surely a change of 1.0 can't be good? Or is Hydro just hugely different to soil in terms of PH? Gradual changes. I would vary my pH up and down during the course of a week when I was doing DWC. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin7318 Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 10 minutes ago, Ill_Evan said: I would vary my pH up and down during the course of a week when I was doing DWC What kind of increments would you aim for? And do you still do the same now in coco? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furbrain Posted June 15, 2022 Author Share Posted June 15, 2022 As a sideline observation I noticed the tap root in my only planted seed had actually emerged half way down the 'plug'!. I can see now why Rockwall cubes would make better sense for a setup like this. I will be hopefully planting 3 more seeds tonight .........., just waiting for propergation to take place . I guess the 'plugs' would work better if they were half the size. Anyhow, onwards and upwards....... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prom Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 52 minutes ago, Martin7318 said: Wow. That is a big range. Considering 5.5 is 10 times more acidic than 6.5. I noticed big differences in my plants changing my PH by 0.3, surely a change of 1.0 can't be good? Or is Hydro just hugely different to soil in terms of PH? The pH window for soil is 6.0-7.0 .. same range just different window. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prom Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 Have to make this very short post in regards to pH and soil.. found it in the Royal Queen Seeds blog Go Organic and Forget About Measuring pH Isn't part of the hydro setup you run.. but Royal Queen Seeds trust that sentence that much, they put it in bold inside their pH advice. Hydro you always have to measure... no way around. Soil for home growers, Hydro for commercial production.. and the Coco dudes lost in between both worlds is about how i see it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furbrain Posted June 15, 2022 Author Share Posted June 15, 2022 Thanks Prom, it's all interesting stuff!. Maybe I'll try organic outside this year. I guess I fall into the lost world of clay pebbles for now!. Lost but happy!. Have a lekker evening....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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