Joe's Grows - The AverageJoe Grow Log

I would suppose it depends on what the ph of your tap water is. I'm about as close as you can get to the Rocky Mountains where with the exception of a little deer and elk piss, the water is about as clean as it can be. It's 7.1out of the tap. With Useless' formula, I've never needed to adjust it.


I think soil is a little more forgiving on PH fluctuations too. I used to put dolomite lime in my soil out in Cali, but since I got to CO, I haven't used any and it doesn't seem to be having a negative effect.


I will say that Rky, who lives not far, has all the meters and has done all the water PH and PPM tests already, so I had a pretty good idea that I wasn't going to need to adjust it.


All I know, is it works for me.:thumbs-up: I hate that whole process too, which is primarily why I always go back to soil. I wish I could say to stop doing it and you'll be fine, but I think all you can do give it a try and see if you run into problems.


K.I.S.S.

 

There it is right there. K.I.S.S. is the sure fire way to growing great smoke. It doesn't HAVE to be high tech to be good. That being said I own and religiously use my pH meter.:thumbs-up:

 

Hey Scotty,


I rarely need to adjust the pH of my nute solution either, the buffers do most of the work. That said, I do check it regardless, and I adjust if necessary.


I find the only time I need to make any adjustment is late into flower, and I think that's mostly due to the micro nutes I'm using - they're meant for softer water.


If you mix your nutes and let them sit for 12 - 24 hours, the buffers will have done their work and usually take your solution to the correct pH level.


... Oh, and beautiful plants as always, AJ. :not-worthy:

 

I'm not on city water. I'm on a private well. The water is like 5.5 and the nutes don't exactly bring that number up any.


I'll just take a shot at letting up a little bit about being so stringent about my Ph levels and see how it goes.


Thanks guys!

 

you may need hardwater micro Scotty if your doin the useless formula

 

Let me just say this . . . each and EVERY situation is different.


I played and played with my ph and tried to "do it" the way others were. I ended up with my plants suffering and subjected my girls to possible disease from the fluctuating Ph.


I tried to adjust the ph after the nutes were added, I tried to adjust the Ph before the nutes are added. Nothing seemed to be working like it was with other people.


If I mix my nutes and let them sit for a day or two or even ten, I end up with nearly EXACTLY the same Ph that I started with.


My plain water Ph starts at 7.1, and the GH 3 part Flora nutes bring it down to 5.9 with it's buffers. This puts me in the perfect range for hydro, but a bit too low for soil . . . which is what I'm currently growing in.


I have to add just a bit of Ph up to get the solution where I need it, near 6.5.


So, if I adjusted the Ph of my water, to 6.5 before I mixed my nutes, I'd put myself even lower on the Ph scale after the nute were mixed in and thus causing me to add extra, unnecessary Ph up to get back where I need to be.


My point is . . . Ph is a uniquely personalized to each circumstance and any outside input should be used as a guideline and NOT a rule.


I'm a firm believer that I would have been better off without adjusting my Ph and letting my plants grow with alittle low Ph instead of fucking with the Ph endlessly and causing numerous problems and wasted time, energy and :$ $$:


Find whats best for you and your situation and KEEP IT SIMPLE!


Good luck!


Ohhhh BTW, nice plants AverageJoe . . . blah, blah, blah . . .:rofl6:


:alienwink:

 

water & nutes et. al.


Our well water is "hard". But we have a water softener. I draw a gallon of tap water, add my nutes, check the Ph, then add some natural Ph-Up crystals, check again, document the numbers and then roll with that. I haven't ever had any problems doing it this way. I've been growing in soil FFOF for about 18 months now with all Fox Farms nutes. So I pretty much know what works well with the soil and the nutes. By now I also know about how much Ph-Up I'll have to add to a given mix of nutrients. I know what to expect, but it took me a while to gain this kind of familiarity. Even in the most errant of mixtures, the Ph in these FF nutes and soil has never gone through the basement or through the roof.


Alls I know is that I just grown some fine Bubblicious and I'm well baked. I really appreciate y'all joining in this conversation because it's info upon info regarding one of the most subtle but crucial, critical and vital aspect of growing. I think that Ph is one of the final touches on one's growing technique because it takes so long to really learn about how to effectively manage it. My Ph meter has turned out to be as important as my fans or lights. I think I'm turning out some high-q smoke doing it this way.


Some Bubblicious I've recently chopped. I love this plant!

 

UPDATE DAY: :coolbounce:


I'm on week 7 and 8 of another round of the same five strains.


SnoCap


Trainwreck#2


Purple Passion


Heavy Duty Fruity


Hawaiian Skunk


This will be the last round with Purple, HDF, and Skunk in the garden. Only Trainwreck and SnoCap will passs through to the next round along with a new contestant. Heath Robinson's Black Rose


Big fat 8 week SnoCap cola





Trainwreck at 7 weeks





SnoCap





SnoCap @ 7 weeks





Trainwreck @ 7 weeks








Heavy Duty Fruity @ 8 weeks





All Trainwreck and SnoCap for the next round











Black Rose bringin' up the rear. ottytrain2:

 

Hell yea Joe! Those are some AWESOME pics of some AWESOME looking plants.


I'm glad to see the Black Rose with roots. That means no matter what I do, the BR will live on in my area.


You've done a great job with these strains. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have. As a matter of fact, I'm really impressed how each of these strains has preformed. Definitely some better than others, but I know we can't complain.


It's been a pleasure seeing you pump out these beauties with such success.


Great job, AJ! :notworthy: <---:kidding: :alienwink:

 

that shit is heavy duty brother.


glad to see you have developed your herbal game so well!!

 

The Sno Cap has some really nice looking blue-ish hues, or is it just the camera flash reflecting from the trichs?

 

Wow!


Very nice and impressive as always my friend.

 

Dang Joe!


Colas are big, and looking great


GJ, Pce

 

KILLER!!!!!!!!!!


I almost forgot AJ grew dope.....lil scarce with them pics Joe :rofl6:


Who da man, you da man!

 

damn nice buds Joe, the Trainwreck looks great :not-worthy:

 

Very nice aj. nice roots on the br and woooooooooo those buds look sweet.


Teamster6

 

Great job! I have a couple of questions... Since you are growing different strains, do they each need a different nute schedule and if so, how do you deal with this? Also, are they each a different height, if so, how do you deal with this?

 

AJ,


very impressive plants and huge colas of sweet lookig buds... man you guys make this newbie yearn for results like that... truely awesome man

 

Growing multiple strains can certainly pose some individual nutrient requirement issues.


However, I tend take the KISS approach, and really try not to overcomplicate things. I use the Useless 3-part GH formula and have found that for the most part they all do okay on the same schedule. The Hawaiian Skunk likes a lot of nitrogen, and I'll occasionally give it a different mixture, but if at all possible I run them all the way through on the same nute schedule, and hope for the best.


As far as height, I flower them all at the same height and they will stay about the same. Usually within a foot of each other. I have two lights, so I can rearrange plants and light height to accomadate for any height variations.