Salt build up and flushing

[FemmeFatale]

I harvested my best crop yet in early Feb. I grew Barneys Vanilla Kush, Pineapple Crush and LSD. Yield was very good, but I noticed what I felt was salt or calcium build up. Burning of leaves and quite a bit of yellowing. I was very conservative with nutes and soil used was FF Ocean. Water here is well water, its very hard and I corrected pH to 6.5-6.8. Harvest was 8 weeks into flower,trichromes were cloudy and product is "fire". I think I can do better so i'm gonna have another go at it with same strains. I purchased a reverse osmosis unit to correct salt build up and water tested at 7.2 from straight out of tap at 8.4. Im going to alternate pH corrected tap, and reverse osmosis or combine the two because I know that calcium and other hard water nutes are good at lower levels. Im planning on doing flushes every month this time. I was wondering if using tap water that is at 8.4 to flush with is OK, then I planned to water with corrected water with or with out nutes. Your feedback is very much appreciated. BTW if anyone is looking for a very good strain I HIGHLY recomend anything from Barneys

 

[Jericho]

Hi Femmefatale.

Sounds like your tap water resembles mine Ph from tap is 8.2 and PPM is HIGH. When you feed your plants do you allow run-off to occur? If not this can cause a build up.

There has been a dispute recently on the site with regards to swings in your PH when flushing. Negatives are that if its a big and consistent swing it can cause stress to the plant and the laves will start to look like they are screwing up. Positive is that you block the roots from getting a dose of nutes when you flush because the off PH would cause nute block.
You will get Most likely will get some different answers for this. When i flush i do not PH my water and have not seen any ill effects on my plants as of yet.

Good luck!!

 

[FemmeFatale]

Thanks Jericho, this is an interesting subject, can more people comment please? I just realized I said my water was from wells, it's actually natural desert spring water, if that even matters, anyway its very hard. Jericho, I DO NOT allow water run off when watering, but I can see where this would cause a quicker build up of salt. Man, I just don't want to lug those pots back and forth out of grow room. I got a card because my back REALLY is messed up..HA HA!:rofl:

 

[Jericho]

Some more will comment, This is just my opinion and could be wrong but not letting any run off will increase chances of a build up. What you could do if you fine a basin or larg bucket to use stand the pot in it when you feed and the let it empty into that, Then you only have that to move after.

 

[BBFan]

The problem may very well have been your water. You mention PH but do you know your TDS?

The RO system should help immensely, but you really need to know what's in your water. Using this same water to flush may not help at all as you will be adding these solids back in.

Congratulations on the great harvest!

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Congrats on your best harvest yet. However, since you had a great harvest, why do you believe that you had salt build up? Yellowing of leaves is normal during flowering. And the crispy part is probably something else.

I would recommend watering until runoff. Not necessarily for salt build up, but to insure that your medium is getting wet to the bottom to encourage deeper root growth.

 

[FemmeFatale]

BBFan, My TDS is 421 ppm, hardness is 175 ppm sodium is 62 ppm. I think I'm going to devise some kind of runoff catch so I can do flush or water til run off, in the room. I know the RO system will cure my ills, just wanted to see if I can top yields by reducing the calcium and salt build up. Hemp I can't say for sure that my problems were due to salt build because it was such a lovely harvest of trichrome covered sticky buds, just want to have a go at it again to see if I can do better. The water here comes from natural springs...my home faucets have to be wiped down daily to keep the white calcium build up from crusting up. I got my system down really tight now and I want to thank all you guys and gals for your in put. I started reading in 2008, started my room in 2009 and after extensive reading and learning I have to say i'm getting pretty good at this stuff now For the newbies...READ READ READ and LISTEN!!!.