don't know how I'm doing

[Country_Boy]

okay thanks alot im going to do that today when i get home, does any1 know the correct ratio for the epsom salt in water?

thanks alot

 

[Mutt]

foliar feed the plants with 1/4 tspn of Epsom salts per quart of water as necessary to correct a Mg def.

 

[Country_Boy]

i think im going to have some trouble flushing out my plants. the pots i have only have this hole for airation.. here a few pics

 

[Mutt]

I am so confused. Are you a soil grower or a hydro grower?

If soil. then you need more holes (not that big). If you are hydro (which that pot looks like it is for hydro res connection.

You need to be very specific now. Click that link in my sig. help us help you and post the answers to the questions you can answer.

edit:
I see your a soil grower. That big hole doesn't do squat.
You need to put a bunch of holes at the bottom and the sides. I bet you ten to one that you have a mudpit in the bottom of the pot. Your PH and "nUt" (there you go stoney LOL) are totally out of wack. Drainage is key in a soil grow. You will get root-rot in a skinny minute without drainage.

 

[Stoney Bud]

im using tap water, but i put it into a 2L bottle and then let it sit for like 4 days or so before using that water to water the plants.. so by that time all the chlorine is gone from it by then, or so iv been told it should be all gone after sitting out for that amount of time.. do you know if this is right or wrong?
thanks alot i apreciate the help

Totaly wrong.

The chlorine in tap water won't evaporate. You have to counter it with a ph adjustment.

 

[Country_Boy]

1. soil
3. Garden Club- All Purpose Potting Soil
4. i am using 3 sylvania 65w Spot-Gro and 1 sylvania 150w spot-gro
5. inch into soil ph is 7, down farther ph goes up
6. had them for about a couple months but they almost fully died and now i have brought them back to life.. been re-growing for about week or week and a half now.
7. temp is between 78-81 depends on how hot my room is at point and time.
8. grow box is 2 ft by 2 ft by 4ft tall, and have 3 fans blowing the hot hair out of the box, one fan inside to circulate air around.
10. 16/8 light schedual

also for the right water to use, could i just use like.. bottled water? or keep using the tap water i'v been using.

can post pics if you want, just let me know
thanks

 

[Mutt]

I would check those pots first to see if you getting drainage. See my previous post. That would explain the rise in PH as you go down.

I like to buy r/o spring water and use that. It is only a buck a gallon, and no chlorine or other crap that is in Tap water, It's PH is right on the money. If budget is a problem at least buy some of the chlorine remover from the Aquarium shop or wal-mart. and use that.
Any way to avoid excess sodium and other crap that will build up. The plant is already dispelling salt as its own by-product anyway, so you want to reduce salts and other crap as much as you can or you will be flushing more often. Tap water is full of crap. I look at it this way, aquarium fish can't live in it as is, so why would a potted plant do well? I still drink it(rarely), but I don't water my plants with it much.

Here is a link to let you know if you want to use tap water. It also has a link for flouride which is also put into the tap water. R/O spring water is pure. Distilled water has no EC value. It cannot conduct electricity as it is missing the minerals nec. to do this. So unless your using a hydro fert. use spring water.
http://www.mercola.com/2004/nov/13/chlorine_water_cola.htm
Sorry for the long read.

 

[Country_Boy]

okay so i cut another couple holes in the pots, and there is no drainage. just a bit of dirt that fell through.. and on the pot sticker it says those holes are to prevent root rot,and i dont water all that much, once a day and not a tone of water that may be why there is no drainage.. whatever water i put in is getting used up... and so how would i flush out my plants when all there is for drainage is that one little hole.. and could i just use my shower nozzel to flush the plants? or do i have to use the bottled spring water for that?

when you read the other post telling you about my set up, does that all sound somewhat okay?

 

[Mutt]

and on the pot sticker it says those holes are to prevent root rot,

The holes need to be on the bottom and around the sides at the very bottom. Anything below that huge hole won't drain. Pot manuf. are horrible about drainage. I have to drill into every one I buy. (excpet those cheapos, they always have good holes at the bottom).

I put either perlite or river rocks/gravel at the bottom about 2"-3" of the way up (depending on the pot size) . then I get great drainage.

 

[Country_Boy]

okay thanks alot mutt,



so tonite i flushed my pots, went pretty good. all the plants came back from wilting. but on this one some of the lower leaves today before i flushed the pots started going yellow.. why would this be?

 

[Mutt]

When your PH is to high or too low it will lock out nutrients. The nutrients will still be in the soil, but the plant is unable to absorb them. When ever you run into a problem with something that looks like a nutirent deficiency you always check the PH.
Lower yellowing leaves (chlorosis) is typically when there is a nutrient deficiency.. Things that also can cause this is overwatering, improper drainage, and rootbound. Your PH being to high probably locked it out and improper drainage may have compounded this.

Water and fert. next watering. Only water when the soil is dry. not cracking dry. I always put a finger in the bottom holes to see if it is moist. IMHO.

 

[Country_Boy]

okay so i just checked my ph and in that pot is it 7. and in another pot it is 7, then in the other 2 pots it is 6.4. so for the one pot that has the yellowing leaves at the bottom the ph is 7. what would that mean?
i just went to a place to get some fertilizer but they only had miracle grow and some other kind but they didnt have alot, im going to go to one of the local gardening centers tomorrow on my spare.

 

[Insane]

1. soil
3. Garden Club- All Purpose Potting Soil
4. i am using 3 sylvania 65w Spot-Gro and 1 sylvania 150w spot-gro
5. inch into soil ph is 7, down farther ph goes up
6. had them for about a couple months but they almost fully died and now i have brought them back to life.. been re-growing for about week or week and a half now.
7. temp is between 78-81 depends on how hot my room is at point and time.
8. grow box is 2 ft by 2 ft by 4ft tall, and have 3 fans blowing the hot hair out of the box, one fan inside to circulate air around.
10. 16/8 light schedual

also for the right water to use, could i just use like.. bottled water? or keep using the tap water i'v been using.

can post pics if you want, just let me know
thanks

Sounds like your doing a good job bringing those plants back to life, but Im curious about your light schedule. You say your using 16/8 and you are at one and a half weeks of regenerating the plants? If you're are one and a half weeks and you are regenerating those plants then that means that you should be using a vegatative light schedule. Should be 18/6, 20/4, or even 24/0. 16/8 is the Pre-flowering light schedule that most experienced growers use only for dertermining the sex of the plants before separating males from females for flowering.

'IMHO' That being said, right now I suggest that you switch to 18/6. 20/4 and 24/0 and more effective light schedules for vegging, but since you are already using 16/8, switching back to 18/6 is only a 2 hour change and won't set your plants back too much.

Definatly need to sort out that ph issue as well, but it sounds like Mutt has you sorted out there. Good luck and keep us posted!

PS Always post pics! Thats really the only way we can help. You know what they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

 

[Insane]

Ahhh sorry Country Boy you posted your last post as I was typing up my last post and couldn't respond to your latest post..whew confusing..nevermind..

6.4 is a good ph. 6.5 should be your ph for all your plants. A ph of 7 and yellowing leaves tells all, ph is too high. Level off that ph at 6.5 and you should be good to grow.

PS Good to grow? Did I just make up a new saying? Nah..Somebody must've said that before me and I'm just a droned idiot. Anybody?

Drunk + Stoned = Droned

 

[Country_Boy]

sorry Insane i typed in my light schedual wrong, it is 18/6, i go from 5:45am-11:45pm is how my timer is set up at. sorry for the confusion as i typed it in wrong. and i just got your newest post as im typing this one in so how would i go about getting my ph of 7 down to 6.5?

 

[Mutt]

Miracle grow is crap.
That yellowing is caused by the problems before flushing. Your soil is good now. Now get some fert. I would start another thread and get some input on fertilizer. I order mine online Dyna-gro brand by the gallon (about 20 bucks for my veg and 20 bucks for my flower stage). The good stuff only uses on average a 1/4 of tsp. per gallon of water so it last a long time.

Yeah 7 is on the high side (it isn't any where near as bad as it was so that is a plus., Hard tap water is probably the cause. I would water with good water from now on. I think if you flush those that are up to 7 a little more with good water you should be set.

you can use Phosphoresic acid to get the PH down, but at 7 at the bottom of the pot. I think your one the hairy edge of lockout but not quite yet.

 

[Country_Boy]

okay thanks alot for all your help mutt i appreciate it lets just hope im on the right track now.