SubGirl’s Garden

[SubmarineGirl]

most spiders in the garden is a good thing


I hope you get your soil Ph figured out





17th Apr, 2020
Himanshu Verma
G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar
Natural reason of soil acidity or extremely lower pH is rainfall...in area recieving ample amount of rainfall whereby all the base forming cations like Ca Mg K and Na leaches down beyond the root zone and accumulation of hydrogen ions...but it take longer period of time to make soil acidic...another reason of low pH is type and kind of parent materials by which soil is being formed like basalt, granite etc accordingly soil will become acidic or basic
There are again some of the management aspects by which pH may get reduced or tends towards acidity ..addition of organic matter also bring down soil pH as after decomposition of organic matter, secretion of some acids lead to lowering soil pH...
Another might be type and kind of chemical fertilizers application in the soil, example if we are going to apply ammonical fertilizers, as its residual product is acid, which make soil acidic, however application of nitrate fertilizers cause enhancement of soil pH value towards basicity....
Another reason might be deficiencies of certain base forming cations like Ca, Mg K etc, by which there will be lack of hydrogen ions as well as Fe, Mn etc...and if soil is rich in Fe mineral, then Fe will compete with Ca and Mg compound, thereby they got precipitated...hence reduce soil pH...

Again there are many more factors which are responsible for lowering soil pH...

Thanx big. I hope to get a hold of the PH thing in the indoor plants. Hopefully they will get a second chance in the new pots With new dirt and perlite in a couple days. It still seems kinda odd to me that you can break the cycle with higher ph water without putting the plants into somewhat of a shock doing so.
Yes I love spiders around my place except the one that makes that giant web somehow during the night across the back door for me to walk thru when I let my pup out ever morning. She must work her a$$ of building that web. I don’t like spider web on my face at least first thing in the morning anyway.

 

[SubmarineGirl]

Is that the recipe, just mg twice as big and perlite? No other additives?

MG I’m sure has built in nutes. If it’s like fox farm soil it should last a while without feeding after transplant perhaps all the way into flower and MG has flower nutes as well. So I will
Probably just water and calmag and continue to check my PH runoff. If I continue to have ph problems I may go with naked organic dirt and perlite home mix recipe next time. I’ve been doing some reading on it but I’m not ready yet and my plants are so MG it is this time around

 

[pute]

Took the plants outside to give them a little flush with high ph water until I finally got a run off of just over 6.0. Started with PH 7.0 then filled the bucket again with PH 8.0. Had to run 3 gallons of water thru plants two quarts at a time before I got a run off of just around 6.0. Decided that was enough for now. Will check them again at next feeding. This was my first attempt of trying to adjust the PH. Don’t understand why the PH is low tho…

Hmmm, I have never had to try and raise my pH. Wondering what you are doing to have that issue. My pH always rises. I have to use 1/4 tsp of pH down every time I feed/water to keep my pH between 6.0 and 6.5. I do use some pretty expensive soil (ProMix) and mix 30% perlite. I also put 1" of perlite to both the top and bottom of the pot to keep things dry on top and drained on the bottom.

 

[SubmarineGirl]

Hmmm, I have never had to try and raise my pH. Wondering what you are doing to have that issue. My pH always rises. I have to use 1/4 tsp of pH down every time I feed/water to keep my pH between 6.0 and 6.5. I do use some pretty expensive soil (ProMix) and mix 30% perlite. I also put 1" of perlite to both the top and bottom of the pot to keep things dry on top and drained on the bottom.

I’m like you Pute, I have to lower my sink water from just around 7.0 to around 6.5 every time I water. It seems now that if I would use my sink water at 7.0 ish, it should take care of the problem. I’ve never been one to measure runoff but now that I’m measuring it I’m surprised it’s low.
I’m starting to wonder is it the FF happy frog. That soil gets right with your pocketbook too but I switched from ocean forest soil after everyone complained it was burning up their plants. I never had a problem with that so I probably shouldn’t have switched over to the happy frog. I don’t use a lot of nutes or additives and depend on that good soil to provide nutes to my plants between transplants. I do use fox farm nutes but don’t go crazy with them just feeding the last few weeks of veg and thru flower. I also add cal mag every other water. I will add perlite to the bottom and top of the soil tho that’s a good tip as I do wonder if the roots are soggy down there. Also I’m going back to the 5 gallon plastic nursery pots as I’m not sure how much I’m loving the cloth pots. They do seem to work ok outside tho. Maybe I will put a little dirt in first then a layer of perlite so the perlite don’t leach into my drain pan. Thanks for the perlite tip

 

[Hippie420]

^^^

Hmmm, I have never had to try and raise my pH. Wondering what you are doing to have that issue. My pH always rises. I have to use 1/4 tsp of pH down every time I feed/water to keep my pH between 6.0 and 6.5. I do use some pretty expensive soil (ProMix) and mix 30% perlite. I also put 1" of perlite to both the top and bottom of the pot to keep things dry on top and drained on the bottom.

If you ever want to save money and get a better product,

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/s...ent-washes-detergents?&srch=milkstone remover
Same stuff, a little more concentrated, and works the same 'cause it's the same shit. If you use a quarter tsp, start out with an eighth and work up.

 

[Kraven]

Nice thread, only advice I can add is cannabis doesn't like wet feet...I also believe in a pH drift but I'm hydro...I use coco chunk as a medium and its and old CAP Ebb / Flow 18 bucket system's. I set her at 5.7 and let her ease through 6.2 then its time for a rez change, drift takes about 10-12 days. I use an ATO system that tops the feeding rez off each day...thats what gives me the natural drift so I hit the sweet spot for each element. I would also suggest adding 1 tsp of MgSo4 [epsom salt]...pure magnesium without the Cal molecule attached. at the flip and for two weeks after as she will need masive amounts of MgSo4. that will put you in excellent shape for epic buds and a heavier harvest. I know your feeding soil, so don't want to suggest anything that will kill the microbes in the soil. Overall i was impressed, sounds to me like you are moving along like a pro.

 

[MechaniMan]

Dolomite lime is a ph buffer and will make you neutral at 7, everywhere I read that is repeated over and over. Just use as directed like everything else so not to burn your plants.

 

[SubmarineGirl]

Nice thread, only advice I can add is cannabis doesn't like wet feet...I also believe in a pH drift but I'm hydro...I use coco chunk as a medium and its and old CAP Ebb / Flow 18 bucket system's. I set her at 5.7 and let her ease through 6.2 then its time for a rez change, drift takes about 10-12 days. I use an ATO system that tops the feeding rez off each day...thats what gives me the natural drift so I hit the sweet spot for each element. I would also suggest adding 1 tsp of MgSo4 [epsom salt]...pure magnesium without the Cal molecule attached. at the flip and for two weeks after as she will need masive amounts of MgSo4. that will put you in excellent shape for epic buds and a heavier harvest. I know your feeding soil, so don't want to suggest anything that will kill the microbes in the soil. Overall i was impressed, sounds to me like you are moving along like a pro.

I agree about wet feet. My plants do best when I let them dry out till almost gasping for water then I water them just till I see a drop of runoff How far apart are Cal and Mag on the PH chart. Never tried epsom salt does that help the acidity? This is my first PH adjustment ever. I feel I drowned my girls today washing the low PH out of them but I did finally get a higher reading at least one that will accept the cal mag. The plant look pretty healthy and only showed cal mag deficiency in the most senior leaves which are thick and harder. I left the leaves on for now in case the plants are still using them but will trim and clean them up a bit when I repot them.

 

[Bubba]

I’m checking this runoff early as I had a problem in the last grow with my plants not accepting the cal mag I was giving them. Perhaps due to low PH but I’m not sure yet. Want to get a hold of the ph this grow. The first time I checked runoff in my last grow was in the 5th week of flower when I had the problem. Pute reminded me that I should be checking this on occasion but it was to late in the 5th week to do anything about it. That plant (ms ugly I called her) had great solid buds but was crispy sugarleaves covering the entire plant.

I had a plant act up like that. Stopped getting taller for a while, had a stunted look to it. The lower fan leaves got knarly fat leaf blades. The upper fans sort of rolled up on the edges. All the fans one by one turned yellow, then died from the tip on. At 8 weeks, it was just buds on a stick, literally. Pretty sure a virous does this. Better wear a mask! Like most funky phenos I grow out, this one smells very good! They are usually really strong, too

Bubba

 

[Bubba]

I'd smoke her

You would smoke a snake if someone would hold the head, right,? .

Bubba

 

[Bubba]

You folks using MG should be happy that the Old Guard are gone. You'd be tied to a makeshift plywood pillory and beaten with a wet scampi for your hearsay.

They used to cringe when I mentioned I used MG nutes in my hydro. Guess growing kick ass buds on the cheap upset 'em.
View attachment 297167

In the day, I built a shallow water culture hydro unit from Overgrow. I used hydro nutes sold for growing tomatoes. Worked great. Never ph'd anything. Used distilled water and half tap water.

Bubba

 

[Kraven]

Put up some pic's of the leaves and one of the whole plant, sounds to me like you have other issues ad well, low pH is usually an accumulation of salts, feed then water the water then feed again...let them dry between water / feed cycles. I'm curious about the leaves, and the whole plant pic, it will tell me a bunch about whats going on in your garden. If you dont mind, I dont want to stick my nose where it doesn't belong, just thought I would add my perspective?

 

[Kraven]

@Carty hey tell ol Argo to come the **** over here and lets get posting and get some of the our old friends together, he is a good friend and an awesome grower. Plus he is not the ******* I am lol..


sorry didnt mean to mess up your grow journal...I know better and cant delete the damn post and put in the Bunker where I want it...very sorry.

 

[Carty]

@Carty hey tell ol Argo to come the **** over here and lets get posting and get some of the our old friends together, he is a good friend and an awesome grower. Plus he is not the ******* I am lol..


sorry didnt mean to mess up your grow journal...I know better and cant delete the damn post and put in the Bunker where I want it...very sorry.

Ah, no reason to apologize buddy... you and I have already been thru enough in life to worry about the petty ok.. post here anytime, we're friends forever bro.. you know my health so it's one thing I understand, how it can change people from day to day, the stress at times is unbearable huh? so on here, we don't sweat the little stuff no mo.. hehe.

Argo is going thru some times atm. if you know him well you know one thing he battles and he's losing atm. he's on OG with me but has not posted in months but was very regular. We talk on the phone and I hear it in his voice.. we go way back, did all his art work for his Argo's Garden stickers and how we met.. he runs a lot of my Autos..

I'll call him tomorrow while he's at work...

 

[Carty]

apologies Submarinegirl for yacking on your thread... and YES... it IS the dang Happy Frog soil, I just gave all mine to Ladybug for her outdoor plants.. why you ask. Grrrrrrr. stunted growth, dries out overnight, plants do NOT like it.. some of my worst veg growth in years.. I spoke with the guy I got it from and he's been getting complaints.. I told him, don't sell it as an indoor soil used for containers..

I went to up pot 4 feminized plants stunted in this garbage.. 1 made it. Never had this happen, as I removed the soil ball from the pot and went to set it down into the larger pot, it all crumbled, fell apart and exposed almost no roots.
I was so pissed when it happened 3 out of 4 times. stressing a plant like that this early, might as well move on.. I could hear the roots being ripped as it fell apart, what roots there were.. usually these pots are almost root bound at 3wks old and I have big big lovely plants.. these looked 10 days old at 21..

I just started 4 Gabagoo 2, a strain I've only released in it's other form Gabagoo. It's an auto and #2 was my baby..
Only got 4 seeds off of her and these are them. Started these in Foxfarm Strawberry Fields. stuff is the bomb. A
mushroom compost you'll actually get toadstools at times from spores in the mix..

get rid of that Happy Frog stuff

 

[WeedHopper]

I'm done with FF soils. I'll stick to my MG.

 

[WeedHopper]

I was actually just looking into beneficial microbes the other day. It wasn't EM-1 but some other brand they had at the store. I've been really interested in adding things like that to the soil, something I will try on some upcoming grows. I watch a lot of documentaries on nature and how things interact with each other so I know that microbes and other things help plants in spectacular ways.
Have you ever heard of anybody adding live earthworms to their soil? It was just an idea I had thought maybe it would be good for the plants. I was even tossing the idea around in my head of in the future ordering some type of beneficial fungus to help the soil. I don't know if any of these things will work and it is something I have yet to study up on but I got all the time in the world so...

Yes earth worms are great in your garden if your growing natural. They don't care for man made fertilizers though so it has to be organic and all natural. Chemical ferts will drive them away or kill them.
Chemical fertilizers create hostile conditions for earthworms and other helpful garden organisms, as they tend to make soil more acidic.

 

[oldfogey8]

Yes earth worms are great in your garden if your growing natural. They don't care for man made fertilizers though so it has to be organic and all natural. Chemical ferts will drive them away or kill them.
Chemical fertilizers create hostile conditions for earthworms and other helpful garden organisms, as they tend to make soil more acidic.

Will hitting my vegetable garden with MG from time to time kill off the worms? I hit my garden earlier this week with some MG(foliar/drench) They seemed to enjoy it. I would think an occasional dosing would be diluted by the rain and regular waterings. I know the soil is pretty well populated with worms at this point. I see a bunch of them in every hole I dug to plant my seedlings.

 

[SubmarineGirl]

Put up some pic's of the leaves and one of the whole plant, sounds to me like you have other issues ad well, low pH is usually an accumulation of salts, feed then water the water then feed again...let them dry between water / feed cycles. I'm curious about the leaves, and the whole plant pic, it will tell me a bunch about whats going on in your garden. If you dont mind, I dont want to stick my nose where it doesn't belong, just thought I would add my perspective?

your opinion is very welcome on my page and thank you so much for commenting.
First pic is of my veg tent situation I have five plants including a little baby girl trying to catch up to the grow which I planted way later than the other girls. They have been waiting for the flower tent to be available. I just harvested my last plant yesterday and plan to do some cleaning in the tent before the girls go in there.
the leaves that appear to need cal mag are the next ones. You can see the overall health of these plants are good. I’m trying to stay ahead of the game on the PH issue as I was to late in my clone grow to do anything about it (week 5 flower) when it appeared the clone grow was not responding to the calmag. I did check at that time and the PH runoff was low like it is on this new grow I’m thinking it has to do with the FF happy frog now maybe gets to acidic for pot plants. The epson salt does not sound like a bad idea but I want to learn the cause of the problem.
fyi the temp/humidity in my veg tent runs about 84F/64% I am running a MARS hydro 2000at 50%. These plants are all ready for LST and getting ready for flower

 

[SubmarineGirl]

apologies Submarinegirl for yacking on your thread... and YES... it IS the dang Happy Frog soil, I just gave all mine to Ladybug for her outdoor plants.. why you ask. Grrrrrrr. stunted growth, dries out overnight, plants do NOT like it.. some of my worst veg growth in years.. I spoke with the guy I got it from and he's been getting complaints.. I told him, don't sell it as an indoor soil used for containers..

I went to up pot 4 feminized plants stunted in this garbage.. 1 made it. Never had this happen, as I removed the soil ball from the pot and went to set it down into the larger pot, it all crumbled, fell apart and exposed almost no roots.
I was so pissed when it happened 3 out of 4 times. stressing a plant like that this early, might as well move on.. I could hear the roots being ripped as it fell apart, what roots there were.. usually these pots are almost root bound at 3wks old and I have big big lovely plants.. these looked 10 days old at 21..

I just started 4 Gabagoo 2, a strain I've only released in it's other form Gabagoo. It's an auto and #2 was my baby..
Only got 4 seeds off of her and these are them. Started these in Foxfarm Strawberry Fields. stuff is the bomb. A
mushroom compost you'll actually get toadstools at times from spores in the mix..

get rid of that Happy Frog stuff

Thanks for the response. It helps to gather all the information I can from real experienc. You can find good and bad just searching the internet when making a decision much easier going with actual experience. im kinda leaning away from FF even the strawberry fields but would love to watch how it does for you this time in case I want to try