balancing soil?

[scott88]

so I bought some eb stone ednas best soil. heres a link to the original thread.
http://www.greenpassion.org/f18/e-b-...ng-soil-17835/

I would like to stay organic with my adjustments btw.

I picked up 5 clones on 12/10. they are not really growing or looking very good in general so I picked up some testing supplies that I shouldve gotten in the first place.

I tested PH of the raw soil in the bag - it came to a hair over 7.0 so like 7.1-7.2 idk cause its a lil hard to tell on an analog tester.

I then tested each of my plants. the best looking plant tested at 7.0 but the other 4 ranged all the way to 9.0!!! that cannot be good.

I did add some bone meal in the start and maybe i added too much? I have not added anything else but pure distilled water - which I now know can be a problem. the last watering was given with RO water from the store.

I picked up some small square containers for my next transplant which I was going to do in a week or so. I figured I better go ahead and just transplant them now with more balanced soil instead of waiting because they are so far out.

My question is how do you go about making the soil more balanced?

I have some bone meal but I cant remember if that lowers or raises the PH and Ill search now while Im waiting for a response.

I do realize that my water can affect the soil as well so Im going to go test that now and report back.

[scott88]

I just tested the water Ive been using and the old water tested out at low 6.0 like 6.2ish. The new water tested closer to 6.5. so that should be gtg right?

[Mr.Moonbiscuit]

the 9 is way way too high 6.2 is good closer to 5.5 is better IMO im no good at fixing problems with ph so i will let someone else help you there.

[scott88]

thanks for the quick reply...
I figure Ill transplant them in the normal soil mix and then lower the PH with a tea or something along those lines.... I imagine that 7.0 soil is better than 9.0 lol.

[scott88]

well I transplanted the flowers into the new containers with just soil mix and perlite. they all PH'd to 7.0 and I hope thats not too much of a jump from where they were before. I was surprised at how much the roots were developed though, and they looked as full as the little flowers you get at the store to plant in the garden....so maybe theyll be ok. If not....well at least my room is set up now lol.

[karmabud]

get rid of the analog ph tester . i have one sitting here right now and the difference in accuracy is a 2 point swing . my plants wouldnt do anything when i was using the cheap ph meter , now im still having trouble but it has nothing to do with ph . just get a digital ph meter and read the ph of the runoff after a flush to get an idea of whats happening in your soil .
i assume your using a probe style ph meter , yeah they suck . lol

[scott88]

^^ I was just thinking this morning that for what I paid for the analog tester, and a water PH set....I couldve just got the digital meter and used it for both. Ill prolly return the sets today and get the digital meter.

[Sprocket]

no substitue for good equipment.

thanks for that tip karmabud, i didn't realize there was such a difference. good to know.

[scott88]

well I picked up a good digi tester and my distilled water that Ive been using Ph'd right at 6.2 so that was interesting. thats perfect isnt it?

[Mr.Moonbiscuit]

that is good scott, so how about everything else is it still too high?

[deep[H2O]culture]

Ednas Best is good stuff. It has so much nutrient availability, but not in large quantity's. I used it for a while and just adjusted my nutrient feed schedule to 1/2 or 3/4 strength because of all the stuff in the soil already.

Here are some things you can consider getting after you figure out what your plants are trying to tell you, (or ask from you).

Kelp Meal- provides many micronutrients, provides N, P, K in small amounts.
Worm Castings- Rich in (N) nitrogen, provides SOME micronutrients
(phosphorous)Bat Guano- Provides Phosphorous
Feather Meal- provides a slow-release nitrogen (N) source
Dolomite Lime- Quickly lowers the ph of the soil, provides some calcium (Ca)

This is the fun part of organic gardening I think, all the organics to mix and match to find the perfect fix for your girls. There are many more organic components you can look into, but these are what I have used.

[scott88]

so I made the adjustments last week and got the soil back to neutral, and then added some liquid nutrients to the water I was using.
here are two pics of the same plant. one from last tues the 29th and the other is from today. Id say the plants really liked the adjustments!

my soil is now at 6.2-6.5ish. my nutrient mix was at like 4.9 and it has appeared to lower the soil nicely so I figure Ill water again with the same thing to see how it lowers in the next few days. I dont want to do it too fast right?

thanks for all the help people!

[XBRPete]

Scott, how often are you giving them the nutrient mix and what is it exactly?

[scott88]

Originally Posted by XBRPete

Scott, how often are you giving them the nutrient mix and what is it exactly?

I picked up some flora nova grow and added 1tsp to a gallon of RO water which was the minimum suggested used for the beg stages of veg.

I also added 5mls of thrive alive b-1 root formula to the gallon of RO. that was also the amount suggested for the beg stages of veg.

I added a cal/mag supp as suggested by someone on here when using the RO water. I think it was also 1tsp which is just the general suggested amount for a gallon.

I have only watered with this nutrient solution once and that was last tues the 29th. I have watered with just plain ol RO water since then.

I was thinking of using the nutrient water again since its been a week but was thinking of watering down the mix a bit. I have a half gallon of the nut mix and I was thinking of adding more plain water for this next watering.
what do you guys think?

I know my plants dontn look fabulous yet, but they def made some improvements this past week.

[XBRPete]

They look like they are improving greatly, the new growth looks ok, but I can't see the pics close..

If they did not respond badly after the 29th feeding with your nutrients and the new growth looks good, use it as is. But if anything growing new looks a little "off" from vibrant growth, then water your nutrient solution down to 50% like you suggested.

[scott88]

^^^ good deal and thanks again!

[jangel]

" I have a half gallon of the nut mix and I was thinking of adding more plain water for this next watering. "

You say that you have a half gallon left ??? Is that from your last use?

PLEASE don't save nutes and then use them after stored for a while. It changes the chemistry and can damage your plants. This is why they do not sell many things already mixed together as they react to each other. Every time you use nutes either discard the rest or use them on your house plants. not good to keep them like that.

Also. always check the runnoff to get the ph of your soil. You cannot accurately judge what it is by just jamming the ph meter into the soil. Correct ph for soil is 6.2 to 6.8. as well, everytime you use RO water add the cal/mag. This adds essential micro nutrients to the water that plants need.

Peace and good luck!

[scott88]

Originally Posted by jangel

" I have a half gallon of the nut mix and I was thinking of adding more plain water for this next watering. "

You say that you have a half gallon left ??? Is that from your last use?

PLEASE don't save nutes and then use them after stored for a while. It changes the chemistry and can damage your plants. This is why they do not sell many things already mixed together as they react to each other. Every time you use nutes either discard the rest or use them on your house plants. not good to keep them like that.

Also. always check the runnoff to get the ph of your soil. You cannot accurately judge what it is by just jamming the ph meter into the soil. Correct ph for soil is 6.2 to 6.8. as well, everytime you use RO water add the cal/mag. This adds essential micro nutrients to the water that plants need.

Peace and good luck!

yes that half gallon I spoke of was the left overs from my watering on the 29th. the amounts I was trying to measure were so small I couldn't figure how to measure out such small amounts of nutes and figured if I waste a half teaspoon of nutes it wasnt that big of a deal. Ill trash them and re mix for todays watering.

what is a good method of measuring the run off water from watering? Does it matter if the watering was with or without nutes? I imagine it would since the nute water is significantly lower than just the RO water.

man I need to go pick up some books asap.

I am meeting up again with a friend at the end of the month and she is going to set me out on a lot of this stuff as she was a pretty solid grower at one time....for that reason shes not at liberty to discuss this stuff anymore over the phone or email lol.

[scott88]

I went to my local bookstore and picked up 2 books by george cervantes... the bible, and the shorter condensed version. I read the entire condensed version and the watering and nutrient portions of the bible. From what I gathered in my reading I am pretty sure that I was under watering. I gave my plants a healthy dose of watering tonight mostly so I could easily get a run off number. After about my 3rd plant I got the hang of it and I see how I can use much less water next time. I ended up using about 20oz of water on each plant. I realize this is quite a bit of water and will not use this much in the future.

I mixed up some new nutrient water and took some real measurements. nutrient water was same mix as last time.

here are the numbers I got.

the ph on my nutrient water was 4.25
the soil numbers were taken with a basic analog probe and the water PH numbers were taken with a quality digital HM meter

chem dog #1
soil ph 6.9
run off ph 6.42

chem dog #2
soil 7.0
run off 6.13

chem dog #3
soil 7.0
run off 6.4

These chem dogs are new to my grow but they were large clones with like 2 weeks of growth before I got them. they are taller than all my other plants. They are yellowing a bit and the leaves are now drooping. I have also noticed that there are some deep grooves in the veins of the leaves, which acording to my bible is a nutrient deficiancy.

SFV #1
soil 7.0
run off 6.65

SFV #2
soil 7.0
run off 6.75

mystery plant - this was given to my by the disp and it did not have a name tag on it. It is different than my other plants for sure and it is more of a shorter rounder leave with short branches.

soil 7.0
run off 6.61

these SFV's and the mystery plant were picked up as a clone from a dispensiary on dec 10th. I have also now noticed that the new growth is a touch on the yellow side and the leaves also have deeper viens on the leaves.

anyone want to help me interpret these numbers?

I also have on hand some eb stone organic Sul Po Mag 0-0-20, and a steamed bone meal 1-15-0 that I have been told will lower the PH of my soil. Should I use either of these on top of the soil to help lower PH?

much thanks in advance.

[scott88]

Oh and I also tossed the 2 blackberry kushes. I screwed them the first week and I wanted to try and revive them but that isnt going well. Im a little concerned that they are going to get bugs or mold or something and cause further probs for my other plants. I also was curious to see what the roots looked like, and with one plant I was pleasantly surprised how much root growth it actually had. there were quite a bit of thick white roots wrapping around the bottom of the plant. I saw no signs of blackness or the other signs that I understand to be linked to root rot.