Now what?

[Scrappy4]

OK I finally got a meter, it's a hanna duel meter that does ph and tds/ppm.

Here's what I'm dealing with. My plants are in flower now for 4 weeks, today. Two have been turning yellow since week two in flower. One has just started turning yellow and one seems alright.

In the past three weeks I have watered till they leak out water, every three days. (mini flushes, due to my physical limitations) The last three waterings have been phd to 5.5 with citric acid added to ph7 water. They are budding/sugaring, but not at the rates I have come to expect from these lines.

Background, This is my first attempt to use recycled soil. I re-amended my soil at the original rates and also added lime (34% cal and 4% mag) plus some epsom salt.

I feel my soil was too hot and too alkaline. Evidenced by slow growth in veg, and now the yellowing.

My first metering showed a ph of 7.6 from run off. I watered with water ph'd to 5.5, then came back in an hour or so and watered till there was run off, the run of was 7.6. The parts per million was 354, or an EC of .7.

Now giving all that how to proceed? I have earth juice grow/bloom/catalyst. micro blast available, plus GH marine and indonesian bat guano and mexican bat guano. I'm thinking using the EJ bloom with a little grow @ 1000ppm or an EC of 2. But am willing to listen to advice of those who have been there and rescued their crop......scrappy

 

[Microbeman]

Hey Scrappy,

What was your original soil mix? Did it already have lime added? (lime lasts a long long time; AFAIK) What did you re-amend with? How large are your containers? Why are you providing so much water? Are your containers extra heavy?

 

[Scrappy4]

Hey Scrappy,

What was your original soil mix? Did it already have lime added? (lime lasts a long long time; AFAIK) What did you re-amend with? How large are your containers? Why are you providing so much water? Are your containers extra heavy?

My original mix was pro mix with the blood/bone/kelp mixed with lime at 3 cups per 3.8 cf of pro mix, and 1.5 cups of epsom salt, and a good measure of EWC. When this was used and rested, I added more EWC the meals listed, and a small amount of guano, both mexican for growth and indonesion for bloom.

The plants are in 5 gallon smart pots and in a grow box under a scrog. My old fused back/scrog makes it difficult to take out a plant and do a proper flush, hence the mini flushes. I believe the mini flushes have helped, or maybe it was the low ph water, but they have still green bud leafs, the fan leafs continue to yellow. I flushed (mini) to try to wash out excess ferts/lime. BTW these are 8 week plants, 4 weeks in flower.

In late veg I mistook the slow growth as a lack of N. I added some mexican guano in a slurry and quickly got N burn, since then I added EWC tea once and straight water mostly....scrappy

 

[Warped1]

I think Microbe is right, seems like a lot of water.

 

[Scrappy4]

I think Microbe is right, seems like a lot of water.

Maybe, but I doubt it. I have been giving them a good drink every three to four days. And I do check first. And the yellowing started before I did the mini flushes. I normaly give each plant a smaller drink every other day or so. I,ve had several nice grows in with the same methods, minus the used/re amended soil. But whatever the cause, what to do now, is the problem, I have a good idea where I messed up. But am looking for advice on how to go forward, with what I have now....thanks.......scrappy

 

[Microbeman]

Well I guess the main thing is to grow your flowers. Do they indeed need salvaging or are they looking alright? You say the bud (flower) leaves are still green. If the flowers are continuing to put on weight maybe you don't need to worry as long as there is no pathogen or pest pressure. If I were you I would not be watering for the sake of flushing. If there is anything to flush, you probably already got it. How many weeks did you flower previously? If you compare the flower appearance/size is it similar to what you saw previously at 4 weeks?

One thing that you pretty much cannot go wrong with is topdressing with an EWC (vermicompost) slurry unless you got some real bad worm shit. I usually mix in a little sphagnum peat moss (if you have any). It is like a microbial comfort food and kinda cures many ills.

I'd like to hear where you believe you went wrong and lets try to set something up right for next time.

 

[Scrappy4]

Compared with other grows, I,d say these are slightly more than half weight buds at this time. I have been averaging around 4 plus oz per on this line. I,d like to turn this grow around with the time i have left. I realize that might not happen. I agree now that the run off is light,it may be time to back off the mini flushes. i,m thinking Ej bloom for the ferts and the low ph. And I,m working on a fungal tea. Where did I go wrong? With re amending the used soil with too many amendments and too much lime, not knowing my tap water has changed from 6.5 to 8 from last year, to sometime this fall, I mostly ran rainwater all summer. Scrappy