taged.
-
Happy Birthday ICMag! Been 20 years since Gypsy Nirvana created the forum! We are celebrating with a 4/20 Giveaway and by launching a new Patreon tier called "420club". You can read more here.
-
Important notice: ICMag's T.O.U. has been updated. Please review it here. For your convenience, it is also available in the main forum menu, under 'Quick Links"!
S
SooperSmurph
I would say that the OF i've been getting runs between 27 and 35 percent perlite, depending on exact composition of that batch, it definitely isn't turning into mud as you fellas have been describing, my pots end up almost as saturated with roots as the plants grown in Royal Gold Tupur, perhaps just slightly less so, but that Tupur is some amazing stuff.
S
SooperSmurph
Plants are being shifted into flower on Monday, April 1st, and no it isn't a joke 
The Ocean Forest examples remain ahead in overall growth, but since being moved into larger containers the examples in the other two mediums have sped up a bit, making flowering them all at the same time feasible, YAY!
The Amazon Bloom examples are healthy and happy, and catching up with their Ocean Forest counterparts.
The Black Gold examples have outgrown the tendency for lower leaf yellowing that was present when they were in smaller containers, they were also not topped so as to allow their vertical growth to even out with the other two sets, they were topped shortly after this picture and if they don't quite look as happy as i'd like I may push back the flowering date to the 2nd or 3rd of April.
Stay tuned! It's getting good!
The Ocean Forest examples remain ahead in overall growth, but since being moved into larger containers the examples in the other two mediums have sped up a bit, making flowering them all at the same time feasible, YAY!
The Amazon Bloom examples are healthy and happy, and catching up with their Ocean Forest counterparts.
The Black Gold examples have outgrown the tendency for lower leaf yellowing that was present when they were in smaller containers, they were also not topped so as to allow their vertical growth to even out with the other two sets, they were topped shortly after this picture and if they don't quite look as happy as i'd like I may push back the flowering date to the 2nd or 3rd of April.
Stay tuned! It's getting good!
S
SooperSmurph
The game is afoot, all 9 example plants have been placed in a flowering room!
looking forward to the show! 
Thank you for the great controlled experiment! Im sure lots of people are going to be reading this one.
S
SooperSmurph
Progress continues, the plants are just about to start seriously spitting out pistils, so they'll receive their last dose of heavy chems (Eagle 20, Floramite) in a couple days, leaving weeks 2-9 of flower free of any sprays besides Green Cure and Mighty Wash.
The room they're in is currently undercrowded, so the plants are in pairs under the 1000W lights rather than groups of three or four, resulting in the images you see in which the groups are mixed, however, clear labeling shall keep the data pure and helpful.
The room they're in is currently undercrowded, so the plants are in pairs under the 1000W lights rather than groups of three or four, resulting in the images you see in which the groups are mixed, however, clear labeling shall keep the data pure and helpful.
SS;
Risking the exposure of my ignorance.... why are you adjusting the mix of the soils, when doing a comparison?
It seems almost as crazy (to me), as doing a feeding program, while testing organically proportioned mixes?
I'm liking what you are doing in this experiment..... just trying to understand what it is exactly you are 'testing'.
Give me some help in understanding what the testing parameters are.
I don't want to seem trollish here... just don't get it.thx
2lc
S
SooperSmurph
Perlite is a universal factor, and growing a plant in a medium which has 0% perlite, or just 15% perlite like the Black Gold, would be an definite recipe for failure and not provide any kind of true comparison in performance.SS;
Risking the exposure of my ignorance.... why are you adjusting the mix of the soils, when doing a comparison?
It seems almost as crazy (to me), as doing a feeding program, while testing organically proportioned mixes?
I'm liking what you are doing in this experiment..... just trying to understand what it is exactly you are 'testing'.
Give me some help in understanding what the testing parameters are.
thx
2lc
All three are soils, Ocean Forest is ready to use out of the bag for the purposes of this experiment, while BG and AB both required additional perlite. Not sure why you find this offputting, unless you simply wanted these plants to die in wet mud?
If indeed, this is the case, then 2 of the products are already disqualified as 'an inappropriate mix', for potting?
Not so much off putting as seemingly not really a test of 'products'?
Or am i incorrect in my ASSumption that the bags are labeled as 'Potting Soil'? In reality I would probably do the same as you, but then again I'm with you in asking. How long are you comfortable in just watering? Without feeding.
I do understand, and I myself use additional nutrients during the grow cycle, to get 'just a bit more'. But the 'feeding' program, is another fly in the ointment of 'testing' the 'potting soils', isn't it?
Might be a better thing (as long as you don't mind not running at the max nut. level) to 'water only', until the plants show signs of 'low nutrient' levels? Just thoughts that came to mind in reading your thread.
Not meaning to be negative. More a presentation of proactive thoughts that might contribute to the testing procedures.
By the way I stand corrected on the Amazon.... I blew up the pic and don't see "Potting Soil" on the bag. So I'd have to say that amendments are in order.
The Black Gold does however label itself as 'Potting Soil', leading me do believe that changing the mix (while needful probably), Isn't conducive to a 'level' playing field.
Not meaning to be negative. But I'm sure you know enough about the Nut. lines that you could grow in Coco, spagnum moss, and or perlite 'straight up' and not miss a lick. lol
And by th' by, I do and did, rate your thread as a '5'. Just to let you know I'm Not meaning to be a detractor.
The Black Gold does however label itself as 'Potting Soil', leading me do believe that changing the mix (while needful probably), Isn't conducive to a 'level' playing field.
Not meaning to be negative. But I'm sure you know enough about the Nut. lines that you could grow in Coco, spagnum moss, and or perlite 'straight up' and not miss a lick. lol
And by th' by, I do and did, rate your thread as a '5'. Just to let you know I'm Not meaning to be a detractor.
S
SooperSmurph
I don't have problems putting a "ready to use" side by side with something that only needs perlite amendment, considering that, as stated by posters here, some people even add perlite to Ocean Forest and other mixes I consider "ready to use".
By adding perlite to a level that achieved consistency between the three soil brands, we're able to judge the soils based on factors like their ph stability, how they respond to the feeding schedule, how well they retain water now that drainage is equalized, etc
As far as the feeding schedule, the plants receive mostly water throughout Veg, and then they start receiving larger amounts of nutrients in flower, attempts along the lines of what you suggested have often resulted in deficiencies too extensive to be reversed, so we came up with this feeding program as a response.
This soil trial was not entirely my doing, if I had my way i'd be growing in lovely clean coco right now, but will from above is what it is.
By adding perlite to a level that achieved consistency between the three soil brands, we're able to judge the soils based on factors like their ph stability, how they respond to the feeding schedule, how well they retain water now that drainage is equalized, etc
As far as the feeding schedule, the plants receive mostly water throughout Veg, and then they start receiving larger amounts of nutrients in flower, attempts along the lines of what you suggested have often resulted in deficiencies too extensive to be reversed, so we came up with this feeding program as a response.
This soil trial was not entirely my doing, if I had my way i'd be growing in lovely clean coco right now, but will from above is what it is.
lol Kinda what I thought on the coco preference.
And I'd have to say that since we're allowing that people have mix preferences..... I'd just as soon by a bag of Perlite for cheap as to buy it at 'potting soil' prices.
Just say'n.It's all good.
S
SooperSmurph
Meh, coulda gone over to American Clay Works and gotten a better price per cuft, but the bag I bought came from just 2 blocks away, and was the size I needed, rather than leaving me wondering what to do with all that extra perlite.
SS
I know dirt farming is not your cup o tea. But I'm glad you're taking the time.
I've not done enough gardening to know what the bags have in them. So it's good to have tests and comments like your's to help in the decision making process.
I don't have your patience or attention to detail, for doing Hydro.... Some years ago I didn't pay attention and blew up a couple hundred gallons of Marine Fish. Bummer.
thx again
I know dirt farming is not your cup o tea. But I'm glad you're taking the time.
I've not done enough gardening to know what the bags have in them. So it's good to have tests and comments like your's to help in the decision making process.
I don't have your patience or attention to detail, for doing Hydro.... Some years ago I didn't pay attention and blew up a couple hundred gallons of Marine Fish. Bummer.
thx again
S
SooperSmurph
It used to be, there used to be a thick black layer beneath my nails which never went away, I made my own blend with my own fertilizers, and fed with only water through harvest, but I never achieved the blend of numbers and quality that i've gotten in well made coco-mixes, quality would always win over yield in traditional soils.
Flora mite and eagle 20 that late in flowering seems a bit sketchy. Ive run 1ml per gallon of eagle with pro tekt a week BEFORE flowering and you NEVER see pm. Most people over do it. Flora mite is nasty stuff. So is gravity(pgr). Not trying to offend you but if you spray eagle 20 and flora mite that late into flowering along with the use of a pgr(ever) i hope its only for personal consumtion and no medical community is being told this product is "medicine". Eagle 20 can stay in a plants system for a long time and pgrs have secondary metabolites that never diappear. Pgrs are bad bad news. Just a heads up. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a13Y-0qEmRc&feature=plpp check that out
S
SooperSmurph
Day 10 of 12/12, too late?
The plants at that point have just started producing the beginnings of flowers, some of the slower growing strains are still only stretching at that point.
Did you see the number 2-9 and just go insane? I understand if so.
The fellow running the patient cooperative actually instructed me to perform the Eagle/Floramite spray on day 28 of flower (his day 14 spray included Tetrasyn and Avid), this was too late for me, as apparently day 10 is too late for you, I respect your opinion, as I respect that of the man running the coop, but I make the following conclusion / observation:
If the herb is once again safe enough for pests to colonize (barring immunity gained from improper spraying) odds are that this is an indicator that larger creatures will be safe coming into contact with / consuming said herb as well. At the end of my growing cycle, pests / mold are returning to my plants only to be shut down by a late flower combo of Mighty Wash and Green Cure.
Do you have actual experience using these products, or is this information just something you're sharing?
Yes Gravity was removed from the market
but the matter is not resolved, and new debate emerges daily. On Paclo: the data being used to push for laws against this substance is not particularly scientific or helpful, test animals were directly fed many (if not hundreds of) times the amount you would give to a plant, so, imagine what happened? They got cancer.Retailer said:
No helpful data exists upon the presence of Paclobutrazol in combusted, vaporized, or concentrated smokables, the only data relates to direct consumption, and that data bears the flaw of the massive overdoses given to the test subjects.
Products like BudXL, touted by many as amazing, have been accused of having hidden PGRs in their recipes, but instead of just blindly shouting "danger" every time we hear something bad, it seems like we can use data from the field to reach more advanced conclusions.
So, again, experience? Instead of sitting in judgement, perhaps share something useful?
