Soil/ph advise

[Astronewt]

Hi, I'll start by telling you what is in my soil. A couple of years ago, I pulled a lot of tall grasses and weeds from the yard after winter and put it all in a pile, after a month or so I stuffed in inside a plastic barrel. After a couple years it had broken down in to a rich compost with small red worms and rollie-polli bugs. My mix cosists of about 40% of the compost and about 60% Black-Cow brand bag soil, and top-dressed with egg shells after planting. Lately I have been using distilled water with molasses, and also just started using Schultz African Violet Plus 8-14-9 because I have nothing better. This is a small girl 4 weeks in to flower.

1. Considering my mix, distilled-water, molasses, and fert-8-14-9 does it sound like I am doing ok?

2. Given my mix,water and feeding, how might this effect my ph?

3. What sort of impact might I expect from excess nitrogen due to the high level of organic matter in the soil during flower?

4. Is using the Schultz a bad idea?

 

[GanjaSnake]

How much of the soil mix do you have left? I'd say transplant her into a larger container using that mix and you probably wouldn't have to feed at all...

 

[Astronewt]

How much of the soil mix do you have left? I'd say transplant her into a larger container using that mix and you probably wouldn't have to feed at all...

I have enough to do that, although I am concerned about stressing her since she is 4 weeks in to flower already. Even one week of stunted growth could possibly reverse any good it might do?

 

[Astronewt]

From another thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Astronewt
3 dollars for ph-up is cheap, but then I need to invest also in some sort of ph test kit :/ I think I will take this back, and get the 10-15-10 formula that is not for African Violets to try and be safe. Hopefully soon I can find some ph tests that work and are cheap.

Thanks

Well it seems I found found the answer to my slight ph/deficiency issue. Tonight I fed with the 7 drop Shultz as I did the other night, then thought to myself I had never really let very much run off out of my pot during the whole 7 weeks of grow. So after feeding, I used about a cup of Distilled water with a small amount of molasses. This led to a mini flush effect that leeched may be a cup of run off. Well after a few hours I looked at them and found the leaves were standing up taller! It seems that I had accumulated nutes/nute-byproducts during these weeks of grow due to not allowing enough run off at least periodically. How ever to my soils defense out of all the ferts/nutes I have offered, including overnight-tap water, none of it has killed the bio in my soil. I can still see a yellow/orange colored mycelium type growth at the base of my pot at the drain holes, and it is healthy looking in its culture. This growth shrinks slightly in between waterings, but picks up rite where it left off after watering again.