Yep but then discovering my key lime jack baby is a huge N hog and has seemingly depleted it from the bu's potting soil I picked up. May have to repot today with my soil, but I'm not fully sure it's fem or male yet so holding off a couple of days before I cull my last 3 seedlings
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Sulfur toxicity and low P issues
- Thread starter Stoobeey
- Start date
Getting ready to send off to Logan labs for. Complete soil test . It's been nearly 4 weeks since amending my bins , bu lt my big plants have bounced back real nice. The smaller girls well the potting soil wasn't hot enough. Plants are trucking thru N, so I'm going to need to up pot to 2 gals today or tomorrow before they get too fucked again lol. Can't wait to be back in my own mix. Gave everyone tea and top dress last night
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This is excellent advice
I guess this was my next logical step improving my soil and grow (it's just for me but the less shit I gotta think about the better).
Be nice knowing I have the right nutrient capacity for water only each time (I'd prefer to keep it to 7gal bags and not push to 10s like some have suggested for minimal living organics). I typically do top dressings end of veg and end of stretch when my soil was doing well. Ive grown some amazing bud since I switched to amended homemade (the chemd and GSC I have now is fantastic).
I guess in the scheme of things in unsure as well as to how to ensure it stays that way each recycle (obviously I'll be running test after I collect from my next run or so before amending)
Once I have my Logan results you'll be able to help me adjust the mix to run water only correct? I was an enviro science major, but having forgotten anything learned
Be nice knowing I have the right nutrient capacity for water only each time (I'd prefer to keep it to 7gal bags and not push to 10s like some have suggested for minimal living organics). I typically do top dressings end of veg and end of stretch when my soil was doing well. Ive grown some amazing bud since I switched to amended homemade (the chemd and GSC I have now is fantastic).
I guess in the scheme of things in unsure as well as to how to ensure it stays that way each recycle (obviously I'll be running test after I collect from my next run or so before amending)
Once I have my Logan results you'll be able to help me adjust the mix to run water only correct? I was an enviro science major, but having forgotten anything learned
Still waiting on my Logan lab results. They said I should get Tuesday (I called today to add the aa8. 2 test). In the meantime time here's a shot of the 7 gal girls after recovery. Planning to flip them to 12/12 Thai weekend. The little guys in veg were potted up to 2 gals for next 4 weeks probably before up potting to final 7s (had to space out flower or I'll run out of space). Jealousy in back is dragging a bit behind but I'll probably flip her anyway
Definitely need help deciphering all of this. One report says cec 6.5 another says 22 so I have no idea where I stand on anything right nowthis is your issue, water only, your soil isn't balanced properly for water only, nor does it have an adequate nutrient density for that. ( CEC 5.3)
The biggest problem is too much mag and potassium in relation to calcium and the complete lack of Micronutrients.
with that mix you need to feed a good balanced fertilizer regime to get good results.
the testing service you used isn't providing all the info you need. I'd suggest you get the K2 test from spectrum or try logan. ask for all values in PPMs and don't provide any crop info. ask for a bulk density test, this gives the proper info on how much mineral to add based on how heavy or light your soil is, weed soil mixes are very light compared to field soil and therefor need less minerals added to achieve balance than a heavy field so would need. you want to add on the AA 8.2 test to get an accurate Calcium reading if you use logan labs, the Spectrum labs K2 test (slownickle's protocol) comes with it included.
this is your posted test plugged into my mineral balancing spreadsheet showing your Cation %'s
Calcium needs to be pushed to about 80- 85% to lower MG, K, and Na values lower.
P and micros need to be raised after you get the proper tests ran, Slow suggests aiming for a CEC of 10 to 12
I can try to help with a soil rec if you get a good test, Slownickle and folks like me who follow his mineral targets prefer Spectrum K2 or K3 tests, everyone else in weed seems to like Logan. you can do the bulk
density at home by drying down the soil mix at 200 degrees in the oven until bone dry, then measure the volume in ml and weight in grams.
View attachment 18837833
don't worry about that, there's only one figure that's important on the AA8.2, the Ca.
next time ask for all results in PPMs.
I need to run this through my spreadsheets later, I can put something up tonight or tomorrow.
look how different the logan test above is from the university test you got before....
next time ask for all results in PPMs.
I need to run this through my spreadsheets later, I can put something up tonight or tomorrow.
look how different the logan test above is from the university test you got before....
How much soil do you have to adjust? are there plants in it still or are you waiting until they finish?
They resent me in PPM . Will post in a minute.
I have 2 nearly full 27gal totes to amend . I do have 5 girls I JUST uppotted to 2gals a cpl days ago into that soil bc the bus potting sucks lol (their compost is great), but they were in need of food badly (always amazed watching then green back up), but obviously they will all be going into 7s in a cpl weeks.
The girls in 7s I flipped to flower yesterday. I'm just top dressing and riding them out (they're a diff batch not included In that analysis ) when I cut it down I'll get a new test for reamend for that bin.
Side note is I had amended with some crab meal , seabird guano, and tm7 before retesting. , So there should be difference .. at least I hoped so lol
OK so what we do is take the Calcium PPM value from the AA8.2 test and use it along with the Melich 3 numbers from that test to calculate your existing base saturations.
the ideal Calcium saturation using Albrect and Slownickle's targets is 80-85% depending on soil type.
Because you have such large amounts of potassium, magnesium, and sodium it needs 5800 PPMs
of additional Ca to get the base saturation numbers balanced.
your ph is 6.9 so adding that much lime would create an issue. gypsum would be a better choice as it's ph neutral 4218 PPMs of Sulfur. balancing the micros with sulfate compounds is going to add even more S.
given that you already have a mix that is super heavy on N it's probably smarter to start from scratch with a mix that's not overloaded with salt , nitrogen, Mag, and potassium, sorry about that.
if you want to try adding the gypsum to some or all of the 50-ish gallons you have get me the exact analysis of the gypsum you have access to and I'll run this calc again, these are generic gypsum percentages.
So using these analysis figures for Gypsum we need 5254 grams of Gypsum to adjust 1 cubic yard of your mixture. there are 202 gallons in a cubic yard.
so if you wanted to adjust 25 gallons from a tote try 657 grams of gypsum and see if a plant or 2 grows in it. just a couple buck of gypsum and a little time wasted on the trial...
if it looks ok and you want to increase the micros we could try but I think it's a real long shot that this will give nice results indoors.
here's targets for the micros in proportion to existing K and Fe levels and targeted P and Ca.
the ideal Calcium saturation using Albrect and Slownickle's targets is 80-85% depending on soil type.
Because you have such large amounts of potassium, magnesium, and sodium it needs 5800 PPMs
of additional Ca to get the base saturation numbers balanced.
your ph is 6.9 so adding that much lime would create an issue. gypsum would be a better choice as it's ph neutral 4218 PPMs of Sulfur. balancing the micros with sulfate compounds is going to add even more S.
given that you already have a mix that is super heavy on N it's probably smarter to start from scratch with a mix that's not overloaded with salt , nitrogen, Mag, and potassium, sorry about that.
if you want to try adding the gypsum to some or all of the 50-ish gallons you have get me the exact analysis of the gypsum you have access to and I'll run this calc again, these are generic gypsum percentages.
So using these analysis figures for Gypsum we need 5254 grams of Gypsum to adjust 1 cubic yard of your mixture. there are 202 gallons in a cubic yard.
so if you wanted to adjust 25 gallons from a tote try 657 grams of gypsum and see if a plant or 2 grows in it. just a couple buck of gypsum and a little time wasted on the trial...
if it looks ok and you want to increase the micros we could try but I think it's a real long shot that this will give nice results indoors.
here's targets for the micros in proportion to existing K and Fe levels and targeted P and Ca.
moose eater
Well-known member
I had chronically low P from what should have been decent organic components, and another poster headed me in that direction as well; too much Na leading to unavailable P even in testing.
I'd definitely prefer to adjust what I have and use it (and I'd presume growing plants in it will bring my numbers down over a run giving me better numberson the next one. I'm in an apt so I have nowhere but the garbage to move this soil too.. can't even toss it out in a yard.
I can get you info from box but I have the down to earth gypsum close to 4 # probably.
All of those micros you told me to buy and the triple phos, etc came as well I'll be back home Tuesday to amend it. I'll amend gypsum in the containers too., But the plants I moved into that soil already have show some nice growth in the first 3 days.
Thank you.
OK I'll figure out the micros also. if you can access a hydro store I'd get a bale of promix and after amending the existing mix dilute it with the promix.
10 gallons of amended mix cut with 10 gallons of fluffed out promix. this should cut the overall levels close to half and might even work decently.
10 gallons of amended mix cut with 10 gallons of fluffed out promix. this should cut the overall levels close to half and might even work decently.
I'm game . Hydro store easy peazy. Can grab Tuesday when I leave my office . There's one at end of that street. This wil work to my advantage cutting it.. means I can toss the messed up soil I'm flowering in when it's done and skip that test.
Much appreciated on all the help dialing this in correctly.
Should I get bx or hp? I have a giant bag of #4 perlite so I can always add more. Didn't know if it'll matter for this
Bx has vermiculite and perlite and holds water longer it's good if you need to hold water longer. If you want good drainage I would use Hp. Some of the old school use hp in Winter and bx in Summer. Both have to be fed.
