AutoWhite Widow Feminised Seeds - Cupboard Grow - Organic Mix

[SmokerJoe]

PeeJay is right. I came over here to tell you don't use baking soda. It came to me as a recommendation from someone on this site. I used it 3 times and the next day my plants were flatlining all over the place..They were turning brown and all limp. I thought I was gonna have no crop. Luckily I saved everything except 1 plant. It is all documented in my journal. Feel free to come take a look at it. Never ever ever again will I use baking soda. I have pictures of it go take a look.

 

[PeeJay]

Aside from the sodium in baking soda that will screw up ion exchange in a big way, it also is not a buffer that will moderate pH. It is a base, not a buffer. Adding baking soda to a flush in the quantities suggested will shoot the soil pH up into the high 8 range (educated guess.) It will put some major hurt on the plants and may even kill them.

I know that you were trying to be helpful, Nater. Cudos for that! However, you are not a soil grower. I browsed your journal. You have a limited understanding of acid-base chemistry. I recalled that Joe had followed bad advice about using baking soda, so I went and fetched him over. I can parade reputable soil growers through here who will all agree that Nater's advice was the bad advice for days...

Geordie is doing an organic soil grow. In general the micro-biological population in the soil will control pH without any adjustments. Most soils contain buffers that help them out. If your water is anywhere in the pH 6.0-7.0 range then pH issues will never happen in a quality soil grow. It is not necessary to pH up or down.

A straight distilled or RO water flush is the best way to sort things out if you suspect a pH issue in soil. Water is a great solvent. As you pour water through the pot it will "collect" ions and they will wash out the bottom of the pot - pH problem fixed. Simple diffusion is one of the most basic principals in chemistry. Run a bunch of clean water through the pot if you are worried.

 

[b.real]

baking soda will sabotage these beautiful fat girls. a base is the opposite of acid but story short baking sods is used to kill and cleanse life and it does work good at stablizing pool pH but no good in soil not necessary esp when they are doing so well. Try to keep them going through their water supply and we will see some real juicy bud glad someone linked me here

 

[danknessdude]

The only place I use baking soda in in my fridg and freezer......ya know for smell purposes

 

[b.real]

yeah it's a good neutralizer. it absorbs moisture well and smell and everything. probably bad for soil it will suck the life out of it X.x

 

[Lady Vadalon]

Get a pool kit to check your PH... They are easy to use.... lemon works really well for PH down... PH Up just add some water back into your bucket of water that you are using to adjust your HP in.

You are doing a good job just remember don't panic. It is alway easier to check this first.( your PH)
If you have not watered in a while and she is really dry, water her until the water starts running out slow and not fast. A fast runoff means she is still thirsty and you have air pockets in the soil.
A small tip for the light as a general rule if it is to hot for your hand it is to hot for the plant

I hope that this helps

Happy growing

 

[Geordie]

Just caught up guys,

Really great advice here guys learned a lot just off the last few posts... Thank you all very, very much. Really nice to have a few reputable faces dropping by and brining a lot of experience here, much appreciated guys thank you... Really hope ya'll stick around and keep the advice coming and help me through my last month or so

I didn't go down the baking soda route, I did hunt for it but the local shop was all out did get some lemon juice though. I also read on a few other post and forums about people using baking soda and its surprising how many people actually advise this so its not surprising Nater picked this up, none the less i'm grateful for your help Nater

Lady Vadalon, yesterday I bummed some cash off a few friends and actually ordered a PH meter, and some PH up & Down and I've also got some Epsom salt that I ordered off some advice read on some other posts not sure what its actually used for but might come in handy, even if its just for the bath

If you have not watered in a while and she is really dry, water her until the water starts running out slow and not fast. A fast runoff means she is still thirsty and you have air pockets in the soil.

I have actually just give them a nice drink before reading this, and the water started running off very quickly. I did fill up another bottle and give her some more but I didn't have a clue why the run off was so fast, though maybe I was throwing the water in to quickly lol, so thanks for that i'll know for next time

Geordie is doing an organic soil grow. In general the micro-biological population in the soil will control pH without any adjustments. Most soils contain buffers that help them out. If your water is anywhere in the pH 6.0-7.0 range then pH issues will never happen in a quality soil grow. It is not necessary to pH up or down.

A straight distilled or RO water flush is the best way to sort things out if you suspect a pH issue in soil. Water is a great solvent. As you pour water through the pot it will "collect" ions and they will wash out the bottom of the pot - pH problem fixed. Simple diffusion is one of the most basic principals in chemistry. Run a bunch of clean water through the pot if you are worried.

Hopefully I will know my base reading tomorrow PeeJay, i'm guessing it is actually between 6.0 - 7.0. I checked the soil about 1hour ago (dry) and the ph read 7.0 and after giving each of the ladies 4litre of water I got a reading a 6.5. However I don't think the soil meter is of the best quality, some parts I pop it into say 7.0 some 6.5 and 6.0 really need to invest in a decent one.

the way to increase ph is by feeding less fertilizer. fertilizer is very acidic. your plants looks great, but they are on the verge of nutrient lockout. just do water, feed, water, feed, water etc. till she asks for more food again

since I start in "empty" soil I usually start with feeding them every time I water, then I go to feed, feed, water, feed, feed, water OR water, feed, water, feed, water etc. depending on how they look.

yours are a very dark shade of green and have nutrient burn at the tips. nothing serious, but they'll make bigger buds if you feed a little less at this point in time

Thanks buddy you have proven a massive point to my grow friend here, I told him you can just feed them nutes every time but he wouldn't have it and that's probably why there's nute burn... Think I might flush with just water the next couple of times see if I can get them up to better health. I've noticed yesterday that on the Big gal (tallest) her leaves have started drooping not sure if its lack of water or temps to high, seems to be the bigger fan leaves a opposed the the little ones higher up. I'm back for a few days so I will keep an eye on her, cant trust my friend to do the job properly lol.

Hopefully I've got back to you all there, theres a lot to read over going to add some +reps to ya'll thanks

Heres a small update, mostly with the health issues on leaves. More rusty looking spots on the middle sister and sagging leaves on the big sister. Little fat one seems golden for the moment....

Day 40

 

[b.real]

plants look great. looks like a calcium issue. I wouldn't flush them heavy, just give em some plain water once or maybe twice, then continue feeding a full npk plus cal/mag etc.

great thing about hid is they drink through their water fast. the faster they're drinking, the healthier they are growing

 

[Geordie]

Thanks mate, pleased its nothing to serious. I will give them water in about 3days then, last feed them Thursday and the big gal was thirsty i think... Her leaves have sprung back to life after that watering so fingers crossed she's ok... Just a noob question, are them nutrients good for my plants? I uploaded some photos on a previous post, do they give everything need or could i add a little more of something?

 

[Lady Vadalon]

Thanks mate, pleased its nothing to serious. I will give them water in about 3days then, last feed them Thursday and the big gal was thirsty i think... Her leaves have sprung back to life after that watering so fingers crossed she's ok... Just a noob question, are them nutrients good for my plants? I uploaded some photos on a previous post, do they give everything need or could i add a little more of something?

They should be just fine. I have seen other top known growers us the same nuts. Remember if the water ran out fast and you said that the PH was different in spots run more PH adjusted water through her. I lost a whole tent because I did not understand PH. KingJohnC helped me with this and now I am being over ran with plants. I like the meters but, I still use the drops just to check things out. You should check out the link in his name.

I Hope that your Garden is Happy and Green

 

[Geordie]

They should be just fine. I have seen other top known growers us the same nuts. Remember if the water ran out fast and you said that the PH was different in spots run more PH adjusted water through her. I lost a whole tent because I did not understand PH. KingJohnC helped me with this and now I am being over ran with plants. I like the meters but, I still use the drops just to check things out. You should check out the link in his name.

I Hope that your Garden is Happy and Green

Thanks Vadalon, i will head over there now and give this a good read. Ph is slightly starting to worry me a little now, so i definitely need to wise up on it certainly don't want to lose any of my ladies this time round. I bet you were devastated to find your whole crop was gone, I know the feeling having two failed attempts previously its not nice. However things seem to be getting a bit better on this one, gone a lot further with this and i'm fairly happy with it atm.

 

[Geordie]

The only place I use baking soda in in my fridg and freezer......ya know for smell purposes

hmmmm might give this to the girlfriend, last time i smelt something that bad in the fridge (fish) i put it in the bin.... she'd kill me if she seen this lmfao

 

[Geordie]

PeeJay is right. I came over here to tell you don't use baking soda. It came to me as a recommendation from someone on this site. I used it 3 times and the next day my plants were flatlining all over the place..They were turning brown and all limp. I thought I was gonna have no crop. Luckily I saved everything except 1 plant. It is all documented in my journal. Feel free to come take a look at it. Never ever ever again will I use baking soda. I have pictures of it go take a look.

Sorry Joe, Missed you on my last post bro sorry so many posts to look at and reply to.... Pleased you managed to save all but one mate, small loss for such a devastating affect i suppose. i'll head over to your journal very soon, i'll sub and hopefully catch up on it on the move. So much journals and info to read theres just not enough hours in the day

 

[Lady Vadalon]

Thanks Vadalon, i will head over there now and give this a good read. Ph is slightly starting to worry me a little now, so i definitely need to wise up on it certainly don't want to lose any of my ladies this time round. I bet you were devastated to find your whole crop was gone, I know the feeling having two failed attempts previously its not nice. However things seem to be getting a bit better on this one, gone a lot further with this and i'm fairly happy with it atm.

I did not totally loos my whole crop but my airy popcorn want to be nugs were smaller than my jewelers loop. I tried to log all the mistakes that I did in my first grow to help other people. There are lots of people in this community that are happy to help. I know that I am a refugee myself. 420 is the best place to learn!!!! And I have done my fair share of opening my mouth and inserting my foot. ...LOL..

 

[danknessdude]

Wow! lady your plant Structure is no joke! Good work!

 

[b.real]

I looked and the micro has the calcium and magnesium in it! just ease up on that a tad?

 

[Lady Vadalon]

Wow! lady your plant Structure is no joke! Good work!

Thank you

 

[snakelad]

Ur plants are fine Geordie.the leaves will look like that coming 2wards the end.the most important thing is ur buds.and they will grow just fine.rem buddy,these are autos.they don't like a lot of food.so no matter wot ull always get a bit of burn on leaves.ur doing grt.plants are coming along real nice

 

[scottish]

Looking great geordie 29days old and buds like that they sure don't seem too have been stunted by potnoodle pots there just turning into Bombay bad boys as with the non transplantin guff I'm starting to think twice I am finding that the whole plant straight into final pots may actually not be best I'm not going to fill your thread with details but I'm going to give a run down with pics shortly of my theory if you would like to post your babies up there as well keep it green

 

[snakelad]

Scotty.I want those ideas of urs.cause on diff sites the test has been done.ALL autos are 2 be planted in their final pots.yields def suffer from transplanting autos.so throw up ur thoughts on this matter chum,2 I get a read at it