Looking for opinions on plant growing
- Thread starter twnewell
- Start date
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
You certainly came to the right place. Everyone has an opinion around here!
What is the thing in the middle of the 4? I am sure I will have an opinion on that. lol
My first impression is that your leaves are all pointing down and I suspect because of that that you are keeping them wet... especially after spotting the spray bottle in the background. Not familiar with those planters... are there holes in the bottom or are these fancy self watering containers?
- Thread starter
- #3
twnewell
Well-Known Member
I love opinions. The thing in the center is part of my weather station. I had it uncovered and it was giving me false readings because of the heat from the light. i just cut a silo cup in half and covered it from direct light. It is opened on both ends to allow air to pass through to give me a more accurate reading.
I do spray the plants yes, just a light misting couple of times a day.
The planters i got from the dollar store. Yes they have holes in the bottom to allow for drainage. I made sure to wash them good before i started using them.
I do spray the plants yes, just a light misting couple of times a day.
The planters i got from the dollar store. Yes they have holes in the bottom to allow for drainage. I made sure to wash them good before i started using them.
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
so how often do you water? what determines the time to water and how much to give them for you? Also, just because someone is going to ask, what pH do you adjust your fluids to and are you using any nutes yet?
- Thread starter
- #5
twnewell
Well-Known Member
I water every 2 days, soil seams to be good and dry to me by then just a knuckle deep feeling of the pro-mix. Give nutes every 3 waterings, although i just started giving them nutes I use water from a filtering station here in my town and its ph is ~6.5.
- Thread starter
- #6
twnewell
Well-Known Member
Guess i should add some extra info.
Growing in Pro-mix hp with added Perlite and Worm castings. 4-1-1
Using a 400 Watt Mh light at 16-18 inches away.
I have a fan circulating air/ blowing lightly on the plants.
Have made my air exchanger from scrap. Separate power supply, relays, fan's that work in a push/pull on the in and out sides of my room.
700 Watt heater for the "night" to keep them warm. It's on a 7 day programmable thermostat. 26 in the "Day" and 18 in the "night" To be honest, the heater never kicks in.
This is all built in room i built in my non insulated garage. The room that I built Is insulated to death as where i live it's below freezing, and will probably be all winter.
Growing in Pro-mix hp with added Perlite and Worm castings. 4-1-1
Using a 400 Watt Mh light at 16-18 inches away.
I have a fan circulating air/ blowing lightly on the plants.
Have made my air exchanger from scrap. Separate power supply, relays, fan's that work in a push/pull on the in and out sides of my room.
700 Watt heater for the "night" to keep them warm. It's on a 7 day programmable thermostat. 26 in the "Day" and 18 in the "night" To be honest, the heater never kicks in.
This is all built in room i built in my non insulated garage. The room that I built Is insulated to death as where i live it's below freezing, and will probably be all winter.
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
I suspected some of this by looking at your plants.
Watering every 2 days means that you are not asking your plants when to water, you are just forcing it on them without any sort of communication. The mistake that you are making is that you are checking for dryness from the top, and only a knuckle deep, when the most important part of the plant is at the very bottom of the container, where the tap and feeder roots reside. Think of the water in your container as a lake, who's level rises when you water and falls as the plants use that water. The level of this lake in the container is known as the level of the water table. If you come along and water to runoff every 2 days and the plants don't use all that water inbetween, the water table rises, and if you are regular with this, it never falls below the bottom third or even half of the container. This keeps your lower roots always under water, and after a while, this being a dry loving weed, it begins to think that it is in a flood and protects itself by putting a coating over the roots down there until the flood goes away. This is of course the extreme of this situation and you are not there yet, but if you continue what you are doing, major problems are on the way.
The top of the water table in a container acts as a powerful diaphragm which pulls oxygen deep down into the soil. That water table must be allowed to drop all the way to the bottom, so as to pull air down to those very deepest roots. We call this a wet/dry cycle, and it is just as necessary to get air down to those roots as it is to get water to them when they need it.
Do a search for the lift method as to how to determine when to water, or use a moisture meter to watch that water table line fall down into the last inch of the container. Do not water again until this happens. When you do water, water completely, trying to get as much water into the soil as you can, slowly watering just to runoff and then stopping. Then, instead of arbitrarily waiting a period of 2 days to water, wait until the plant shows you it needs it, either by being as light as a feather (no water weight at all in the container) or your moisture meter shows the line to be all the way down to that last inch. The first time you do this, with your damaged roots, it might take 3-5 days to use all this water. Be patient. The next time you complete a wet/dry cycle it will take a little less time, and the next will go even faster. With strong healthy roots you will soon be able to drain those containers in less than 24 hours, and at that point so as to get a buffer back, it is time to double their space and up-pot.
I wrote a study on how to properly water a potted plant and I invite you to check it out. It has been so helpful that many people refer to it in their signature lines and it is featured as a sticky on this and several other forums.
PH is another big deal, and I could write another page on it... but I believe that the pH range of 6.3-6.8 is there for us to use... and we should attempt to drift through the whole thing, not just set a target for mid range and think all is good. It is always my suggestion in a typical soil to pH to the low end every time of 6.3, and then let the soil do its work to move the pH all the way through the suggested range.
- Thread starter
- #8
twnewell
Well-Known Member
Absolutely amazing. Now i know i'm in the right spot. Going to do exactly what you suggest. I will try the "lift" method for now until i can grab a meter. I have added some extra info in my last post if u care to read a bit more on my setup.
- Thread starter
- #9
twnewell
Well-Known Member
Just wondering. The grow im doing is to see if I can match the growing environment and actually grow to completion . The seeds I’m using are some I got from a friend of a friend and have no idea on the strain or if they are male or female. What is the best way to tell the male / female difference? I read that putting them into flower will tell the sex, but is it possible to switch back to veg once sex is determined?
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
yes, just put her back in vegging light... but if you have some time to veg for a bit, usually at the 4-5 week point it is pretty obvious even in veg, who the boys and girls are.
- Thread starter
- #11
twnewell
Well-Known Member
I’m at week 4 now, so I guess I’ll just wait for another week and check again and see.
Thanks for the info.
Thanks for the info.
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
just watch for the little v shaped hair things, almost like moth antennas, to come out of the caylixes, you will know it when you see it. The girls usually show before the boys do..
- Thread starter
- #14
twnewell
Well-Known Member
I never adjusted my ph. The 6.5 ph is what comes from the water station. I have to get some chemicals for raising and lowering my ph. The worm castings was advice from a couple of guys. They said it’s what they use in there mix and I decided to throw it in and see what happens.
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
so here is the deal then... when you water with just water, the pH is too high and out of the range for promix. When you throw in nutes you probably get close to the right pH, but it is only a guess and dependent on how many nutes you mix in with the water.
Promix has a negative drift and has a base pH of 5.4-5.8. The pH range that you would like your container to traverse each watering cycle is 5.5-6.1, so all you have to do is accurately measure and adjust your pH for every fluid incoming to 6.1 pH, and let the Promix take care of it from there. This way your nutes can all become mobile and actually do some good instead of just sitting there until you flush them out.
- Thread starter
- #16
twnewell
Well-Known Member
Interesting. I'll do that next time i feed nutes for sure. Also, i'm feeding nutes at 1/4 strength right now, how long do i continue doing this for? And when i do, do i move up to 1/2 strength?
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
or water... 6.1 pH
- Thread starter
- #18
twnewell
Well-Known Member
Yes. Both water and nutes for sure.
- Thread starter
- #19
twnewell
Well-Known Member
Will this PH Set work for my PH needs?
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
yep, looks like a good purchase.
