Osmocote Plus Plant Food: Discuss Its Use With Cannabis Here!

Thanks for always answering my questions, Doc. :thanks:

My pleasure!

Doc, thanks for that one. Either I have contrarian plants, or I am using my wrong green thumb, but everything seems to work oppositly :grinjoint:

The pool test may be brightly enlightening.

:peace:

It may be very enlightening! You can also go online to your city's water district and view their reports, which will tell you, among other things, the total alkalinity of your water.

I learned all this in college....forgot it....and then re-learned it once I started growing. People who have trouble getting their pH stable, or who always have runoff way higher than what they put in, can have problems with alkalinity.
 
Not sure if you want me to mix a Dynamite nute question in here with the OC+, but since they are similar, i'll give it a go.
I asked this in Docs unlucky thread already, but here goes again.
I transplanted a 18"outdoor beauty of a plant to indoor hempy with about 2/3 turface and 1/3 light soil mix, used a tbsp Dynamite 13/13/13 at the 2 inch level, one more below the root ball and another about an inch or so below the top around the root ball.
Now all the big fan leaves have black spots surrounded by brown, surrounded by yellow. like mini bulls eyes sort of. Is it possible to get nute burn from Dynamite? I don't think it is possible with OC+ right? Dynamite web site says you cant over feed. Maybe a ph problem or a side effect of the Turface? any thoughts? If the plant doesnt survive, no big deal because my Nirvana - Northern Lights from Seedbotique just arrived. they mailed them Jul 27 and I received them Jul 31, Not bad 4 days. They also threw in 5 free Skunkmans Thai Haze x Skunk#1. anyone ever grow either of these?
 
My pleasure!



It may be very enlightening! You can also go online to your city's water district and view their reports, which will tell you, among other things, the total alkalinity of your water.

I learned all this in college....forgot it....and then re-learned it once I started growing. People who have trouble getting their pH stable, or who always have runoff way higher than what they put in, can have problems with alkalinity.

I'm on well water... it's a whole different thing. New fissures can open, old fissures can close, mineral content can change accordingly. A new well in the neighborhood can mix things up, and we've just had a couple put in.

I'm gonna answer one of those free water test cards I keep finding in the mailbox :ganjamon:

:peace:
 
I bought a pool test kit. My water came out around 40 ppm "total alkalinity". I wasn't able to find anything about calcium carbonate, even on the test kit's website, so not sure if it is always in terms of CaCO3 or not.
 
Excellent! :yahoo:

Sorry to have derailed the thread so much, but one of my girls is not feeling well.

As far as Dynamite goes, I wouldn't mind its results being put in this thread as well.
 
As far as my experience with OC+ goes, my tomatoes are the biggest I have seen around my neighborhood. They are as tall as me. They are growing so bushy, I had to get a rope and go around the perimeter of the tomato plants a few times to try to contain the growth. The problem is I planted 8 tomatoes in a rectangle and tried to hide 2 mj plants in the middle of them. Well, the 2 mj are about 7 foot tall and sticking out of the tomatoes like a sore thumb and they were split when they were about a foot tall to slow them down. So iI can attest to OC+ being just fine outdoors.
As far as my problem with the little mj plant i moved in to my friends grow room. It looked pretty bad with the black spots so figuring it wont survive anyway we decided to replant it and get it out of the Turface mix just to see if that had anything to do with the problem. I was amazed at how the root structure had grown in a week. Last weekend we transplanted it from a root bound 2ltr bottle to a 4gal square pot and used Dynamite and Turface mix. When we took it out of the 4gal pot to replace with regular soil I was amazed at how much roots had grown in a weeks time. Not sure if it was the looseness of the Turface mix or the Dynamite or a combo of both, but it was almost root bound again in the 4gal bucket.
 
Alkalinity (Total) as CaCO3 equivalents ppm NA NA -- Range/Average 52 - 94 / 75

Calcium ppm NA NA -- Range/Average 30 - 76 / 56


Doc, this is what my city water report says as regards total alkalinity and Ca.

Would I go with the 75 or the 56?

Well, it's the bicarbonates that cause the trouble over the course of a grow....so using the higher number, you're in pretty good shape. If you want to be really sure....dilute your tap water with RO, at least once a week or so.

In soil, I would just use the tap water, untreated.

Also, the GH 3 part has buffers, and I'd wager that using tap water and GH nutes your pH would be perfect without a drop of pH down. (speaking about your 300 vs HID grow)
 
OK, cool.

So tempting to go with just soil and OC+, but I want to explore Hempy for a while. I *really* miss that Hempy thread we had a while back.

You should start one Doc. It would be a great place to discuss both Hempy and CRF's.

"Doc's idiot's guide to Hempy"

yep, that's the ticket ;)

After farting around with those self-watering pots and perlite, I have to admit that drillin' the damn hole in the bucket works just fine ;)
 
OK, cool.

So tempting to go with just soil and OC+, but I want to explore Hempy for a while. I *really* miss that Hempy thread we had a while back.

You should start one Doc. It would be a great place to discuss both Hempy and CRF's.

"Doc's idiot's guide to Hempy"

yep, that's the ticket ;)

After farting around with those self-watering pots and perlite, I have to admit that drillin' the damn hole in the bucket works just fine ;)

This thread already exists, SS.

There has been discussion of both there. I created this thread so people interested in or searching for Osmocote Plus could find the info easily and was located in the supply forums.
 
Ah.....
What's the PPM of your well water? If it's low, you're probably OK. If it's high......you could have a problem. The PPM of our tap water is about 360 lately. PPM Ca is right around 100. My plants can handle that for a few months, but I think if I fed a houseplant year 'round I'd have a problem.

Ok, I picked up a pool kit. First test showed:

PPM to be about 250

pH is at least 8.4

Total alkalinity 120-180

I'm not set up for ROd water, but I could get distilled water from the dehumidifier, or the condensate pump from the ac. Anything else that would bring the alkalinity down?

I am also using a phosphorus pH down... I'm gonna have to study on this some more, and take more tests for a week.

Thanks again for the alkalinity heads up. I don't know if I'd have ever gone there. One more reason this place is great :thanks:

:peace:
 
You're just a tad high on the TA.....which explains perfectly why your plants are happy when you pH the water down to 5.8. Lowering pH also lowers TA....to a point.

Here's what I'd do in your situation.

1.)Add condensate to your watering mix from the Dehum and AC as often as possible.
2.)Continue to pH down to 5.8.....you might even try going lower.
3.)Buy 10 gallons of RO water from a water outlet and water with that a couple times a week, or dilute your well water 50/50 with it.
4.)Do NOT use a high P bloom food! With all that pH down, your plants are getting more than enough P....and what's worse that excess P will interfere with zinc, iron and copper.

Now, had you said your TA was 20, I'd tell you to just water and forget about pH.
 
my city's report doesn't list TA, guess i need to run to the pool store.
 
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