Raiven, thanks for stopping by my journal and saying hello. I've read through your journal carefully and will make a few comments.
FFOF is very hot soil. It has a high mineral content from ingredients like crab shells. You do not have a deficiency of anything. In my opinion you have uptake issues related to excessive competition for nutrient uptake. In something like straight FFOF you should never feed anything for 4-6 weeks. It frequently causes problems for growers who are using it straight - even when they don't add any extra nutrients.
Also, if your water is in the pH 6.0 to 7.0 range don't even mess with pH adjusting products. You will only give yourself a headache. Here is a link to a blog I wrote about pH and nutrient competition in soil growing environments:
pH and whatnot in soil. - Blogs - 420 Magazine ®
I'm also concerned a little about your watering practices. You need to thoroughly wet the soil each time you water and let the container almost dry out between watering's. Water slowly in stages. First moisten the whole top of the soil with a little water. Wait ten minutes or so before adding more water. Continue slowly adding water in stages until all the soil is wet - right to the bottom and center of the plant.
You'll find that you get some runoff on the first water addition. This is because the top of the soil is dry. What you do is create a "flash flood" the first time you add water. The soil is not prepared to receive water. It runs over the top of the soil, down the junction between the soil and the side of the pot, and out the drain holes. Runoff is not a good indicator that the plant is well watered.
I'd also like to point out that KJC and I have very different growing styles. He uses a very nutrient poor soilless growing medium and adds everything the plant needs by mixing up cocktails of nutrients. For a medium like his a grower works in the pH 5.6-5.9 range. Remember that because the pH scale is logarithmic, the difference between 5.6 and 5.9 is 30 times greater than the whole difference between 6.0 and 7.0.... I prefer to make a nice soil, water with clean low PPM water, and just let the plants go. Either way works, there is not a right or wrong.
Problems often arise when a grower follows one set of instructions without paying attention to the starting growing medium. You are growing in soil with a high level of organic matter and minerals. You must behave accordingly. If you follow instructions for a lean soilless medium controlled by careful measuring of bottles of stuff you are missing out on the pure pleasure of growing in good organic soil. Some folks enjoy growing in a Petri dish. I like to grow in dirt.
I like this pH chart quite a bit more than the one commonly circulated.
Here is a picture of some OG grown under CFLs (only out in the greenhouse for a picture) at 35 days. It has never had anything but water.
FFOF is very hot soil. It has a high mineral content from ingredients like crab shells. You do not have a deficiency of anything. In my opinion you have uptake issues related to excessive competition for nutrient uptake. In something like straight FFOF you should never feed anything for 4-6 weeks. It frequently causes problems for growers who are using it straight - even when they don't add any extra nutrients.
Also, if your water is in the pH 6.0 to 7.0 range don't even mess with pH adjusting products. You will only give yourself a headache. Here is a link to a blog I wrote about pH and nutrient competition in soil growing environments:
pH and whatnot in soil. - Blogs - 420 Magazine ®
I'm also concerned a little about your watering practices. You need to thoroughly wet the soil each time you water and let the container almost dry out between watering's. Water slowly in stages. First moisten the whole top of the soil with a little water. Wait ten minutes or so before adding more water. Continue slowly adding water in stages until all the soil is wet - right to the bottom and center of the plant.
You'll find that you get some runoff on the first water addition. This is because the top of the soil is dry. What you do is create a "flash flood" the first time you add water. The soil is not prepared to receive water. It runs over the top of the soil, down the junction between the soil and the side of the pot, and out the drain holes. Runoff is not a good indicator that the plant is well watered.
I'd also like to point out that KJC and I have very different growing styles. He uses a very nutrient poor soilless growing medium and adds everything the plant needs by mixing up cocktails of nutrients. For a medium like his a grower works in the pH 5.6-5.9 range. Remember that because the pH scale is logarithmic, the difference between 5.6 and 5.9 is 30 times greater than the whole difference between 6.0 and 7.0.... I prefer to make a nice soil, water with clean low PPM water, and just let the plants go. Either way works, there is not a right or wrong.
Problems often arise when a grower follows one set of instructions without paying attention to the starting growing medium. You are growing in soil with a high level of organic matter and minerals. You must behave accordingly. If you follow instructions for a lean soilless medium controlled by careful measuring of bottles of stuff you are missing out on the pure pleasure of growing in good organic soil. Some folks enjoy growing in a Petri dish. I like to grow in dirt.
I like this pH chart quite a bit more than the one commonly circulated.
Here is a picture of some OG grown under CFLs (only out in the greenhouse for a picture) at 35 days. It has never had anything but water.
