1st grow in live soil: leaves yellowing
- Thread starter ITheNorth
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Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
is it just that one leaf? Also, why are you pH adjusting a living soil grow??? The only reason we pH is for chelated nutrients to be mobile in the soil... if you are not using nutrients, there is no need to pH... the soil doesn't care.
How often are you watering?
How often are you watering?
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ITheNorth
Well-Known Member
3 or 4 leaves starting. Ill stop the ph. Haven't water a whole lot actually.
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
are you on any kind of regular cycle? how do you determine when it is time to water?
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ITheNorth
Well-Known Member
Been watering every 3-4 days or so at her size. Usually when my plants are dry knuckle deep which depends on the plant and Container size. Is this the issue with leaves yellowing in pics? I've never experienced this before due to a watering issue.
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
Your plant looks like one that takes 5-6 days to drain all the water that can be stored in that soil when you water to runoff, but because you base your watering pattern only on what is happening knuckle deep, you have been overwatering by watering too often, for a while now. This has drastically slowed this plant down, and now as she is getting larger, she is no longer able to pull the nutrients she needs out of that soil... she simply doesn't have enough healthy roots to be able to do so, even though she has all the nutrients she needs in that soil.
By watering too often, there has always been a pool of water sitting in the bottom of the container and the roots down there are drowning. They have protected themselves with a special coating so they can survive until the flood water recede, but in doing so, their ability to uptake is severely restricted. To continue to supply nutrients to the buds, the plant will cannibalize leaves as needed, trying to survive.
Instead of watering every 3-4 days because your finger came out dry, learn the "lift the pot" method so you can determine when the plant has actually used all the water, all the way to the bottom. When those lower roots finally get a much needed hit of oxygen, they will start to revive, and your plant will get much healthier. Find the natural wet/dry cycle of this plant using the lift method and then watch it as the roots revive and get stronger... the days between waterings will decrease and you will get very close to a regular 3 day watering cycle, since this is what is designed into the flow through and retention rates of most of the soils that we use. You have to have the roots to be able to support this though... and the damage, slow growth and downturned leaves of your plant tells me that you do not. It can be fixed... it just takes time, and patience.
You might want to read my watering article, where I go into more detail about this. There are two of them, but I think reading through both threads, all the way to the end, is time well spent when trying to understand the watering of weeds.
Another issue of concern I want to inquire about, just to be thorough. Are you using non chlorinated water so as to support the microlife in that living soil?
By watering too often, there has always been a pool of water sitting in the bottom of the container and the roots down there are drowning. They have protected themselves with a special coating so they can survive until the flood water recede, but in doing so, their ability to uptake is severely restricted. To continue to supply nutrients to the buds, the plant will cannibalize leaves as needed, trying to survive.
Instead of watering every 3-4 days because your finger came out dry, learn the "lift the pot" method so you can determine when the plant has actually used all the water, all the way to the bottom. When those lower roots finally get a much needed hit of oxygen, they will start to revive, and your plant will get much healthier. Find the natural wet/dry cycle of this plant using the lift method and then watch it as the roots revive and get stronger... the days between waterings will decrease and you will get very close to a regular 3 day watering cycle, since this is what is designed into the flow through and retention rates of most of the soils that we use. You have to have the roots to be able to support this though... and the damage, slow growth and downturned leaves of your plant tells me that you do not. It can be fixed... it just takes time, and patience.
You might want to read my watering article, where I go into more detail about this. There are two of them, but I think reading through both threads, all the way to the end, is time well spent when trying to understand the watering of weeds.
Another issue of concern I want to inquire about, just to be thorough. Are you using non chlorinated water so as to support the microlife in that living soil?
