420's Soil Purple Kush Journal

[Herbshuttles]

Light was 12" above last night but there was new growth and now it's 11" - 11 1/2 " away

 

[Scientific]

Man, there's still a lot of hooking in the third-to-last and second to last photo. Maybe a flush would be a good idea to get that extra N out of there.

 

[Herbshuttles]

Man, there's still a lot of hooking in the third-to-last and second to last photo. Maybe a flush would be a good idea to get that extra N out of there.

So how exactly would you flush? Because 15 gallons each pot is going to take an extremely long time (measuring the pH and my watering thing is only about a gallon big).

 

[Scientific]

So how exactly would you flush? Because 15 gallons each pot is going to take an extremely long time (measuring the pH and my watering thing is only about a gallon big).

Maybe you need to scale up your watering thing?

You don't have to flush it all in one go. You could just add water to the point that you get good runoff multiple times.

 

[Wingman27]

instead of like feeding nutrients then nutrients then water "in that order" just feed PH water for a couple feedings no nutrients and just let it run out the bottom about 1/4 to a 3rd of what you put in. just do that to flush for a week. Like i said b4 Im a noob so hope this helps... i usually feed about half a gallon to 3/4 of a gallon and im using 3gallon smart pots.

 

[Herbshuttles]

Flushing now. Did about 8 gallons and it's still reading at 5.0 . I even raised the pH of the water I'm using to 8.5 and higher. Getting frustrated

 

[Herbshuttles]

I think I'm going to go buy lime for the soil

 

[Scientific]

I googled "what is the ph of happy frog potting soil" and found some interesting stuff.
The bag says it's "pH adjusted," whatever that means.

I don't if we ever discussed measuring soil pH.

 

[Herbshuttles]

I googled "what is the ph of happy frog potting soil" and found some interesting stuff.
The bag says it's "pH adjusted," whatever that means.

I don't if we ever discussed measuring soil pH.

I actually knew how to make a slurry. It regardless if I'm putting in water at 8.5 pH and it's coming out at 4.8 pH I think it's safe to assume the pH of the soil is low, no?

 

[Scientific]

I actually knew how to make a slurry. It regardless if I'm putting in water at 8.5 pH and it's coming out at 4.8 pH I think it's safe to assume the pH of the soil is low, no?

I'm no soil scientist, but that seems logical to me! I bought a tomato last spring that was potted in peat moss mix, and its runoff stayed acidic all summer long, even though I gave it alkaline water every time. Pretty amazing, but peat if famous for its (tannic?) acidity. (The tomato plant did great, by the way, and gave fruit all summer long.)

One of the posts that came up in that google search was from a guy complaining about HF soil being acidic...

 

[Herbshuttles]

Definitely acidic. I'm having trouble finding lime as well.

 

[Herbshuttles]

I just added a ton of lime and after one gallon the runoff is still low pH. I guess I'm going to just have to add a rediculous amount every time I water and hope the problem goes away

 

[Scientific]

Is the lime super finely powdered? Like a gray powder? It's crystals of carbonate that actually need to be attacked and dissolved by the acid in the soil to raise the pH, so it will work best if you thoroughly work it into the soil as much as you can without disturbing the roots. If it's very powdery that helps it to dissolve faster, but don't expect overnight results.

I think that Dolomite lime would be best since it's both magnesium carbonate and calcium carbonate.

 

[Herbshuttles]

It's the small pebble lime. Tiny little pebbles. And I put a rediculous amount in both. The one that I flushed a ton of times is now at 5.5 but that may be because I couldn't really mix it in the soil well because it was soaking wet. I mixed it in pretty well in the dry one and it's now at 6.5 thank god. I'll water again in a few days and I'll try again. Will the soil maintain its pH or do you suggest me continuing the addition of lime in every watering?

 

[Scientific]

It's the small pebble lime. Tiny little pebbles. And I put a rediculous amount in both. The one that I flushed a ton of times is now at 5.5 but that may be because I couldn't really mix it in the soil well because it was soaking wet. I mixed it in pretty well in the dry one and it's now at 6.5 thank god. I'll water again in a few days and I'll try again. Will the soil maintain its pH or do you suggest me continuing the addition of lime in every watering?

Hmmm. You lime pebbles will slowly dissolve over time, and as they do they will increase the pH. As I said, powder will work better. Here's a link with some info about that: pH Buffer - 66pacific.com

 

[Herbshuttles]

Hmmm. You lime pebbles will slowly dissolve over time, and as they do they will increase the pH. As I said, powder will work better. Here's a link with some info about that: pH Buffer - 66pacific.com

At first I thought the same but then I read that the lime's pH is at 6.5 so even if you put excess it won't raise the pH higher. I tested the theory out by putting a bunch of the pebbles in the small test tube for pH testing and added a little water. It read at 6.5

 

[Scientific]

At first I thought the same but then I read that the lime's pH is at 6.5 so even if you put excess it won't raise the pH higher. I tested the theory out by putting a bunch of the pebbles in the small test tube for pH testing and added a little water. It read at 6.5

I'm going to guess that your pH pebbles probably didn't affect the pH of the water in the test tube very much. Maybe try measuring the pH of a dilute vinegar solution and then put in some lime and let it sit overnight.

In any case, to be blunt, I don't think lime is going to help your pH problem significantly in big chunks like that. If you want to try lime, you need powdered lime, you need to work it into the soil, you need to get it wet, and you need to give it time to work.

 

[Spec420]

Subbing in. I am a new indoor grower too and want to see how you tackle your issues.
I am using Happy Frog too in my starts.

 

[Scientific]

Subbing in. I am a new indoor grower too and want to see how you tackle your issues.
I am using Happy Frog too in my starts.

Hi Spec.

 

[Old TimingMan]

Great journal to follow, going to jump in and give Scientific and others advising you a big thumbs up for helping you along...soil is really not the best medium to start with if you have not grown anything before, mixes like FF are loaded with the nutes that plants need so adding more to your water in my opinion gets a lot of people in trouble...kind of like after that big Christmas dinner the desserts are served and you can't say no but you regret it afterwards!

Another thing with soil is it retains the water for a long period especially when indoors, the evaporation factor is not there like outside in the sun...your RH in the tent affects the natural evaporation of the soil...the natural instinct of the grower is if it looks dry on top give it more water...the roots at this stage are mostly at the bottom of the pot and have more than they can handle so the leaves start to drop and "claw" like you have been seeing.

Cut back on the nutes, cut back on the water, try and keep your RH to around 40%, keep your temps in the 75-80 degree range, don't spray the leaves, adjust your lights down or up by holding the back of your hand at the level of the highest plant until you just get a hint of a warm feeling and slowly pull it up as it grows.

As a old school outdoor grower adjusting to the indoor style, there seems to be a rush on starting and finishing the plant in record time...pushing it for overstated results that the seed sellers make sound like a easy run...nothing is easy but with a slow and steady approach you can get fair results.

I just harvested 3 Purple Kush clones from a mother CKS seed, I had no purple from the mother, and just a hint from one of the clones but I really don't think the color affects the results, the plants on my second run produced well, and the smoke from the mother after properly cured is a great daytime smoke.

Just back off a bit, keep updating with good pictures, and don't expect a home run at your first at bat...you need to develop the home run swing and with the help of friends with the same passion that you will find here, knocking one out of the park will become natural.