Blueberry Canuk & Euphoria Royal Queen - Organic Soil - CFL Only - First Grow

[Tony Urban]

I will sub and hang out for this grow, good luck dude

 

[BluePhoric]

I will sub and hang out for this grow, good luck dude

Thx.
Growing soon ? First grow ? What are u planning to grow ?

Good luck with your preparations.

 

[Tony Urban]

Thx.
Growing soon ? First grow ? What are u planning to grow ?

Good luck with your preparations.

I will start in the fall I think, realistically, summer is my busy time. I have a few seeds from humbolt seed company, a few from greenhouse seed company, and a few from Subcool/TGA. I wont give too much away but it should be a decent show lol. It will be my first grow but by the time I start I will have a small army of support and guidance on 420 lol.

 

[Doggie Daddy]

CFL color spectrum for flowering :

I hope I don't need to replace a dozen 6500K cfls to get a more red (2700K) spectrum.
Is it a fact that the 6500K actually don't have less red, they just have more blue (the 2700K have the some red, just no blue) ?
If this is true, there shouldn't be any problem flowering at 6500k ? (some say that an amount of blue is needed anyway during flowering).

Has this been experimented/documented ? Is it possible the 6500K/2700K recommendations for CFL's are simply a paradigm from other types of light, and not really applicable to CFLs ?

Any link to a documented experiment (or any scientific knowledge) would be greatly appreciated !

When I flip I usually switch some bulbs to 2700k but always keep a few 5000k bulbs or 6500k bulbs in the mix. My plants don't seem to mind. When I introduced the Chinese led they seem to burn no matter the height of the light. Pretty frustrating.

 

[BluePhoric]

PH worries :

Earthjuice (even in very small quantities) lowered my water's PH from 7.x to ~4.5/5.

I plan to buy some Dolomitic lime later today.

Q: Any idea if it will work, and HOW MUCH should I use per Litre ?
Q: Any experience also with baking soda for PH-up ? I read it would build up salts...

P.S. I don't have a bubbler and don't plan to get one to bubble EJ ferts.

Good morning, have a nice day !

 

[MotaFina]

I just got a test kit and noticed the big pH drop with EarthJuice also. Without the test kit, I had no idea of this and I've been feeding the plants untreated mix. The plants seem fine with it.

I've been reading up on this and can't find much consensus. Some folks believe that in good soil, the pH drop from the nutes is not a problem as the soil should adjust it. Others contend that you should use pH Up or something similar to get the mix up into the 6-6.5 range before feeding.

I tried pH Up and haven't been able yet to get the pH in the mix to go up at all. I added 2ml pH UP to 3 gallons, waited an hour, and it didn't appear to change the pH at all.

I'm not much help, so I hope you find out the right answer.

 

[BluePhoric]

I just got a test kit and noticed the big pH drop with EarthJuice also. Without the test kit, I had no idea of this and I've been feeding the plants untreated mix. The plants seem fine with it.

I've been reading up on this and can't find much consensus. Some folks believe that in good soil, the pH drop from the nutes is not a problem as the soil should adjust it. Others contend that you should use pH Up or something similar to get the mix up into the 6-6.5 range before feeding.

I tried pH Up and haven't been able yet to get the pH in the mix to go up at all. I added 2ml pH UP to 3 gallons, waited an hour, and it didn't appear to change the pH at all.

I'm not much help, so I hope you find out the right answer.

Hi M.F.,
I hear 2 things :
1- Your soil seems to not have been hurt by using low-ph'ed EJ water. I'm not sure my soil is good enough quality. Just 20% shrimp compost. No idea how it would adjust to a PH4.5 watering.
2- Wow... You added PHup and it did nothing ? Did you try to add more ? Meybe your PH is like down to 3... and you need mor PHup ?

Thanks man, your input is appreciated.

 

[MotaFina]

You added PHup and it did nothing ? Did you try to add more ? Meybe your PH is like down to 3... and you need mor PHup ?

Yeah, the GH test kit is hard to read. My water starts out between 6-7 (water company says 6.8). Then I add the nutes and it drops down into the red, I'm assuming to around 4.5-5.

I didn't try adding more pH UP. I don't know what's in that stuff, and I'd hate for it to go too far the other way. Since the plants appear to be handling the mix just fine, I'm hesitant to change things up. That all might change after the flip though. That's why I'm trying to figure it out now.

 

[BluePhoric]

Yeah, the GH test kit is hard to read. My water starts out between 6-7 (water company says 6.8). Then I add the nutes and it drops down into the red, I'm assuming to around 4.5-5.

My test kit, like yours, is unable to show below 4.5 (my kit is made for 4.5-9.0 range).
I'm pretty shure we can both have a PH of 2-3 and we just don't know.

I will try to find "powdered" dolomitic lime, add some to the water, let stand a few hours, measure PH.
I'll let you know what effect it has.

B.t.w., Your PH starts at 6.8, mine at 7.5; I added like 1/8 strength EJ ferts, and my PH is down at the lowest color (maybe 4.5-5.0). IF you natural PH starts lower than mine, and if you mix more nutes than me... your PH may be well below 4. I don't know anything about PH... just guessing.

 

[BluePhoric]

PH update :

I put 1/2 teaspoon of powdered dolomitic lime in my water that had PH 4.5-5...

It went thru the roof at 9 !!! Wow it's efficient, bu it'll be hard to dial in right.

I have to throw away my 4L bucket and start a new batch. Don't know how little DL I'll have to add...

 

[Pennywise]

Maybe just add a little to the top of your soil and water in that way.

 

[MotaFina]

If 1/2 tsp raised it 4 points, then I would expect 1/4 tsp to raise it closer to 2 points - still too much. Maybe 1/8 tsp? I read that working with the soluble form of dolomitic limestone is touchy.

 

[BluePhoric]

If 1/2 tsp raised it 4 points, then I would expect 1/4 tsp to raise it closer to 2 points - still too much. Maybe 1/8 tsp? I read that working with the soluble form of dolomitic limestone is touchy.

No way of knowing if it was OVER 9.0 (it was, most probably). I'll remix everything and add the lowest amount of lime. prob 1/16 tsp. Test, let stand some time, re-test. I'll be back late afternoon ...

 

[BluePhoric]

BUGS !

Found one or 2 of these flies, on on my plant... What are they ? Fungus gnats ?

 

[Pennywise]

Thats what it looks like

 

[BluePhoric]

Thats what it looks like

Is neem oile efficient ?

Perlite 1/4" on top efficient ?

What to do ????

 

[Pennywise]

If you have sand you can top dress with sand, hang some sticky traps in the tent.

 

[BluePhoric]

Hey !

PH / Earthjuice / Dolomitic lime :

Finally, I reached (6.5-7) by adding between 1/8 and 1/4 tsp Dolomitic lime. Was lower last nigh, but this morning it had rose.
I'll go 1/8 next time and wait next morning, it shoul be closer to 6.0

Gnats :

I removed two Cilantro plants. They were flowering for some time (I removed flowers every day) and they were getting uglier by the day. The fungus gnats were possibly originating from these two. The Dill and Cilantro that i started from seed are doing fine and growing happy.

Watering :

Blue and Phoria were watered this morning with the EJ nutes/Dlime. Can't wait to see the effects of the nutes...


Fimming/Topping :

In the end, Bluebery's FIMming was not properly done. It was growing higher and higher, lots of new leaves, growing as nothing happened except for the handicapped partial leaves. I made a new cut : I pushed away all leaves that I could then went for the tip almost exclusively. I just want to stop it from growing a taller central stem. Started some aggressive LST to pull the top down and to the side. Will train her more everyday... It's less than optimal.

Neem / Mosquito dunks :

I sprayed my neem solution on everything except leaves. Good spray on soil on MJ, Dill, Cilantro.
After, I also crumbled some mosquito dunks mixed to a little water, and put that on soil ONLY on Cilantro and Dill.

Fly tape :

I suspended 2fly-catcher-tapes... the spiraling down type (it's all that was available last night). It caught 2 fungus gnats since last night. I don't see any flying. I only usually see 1-2 a day and kill them if i can.


Photos maybe later today !

 

[BluePhoric]

Photos : day 23

The garden, with old Cilantros removed :

Blue : Just topped and lst'd a bit

Phoria TOP VIEW : Only tucking some leaves under newer leaves. Pretty flat cannopy.

Thanks for watching !

 

[BluePhoric]

New bug... some kind of beetle ?

Haven't seen flying fungus gnats recently.

Haven't seen a spider mite in 19 days.