Potting mix question please answer

[Grower2020]

Thanks Bill284 - Apologies, had to step out so I’m late to the party!

Double Ditto on what Smoking Wings said - I think Searles may use ground coco husks and call it coco peat but I’m not sure. It would be nice to know since in North America coco coir is ground coconut husks and peat moss is decayed plant matter from bogs. It kinda sounds like soilless is the way to go

Mulch is very different from soil. If my understanding is correct - if the mulch isn’t well aged / properly rotten then it can suck the N up fast and uses it trying to decompose the wood chunks.

yes ph is logarithmic so the difference between 5.8 and 6.3 is ginormous, can you drop some better daylight pics?

You want me to drop pics of the plants in natural light ? Is that what your asking?

 

[013]

yes please, if you like - might help to get fresh eyes on the plant to see leaf color and to spot if there are any other deficiencies going on. It can be with led lights just so long as it’s not yellow or blurple, for a minute there I was looking at the other pic in this thread then realized it was from Growing not Grower2020 - kinda messes with my little pea brain!!

 

[Grower2020]

Ok cool I am just at a dental appointment and I will take a couple of the most concerning plants outside when I get home and post a photo for you .

 

[013]

Cool deal no worries, there are a bunch of great growers here, I’m still a rookie trying to learn the craft.

 

[Grower2020]

Cool deal no worries, there are a bunch of great growers here, I’m still a rookie trying to learn the craft.

As you can see it's a mobile deficiency and it's attacking the older bigger fan leaves first . It's happening to all 12 just some worse than others.

 

[bluter]

quick look would say more phos and possibly a touch of cal mag. potassium won't be too far behind. they are all flower asks.

might also have to feed more often soon if not now.

edit : nothing is hard up sideways. just a little work and good to go. looks ok mostly.

 

[Grower2020]

A tricky one, but this might help
I am doing a grow in LiteMix which is buffered pH 6.2 and EC 1.2 - great for seedlings with Bio etc
However by about week 3-4 it is practically inert so I have found that dropping pH to 5.8 - 6.2 and treating it as coco is working well. I am also now using generic (Gro-Sure!) chem nutes/CalMag/PK as they seem to be absorbed much faster
The organic matter is probably leaf mulch which releases nutes very slowly for a fast growing plant
Hope that helps

I just mixed the recommended dose of this fertilizer and the ppm only rose from 300 out the tap up to 550. So I kept slowly adding and mixing more until I got to 1000ppm . Ph was at 5.8 without even adding up or down chems so I just gave it ten minutes and took another ppm reading and ph reading just to make sure it was the same readings. Then gave each plant about 1.2L slowly poured.
One question. If the ph of my potting mix is 7 and the ph of the nutes is 5.8 how will that fare ?

 

[Grower2020]

@013 @bluter @Emilya @growing
So after an email to the horticulturalist at searles potting mix factory he informs me that the potting mix is definitely to be treated as soilless and not soil. So how does that change how I water and feed compared to a soil grow where nutes are present and hold a lot longer? I also added lime to raise the ph of the soil and it is now at 7 neutral. Will the nutes be able to be uptake at the roots if it's a soilless with a ph of 7 even if I ph my nutes to 5.8 now ?

 

[Emilya Green]

it changes everything... a soilless mix can not hold nutrients like soil can, so nutrients need to be given with each watering. Water is your actual grow medium, not the mix... the mix ends up being there just to hold the plants up. Your lime didn't break the system, just pH even lower... like 5.5, and your lime will rapidly drift the pH up through the hydro range.

 

[Grower2020]

it changes everything... a soilless mix can not hold nutrients like soil can, so nutrients need to be given with each watering. Water is your actual grow medium, not the mix... the mix ends up being there just to hold the plants up. Your lime didn't break the system, just pH even lower... like 5.5, and your lime will rapidly drift the pH up through the hydro range.

Excellent so this explains the whole epidemic I've been facing all along. I've been watering with a ph suited to soil and not hydroponics . So the acidic loving nutrients have been left out of the house.
So do I fertilize with full strength nutrients every watering and water to run off every time? I've been giving 800-1000ppm only once a week and then plain water in between which has probably been flushing out the valuable nutrients in between feeds . So half strength nutes twice a week as I only water twice per week to run off as that's all the mix requires as it holds moisture well. But also drains well . Or full strength nutes every single watering also to run off ?

 

[013]

Yep that’s the real deal, soil and soilless are 2 different beasts, hydro rules apply. Maybe feed to runoff but don’t let them sit in a puddle

 

[Emilya Green]

Excellent so this explains the whole epidemic I've been facing all along. I've been watering with a ph suited to soil and not hydroponics . So the acidic loving nutrients have been left out of the house.
So do I fertilize with full strength nutrients every watering and water to run off every time? I've been giving 800-1000ppm only once a week and then plain water in between which has probably been flushing out the valuable nutrients in between feeds . So half strength nutes twice a week as I only water twice per week to run off as that's all the mix requires as it holds moisture well. But also drains well . Or full strength nutes every single watering also to run off ?

Water twice a day with 1/4 strength nutes every time. Plain water is poison in this grow. You are hydro. Embrace the wet.

 

[Grower2020]

Water twice a day with 1/4 strength nutes every time. Plain water is poison in this grow. You are hydro. Embrace the wet.

Also can I make my nutes up in advance ? Like 2-3 days worth at a time and just make sure the ph is the same daily ? Or will the nutes go bad ? And does it have to be until run off each every single watering ?

 

[Emilya Green]

Also can I make my nutes up in advance ? Like 2-3 days worth at a time and just make sure the ph is the same daily ? Or will the nutes go bad ? And does it have to be until run off each every single watering ?

many soilless growers water to 10-20% runoff each time, so that salts do not build up in the medium. If you just water to runoff and stop, you will need to flush periodically to clear the salt. Either way you go, its a lot of water.

it is generally not a good idea to premix nutes. The whole reason for chelated nutes is so that not being in pH range in the bottle, the nutes don't interact with each other. Premixing throws that out the window and its a free for all in that mixture. It is best to use nutes immediately, or some components of the mix are likely to drop out or even be cancelled once they sit in a water mixture for a while.

 

[Grower2020]

many soilless growers water to 10-20% runoff each time, so that salts do not build up in the medium. If you just water to runoff and stop, you will need to flush periodically to clear the salt. Either way you go, its a lot of water.

it is generally not a good idea to premix nutes. The whole reason for chelated nutes is so that not being in pH range in the bottle, the nutes don't interact with each other. Premixing throws that out the window and its a free for all in that mixture. It is best to use nutes immediately, or some components of the mix are likely to drop out or even be cancelled once they sit in a water mixture for a while.

Ok cool so I will have to make each watering up individually.
This is soluble and dilutes almost instantly . Should be ok to use I take it ? Has the goods that is required. I already have these nutrients here

 

[Emilya Green]

I know nothing about those nutes. Let us know what happens.

 

[Grower2020]

I know nothing about those nutes. Let us know what happens.

I may be better off purchasing some bloom a and b liquid hydroponic nutrients I think. Probably worth the investment

 

[Grower2020]

I may be better off purchasing some bloom a and b liquid hydroponic nutrients I think. Probably worth the investment

Thank you again Emilya lots of love and appreciation from my grow tent to yours. Always putting your hand up to be helpful and guide confused growers. Your value is recognised by me that's for sure. Very appreciative and thanks again. Definitely let you know how it pans out

 

[Emilya Green]

Thank you again Emilya lots of love and appreciation from my grow tent to yours. Always putting your hand up to be helpful and guide confused growers. Your value is recognised by me that's for sure. Very appreciative and thanks again. Definitely let you know how it pans out

Good luck, but it sounds like you are on the right track now.

 

[Grower2020]

Fair enough, but OP has a peat/coco/bark mix - surely that doesn't really count as soil, ie compost/guano etc?

You were right Roy.