They seem happy - But are they yellow?

[daTenshi]

Awesome job. One thing I would do, soak the whole pot with water until you get enough runoff. It's a good way for the root-ball to expand in the whole space around the pot, for more water.

 

[Kalomessimeri]

Awesome job. One thing I would do, soak the whole pot with water until you get enough runoff. It's a good way for the root-ball to expand in the whole space around the pot, for more water.

Thank you for the suggestion daTenshi - I'm not sure if I've done this the best way. I didn't knock the old Miracle-no soil away from the root balls because I didn't want additional stress. It seems like years ago I was told to just create a hole in the new soil and plug the root ball and old soil intact into the hole. The nutrients from the new soil flow into what remains of the old soil and the roots grow out into the new soil. Again I don't know if what I did was best, I've read about people completely washing all the old soil off the roots and re-planting in all new soil. That seemed like it would be so much shock, particularly with this hot Ocean Forest -- which yes caused them stress last night. I got all bent out of shape over it and went to bed mad, but this morning they're looking a little better. Still have that weird yellow thing in the leaves I don't like - PLUS I think these are TWO DIFFERENT STRAINS from two different bags (yes the seeds were mixed up). You can see one is more sativa-dominant - I know exactly which product that came from, the seeds were all so small and funny looking I didn't think they were viable but obviously one of them was (it was some of the best stuff I've ever had, oh marijuana god please let this plant grow and be healthy and be female). But if these are two different strains then why are they both still yellowish lime green - grrrrrrrrrrr.

About the watering thing - I watered lightly around where the roots would be plus maybe an inch or so out. The soil is still moist when I insert my finger. I'm paranoid about too much water, particularly now while they're getting used to their new "indigenous" nutes. Do you really think I need to drench these great big wads of soil at this point in the process? Again I appreciate the help!

I do not think it is ready for a transplant. That's why I asked you about looking at the roots. The fact that some of the soil spilled out and you didn't see roots circling the cup means it is not root bound yet.

The plant in your last picture looks much better to me. It isn't exactly thriving, but it is bigger than I thought. It may just be the strain and soil combo. Thanks for the update!

I saw some of your pictures Major PITA including your thermometer - gosh you grow beautiful plants
We're slightly cooler than you but not much and I love it. There is no place for Winter in my life.


My good morning girls

 

[Major PITA]

Looking much better!

 

[Kalomessimeri]

Looking much better!

Thanks Major but the pictures make their leaf color look better than they actually look, they now have more yellow running through and sativa-dominant's lower leaves are turning completely yellow. They might be having trouble absorbing nutes, I've got to go find some pH test strips immediately. Walmart sells test strips for aquariums but I guess that would work for this application, it's all just water right? But I think we have to test the soil pH as well, some people complained back in 2011 about Ocean Forest pH, ack getting frustrated. pH testing is new to me but I'm going to learn about it real fast.

 

[Major PITA]

While not real accurate, you can get an idea of soil PH by mixing it: 2 parts distilled water with 1 part soil. Shake and let sit for one hour. Now test the water PH and see how much it changed from 7.0

 

[Kalomessimeri]

While not real accurate, you can get an idea of soil PH by mixing it: 2 parts distilled water with 1 part soil. Shake and let sit for one hour. Now test the water PH and see how much it changed from 7.0

Excellent Major

Bought some test strips, our tap water pH is close to 8.0. My plants aren't absorbing jack shit. I guess the city water report I looked at was a couple years old, just found the current report and pH is greatly elevated. Moral of the story: check your own pH and never trust government (should have remembered that from high school).

Bought some pH down, got my pH to 6.3 and gave everybody a thorough drenching. I swear they already look better. Well you live and learn

 

[Kalomessimeri]

Awesome job. One thing I would do, soak the whole pot with water until you get enough runoff. It's a good way for the root-ball to expand in the whole space around the pot, for more water.

Just wanted to tell you daTenshi I took your advice and soaked the entire pots until runoff. I just started testing pH today, my water was almost pH 8.0 which is why they weren't absorbing nutrients properly this entire time! We're about three hours from a thorough soaking with properly pH'd water at about 6.3 and they all look so much happier. Really appreciate your help!

 

[daTenshi]

Happy you got them on track!

 

[Kalomessimeri]

All seems well, they're asleep after eight hours of intense direct sunlight. It gets very warm here in sunlight and potted plants take special attention and a little more water than they would other places. Water pH is of paramount importance, yes I realize that now. We've got little grey leafhoppers, I find them under leaves and along stems. I caught one in a white ceramic cup and it turns and looks at me and rocks from side to side on its legs, I wish I had a macro setting that would capture it on video. No visible damage but I'll need to deal with it, probably neem solution, haven't looked into it yet. I've used plenty of neem for blackspot on roses, can't stand the smell and hope I won't one day be tasting it - really nasty shit. I'm one of these people who doesn't like to kill things but I don't know how else to get rid of them, these plants are too fragile to spray with the hose. I'll take more pics here in a day or two, at this point the plants look very healthy and grow visibly bigger every day.

 

[daTenshi]

If you don't like neem oil (though heard it's great), you can always look for alternatives. For example I make a solution myself, from peppers and garlic. Basically boil some water, put the fresh peppers in there and brew like a tea add some garlic too, great for some bugs. There's always google to teach us that's the way I learned anyway... great recipes you can do yourself. I hate bugs

 

[Kalomessimeri]

If you don't like neem oil (though heard it's great), you can always look for alternatives. For example I make a solution myself, from peppers and garlic. Basically boil some water, put the fresh peppers in there and brew like a tea add some garlic too, great for some bugs. There's always google to teach us that's the way I learned anyway... great recipes you can do yourself. I hate bugs

I know! How did we ever live without Google?? The internet is like having all the world's knowledge right at your fingertips. There's no longer any excuse for not knowing about something other than being too lazy (or stoned) to look

I'm going to go mow the lawn so the leafhoppers will have to hop further. Thanks for the advice!

 

[daTenshi]

Indeed!
Btw if you want you could move this to the Grow Journals section and make it a journal. Just ask any staff member, or start a new thread and let us know.


How to Make a Grow Journal!

 

[Kalomessimeri]

Starting the grow journal now, I'll just copy and paste, maybe do a little editing. We've had an incredible number of cloudy days - well of course we have, the very year I'm trying to do an outdoor grow. Things have slowed up a bit but they're still looking good.

Update - got it done, here it is:

CFIT Potted Outdoor Grow Bag Seeds Two Varieties... I Think