Ok, so I bought a couple bricks for me next grow. The current one is 2 weeks into flower. Around the time I went to flower I started having problems where the leaves are shrinking and clenching up. Using cns17 bloom. Been careful about not over doing it too with ferts. Maybe fertilized at 1/2 strength 2x in 3 weeks. Also, I just learned my ro water is actually distilled so has 0 ppms. So picked up some mag/cal too. Today I was also flushing them (haven;t done it yet...oops) and was having a hard time getting runoff ph below 6.9. So I think my organic soil is causing lockout due to natually high ph. The ph of the water I've been adding has been ~6.5, so when you average that with the 7+ soil ph I have lockout. OR, I have magnesium deficiency. To make a long story short....can I pull the plants out, mostly rootball, and move to coco to help aleviate my ph problems???? If you've read this far thank you and please help!!!
I think it would be fine to switch to coco. Just be gentle with the roots and try not to expose them to a lot of light. After transplanting them start feeding them calmag+ and keep the pH around 5.8 don't worry about the run off pH. Also give them a good does of nitrogen and potassium to help them bounce back. Try to get most of the dirt off the roots but be gentle.
if your no more than 2 weeks into flower, id say you can transplant and your gurls will be just. any longer into flower than that and its going to cause adverse affects. slowed growth and all that jazz. you dont have to be super careful w/ the roots when you do it, and having them around lights when you do it isnt going to hurt them. after u transplant into your coco id give it a good flush w/ straight PH'd water @ 5.6. let that drain really good, then water again w/ nutrients to get your coco into the right zone of ppm/ec your using and ph anywhere from 5.5-6.0 its good to have a bit of a drift, allowing maximum uptake of nutrients. you cant over water in coco, so dont worry about that. if you have any other ?'s ill be glad to help. stay safe
cooool........... can't wait to switch over to coco. how much of the old soil should I shake out of the roots, is 90% good enough? I would think so. What should my target ppm be? I plan on supplementing all my ro water with cal-mag. If, after doing all this I still have problems then I'm totally stumped. They've been strugling for a couple weeks now. This is a low quality of life for them. I'm willing to try drastic measures so they can live a fuller life.
listen to this man biff!! let me add, you don't have to worry about the roots getting too much light while transplanting. even if you screw up and take longer than planned, the light won't have much, if any, long term effects on the plants. if you're using a coco specific nute, you don't have to add things like calmag, coco specific pretty much eliminates the need. the suggested 5.8 is what i use throughout. i've switched mediums like this before. get a couple of buckets of properly ph'd plain water to help wash the dirt off of the rootball.
Why do you use lower ph'd water, around 5.8, with coco when the target is around 6.5 to uptake most nutes?
Because Coco is like hydro. The nutrients are absorbed at different pH levels depending on how the plants are fed. Hydro gets fed different then soil.
right on! coco is hydro, and once you try it, you'll never go back to dirt!!! i didn't anyways, lol...
Well I made the switch to coco yesterday. The day before I did an aggressive flush too. Between the coco and the flush my plants are looking a lot better already. I can hardly believe it since I gave them an equivalent of a heart transplant but uprooting and putting them in coco. No signs of stress. Coco is awesome. I love how its ph neutral and I can get away from the issues of dirt mixes. Drains crazy fast too so you have to fine tune how much water is added. Thinking of adding a drip system since coco bennefits from more frequent waterings and seems to dry out pretty fast. BTW; big thanks to MrEd for his very helpful and well written coco thread
i almost never see "any" signs of stress when transplanting. you're right, a drip system is going to really benefit your grow. plants will really respond well to the numerous small feedings in coco.
Hey just wanted to give an update....plants are looking great. They've really bounced back and look great, and flowering has kicked in and taking off. Transplanting to coco was definitely worth it. Maybe I'll have to stroll over the the newbie forum and try to convert some folks. In all fairness to using soil mixes, I think my #1 mistake was not doing a flush. So in one way you can't say its just coco bringing my plants back. BUT, you can say that using coco as a mix is much simpler than worrying about finding and buying a good mix locally. The looseness of coco is cool, can tell it has to be good for root development, not to mention flushes' are easier. Guess I'm preaching to the choir ....oh well.
Some recent shots....plants are THRIVING in my 80/20 coco/perlite mix. 1st photo is with a indica/sativa mix in the front, and sativa in the back. 2nd is more of a zoom of the sat. 3rd is a zoom of the mix. Anyone have any ideas how long to harvest? Hopefully in a 2-3 weeks? Have company coming.
Wow what a turn around man....good job going with the coco I had a plant that I pronounced dead, it was a runt and im pretty sure i od'd it on superthrive, i transplanted it into fresh coco and flushed it..problem solved Your plant, based on what ive been reading and seen around the city(i havent completed my first grow yet)looks like its gunna be longer than 2-3 weeks.
Thanks miscbrah.....your humility hides the fact I would have never guessed it was your first! I'm just so happy I turned my plants around. Its frustrating when there going to shit and you don't know why. Its rewarding when you figure it out and solve the mystery.
I know what you mean man, I felt the same way about my runt....Thought it was KIA for sure, but transplanted it and flushed it and its the best looking out of my blue hash plants now. crazy.
Updated pics in this thread; http://forum.grasscity.com/absolute-beginners/827778-can-someone-explain-stages-flowering.html Can't tell if flowering is where it should be or not at about 5 weeks into flowering.