Hi all, so I'm gonna try getting a journal going. A little bit about myself. I just started growing this past year. So super new at this. This is gonna be my 3rd grow. 1st grow and 2nd grow had issues which I still haven't figured out exactly where I went wrong. I used Happy frog soil with Roots Organics on the first run and grew out 2 Ghost OG's in 3 gallon pots. The 2nd Run I used Home made soil from the organic forum beginners soil recipe, I cloned 3 plants from previous run and the 2nd run wasn't as successful as the first. I have been taking Environmental Horticulture classes at community college and completed a Hort class at Oaksterdam University and reading as much as I can in between school and work. Presently I've been gifted 4 clones. 2 pineapple express, 1 Dream queen, and 1 Tangie. I've been drying my last grow in my cab and growing out the clones under a t-5 light and then will place two of the 4 plants in my Grow Cab which is 2'deep x 3'wide and 6.5' tall, so not a ton of space. I'll continue to veg under t5's to save on electricity or use my MH. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Currently i'm trying to decide which plants I want to flower out. 3 out of the 4 plants are 9-10 week plants, dream queen being a 7-8 week. I wish I had two 7-8 week to save on electricity. If any old skool growers read through this I'm wondering if you could give me some pointers. I'm going to go up to 5 gallons and i've heard that I need bigger but I don't think I can go any bigger right now. Can I get away with a successful grow with this size? My tap water is between 8-9 pH pretty high, should I amend my soil with anything different than I've been using? and or should I continue to use Citric Acid to bring the pH down a little bit since its so high to help my soil manage it? I've heard mixed things on the organic forum re managing pH....Also Can I still add some granite or glacial rock dust, My mix currently has Azomite in it but it sounds like Azomite may have not been the best choice. I was thinking of adding more all purpose fert mix to soil as well and should I re-use my old soil from last grow or use fresh made soil and or can i mix them? If I add more amendments do I have to wait? I really want to keep this grow as basic as I can to start feeling more comfortable and not get in over my head. So what would you suggest to a newbie if they wanted to keep it simple and pick one or two types of foliars to spray with?
So I've continued reading up on GC. Looks like I can get maybe 2 7 gallon pots in my cab. I'm worried about the height but I can give it a try. I want to get plants into 1 gallon pots this week and 5-7 gallons in next couple of weeks. I have a couple of options for powdered rock dust (Vital Earth's) I think in the $15-$18 price range at local hydro store or I can drive further out and get granite rock $4.50 for small sack I'd prob have to crush it myself, or green glacial rock dust $35, 50lb bag... I don't really have the space for it. Any review's on Vital Earth and can I place this in my soil mix that already has azomite in it? Would that be overloading or causing some sort of bad reaction? To address pots being so small I've read up on suggestions. from @donothinggardening here on GC and some from buildasoil the suggestion is to add top dressing to top of pot.. saw this on buildASoil ... I guess its clackamas coot recipe... After the plant is in the final container I top-dress with my worm castings at 2" or so and then I hit it with Aloe vera juice and Comfrey extract. Or Borage. Or Stinging Nettle. Or Horsetail ferns. Whatever is ready. Or I also read from @donothinggardening used the following recipe for top dressing. for 5 gallon. 3 tablespoon kelp 2 tablespoon fish bone meal 4 tablespoon gypsum cover with 2" of worm castings across the container and then top off with a mulch. Anyone want to make suggestions? maybe @Sc00byD00bie @jerry111165 @Possuum, @donothinggardening? I know you guys get tons of questions everyday. Hoping you'll see and have time to respond.
Heya @stomatasf welcome to GC 5 or 7 gallon pots ought to work perfectly in your space. I would just focus on finding the very best quality compost or vermicompost (or combination of the two) that you can get your hands on. Compost is really the backbone of a great potting soil and will make all the difference in your plants' health and performance. Rock dust is not mission critical imo. If you can find some for a decent price (or free) locally then great, but otherwise I wouldn't sweat it. As far as foliar sprays, I would suggest ordering a bottle of karanja oil from Ahimsa Alternative, something to emulsify the oil with (soap nut powder, castile soap, or potassium silicate), and an aloe vera plant (or freeze-dried powdered aloe). @BrassNwood @Possuum and @waktoo could probably give you some guidance on how to deal with your tap water situation. I'm guessing it's probably high in carbonates and resistant to changes in pH.
Curious what you might need suggesgions on @stomatasf? That's a lot to read through squinty eyes. From what i did read you seem to have enough of what a plant needs for a few months. If you have a need to top dress certainly pick the right solution if you're trying to fix a problem, otherwise IDK necessarily from one suggestion to the next what might be good in your case. So I cant really weigh in on that. I can weigh in and suggest you consider paying $100 to join Azon Prime when you can because you can get 10 lbs or 50lbs of rock dust delivered to your door with no shipping. LOL...one can get everything they need on Azon. Pretty kewl really. FWIW I use citric acid in my water. It doesnt do anything to lower the carbonates but it does lower and hold the pH in a nicer range for my needs. I really dont know of any other easy way without using some type of acid with a decent buffering capacity. Citric acid is probably the safest and easiest way. Keep your soil warm if you're in a cold area. Cold soil really messes up soil chemistry and will cause a myriad of issues. Use mulch and insulate with insulating material (not tee shirts and towels) if you cant warm the soil any other way. Big containers do mean big plants but the plants have to have room to grow. If space is limited keep in mind light penetration, air movement, and CO2 needs. Otherwise you might end up with big containers and struggling plants. Plus, the leap from 5g to 7g containers takes on new and more difficult challenges to water thoroughly and evenly throughout the container. It's not unusual to encounter dry spots in those big 7g> rootballs if one doesnt water properly - read that as patience. I'm not a practioner of foliar feeding. I feel there's never been a need for me to. Azomite isnt bad, it's just not a mineral dust like basalt. Two completely different mineral structures. Same for glacial rock dust is not the same as basalt or Azomite. Three completely different substances. Dont sweat the Azomite. I think it gets a lot of unjustified bad press because folks take the word of someone instead of doing their own research. Azomite, basalt, and GRD are not even close really except that the word 'dust' is appended when referencing them. In closing my long response i'll offer you a piece of wisdom; purchase your 'dust' in lieu of making your own. All rocks, and especially granite, are exceptionally tough. To make granite rock into dust will require a mighty sledge and a very strong back. Plus it will save you from going blind when the rocks explode after being hit with an 8, 12, or 16 pound sledge hammer slicing the air at 80 mph. BTDT. Word......
@Sc00byD00bie @ Possuum @jerry111165 Hey there donothinggardening, Thanks so much. You all have been super supportive. Ok i'm not gonna worry about the rock dust. I do have a basic soil batch made up and I'll look into purchasing some ahimsa alternative, and aloe. I have good compost the EWC should be pretty good as well. I think I may give 5 gall a try since I don't have a lot of space. Regarding that slurry/top dressing you make with kelp, and bone meals etc did you do that right away or after a few weeks into repotting? Started reading through your old journals. Thanks again!
Hi there Possuum, Sorry yes I wrote way too much. Sorry. thanks for your reply. Basically I've been nervous about repeating my last mistakes.. pots being too small for plants and running out of nutrients for them. Just trying to cover bases and if anyone has suggestions re top dressing plants so they don't run out of what they need. on 2nd post I posted two recipes one from clackamas coots and other from donothinggardening. I have been using citric acid for pH. Water has been coming out tap at 8.9 last two days so I just wanted to see if sticking to citric acid was way to go. I didn't worry about pH on 2nd grow because i was under the impression that I didn't need to with organics. I should have realized though that that was too much for my soil to deal with in such small pots and that 2nd grow went terribly. and ok I'm not going to worry re the azomite. I'll leave as is. Regarding keeping soil warm.. I'm a little confused should I keep a warming pad under the pots? temp in the room doesn't drop too much maybe 65 on a bad day. Is that too cold for the soil? Yes I have Amazon prime and love it. I live in the Nor- cal bay area though and we have quite a big selection of organic amendments etc also so I don't always have to use amazon. Thanks again @Possuum
Alrighty so I repotted my girls. I've decided on keeping the Dream Queen and the Tangie. Decided that the Pineapple express is gonna be too leggy in my cab. I transplanted DQ last night and it didn't have the best roots but hoping that now that it'll have little more space that they'll grow out. Tangie definitely had better roots and is bushier and less sparse than DQ. Both are in 1 gallon pots that I had around and in one to two weeks I'll place them in 5 gallon smart pots. Here's some pics. I'm waiting to also place them in my cab after I finish drying out my last run prob tomorrow or following day. 1st 3 pics are Tangie. pic 4 & 5 are Dream Q.
1st night in Cab under 420 MH lights. Have given plants about 19" from light to top of canopy. 111k-123k Lux on my Galactica Lux app meter. Hmm I don't know about this fee meter working very well. Anyways I figure i'll ease them in from T-5 lights And will bring lights closer in next day or so. about 80 degrees in Cab with 46% humidity. I'll be buying 5 gall smart pots in next week. Saw generic ones at couple of different Hydro shops but wasn't sure about quality etc so I'll prob order online. I haven't placed mulch on top soil.. trying to figure out what would be best. Its interesting because on other grows I read that getting the soil on top to dry out little is best but I guess it makes sense to have soil moist on top for better soil life.
Tangie plant this am is not as perky. Will keep an eye on it. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Happy holidays! Well the Tangie continues to be so, so. Doesn't seem to be thriving. The DQ is ok looking. My humidity has dropped to 38% the last day or so that doesn't help. The bay area has gotten pretty chilly last week or so and has lower humidity. I have a vicks vaporizer that I just placed in the same room near cab. Hoping that'll bring up the humidity a little. The soil my clones came with originally was some sort of bagged soil and fungus gnats have appeared. I've killed one or two. and didn't see any today. I've crumbled up some mosquito dunks and sprinkled them in about 1/4" under soil to be watered in next time around. There's a lot of red petioles which makes me nervous as my 1st and 2nd grow had that issue with bad results where all leaves ended up yellowing and dying during flower. Another observation.. I've been using citric acid to lower my tap water pH from 9.0 to 6.0... within a day or so that same water swings back up to 7.3. So I'm left wondering once that water goes into my soil is it actually causing nutrient lockout and should I purchase RO water or keep on adding citric acid in a large vat of water and keep adding citric acid to it periodically (check pH daily and adjust as needed etc) I keep reading up on red petioles and some people say it's the pH others say its phosphorous, while others say its a cal mag deficiency and I should use epsom salt to handle this. I'm trying to decide on what to do next. I'm open to suggestions. On the other hand the plants I'm gonna give away (pineapple express) are in tiny containers with bagged soil under cfl's and growing leaps and bounds!! They do have some red petioles but are thriving.
It's been about two weeks in the Cab. There's been some growth and I noticed some issues leading me to think I've had a slight magnesium deficiency. watered in some epsom salts last week and gave them a foliar spray of epsom salts today. I got my smart pots and will be potting them up soon. Today I notice yellowing on older leaves at bottom of the plant. So thinking i need to boost nitrogen.. I've made some adjustments on dealing with chloramine and my hight alkalinity from my tap water which is 8.9 to 9. I've purchased some vitamin C granules and put 1/4 teaspoon per 3 gallons of tap water. It dropped my tap water to 6.4 and It did away with my chloramine worries. I watered my plants with it and got a pH of 6.8 from the runoff which i was just curious to see what it would be, my EC runoff was at 4.4. Since I spent the money on this ridiculously expensive blue lab ph Combo set I figured I might as well use it.
Bringing this journal to a close. thursday at lights on I noticed small bugs crawling around in my tangie's saucer.. at closer inspection realized i had what appear to be "Root Aphids" I'm not positive at how I brought them in but from the pics I got and after reading up pretty positive that's what's been going on with plants slow growth, and what had appeared to be some nutrient or pH issues. I ended up throwing out plants and sterilizing and cleaning following day. Finally lesson learned...Do Not Accept Free plants from Friends. If you do make sure you quarantine away from your current plants.. Take preventative measures always.. Always make sure you wash up when you've been in any other gardens before handling your plants. I'll be back. Will be growing from seed next round.
great post, definitely seems like your first grow was informative even if it wasn't successful. I think you'll have better luck growing from seed, and you'll learn a lot about the life cycle of the plant. If you can get bay area blue dream clones or seeds, that strain is very stable and easy to grow indoors in my experience. that would be a pretty bulletproof option for your next grow.
@thezephyr thanks for your feedback and comments! School of hard knocks! lol. Have to shake it off & pull it together for next grow. Feeling out of place with no plants at moment but I'm gonna wait a few weeks. Make sure I "plan my work and work my plan" I forget who has stated this over and over again on on GC forum but it sure makes sense.
haha good call on the planning. I've been scrambling for the past hour to plant some seeds I've been soaking. real seed company Kumaoni himalayan landrace. As soon as I saw the taproot I realized I didn't even have my soil mixed.