Okay, so I'm using the KISS method with my first shot at organic. My soil consists of Peat Moss, Compost, EWC, Kelp Meal, Epsoma Tomato fertilizer and Fish fertilizer (5-1-1). Peat 60% Compost and EWC 20% each 1/2 cup of kelp 1 cup Epsoma 2 cap fulls of Fish fert I mixed it in a 5 gallon bucket and let it sit for just over a month to 'cook'. Does anyone see anything wrong with this mixture? My plants are growing really slow and with my Temp/Humidity and PH being perfect, the soil is the only thing left that I think could be causing the issue. I have a 125w 6500k CFL for veg and a 4' 8 light T5 for flower. One extra item to note. I noticed that my bag seed plants were growing slow so I put my Purple Cheese Auto under the T5 for veg to see if that made a difference and it didn't. It's starting to preflower and its only 4-5" tall.
You need some form of aeration in that mix dude. It should be nice and light and free draining. I would add an equal amount of some aeration deal as u used for compost/ewc. So if you used 6 parts peat, 2 parts compost, 2 parts ewc, I would add another 4 parts aeration. Something like perlite, pumice, rice hulls, buckwheat hulls, lava rock...... my first grow
You guys rock. For some reason I thought the peet moss would give me aeration. I'll add some perlite tomorrow and see what happens. Thanks again!
Amazing the difference a little perlite will do! I added some to my bin of mixed dirt and it made a huge difference. It no longer seems heavy or muddy. I'll be swapping the plants out to this later today. Have a good weekend!
Yeah I originally wanted alfalfa, but I couldn't find it. I ended up looking online and the Fish Fert was listed as a good replacement. My next batch will definitely have alfalfa to see if there's any difference.
If you do this, try to be certain they aren't made of Timothy Grass.... some rabbit pellets labeled 'alfalfa' are in fact Timothy Hay/Grass.... which isn't harmful but isn't as beneficial as alfalfa.
The feed store near me quoted me a price on a 50 lb bag of Alfalfa and I specifically asked, "it's not T-grass is it?" To which he answered, "no, it's alfalfa." I still am weary of buying it though as I am almost certain its GMO but it is cheap at $18.99 for 50 lbs of 3/8" pellets
3-lb box on Amazon, cheap... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001F9W9JU/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i02?ie=UTF8&psc=1
For people who don't go to feed stores, I guess it would seem so. That 3/8" stuff sounds like large rabbit pellets or small horse pellets. Either way, it's good. Add a little water and it will dissolve into mush, or you can add as is. There is a bit of a risk of hot spots with the pellets, but not so much with the small ones like that and a decent cooking time. I've gotten some that were close to 1" square (Horse treats), waiting for meal to arrive and just added water to turn it into wet meal. Just a couple of lbs since the meal was due at the store in a few days. Wet
I agree Wet but if I can I would prefer organic if possible. I can get 25 lbs of Down To Earth alfalfa for $17 at one place within 20 miles of me.
growing in soil under the CFL's and T5's can also be why the slow growth. When I very first started I was using T12's and T5's and when I finally went to MH and HPS I NOTICED from day one. If that is what you have then go for it my man but I would try to slowly move to dwc it can be done organically if thats what you seek plus its cheap to build dont get caught up in the whole recirculating just start slow even if you just do one bucket at a time you will see better results. You can take a beach towel and wrap up the air pumps to keep the noise down. If you wanna upgrade to a metal halide but you are worried about the bill go to westlake hardware or ace and you can buy smaller MH kits for like garages they are easy to modify and often time on craigslist you can find old metal halides for 25-40 dollars and they can be easily modified into a grow light with minimul $$$ and effort. All my veg lights were refurbished street lights that I modified on my own and they output great light and heat 1/3 the cost of a sunblaster or any good grow light. Dont buy a conversion bulb just buy the lights as you go and dont cut corner and you will be
With the auto flowers you dont wanna decrease the light cycle just keep it under 19 hours of light every day. I grew a RQS Bluematic and it did really well just living under a 6500K T5 but If I could I would have given 2700K spectrum but if you move it to 12/12 you are just gonna make it produce even less. I figured that you meant when you said you put it under the T5 to veg. Maybe your plants are rootbound also you could have nute burn and need to just feed them RO water for 1.5-2 weeks until you see them growing again. I havent ever had a defencency from what I can tell but I have definetley had nute burn and at first I wanted to give them nutes thinking they were lacking something but I played it safe and just fed them water. Try flushing them by adding the exact same amount of water to your pots carrying capacity 5 gallons of water for 5 gallons of soil. Let the soil dry nicely and then water normally but with straight RO water. How are the plants doing anyway its been 10 or more days since you said they were stunting