i'm new to this, and i've had soil ph troubles all along. well my 1gals are outgrown and i plan to transplant (final) to the 3 gal pots. i've got some organic local nursery potting soil, perlite, lime, epsom salt, and liquid concentrate fox farm nutes. i can not get any FFOF here and refuse to ship bags of soil. a couple gen questions i hope to learn in a good read about transplanting and soil... i'll add more when they come to mind should i devote a couple days to getting the soil ph right before moving the ladies? should i feed the new soil with the FF trio before i move? watered today with 7 (no nutes save 1/4tsp epsom salt). runoff was 6. fed grow big and big bloom (half of FF feeding sched) last water 1/20. planned to water once more before going full strength every 3 waterings from now on, but i gotta get the ph straight and i hope the needed transplant will do that. any experiences, advice is welcome, but i'm really looking for a book on the topic of soil etc
Im not sure on the FF trio, but when you go to transplant vitamin B helps ease the plants as well as an up-start like a 5-15-5, I would water with that before you go to transplant. It will help promote roots, and ease the shock. You generally want to transplant into the same medium or something similar to previously used to also help lesson shock. What you can do is get dolomite lime, that will raise the soil to a ph of 7, and the great thing about dolomite is that it is nuetral at 7, so in other words, it wont raise your ph past 7. Usually, 6.8-7 is a good soil ph. (if you choose to go with this product, I recommend getting the finest power or dust you can, the finer it is the faster it will work. some are too big that it takes to long to break down before it even has an effect for your plant)
Thanks. I have organic garden lime to use but its little pellets, not powder. I'll look into another type I you think I should.
Well the smaller it is, I mean dust is the ideal, the faster it will work. Pellets might be too big, now I have seen some I do believe where they are larger, but they are mixed with other chemicals to help break down the lime faster, maybe thats your kind? But imho, best bet is to get the finest stuff you can find. It will be worth the money.
Yeah, you will want to mix with soil before hand. You can always uses it on plants that are already potted too, not the best, but dont limit yourself it will still work I wish I was home at the moment to find mixing instructions, but it may also vary to on what type you get.
Don't pull the plant upwards when removing it from the 1gal pots. Instead, turn them sideways, or upside down, grab the stem firmly at the base, and "massage" around the pot sides 'till it loses the dirt, or else you might end up tearing appart 70-99% of your "feeding roots", which are very fragile. I don't like to use already fertilized soil when transplanting, since you will always damage the tips of the roots that are bound on the sides of the dirt, and they will simply be burned out if your mix is not adequate. Instead, have a little pattience, fertilize the plant 1-2 weeks before transplanting, transplant it into "no ferts" soil, and water with rooting hormone on it, or vitamin B (same thing). Wait a week, perhaps two to fertilize the soil. You can tell the plant is ready to fert as soon as you see new growth.
so, should i mix my soil and water to check runoff, then flush with phd water until i get 6.5-6.8 before transplanting
If you'd like to be more specific, yes. I wouldn't bother that much. Go to the store, buy some soil that is pure organic. No time release ferts and that kind of stuff. Plant your baby. Wait 'till its rooted, and then you can start the nutes/ferts. Check the runoff from there on, and make corrections as needed. I did my growth from start to almost finish (20 days flowering now) on pure organic soil, never use no nutes. Never had to change soil. Also, never had pH problems... and I use tap water all along. Really, it's not rocket science, unless you make it be. You'll get a pretty good yield without the whole lot of techs involved. But if you'd like to push it from, like 70% efficiency to near 100%, that's a whole other game. Since you're new, I wouldn't advise. Keep it simple. Learn what you can. Get good clones. Improve along the way. A 'so so' crop is better than 'no' crop.