Look up what Rove beetles look like. I bet that’s what they are. They are composters and good guys. Cheers Os
Let me just say that many of us have seen people post a question but they really aren’t interested in the answers. All they want is confirmation that what they are doing is correct or ok. When they don’t get this confirmation or approval they get upset and defend their method - often with no experience to back it up or a complete understanding of the method. Most folks here are pretty darn nice. When they see this happen they simply disengage from the conversation. Many of us have been growing for decades and whether or not you choose to take our advice or precautions matters very, very little. A mix without peat moss and 30% biochar does have the potential to raise pH to unacceptable levels. This could be exacerbated further if your water source has high alkalinity or hardness. water alkalinity chart uk - Google Search
Kind of look like that but it was a little rounder but the ass end look the same so I will say you are probably right on the money Sent from my SM-S908U using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Hello, My water's pretty hard.. Do you know of any organic amendments that can lower pH? Maybe I should go 15% biochar 15% pumice for aeration, as I have some left over from my last grow. Thanks for the input
I live in Florida so every time I walk in the backyard I look out for snakes Sent from my SM-S908U using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Does anybody have experience with blumat watering systems in a no till? I'm thinking about using one to make my grow easier, but will the lack of water from above compromise the decay of mulch? Will top dressing (e.g. malted barley powder) be made ineffective? I want to add organic liquid fertilisers as well (fish hydrolysate, flowering mix), can these be added to the reservoir? Or will they go anaerobic in the still water? Is it ok to top water these things in as required, and keep the blumat system running effectively? Thanks
I can only answer yes, there are people here that use them and there are some recent discussions but I don’t have any experience with them.
Adding more water to the soil with blumat system in place will only stop the blumats from watering while soil moisture is retained to the desired setting. Once the soil begins to dry out the blumats pressure valve will open inside the carrot which will allow the water to flow from the 15 psi pressure regulator or gravity fed system. Once the soil is saturated to the setting on the carrot it will shut off the valve automatically. So adding teas or watering in general will only slow down the drippers or soaker hose frequency of watering.
Citric acid will lower the pH of your water. Generally speaking most of us will use a liming agent to raise the pH of our mix because peat moss is acidic. Leaf mold will have a fairly neutral pH. Compost could really go either way it’ll depend on your source. Biochar can go either way too but much more likely it will raise pH. Hard water becomes more of an issue if you recycle your soil or run a no till. I personally don’t recommend no till for newer growers or Blumat for that matter. Growing in containers for a few runs will allow you to try different mixes and see what works best for you. There is also much to be learned from hand watering and using the lift method. Lastly, I would post your soil mix here and allow everyone to critique it. Pick 2 or 3 recipes and see how they do. Due to my hard water and cost I’ve never run biochar above 1% of my mix. For the last 5 or 6 years I haven’t used any at all. RD
I know this is a little late, but better late than never. I noticed some folks were asking how to acidify their substrate. I tried using elemental sulfur with little success. The reason being it takes a while for the microbes to convert the sulfur to an acid. What worked wonders for me and was completely organic and cost nothing was JLF (Jadam Liquid Fertilizer). Made it myself and when finished fermenting it was very acidic. Used it to lower Ph in my substrate, and Ph my water. Great results!
Extolling the virtues of Leaf mould: Its acidic. But not so acidic that you have to add lime. I would happily use peat moss if it were ethically sourced. Same with the different guanos. I'm not saying it doesn't work, I'm just saying there's just a better way to do it. Leaf mould is formed by the cold fungal decay of leaf matter, different to the hot decomposition process of compost. The more fungi in the soil, the more life the soil can hold. leafmould dot co dot uk Composting Leaves (Leaf Mold, Mulch & Compost) | Planet Natural re the link above: "composting leaves" is a misnomer. Leaf mould is formed by a cold decomposition process, whereas compost is a hot one.
There's no way I'm picking 3 different mixes and seeing how they do. Too inefficient, too expensive, too labour intensive (that's why I prefer the blumat approach. LITFA). I want to find out the absolute best soil mix according to science and grow a no till in that. Besides, there's no doubt that the other soil mixes here perform well. The results would also likely be inconclusive if I were only actually running 3 plants, which I am. I wouldn't know what to do with so much weed anyway. And the differences in eventual plant sizes in a run that scale could easily just be down to seed genetics.
My water is hard comes out at 8.3 ph will kill a hot water heater in 5 years if you don't drain it 2x a year. Found out when we moved in here and replaced a 5 year old hot water heater caked with calcium inside.
hahaha same here i just took a water heater to dump yesterday, i drain and clean mine twice a year also, but im not lucky enough to just drain it and done, i have a scoop i made from a clothes hanger and have to reach into the tank and scoop out a 5 gal bucket of lime scale each time, take all day to do this , the price of them things is threw the roof too, i havent heard enough pro's to foot the bill for a on demand heater as of yet, some say they love them and many say it wasnt worth the cost
Do you also replace the anode rod, ie the sacrificial rod that’s in the center of the tank that comes out from the top? They tell everyone on well water up here to replace those every 1-3 years. Aluminum rods instead of magnesium rods are supposed to really help with hard water like yours. Cheers Os
I have decided that I will just buy the water I intend to use. Perhaps a quick fix, but I'm only experimenting.