Please help

I know you can use Epson salt for Mag, not sure about the Cal part which seems to be your main deficiency (brownish/redish spots). Also depends on what you consider organic or not, since you seem to try a full organic grow.

 

This is what google says :
Organic calcium sources like dolomite lime and ground oyster shell are relatively cheap and readily available, but your kitchen generates free organic calcium you probably didn’t know about—eggshells


None of these will be an immedient solution for you though. You could use bottled CalMag, but that would compromise your organic approach. Not easy getting all the nutrients organically, need some experience I think in mixing soils. And again, those lights put your plants to work WAY more than blurples would indoor

 

Yea, you definitely are going at it the right way IMO. Ill try to grow organic next year, just to see how it goes. It is a lot of trying out and research. What I found out aboht research is that uaually people will disagree, but the things that seem to get repeated from all those different sources usually work, everything else is more like tey and error. And of course helps if you know experienced growers, but then again they might grow different style. I would not think somebody growing hydro or coco can help an organic grower

Giod luck and yes, please update.

 

I agree with Sc00byD00bie as far as pot size becoming an issue. Especially after you flip to flower. I use a minimum of 10 gallon pots for auto's and 20 gallon for photo periods. Your plants will survive, they just will not reach their potential and it will be work to keep them healthy. I learned the hard way too. Now, I tend to listen to the pro's here like Sc00byD00bie.

 

Bigger pots is a good answer for what’s happening here. If you mixed a good living organic soil utilizing the soil food web, good watering with regular top dressing with a nice mulch layer you’re good to go, you just gotta have faith in your soil

 

Just FYI You could fit a 100gallon in a 3x3 and a 20/30 gallon in a 2x2. You could even grow two or more plants in the same pot if you wanted to.

Re: Cover crop. Personally I don't have the patients to deal with live mulch but some like to use it. User preference I suppose. Try it once and see if you like it.

 

I’m using small pine bark nuggets for mulch,

 

I would try to take them outside if you can. Water with distilled and flush the chlorine and tap water shit out let it dry if you can get a big fan and blow it on the bags to pump oxygen to the roots. Once the soil is dry 2-3” Then make your compost tea from RO or distilled and feed.

 

I just go on amazon, type "smartpot" and click on the first result (make sure you choose the smartpot brand). Once inside the product page you can select the size pot you want and then look at the product info section and the size in inches will be displayed.

 

A really good way to determine if your pot has become root bound or if it is the appropriate size for the age of the plant is really simple.

Water the plant to saturation. Wait 24hrs. If the pot feels light and needs water it will be rootbound within a week of requiring water daily. This is an indication it’s time to transplant or the container is too small. If this happens during flower the plant will most likely need to be fed one way or another. Or as I like to say it’ll need some love.

I don’t believe pot size is your issue. I routinely grow plants much larger in less soil. This plant is in a 3g bag.

These are all in 3g bags, water only, and look like they need 2-3 more weeks before transplant. Looks about the same size as your plant?

Ca, Mg, and K have a very antagonistic relationship on their own. Na will make this relationship worse. The first thing you should do is find out if you have salinity issues with your water. If you do, pHing it won’t solve the problem. It’s doubtful pH/alkalinity issues would appear during your first cycle even if you don’t adjust the pH, it takes time for this to happen.

The next step if salinity is the issue would be to leach the excess Na from the soil with a clean water source. Then transplant as soon as possible and continue on with clean water.

A liter is awful close to a quart. 4 liters + a small handful will be really close to a gallon.
HTH
RD

 

I like using them too. I used them as my only mulch source for a couple years. I won’t be doing it anymore like this. I don’t feel like it breaks down fast enough to be adding much back to the soil. I think keeping that mulch layer as diverse as possible is really helpful. Just my two cents.
RD

 

My plan is to add some comfrey and stinging nettle under the pine nuggets

 

Soil Salinity Testing, Data Interpretation and Recommendations | UGA Cooperative Extension

 

Sounds like a plan. I wouldn’t hesitate to add stuff on top of the pine bark either, helps break it down faster.
RD

 

I’ve got about 2” of pine bark, so now I’m thinking just move the top 3 quarters and layer the comfrey and nettles over that 1/2” of bark