Okay, so background: My plants were in miracle grow organic, and they were getting over watered and over nuted. I think, because the soil was so compacted at the bottom half, it couldn't drain properly. I had to dig when I transplanted. thursday, 2/14 So anyways, I opted to transplant them to FFOF and people online said to add like 30% perlite. So I went to Home depot and bought the only brand they had:Miracle Grow. I washed it in the sink for a few minutes hoping to wash away the amount of nutes it has. So, then I would take the plant out, empty its flower pot, and refill it with ffof/MG perlite. And then nest the plant in. (so it(/roots) was the air for like 2-3 mins.) Some of the roots got ripped out during the transplant, probably like 10-20%, but they were white and long, whereas a lot of the other ones were brownish and semi short. friday 2/15 So the next day, I notice the leaves are starting to turn yellow. More so on the littler of the two plants, but also on the bottom leaves of my bigger one. the next day they were all almost completely yellow. And they haven't changed much since. I watered the bigger one after transplant. So, next up I came into position of some seeds from the 70's (no idea what kind) which were stored in a plastic bag in a cabinet. I need to figure out exactly what killed my existing plants so it doesn't happen with these (if they sprout) or new ones which I'll order if the oldies dont sprout. Pics attached, two day of the transplant and four from about 5 minutes ago.
PH is the only problem you are having.. N is hard to lockout from ph issues, but the imbalances of other nutrients easily affecting ph, can lock out N.. How do you know what the ph of your water is? In FFOF you should be able to use distilled water with .5 grams of epsom salt and be fine without phing.. If you use tap or well, your water is alkaline, hence the terrible ph issues you are no doubt experience.. Ive seen this I dont know how many times with new growers.. PS... Dont amend 30% perlite, FFOF doesnt really need any added aeration...
Also, your medium is awful dry in appearance.. and your lights are too far.... Give me the environmental specs of your grow.. Temps RH Nutes Water source, tap, well, or RO
Seeds don't need nutrients of any kind...poor guys (gals) were overwatered, compacted and fried from the MG nutes. Sphagnum Peat moss and some perlite is all they need for the first couple of weeks...plenty of time to find a decent soil mix to transplant them in when they're ready for food. Go easy on the water....overwatering is the #1 killer mistake noobs make. Moist, but NOT wet. Good luck
[quote name='"ridge"racer']Also, your medium is awful dry in appearance.. and your lights are too far.... Give me the environmental specs of your grow.. Temps RH Nutes Water source, tap, well, or RO[/quote] I use tap water, filtered through a brita (I live in a small city area). The temp in my room goes from about 70 to 81 at the highest. humidity is low right now ( 16-20%) because I had to return my humidifier (all the ones at target [and all the other stores around here] suck, gonna order a good one online) Amazon.com: BestDealUSA 3in1 Plant Flowers Soil Tester Moisture Light PH Meter: Home Improvement < my moisture/PH tester said that my soil was moist (I think the lights / humidity are what make the soil appear dry, on top. But not dry throughout) and that my soil PH was in the high 7, low 8 area
Temps need to be consistent with 78F +/- a few degrees.... Your humidity is on the extreme side of being low.. Your plants will not thrive in this, nor will transpiration be in balance with nutrient requirements... On top of that your tap water is almost positively alkaline, and they do this for a reason, so your ph is fucked.. You know what needs to be done, handle it and come back with news of success next time.. Holler if ya need help..
[quote name='"ridge"racer']Temps need to be consistent with 78F +/- a few degrees.... Your humidity is on the extreme side of being low.. Your plants will not thrive in this, nor will transpiration be in balance with nutrient requirements... On top of that your tap water is almost positively alkaline, and they do this for a reason, so your ph is fucked.. You know what needs to be done, handle it and come back with news of success next time.. Holler if ya need help..[/quote] Yup yup, gonna order a humidifier. I have a ph/up down kit. Do you guys buy water ? or to do just constantly adjust? Just to be sure, are these two existing plants for sure dead or is there any hope of saving them? I had figured they were dead (Hence the post-mortem title) but just curious.
Always add a few milliliters of ph up... Then a few of Down per gallon before you add nutes and recheck the ph.. This buffers the water creating tension in the event the plant uses nutrients, which elevates ph... With tap, the ph up buffer is already there, just bring the ph down to where you want it, then add nutes, then re adjust ph... STABLE... I suggest you get a gallon of distilled, mix your nutes, and drop the lights... Also, something to create humidity, like boiling some water in the house or something man.. Or they will just die like the rest I would presume..
[quote name='"ridge"racer']Always add a few milliliters of ph up... Then a few of Down per gallon before you add nutes and recheck the ph.. This buffers the water creating tension in the event the plant uses nutrients, which elevates ph... With tap, the ph up buffer is already there, just bring the ph down to where you want it, then add nutes, then re adjust ph... STABLE... I suggest you get a gallon of distilled, mix your nutes, and drop the lights... Also, something to create humidity, like boiling some water in the house or something man.. Or they will just die like the rest I would presume..[/quote] So, if I get it humid, lower the ph (i put some water in that had a ph of like 5.5 to try and bring it down from 8) it should be good? I'm assuming its got nutes from the soil for now
Music to my ears... Remember, if you use distilled, 2ml up, 2ml down, then adjust the range to 6.0 for FFOF soil... Tap water, just add ph down to get to 6.0 And you are correct, FFOF will support plants for about 3 good weeks give or take a few before they use up the N and Mg and start going deficient.. So heads up... lets see plenty of runnoff too... You got this, bring them back to the light..
Fox farms oceans forest is great for transplants, the light warrior is where it's at for germination. A similar soil of fine particles works
hrmmm, I dont wanna drop another 30 bucks on soil. Think I could do like 50/50 perlite/ffof for the seedlings?
[quote name='"ipax91"'] hrmmm, I dont wanna drop another 30 bucks on soil. Think I could do like 50/50 perlite/ffof for the seedlings?[/quote] If you want to weaken it down a bit grab a $10 bag of peat from home depot (3cf). Mix 1/2 ocean forest, 1/4 peat, and 1/4 perlite. That should weaken it down a bit without drying out as quickly as a heavy perlite mix. Throwing in about a cup of lime per 5g will help to stabalize Ph. If you really want easy, get organic nutes and forget all the Ph BS. You're already paying for organic soil, why not reap the benefits.
Good tip. I have bio vega for nutes, but I haven't been using it. Should I? Also, gave the plants a ton of acidic water, (like two cups each, I didn't think the first cup was acidic enough) But the water I PH tested was pinkish, the stuff I just pulled from the bottom, when PH tested came out pee yellow (i.e. neutral) haha. Is that a good sign?
[quote name='"ipax91"'] Good tip. I have bio vega for nutes, but I haven't been using it. Should I? Also, gave the plants a ton of acidic water, (like two cups each, I didn't think the first cup was acidic enough) But the water I PH tested was pinkish, the stuff I just pulled from the bottom, when PH tested came out pee yellow (i.e. neutral) haha. Is that a good sign?[/quote] Now, you are asking about new sprouts and not the plants that were transplanted correct? Edit: I also forgot to add, home depot also carries 2cf bags of perlite for $17. Its in a large green bag. Its a much better value (51 quarts for $17 vs 8 quarts for $5), and ormi listed so there are no nasty chemicals added. They don't keep it next to the miracle grow bags though, its usually in a different area of the garden center.
I think my home depot sucks. they said the MG stuff was the only perlite they had. And im talking about the transplanties. (but also prepping for the new(old) seeds. I have a few seeds germinating in a paper towel, a few in a water glass in my closet (cooler) and a few in a glass with my plants (warmer). So if the transplants die hopefully these will have sprouted. I'm not overly optimistic though. They're from either the 70's or the 80's, i think. Im not even sure if they're capable of spouting. And if they are, would the resulting plant produce anything worthwhile? it seems like genetics probably would have gone up hill since then.
[quote name='"ipax91"'] I think my home depot sucks. they said the MG stuff was the only perlite they had. And im talking about the transplanties. (but also prepping for the new(old) seeds. I have a few seeds germinating in a paper towel, a few in a water glass in my closet (cooler) and a few in a glass with my plants (warmer). So if the transplants die hopefully these will have sprouted. I'm not overly optimistic though. They're from either the 70's or the 80's, i think. Im not even sure if they're capable of spouting. And if they are, would the resulting plant produce anything worthwhile? it seems like genetics probably would have gone up hill since then.[/quote] I would look for myself. You could have also just asked an employee that didn't know or care. They are most use to selling to soccer mom's trying to kill flowers, I know contractors aren't paying for mg. Here is the bag. As long as they didn't get too moist or too hot they may sprout just fine. Seeds if stored right can be viable for decades if not centuries. As far as quality, yea you may be able to order something better but they really haven't reinvented the wheel in the past twenty or thirty years. All the genetics today were present then, maybe just not as refined. You could very well get some killer smoke. Many of the popular strains today started as nothing more than an awesome phenotype from various plants. The advantage of ordering seeds is that you know, within reason, what you are getting. I prefer femmed seeds as well, I have no desire to waste a month growing a male.