"I used the manifolding tutorial that everyone references from growweedeasy and had figured I was "doing it right" but maybe not?" Looks like you were doing it right to me... Use of bottle nutrients bypasses the need for plant roots exudates to stimulate/ signal microbial degradation processes. That's why bottled nute' growers have better success with heavy defoliation and manifolding techniques.
That makes so much sense! Would allowing a plant to grow significantly larger, then top and train, be more successful than doing it when it was small like mine was? Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
I would think so. Never tried it when they were small. I always let my plants get about a foot tall before I start LST.
#2 is only correct if your soil is amended to balance out the ph of your water. I’d check the ph of your soil to get a better idea.
Unfortunately, I think this is the route I'm gonna have to take. Despite treating this plant very delicately over the past week or two, she's continued to have problems. No more blotching, but what looks like a nutrient deficiency which makes no sense given how (over)amended the soil is. Think I will chalk this up as a learning experience and move on. I have some left-over soil from this mix that I had put into a pot, and it is now waiting for a plant, but given the problems I have had with THIS plant, I think I'm going to scrap that as well and mix up a new batch entirely.
You're missing the most important part of the pH/living soil line. In a well buffered soil/mix, pH doesn't matter as much. pH is VERY important when constructing the mix, but not so much later on in the grow. It has to be right at the start though. I've had Mg issues with new mixes because the Mg in the dolo I use releases slower than the Ca in the dolo. Usually one soil drench of epsom salts covers the issue until the Mg starts to release a couple of weeks later and nothing further is required AFA Mg goes. It can be an ongoing problem with pure calcitic lime sources like calcitic lime, oyster shell flour or similar. This is why *I* prefer dolomite lime. Wet
I think that you're spot on with this, Wet. I think I mentioned before that I mixed this soil using a super-soil recipe I found on the internet just using Google - and I had also followed the 'more is better' mentality which I'd seen from other growers on other forums. For as awesome as Google is, I think it's a heuristic that can lead us to mistakes. Definitely found that to be the case with growing mushrooms - the legit info is buried in forums like this one. Which is why I'm here now And I cannot express how much I appreciate the wisdom and knowledge folks like you pass on to people like me. I'm in the process of sourcing new materials (local worm castings found!!!) and should be mixing up a standard Coots mix with 1.5 cup of dolomite lime per 20# (2.5 cu ft) later today. Although if you feel I should adjust that I will certainly do so! I just want to make sure I'm more conservative with my additions than I was with this last batch.