New Grower Auto Ultimate and Auto Blue Amnesia XXL Grow Journal

[PermaFrostPete]

Yes mate, I'm using the organic soil line minus biowetter, biosilicon and evolution (they say you should choose evolution or catalyst). Do you think these could have made the difference? I didn't need granules and veg boost because I started in the final pot.

Here is the schedule http://www.plant-magic.co.uk/userfiles/downloads/21/Plant Magic Organic Feed Chart.pdf

I think I'm going to try Tangs easy schedule next grow. I hope this plant makes it to the end!

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Yes mate, I'm using the organic soil line minus biowetter, biosilicon and evolution (they say you should choose evolution or catalyst). Do you think these could have made the difference? I didn't need granules and veg boost because I started in the final pot.

Here is the schedule http://www.plant-magic.co.uk/userfiles/downloads/21/Plant Magic Organic Feed Chart.pdf

I think I'm going to try Tangs easy schedule next grow. I hope this plant makes it to the end!

That plant will grow just be patient.

Yes, there is no doubt in my mind that you are missing important nutrients by not using the full line of products. I know that it seems like they are just trying to sell you more stuff but that is not really how it works.

Why do you want an "easy schedule" is it a budget thing or are you just looking to spend less time on the grow? I can make recommendations for either direction.

 

[PermaFrostPete]

That plant will grow just be patient.

Yes, there is no doubt in my mind that you are missing important nutrients by not using the full line of products. I know that it seems like they are just trying to sell you more stuff but that is not really how it works.

Why do you want an "easy schedule" is it a budget thing or are you just looking to spend less time on the grow? I can make recommendations for either direction.

Yeah it's mostly because of budget, I've spent quite a bit so far with results that haven't been great so I'm having a hard time justifying spending lots on more nutes. Judging by the pics he seems to get good results, I'm totally open to advice and recommendations though, thanks.

The reason I chose plant magic nutrients is because they are meant to be formulated for UK tap water, and I've always suspected my tap water is a bit dodgy. I know this can only do so much since tap water can vary in different areas within the UK. I live in an area with lots of clay in the soil, I vaguely remember reading somewhere that it can have an affect on the water pipes and water quality, but I haven't read up on it.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Yeah it's mostly because of budget, I've spent quite a bit so far with results that haven't been great so I'm having a hard time justifying spending lots on more nutes. Judging by the pics he seems to get good results, I'm totally open to advice and recommendations though, thanks.

The reason I chose plant magic nutrients is because they are meant to be formulated for UK tap water, and I've always suspected my tap water is a bit dodgy. I know this can only do so much since tap water can vary in different areas within the UK. I live in an area with lots of clay in the soil, I vaguely remember reading somewhere that it can have an affect on the water pipes and water quality, but I haven't read up on it.

I totally understand the budget perspective. I live on a fixed income. How much of the plant magic products do you still have? Is it best to move forward with this or look at something else. Think of this in terms of just buying the missing products first vs some other cheaper line.

Let's talk about your water: there are three basic things you really need to know. Is it treated with chlorine or chloramines? what is the PPM and what is the PH. You should be able to get this chlorination information from the utility. The other two you can test for.

 

[PermaFrostPete]

I totally understand the budget perspective. I live on a fixed income. How much of the plant magic products do you still have? Is it best to move forward with this or look at something else. Think of this in terms of just buying the missing products first vs some other cheaper line.

Let's talk about your water: there are three basic things you really need to know. Is it treated with chlorine or chloramines? what is the PPM and what is the PH. You should be able to get this chlorination information from the utility. The other two you can test for.

I'm happy try some new nutrients and soil, maybe I can use some of the stuff I have now for an outdoor grow. Apparently my tap water contains chloramine. Considering this, is it better to use non-organic nutes? Both nute lines I tried (or half tried) so far were organic (biobizz and plant magic). PH is 8.4 at room temperature after sitting out for a couple of days bubbling. I can get a reading straight out the tap later if you think it's better information. I ordered a TDS meter, it should be arriving in the next few days so I can let you know about ppm soon. My water supplier says it's moderately soft. Thanks.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

I'm happy try some new nutrients and soil, maybe I can use some of the stuff I have now for an outdoor grow. Apparently my tap water contains chloramine. Considering this, is it better to use non-organic nutes? Both nute lines I tried (or half tried) so far were organic (biobizz and plant magic). PH is 8.4 at room temperature after sitting out for a couple of days bubbling. I can get a reading straight out the tap later if you think it's better information. I ordered a TDS meter, it should be arriving in the next few days so I can let you know about ppm soon. My water supplier says it's moderately soft. Thanks.

The thing you need to do is add Vitamin C to your water to neutralize the chloramines. Chloramines do not evaporate readily like chlorine. Chloramines kill the microbial colony that helps feed the plants. I don't remember the amounts.

 

[PermaFrostPete]

The thing you need to do is add Vitamin C to your water to neutralize the chloramines. Chloramines do not evaporate readily like chlorine. Chloramines kill the microbial colony that helps feed the plants. I don't remember the amounts.

Thanks man, I will look into getting some ascorbic acid.

My water supplier don't actually provide chloramine ppm, but they use ammonia and chlorine which apparently forms chloramine within the water system

2 NH3(g) + Cl2(g) ⇌ NH2Cl(g) + NH4Cl(s)

Ammonium - 0.015 mg/L (an ion so not sure if relevant, the equation says gas)
Free chlorine - 0.2 mg/L

Here's a few pics, sorry for the bad quality! The next ones will be with the light off. It's hard to see the deficiency in these pics

Day 53

 

[PermaFrostPete]

Hello, the TDS meter arrived today so I've been doing some testing

Tap water is:
38ppm and 0.076 EC at around pH 8

After bubbling is:
81ppm and 0.162 EC at around pH 8.3

After nutes is:
around 500ppm and pH 4.8

After pH'ing with potassium bicarbonate:
over 2500ppm at pH 7 (ppm seems insanely high)

Is all this potassium bicarbonate upsetting the NPK ratio? The plant looked like it was suffering a calcium deficiency. I think I read somewhere that too much K can lockout calcium.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Hello, the TDS meter arrived today so I've been doing some testing

Tap water is:
38ppm and 0.076 EC at around pH 8

After bubbling is:
81ppm and 0.162 EC at around pH 8.3

After nutes is:
around 500ppm and pH 4.8

After pH'ing with potassium bicarbonate:
over 2500ppm at pH 7 (ppm seems insanely high)

Is all this potassium bicarbonate upsetting the NPK ratio? The plant looked like it was suffering a calcium deficiency. I think I read somewhere that too much K can lockout calcium.

Something is wrong with those nutrients. I have never had anything change the PH so dramatically from 8.3 to 4.8 with only 400 PPM of nutrients? Yes, I do not think adding that much PH up is a good thing.

 

[PermaFrostPete]

Something is wrong with those nutrients. I have never had anything change the PH so dramatically from 8.3 to 4.8 with only 400 PPM of nutrients? Yes, I do not think adding that much PH up is a good thing.

Thanks for that. The base bloom nutrient was causing the pH issue, the PK 4-8 wasn't making much difference and the base grow nutrients were OK aswell. I got an couple of old bottles of biobizz top max and bloom so I'm going to be using that for the rest of the grow.

Today I fed with 4ml/L of biobizz bloom and 4ml/L of biobizz topmax. I was tempted to use some plant magic oldtimer PK 4-8 but I managed to resist lol. After adding nutes to the water it was at pH 5.9 and 380ppm, so I pH'd up to 6.5 at 450ppm. When I tested the runoff it was also 6.5 which is nice. But the runoff ppm was 5000. This seems very high from what I have read. 8.4 to 5.9 still seems like a big swing but I guess it could be due to the low ppm of the tap water. At least I haven't got to add a seas worth of salt to get it to a decent pH!

I also have some ascorbic acid arriving soon so i'll be have an experiment with dechloramination. I read you only need to use a very little amount. I'll look into measurements more when it arrives.