Dolomite raito powder:water

[VapedAs]

Hey AFN'ers, been having some rough luck with seedlings from germ to first set of true leaves, they are dying I believe from the breakdown of the peat moss adding acidic'ness and lack of Lime to compensate the PH fluctuation and cal/mag def. Also Damping isn't helping

I have 3 pots going atm, 1x 0.5ltr and 2x 1ltr, Do ratios change on size of pot/plants, stage of plant or just amount of water?

Any assistance is appreciated

 

[Bonzo Mendoza]

You said that you suspect that the soil is too acidic b/c peat moss is decaying (and causing high acidity).

Obviously, you should first try using fresh new soil.

An easy (cheap) way to check to see if your soil is acidic is to collect run off water in a clear container (about a cupful is enough). Set up an identical clear container with non-run off water right beside it. Now drop in a Tums antacid table into each cup at exactly the same time. Most common tap water is slightly acidic and will cause the Tums tablet to slowly fall apart (especially at the sharp edges). If in fact your water is highly acidic, you will see the Tums tablet quickly fall apart.

Dolomitic lime (crushed marble) is a neutralizer - soil acids react with it to turn into CO2 and salt. It should not be used to "correct" acidic soil. Properly, dolomitic lime should be used to PREVENT soil from becoming acidic while there is a plant growing in it.

Your plants are growing in pretty small pots. I suggest that you transplant them into fresh new one gallon pots (I use cut down 1 gal water bottles) containing fresh soil.

Cal/mag deficiency??? Why do you think that???

Your problem is probably not excessively acidic soil. Are you overwatering? Overfertilyzing? How far away are your lights? What kind of light? What are your temps?



If the problem is not high acidity, then that means that something else is causing the problem.

 

[VapedAs]

Picked up a PH soil meter today and each pot was showing 6.9-7.

I was merely listing some of the uses it had and might intend to use for said things. Added to water it can be used to amend current grows, through feed.(not worried about cal/mag)

Also have been known to overwater and cause damping. Proof of that would be I throw down some "cheap bag bush weed" seeds with real "strain weed" and water all in at that point. But at this point it goes wrong, I continue to water the strain seeds and forget about the bush seeds. the strain seeds pop up then stem becomes ill then leaves lose life and fades to death. While randomly these bush seeds pop up all healthy as they havent been watered since the first hit. I kill the bush seeeds, they were for some germ testing..
Other thought on that is that the peat moss has broken down from the added watering on the strain seeds quicker and that could have caused a raise in acidicness?

My space has 22" width 11" depth 21.5 hight.
Light: 2012 BlackStar 135W flower ufo 9-10" above soil. I'm almost always home when the light is on so it gets decent hours of light and i make sure it's doesn't get too warm in there with a pedastall fan. (ordered a small in-grow box fan)
Soil mix: (can't remember) ratio. peatmoss 40% pearlite 40% vermiculite 20% approx. So no real ferts.

The 0.5ltr pot will be transplanted for sure, but the 21.5" hight kinda restricts larger pots than 1ltr. Makes for some pretty tight node spacings! I do admit to wanting a bigger pot but Stealth, he likes to play a role in this also..

Let me know if there is any more info I can try to supply you with, thankyou for the response:smokebuds:

EDIT: Reason for not switching to better soil mix is that there is nothing better on offer around.