HBSS in EarthBoxes progressive lightening of newer leaves.

[pop22]

I don't know enough about how dolomite lime works in the soil.

Interesting observations on the PH!

Here’s some interesting info! Maybe someone can make something of this.

So I take this combo Ph/soil moisture probe and take some samples.
Stomper and Kong register a Ph of 6.6 and 6.7 respectively.

On the right HBSS, the harder hit, I took a sample at the plant end and a sample at the far end. Plant end registered 6.7 and opposite end registered 7.0
On the Left HBSS, it registered slightly less than 6.7at the plant end and slightly less than 6.9. I know this probe isn't accurate, but it sure can show a trend.

Here's some thoughts:

The more normal ph is in the area where the lights couldn't heat the media as much with the plant shading that area.

The more normal ph is also in the area where the plant roots are VERY thick. I could feel the resistance on insertion of the probe vs very little on the opposite end

Meter
Amazon product ASIN B00NTPVHOG

Could the heating from the black side out cover cause a reaction from the dolomite that flushed the system with too much magnesium?
Something changed the ph upwards up front.

 

[WildBill]

I don't know enough about how dolomite lime works in the soil.

Interesting observations on the PH!

While it may not be perfectly accurate, it is consistent and it does show a trend. What it means is another question.

 

[low_and_slow]

It means too much lime, lol. Nothing too fancy to gonk over, it might just be the lime is driving pH up and making immobile nutrients less available to the roots. From my view, things look okay, I'd say a heavy dose of LITFA for a few days will likely yield good results.

Also keep in mind that healthy leaf color spans a huge spectrum by cultivar. Your front plants are obviously way more prone to dark blueish leaves, the rear plants are more of a lime green color. Some of that is just genetics.

 

[WildBill]

It means too much lime, lol. Nothing too fancy to gonk over, it might just be the lime is driving pH up and making immobile nutrients less available to the roots. From my view, things look okay, I'd say a heavy dose of LITFA for a few days will likely yield good results.

Also keep in mind that healthy leaf color spans a huge spectrum by cultivar. Your front plants are obviously way more prone to dark blueish leaves, the rear plants are more of a lime green color. Some of that is just genetics.

LMMFAO! Thanks for the morning laugh.!

They sure are growing! They are mostly back to the same level as the two front girls after the last bit of adjustments.
Yeah, they had always trended to be lighter from the beginning.

 

[WildBill]

Well..............I'm starting the good healthy dose of LITFA ................................TODAY!


It's been several weeks since last top dressings for all the girls and with it being the beginning of week 7, I figured it was prime time. With Kong and Stomper, it should be their last with Boost and tea taking them out the back door.

All girls got the same ingredients.
I pulled all the hay cover from all the girls. HBSS got fresh replacement.

HBSS recieved two and a half square bottom solo cups of castings with worms each and other girls got one cup each. I haven't harvested much from the worm bin. This should be some REALLY good castings with all the things I've fed them since I started it. They got all the defol veg matter from the last grow blended into a slurry, many avocados I got from the store that were going to be thrown out, several sprouted seed slurry of popcorn and barley, and veggie scraps. Must have been some good stuff with the crazy amount of worms I have. I need to harvest worms and casting and start over.

Each HBSS got 1/3 cup of Kelp and alfalfa. Other girls got a heaping tablespoon of each.

Each HBSS got 1/2 cup of bokoshi. Didn't give it to the other girls/

In the EBs, this was thoroughly watered in with spray bottle with tap water and tiny bit of molasses and yucca. Then 3 cups of compost added and wetted. Hay replaced and also wetted.

I wanted to add some humic acid, but the product I have would have either needed to be mixed up in some water or sprinkled on top and watered in. Both would have added too much water at this time that I wanted. I can do that the next time I add Boost and a tea in maybe 10 days, if I think the plants still need it.

 

[WildBill]

It means too much lime, lol. Nothing too fancy to gonk over, it might just be the lime is driving pH up and making immobile nutrients less available to the roots. From my view, things look okay, I'd say a heavy dose of LITFA for a few days will likely yield good results.

Also keep in mind that healthy leaf color spans a huge spectrum by cultivar. Your front plants are obviously way more prone to dark blueish leaves, the rear plants are more of a lime green color. Some of that is just genetics.

Thanks!!!!
I appreciate your input!

This post is mainly reference for future grows
Let's reexamine that comment. I fully agree. It just seemed like too much to me, but that's EB's recommended rate. I even started a thread about it, but got no replies. If I choose to use dolomite in the next run, it will be at least half rate.
With that in mind, what would be an alternative to the dolomite or reducing the amount of dolomite and use some other means of moderating the media? Should I increase humic and fulvic acids? The product I have in my media build is a micronized combo of 50/50 humic acid and biochar. I'm not using it at a very high rate. It works quite well in my yard, but I kinda think a lot of the improvement comes from better moisture retention with the really sandy soil, but I'm sure the humic is adding a good portion, just from the rate I apply it. It's pretty expensive for lawn use.
I do know I'll be integrating volcanic rock dust in my current media in the tote cooking as soon as it gets in. Ever since I left Hawaii, I've wanted to try it, but haven't had the situation arise.

 

[low_and_slow]

In raw peat, the recommendation for lime is about 40g per cubic foot, with about 10-15g of gypsum.

I think gypsum is a nice addition to soil so you don't overdo the magnesium from pure dolomite, but it can itself be a problem in excess quantities.

I would also get rid of any soil covering or cloth and go to a cover crop for moisture retention. If you chop and drop for a few weeks or months before planting cannabis, you'll get better nutrient cycling in the medium. I think the value of good cover crops is letting them totally colonize the soil and grow for quite a while before planting your main plants, I see a lot of people plant cover crop seeds alongside rooted clones or seedlings and it has never been clear to my why that should be helpful.

Also, getting the worm herd up to a full head of steam can take the sting out of minerals like dolomite and rock dust. I would definitely avoid growing plants in rock dust amended medium without 90-120 days of composting; I have run into deficiencies with stuff like Azomite if it isn't composted first for a good long while.

 

[WildBill]

In raw peat, the recommendation for lime is about 40g per cubic foot, with about 10-15g of gypsum.

I think gypsum is a nice addition to soil so you don't overdo the magnesium from pure dolomite, but it can itself be a problem in excess quantities.

I would also get rid of any soil covering or cloth and go to a cover crop for moisture retention. If you chop and drop for a few weeks or months before planting cannabis, you'll get better nutrient cycling in the medium. I think the value of good cover crops is letting them totally colonize the soil and grow for quite a while before planting your main plants, I see a lot of people plant cover crop seeds alongside rooted clones or seedlings and it has never been clear to my why that should be helpful.

Also, getting the worm herd up to a full head of steam can take the sting out of minerals like dolomite and rock dust. I would definitely avoid growing plants in rock dust amended medium without 90-120 days of composting; I have run into deficiencies with stuff like Azomite if it isn't composted first for a good long while.

Thanks!
I've got a couple totes cooking for over 4 months. I've added the last run media to it and amended it as I added it. Before it got cold, I threw it all on a big tarp and mixed it all and redistributed it. All of that will be for the regular pots.
The earth Boxes are a bit of a quandary. I totally agree about establishing a living cover, but unlike larger regular pots where you can just chop and replant. The huge root mass they make really prohibits that, unless I just let that box with the cover crop sit somewhere and let the worms and microbes eat up the old root mass. I'm pretty sure that could work. I don't think these EB will build up the muck in the rez others have experienced. I hot glued window screen over the insert that forms the rez to keep that out.

To be honest, I think I could take the material I have cooking and add way LESS dolomite along an increase in fulvic and humic acids when I fill the EBs. I just don't think the EB growing method lends itself very well to the more conventional organic methods like no til as an example. EBs recommendation rate of dolomite just never made much sense to me and what I feared happening, did just that. I'm a little pissed at myself for not relying on my instincts, knowledge and experience.

Brother, I appreciate your input and it just backs up what I've tried to figure out with these EBs. Hopefully what I'm doing now will be enough to finish out this grow and that was the main intent with this thread. Container growing is totally new to me and EBs is off in far left field! LOL!
Growing outdoors in REAL soil organically is far easier than what most of us do here.

 

[WildBill]

The new growth continues to exhibit the problem, but as the growing continues, the older leaves green up as they grow.
Growth is still at a pretty rapid rate. I think the rate would be really crazy if this condition didn't exist.

I do think LITFA is still my best option, but I do have one question. I still have a bottle of EM1 unused. Would this help or would it cause another rush release and be back at square one or worse.

I do think the teas with boost have helped though.

I do think the next grow with EBs I will cut back on the dolomite to 1/4 of EB's recommendation and figure out how much gypsum to add to get a total of half of what of the effect of the dolomite would do on it's own. ......if you guys get where I'm going with this.

I think erring on the side of a little too little of this particular element to the grow would be far easier to correct on the next run.
This morning

 

[WildBill]

AND LOOKS LIKE I
HAVE TO
FOLLOW THOSE
LEADS!


Yeah...........someone stinks!!! And not the good canna smell!

I figured this might come along during this grow. I think I found out why the right HBSS only took a half-gallon yesterday. Her rez "soured" on me. When I tipped her over to drain the rez, I smelled it. It's not stained very much at all, but it's there. Before the next run, I'm installing a drain on each one!

I'm pretty sure the right one is good. Her usage yesterday and iI tried tipping her over while still in the tent and got nothing because I can't tip it over enough, both lend credence to that thought.

I'm gonna flush both rez thoroughly. I'm just going to refil the right HBSS back with plain water..........even if she smells.

I think he left one needs a kinda leap of faith of sorts. After fully flushing, I'm using Terraganix EM1at 1/4 rate in the rez, continue to water the way I have been doing for 5 days and then drain and flush. That should clean things up in the rez and hopefully help reestablish the uptake and eat up the dead roots I suspect are in the wicking and lower areas of the media.
I really don't think just a simple flush will suffice. I might could get away with just that if I had only smelled something and not have a drop in uptake. That is serious. It should have rang a bell with me yesterday when I noted the 50% drop in one day.

The question is this...........Do I just do that simple thing in the rez or do I also give the plant/media a top inoculation also with the EM1?
The "safe me" wants to just fix the res to see if it fixes the uptake. The "pragmatic me" says to do both. If things go bad, that would just mean more room for the insane right HBSS to grow into. The left is pretty far behind in overall vegetative bulk. She's not really behind on peak height, just not as many at that height. If this does fully correct this problem and then the first problem.....doubtful, but very possible............I could apply it to the other girl.



What are ya gonna do about it? Cry? LOL!

Any ways...............yeah..........One thing leads to another!!