New Grower Hope She's Gentle. It's My First Time! - Think Different

[ThaGreenBandit]

The soil will compact a bit every time you water until most of the large air pockets and fluffy bits are pressed down. That's good though, you'll want to bury the stem up to the cotyledons when she gets bigger for support and to promote more roots to grow from the stem. Since there's not much root system yet you could mix in some peat moss to lower the ph. It may level out later on by itself though when the slow release ferts start mixing in.

How much bigger should I let her get before I bury her stem? This will promote more root growth? On a side note, when I stick the soil probe in, just about every day, am I damaging the developing root system?

Look into using a mild solution including epsom salts, that's been used to lower soil pH for a long time...IDK how it will effect a seedling though so look into that. Haven't had to use it so I can't speak from experience....

I've heard of using Epsom salts. Do I just sprinkle on the surface, or do I mix into the soil?

Your pH isn't drastically high, I'd look into the epsom as trap mentioned, also I know muddy uses aluminium sulphate to lower his promix pH

How close is your light to the girl?

Also goo idea to pre water your medium to compact it and get pH readings before you begin to avoid making adjustments the fly

I got good soil readings before getting started, and they were actually kinda low, so I added in some dolomite. Where I really messed up, though, is using Miracle Grow perlite, which also has ferts in it, which I didn't discover until after all was said and done. Now, Im thinking that the dolomite, plus the perlite are gonna have the PH rising more than I need.

To my way of thinking PH 6.8 soil is great because when you start adding nutrients to the soil it's going to drop down significantly so you've essentially built up a buffer so that your runoff might be something like 6.3-6.5 when you're done which is just fine, better than fine really.

Never thought of it like that!

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[Trapper]

IDK about how to administer the epsom...sorry.

But to Medi's point....he's spot on. The pH of my dry soil is now 6.8-6.9 when dry, but when wet with a nutrient/fert. feed it ranges from 6.4 to 6.7. Most nutes, I think, are slightly acidic.

 

[n00b]

Which soil probe are you using?

 

[n00b]

If you put plenty of lime in there the soil shouldn't pass 7 since it's ph neutral. Like everyone said, the ph will drop as you add nutes. You actually want to have a slow ph drift so that the plant can uptake all nutrients. It's much more important in hydro but soil will fluctuate as well, so it might as well be in the proper range when possible.

 

[medi]

As far as how to use Epsom you just add it about 1Tbsp/gallon water.

 

[ThaGreenBandit]

IDK about how to administer the epsom...sorry.

But to Medi's point....he's spot on. The pH of my dry soil is now 6.8-6.9 when dry, but when wet with a nutrient/fert. feed it ranges from 6.4 to 6.7. Most nutes, I think, are slightly acidic.

No problem, Trap. After all the feedback, I'm realizing, once again, that I was getting all shook for nothing. Tested the soil about 5 minutes ago, and it seems the PH is back to 6.6. It seems to have fluctuated. Is that possible?

Which soil probe are you using?

CWP Soil PH & Moisture Tester

If you put plenty of lime in there the soil shouldn't pass 7 since it's ph neutral. Like everyone said, the ph will drop as you add nutes. You actually want to have a slow ph drift so that the plant good uptake all nutrients. It's much more important in hydro but soil will fluctuate as well, so it might as well be in the proper range when possible.

View attachment 361490

I added 1 TBS per gallon. Thanks for coming through with the handy info again, n00b

As far as how to use Epsom you just add it about 1Tbsp/gallon water.

Thanks, Medi. That info is much appreciated

Day 10
Soil PH: 6.6 (dropped from yesterday?)
Height: 2.5" (just a bit under)
Temp Range: 80.1° - 87.6°
Humidity Range: 32% - 43%

No major changes, except it seems that the PH is down from 6.8 to 6.6. Is that type of fluctuation possible in just a day? Her leaves are looking good and the light is about 19.5" from her top. Is this a good range? Well, that's about all there is for now. Once again, thanks for all the help guys. My thumb is getting greener everyday thanks to all you guys!

 

[ThaGreenBandit]

Forgot to attach the pics...

 

[Trapper]

Hey, it's all right...you don't know how to respond when you don't know what to expect (and don't know what it means)....it's the standard newb experience.

And yes, the pH of the soil fluctuates....most of the time due to what you're putting in it and the dry/moist levels but also based on what the plant is uptaking.

RE: pics - coming along perfectly

 

[ThaGreenBandit]

Day 11
Soil PH: 6.7
Height: 2.5" (just a bit over)
Temp. Range: 80.1° - 88.2°
Humidity Range: 32% - 46%
Her vertical growth is nothing to brag about right now, but she is gaining a tiny bit of height each day. Her leaves are getting much bigger from day to day, though. Everything seems cool, but the curling of some of the leaf edges is really starting to concern me. I may be, once again, acting like an overly concerned, first time parent, but if someone could take a look, and chime in, I'd really appreciate it. If it's an issue, I'd rather catch it now than later. If it's a non-issue, cool, I'm guilty of trippin' over nothing. I'll chalk it up to experience... again. Well, that's about it for now. Thanks for your assistance guys, I really appreciate it.

 

[Trapper]

my 2 cents....

just a little heat stress....nothing to worry about and will improve as she gets bigger.