Good Morfnoevight All you Cool AFN Cats. EO and a fine double shot it was this morning. Brazil/Guatemala blend roasted to just fullcity and 8 days off of the roast. It was very good indeed.
Happy Caturday!
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Layering of different soil mixtures or types is a bad idea for several reasons. The first is the physics of how water percolates down through soil. If there is a strata between the layers the top layer must become saturated before the water will penetrate the next layer. This can cause dry pockets in the lower layer. The soil there can become hydrophobic = repels water and roots and microbes there can die. Many microbes will go dormant. It is difficult to re-wet that soil without messing with the nutrient balance in the pot. The second Idea that people submit as a reason to stratify the nutrient layers is that the plant will grow into that layer when the plant needs the different nutrients. This is a fallacy because a cannabis tap root can grow 9 inches in three days. So it will be to the bottom of the pot long before the plant has aged to need a different nutrient profile. Worse yet is the tap root may stop growing if it hits a layer too hot for it and my even die. The laterals will eventually grow into it but by then the plant may be stunted.
Clay pebbles have a couple of problems. The first is they must be PH balanced. The cheap one are not and will cause havoc throughout the grow sometimes even killing it. They may harbor virus and pathogens when used in successive plantings. They can form a stratified layer in a pot causing the water to create soggy conditions above them. In an auto pot system the biggest problem is in the first two weeks when you are top watering. If the stratification takes place salt will build up in the layer line causing nutrient problems later that are wronly atributed to turning on the autopot. After the autopot is running the stratification problem goes away because the lower layer has no problem becoming saturated and the water will continue to wick up. I personally have not used an auto pot but these are the observations I have made here on AFN. Don't use clay pebbles. Just good quality coco is all you need.