New Grower Long time Toker, First time Grower

[Animal]

Thanks for the quick replies guys!

Squid you are correct they are still in Jiffy starter.

GDZ they are still in Jiffy starter which seems a bit light on perlite.....I hope to move them as soon as I can get the ph to settle

Muddy, thanks for the info on the vinegar, I thought I was going nuts.
FD's recipe for soil:

25lb bag of compo
18Qt Bag perlite
3 cups of Blood and bone Meal
1.5 cups of powdered egg shells
1.5 Cups of Epsom salt
1/2 cup of sea weed kelp
1 cup of powdered baby cereal

I then mix all this together at once. Mix until you think you have mixed enough and then do it some more for about 5 min. After this test the soil's PH. Adjust it to where you need it by using the lime of coffee grounds to go down. Most of the time you will need to bring it down. If you need to bring it up I have used baking soda in the past. Once you have it to the desired level you can let it sit until you need it. Now I have never let it sit for any specific amount of time other than just over night before use.

I mixed this one week ago. I made a triple batch due to the size of my pots. Mine varied slightly as follows.
80 lbs composted cow manure
59.5 qts sterile Perlite
3 cups each blood and bone meal
4.5 cups powdered oyster shells
4.5 cups Epsom salt
1.5 cups kelp meal
3 cups powdered baby cereal




This is what the mix looks like



This is what I could find to lower ph of soil. Will this be OK? Any thoughts on how much to use? Soil is currently 7-7.2 best I can tell with my crappy meter


I did spray with the ammonia solution as you suggested (I hope you ment foliar spray) just before the lights went out for the night.
I didn't have much hope for the ph meter. It's all I could find locally.
Any suggestions on an acceptable ph meter?

I choose the 5 & 6 gallon pots based on the theory of more room for roots = bigger plant

Sorry for all the questions I'm painfully new to this......I appreciate all the help!!
Thanks to all

 

[Muddy]

That sulfur should work, it's just going to be slower acting since it's in pellet form. Try to crush it up if you can. I'd suggest you take a gallon of your soil mix and add about 2 teaspoons of it. Water it with pH balanced water and let it sit for about 3-4 days, then check the pH. It may take a little trial and error to find the correct amount needed so better to do that with a test pot rather than experimenting on your plants.

You can reach a point of diminishing returns regarding pot size. But I was thinking autos, I had forgotten you were growing photos, so if you intend on growing them big those pots will be fine.

I like my Hanna Combo meter. Not only does it check pH it also records the temperature of the solution and compensates for it while reading. It also can check ppm which can be useful in checking your base water and the strength of your nutrient feed.

 

[Animal]

Thanks Muddy your help is invaluable to me...as well as the rest of us here

I will powder the pellets up. I'll use the same blender that I trashed powdering the crushed oyster shells. Sorry Honey I don't know where your blender is......maybe you let someone borrow it?

I was thinking the same re: testing in a smaller pot

I may not have mentioned it but these are Feminized Auto White Widow

I like my Hanna Combo meter. Not only does it check pH it also records the temperature of the solution and compensates for it while reading. It also can check ppm which can be useful in checking your base water and the strength of your nutrient feed.

Do you have a link where you bought yours or a model/part number?

Now to go find that blender! :twist:

 

[Muddy]

http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/hanna-grochek-combo-phectdstemp-tester-p-437.html.

This is the one I use. You might find it a few $ cheaper but I've been buying from these people for a long time and have always gotten good prices along with cheap shipping and great customer service.

 

[Animal]

OK, it's been six days since last post. After experimenting in 3 - 1 gal. test pots I decided upon 3 tsp which equals 1 tbsp/gallon of soil acidifier. Thie ratio brings my 7.2-7.4 soil to a perfect 6.5ph, according to my meter (I have a Control Wizard Accurate 8 on the way). I then let soil only pots sit 24 hours and checked ph, holding steady at 6.5

I took your advice Muddy and have foliar fed h2o/ammonia (10/1) at lites out Wed. thru Sat. nites. The two biggest plants are looking bad! Foliar feed doesn't seem to be helping? At this point I figured best thing I could do is get them in their big pots......so thats what I did on Tuesday. I couldn't hardly believe my eyes seeing the amount of roots in the 16oz. cups already.

Maybe this is part of the problem with the leaf curl and yellowing of largest leaves???

They are all in their big pots now

Wednesday I installed my 400 watt metal halide fixture and window a/c unit to offset heat from new lite

Here is a couple pictures of Spunky and Lefty, both Day 18 out of soil.

I'm very very concerned and trying not to panic!!.........I hope getting them into good soil and room for the roots to grow helps. I was checking out Growbewan thread and Muddy/Andy suggested Epsom salt. Would this help my situation?

Muddy, Jackyl, Andy someone please help!! They were doing so good one week ago.....now it seems like they're slipping away

 

[BenDoverGrower]

I know this may sound really really dumb, but I am as well gunna be starting my own grow. But I need to get a couple things figured out first. I see on a couple pictures, your pictures that plants are in a cup sitting on the bigger bucket of soil. I'm kind of confused do I simply start the plants in the cup then cut the bottom of the cup out once it got bigger and put that part in the soil or how does this work. Dumb question but honestly don't wanna waste any money if possible since I'm kind of on a spending limit if someone could answer me then awesome ,thanks

 

[KindredSpirit]

Not a dumb question at all man. Welcome to AFN :smokebuds:

Here's a post by FullDuplex on tiering:

In the time that i have been growing autos i have been searching for new way to increase the size of the plant. Idea being if i can increase the size of the plant i can increase the yield. Allowing more branching and more bud locations.

I was already getting good results with just the amended water in the small 6" pots but i wanted to be able to add root depth as well with out increasing the size of the pot. This way i didnt have to germ to the final resting place. The tiered transplant was the answer to both of these as well as another.

I start the plants in either a 16oz cup or one of the biodegradable planters that you can get from Jiffy. I germ the seed to the soil directly here. I use a paper towel every now and then but either way will work. Once the seed has cracked and it is above soil, ill let it grow for 4 to 5 days before i begin the next step. After they have established a little bit of size you can prep for the transplant. i usually fill the 6" pot all the way and then remove the dirt from the middle of the pot about 2.5 in deep or enough to set the bottom of the cup in with out worry of it tipping. Then i take the cup that the seedling is in and i cut away the bottom. This leaves the plant intact and no chance of disturbing the root ball at all. Then i place the cup with the removed bottom into the larger 6"pot. Pack the dirt around the newly inserted cup lightly and then move to the next plant.

Here is the nice part. Once you have done this the area of the cup is the only thing that still needs watered until you notice the plant getting fairly big. Once it gets to a decent size, usually once the leaves reach out past the cup, i begin to water the whole pot. This method has doubled the size of the plants i am growing in the small space. Not only has the plant size increased but the yield has too.

If you apply this to your grow i am sure you will see the results as i did. One thing to remember though about this. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER forget to water both the pot and the cup after the plants begin to put on size. As the plant reaches it bigger size the plants main roots are in there. So if you forget to water there it can impact you grow.

G/L to those out there who try it

 

[KindredSpirit]

Hey Animal :smokebuds:

How long ago did you check soil pH in your cups?

----

Also, have you given them their first feeding yet?

 

[Muddy]

The main reason I don't like starting plants in those small cups is that the small amount of nutrients in the soil gets used up real fast. Combine that with pH problems and the plants can get off to a rough start. I would also suggest a mild feed. I expect they should improve now that they are in the bigger pots and the pH is stabilized. Give them a day or two and let me know how they are doing.

 

[Animal]

Welcome to AFN BenDG. Great place to learn. Being a new grower myself I would suggest you read up on the different posts especially in the New Growers Forum....lots of great info to be had. "the only dumb question is the one you don't ask" There is fantastic help on here if you just ask!!!

The one thing that makes the tiered method (thats what I & alot of others use) even easier is: Cut the bottom of one cup out before you fill with chosen medium (I used Jiffy seed starter mix) and place this cup inside a second cup. The second cup should have several (the more the better) holes punched, drilled or your choosen method. This allows you to simply remove first cup when time to transplant to bigger pots with zero danger of cutting the roots. Check out my pictures of my plants roots, you will see that it would be very difficult to not damage the root system.

There are other methods of sowing seeds, each of which has their pros and cons.

Good Luck with your Grow!