oh, no! redish spots starting to appear

[bigfun]

Thanks Chester!

Anyone else care to help this newbie out with some guidance?

Please and thank you

 

[Waira]

Big-- your nute's and supplements are all mild in NPK#'s, so no worries about the K overdose, you're defc., in fact! Look at some bloom boosters from other brands, and you'll see PK numbers way up there: 2-45-28, 5-50-17, 0-10-10,... of course, you have to dilute these down for auto's, but the ratios stay the same, and that's what's most important! Keep on with the Meta and Ca-Mg,... don't look for reversal of symptoms, just a halting of them,...

 

[bigfun]

Hi Waira, thanks! ... you always respond just after I make a feed decision ;-) ...

I tested the ph of my bubbling EJ mix earlier today, and it had come up to 6.0, after 72 hrs. I fed it this to the plant earlier today:
1tsp of CalMag+ (2-0-0)
1tsp of Grow (2-1-1)
6tsp of Bloom (0-3-1)
2tsp Molasses.

I did not add, but will add some Meta-K again soon. Perhaps a feed soon with just water and Meta-K?

Perhaps one advantage of using a lot of Perlite is my soil is very hard to "saturate" or drown. Even when I pour it on and soak it, it's still a little spongy. I hope this means I can correct deficiencies more quickly.

It's ironic, I was a little paranoid about make a newbie error of too light of feed.

 

[Chester]

One of the most frustrating parts of a deficiency is that leaves, once damaged, don't heal. You have to watch new growth to determine if your fix worked ...

 

[bigfun]

Well, I think I've done all the right things. A couple of days ago, I feed with just some of the Meta-K (0-0-5), which does not seem to change the ph.

Here are is some interesting info I found at the Earth Juice web site, in their FAQ

14. I mixed a solution using the Earth Juice Original Formulas "Advanced Chart" and my pH is 3.90?

Earth Juice will work in harmony with the medium and self adjust.

Since 1991 the mass majority of gardeners, including ourselves, who use the Earth Juice Original formulas simply mix with water and use without adjusting the pH.

The initial pH of Earth Juice Original formulas will generally be on the mild acidic side, this is primarily due to the natural extracts, phyto-acids and protein (amino) acids contained in Earth Juice formulas.

If you need and/or prefer to adjust the pH prior to using here's a here's several options:

- Always mix with portable TAP water and use a high quality professional planting mix that contains pH adjusters: lime, dolomite, oyster shell lime, etc.

- Aerate the solution for 12-24 hours. After the aeration period if the solution exhibits an increased in the pH, do not adjust and use as is. If there is no increase in the pH, adjust the desired pH and use. For the next mix, prior to the aeration process, adjust the pH to 4.5 followed by aerating for 12-24 hours. After this period if there is no increase in pH, adjust to desired pH and use

- Add, with caution, a liming material to the medium; dolomite, oyster shell , etc

- See the Earth Juice "Advanced Plus" Chart. The initial pH using the "Advanced Plus" Chart will generally be a bit higher.

I have purchased some dolomite lime and added a few table spoons to the top. I gave another feed today, with strong nutes on the P&K.

I don't experience much increase in ph after aeration. So, to regulate the ph, I used about a Tbs of baking soda which raised the ph to 6-6.5, and then I fed -- this was today.

She was once a rock star, but she ran into this wall. Here are pics of her yesterday, (today is 4wks into flower).

loosing a couple of leaves now

I may just end up with smaller buds. I'll keep learning and adjusting.


Many thanks!

 

[bigfun]

Oh, and EJ carries an organic ph up, which is 99.5% Potassium Bicarbonate. You can buy food grade Potassium Bicarbonate very cheaply, as it's also used to change ph in beer making. Maybe instead of $20 for a quart of ph up, I'll just buy a $2 bottle of potassium bicarb, and experiment.

 

[Waira]

.... most limes are slow acting, dolomite the slowest of all, and work best mixed in beforehand,...plants will be done way before that dolomite makes any difference; besides, the actual soil pH remains a mystery, and that may be why things are just not correcting,... I saw the soil pH test you did with a tsp of soil and water, using the drops, and you got pretty much what the water's pH is, because that amount of soil isn't enough to get a good measure,... I'm betting it's acidic, but how much is the question; from what I gather, your water is about 7, that run-off you tested about 6, which makes the soil about 5-- check this link out of the run-off method and pH calculating ( https://www.autoflower.org/threads/...-for-run-off-testing-and-ph-estimation.41733/) ...
*** !!! wait, I just saw this-- you used baking soda to correct pH? ..oh, Big, that's bad, man... unless it's a pure potassium bicarbonate type, and likely it's not, then it's the Sodium bicarb' kind, and Na is toxic to cannabis at low levels! A whole 1T you used? damn,... you need to flush again now! Na messes with other nutrient uptake's,... run about 1.5x the pot volume through, and be sure to include about 1/2 str. nutes in the final pour, so things are not severely stripped in there,... this at least, may help with the soil acidity,... that dolomite, is it a powdered or very fine kind? It might work in solution to help reduce the pH of the nutrient, which you don't have time to bubble,... make you nutes up, test it, add a tsp and stir well, let sit for several minutes and retest,.... at some point down the road, you should invest in a pH meter and an Accurate soil pH probe,... these will help prevent trouble beforehand, and make corrections faster and more effectively when things go south,...

 

[bigfun]

Waira, thanks. The kind of dolomite lime I have appears as very small pebbles, granuals, that seem to disolve or dissipate a little once watered. I know you should premix the dolomite lime, but did not think of it, Happy Frog is supposed to have some. But since my plants are well into flower, I did read adding some on top will help at this point, even if just a little. I'm mixing some new soil and paying closer attention to adding some of my own ingredients.

I had read your post about testing runoff, and that was the first way I tried a week ago. I think first drops of runoff came it 5.5-6.

I tested runoff yesterday and it was 6+ ...

I hear what you are saying about a good meter. But testing a slurry of soil is not accurate with drops? Regarding baking soda. I didn't do that arbitrarily, as I read several anecdotal references where it will work in a pinch. I've ordered some Potassium Bicarb, it should be here in a couple days. But I'm not so sure the baking soda is so bad, just this once. I had actually watered several plants with the added baking soda for ph adjustment to 6, and honestly, this morning the plants look better. I'm not sure about flushing it out. After reading your post, I further goggled "baking soda harmful cannabis", but the results rather tend to be positive, with caution. Do you have a reference on limited use of baking soda being harmful or 1 Tbs? I can understand an abundance of sodium can screw things up, and that baking soda is like adding salt to your soil, but I think I might get away with one time use?

Thanks again!

 

[Waira]

... every cannabis book I have warns of Na having low toxicity levels, so it's best avoided altogether, IMO,..just ask somebody who's watered repeatedly with ion-exchanged soft water! And look at the 3rd page of the Defc. Picture depot thread,... you'll see the results from a gal who used too much baking soda for the same reasons,... LOL! ...there are better products for pH corrections,... but I'm glad to hear what's been put in put in so far isn't causing problems,... didn't mean to make sound like Round-Up or something, but the nutrient uptake interference can happen w/o other overt symptoms,.... slurry testing can be OK with a quality kit, and a proper soil sample size,... granular dolomite is super slow, unless it's a manufactured type that might have faster release,... The run-off pH alone isn't what the soil pH is, you need to run the simple calculations in that thread, and follow the procedure outlined for minimizing measurement error,...