New Grower Ok, ive been debating it, but heres my 1st grow journal.

[The Squid]

Hey growbee. Sounds like you have your garden gloves full Are you able to put those photos outside? Just a thought. I agree with Jackal though, if you keep letting those photos veg and them flip them after the AFs are done they are going to get huge. Which could no good depending.

 

[growbewan]

haha ok guys, so ill stay the course..just let everything run its course, once i harvest the auto's, ill be switching to 12/12. ok, heres the deal, i just went and got dolomite lime. I have a "Test" pot to test runoff, it doesnt have a plant in it, just soil. heres the deal.
My faucet water comes out at 8.3.
When i run it through a 5 gal pot of soil, the run out comes out at 4.3! WOW that sux!
When i added a half dose of general organics cal mag, it drops the water an extra point! 8.3 to 7.3ish
I just got a 40 lb bag of dolomite lime, and added about a teaspoon and a half to the top 2-3 inches of soil in my test pot, and ran a gallon of 8.3 water through it instantly, but the result is minimal, the water came out at a measly 4.3-4.4..what is going on?? btw i have a great digital ph tester, so thats not the problem..does the lime take a little bit? plus i just ran a gallon of water through the same pot aboiut an hour ago, so the soil is still really wet when i put the lime in, does that make a difference? I need to water my plants either today or tomorrow at the latest, for they are at day 23 and its been 9 days since their last watering..So ive got to figure this out ASAP..please please please, any advice would be great! thanks everyone, i wouldnt even be this far if it werent for you..btw, pics will be coming in a bit! they are looking great, and i dont wanna mess that up!

 

[The Squid]

Hey man. Breathe... It's all good. Dolomite lime is slow acting. Hydrated lime is faster acting and I think that's what Muddy uses. You're good though just work a tsp per gallon of soil into the top inch or so of your pots. Make sure you're careful not to disturb the roots. Give them a watering and after a few days the lime works its way down and with every watering after that, I can't remember how long it takes, about 4 days I think. Or maybe two waterings worth you should see your runoff climbing back up. Don't let them hear you stressing out dude. haha. Smoke one and get to work on that lime and then relax and let them do their thing.

 

[growbewan]

Thanx as usual for your advice and helping me calm down..actually to tell the truth, im a lot calmer than my post sounded this time..i guess i just add too many exclamation points..im very happy with my girls. they all are showing signs of improvement everytime i look at them. i just dont want to screw that up. Im def gonna be watering, but if I do water, and use cal mag, the runoff is gonna be at around 3.5 ish, which will lock out basically everything, and yellow all my girls, even my most beautiful. what im gonna do, is pour some more tap water, let it sit for a day(for chlorine to evaporate), and not add the cal mag, for the lime actually has both of them in it, and when i put it in it will be running out at around 5.5-6, and should slowly work its way up from there i guess. ill just water with a half gallon , so i can water again in like 4-5 days. when my girls wake up(in 3 hrs) im gonna take some pics of them, youve gotta see them bro-ski, im stoked. theyll be ok, im alot calmer since you, andy, and muddy have helped me over the past week. everythings gonna be A-OK! Thanks buddy!

 

[The Squid]

Good to hear. You're welcome. I know how it can get sometimes. I will be around late tonight to check on everyone. Your plan sounds good. Andy or Muddy will be around at some point I'm sure.

 

[growbewan]

cool, buddy, great to be back! its been hard with limited activity for the past 4 days! nice hearing from you again, too squid, as well as jackal and everyone else who checked in..pics on in a few hours!

 

[AndyBotwin]

What I'd do is top dress with dolomite and run some 7.5 water through the pot until you're seeing runoff approaching 6. You'll be flushing the medium and bringing up the pH that way, as well as running the lime throughout the pot. Over the coming week you should see it continue to rise up into the mid-6 range and then you can focus on keeping it there. The plants might get a little droopy for a day or two from the extra water, but they'll be better off in the long run with the pH sorted.

 

[growbewan]

andy, thats great advice, but frankly, im kinda scared to do that. I added 1 1/2 teaspoons of dolomite lime 4 hours ago, flushed through 1 gallon.. and it went from 8.3 to 4.5 or so..I just did the same exact thing 5 min ago, and tested the runoff, and its only 4.9 now. im afraid im gonna drown my plants, or stunt them really bad, for minimal results. should i add more lime to it? maybe2 or even 3 teaspoons? mind you im doing all of the above in a test 5 gallon pot, so no harm will be done, i dont want to do anything to my plants until i get this situated. my plants realistically can go another day or two before watering. what do you think?

 

[growbewan]

ok, im currently uploading a bunch of pics I just took..theyll be on here in a few minutes!

 

[growbewan]

ok, i know its alot, but ive decided im only gonna upload every 7 to 10 days, and its been a while! also, i have pics of the lime, and ph problems..every pic is labeled, so definetly read them, cuz they uploaded all out of order! let me know what you think!