My plants have seemed to like being fed @6.4- 6.5. My run off has been low 5's.
Ah. The explanation could be as "simple"
icon_roll) as your medium affecting things. It's mostly coco, yes? Did you make sure that it was properly rinsed (by doing it yourself, just in case it didn't come that way) and then pretreat it with some kind of calcium solution in order to deal with some of its characteristics? Calcium nitrate is said to work well for this - it replaces the sodium and... phosphorous(?) ions that coco naturally accumulates - when it's still part of a living thing, whatever you call it - with calcium. And, IIRC, some folks add magnesium to the solution, too. To be honest, I'm kind of vague on all of that, lol. I have a link to an article (that explains such things much better than I could) buried in my bookmarks somewhere. If you're interested, I'll dig it out for you.
You're so right about the book. I've messed up just relying on what people tell me.
I'd look at the general... other peoples' knowledge as an excellent
starting point. If someone knows nothing, or very little, it'll definitely help. But it's not like a set of furniture assembly directions. People's setups are different, strain choices are different, environments are different - even their own fundamental personalities differ (and this can affect a grow as surely as anything else can).
I'm learning from trial and error.
Excellent way to learn. As long as one understands/learns what went wrong as well as what went right (and
why, on both counts). Er... On a
good day, I remember this advice, myself
.
You betcha. One wastes nutrients - and the plant begins to starve. Double whammy.
I just have to be diligent and check pH, check pH, check pH!!
I have no functioning probe for my pH meter. About to do a new grow and I'll be flying blind :rolleyes3 . One of the reasons I'll be starting with more plants than I reckon I actually need - some might end up being used as... "well, they're all hurting, let me try something different on one in order to see if it improves or dies." Kind of thing.
I try to be as frugal as possible
. I read some years ago that many wealthy people are no more financially stable than poor people, in practical terms. The "rich" can end up living paycheck to paycheck just like us peons do, albeit for different reasons.
Being frugal isn't being
cheap - it's an application of practical wisdom and common sense (IMHO).
I'm with you on the solo cups. I have them for parties and growing. I drink my beer (Sam Adams) out of a glass!!
I actually saw SQUARE (sort of) Solo cups the other day. But they were only 18-ounce (and $3.something for a bag instead of a dollar), so I passed. I have come to the conclusion that 24-ounce ones just aren't sold in my area any more.
I don't do parties any more. Used to. Sooner or later, I always seemed to end up babysitting someone for the remainder of the weekend, beating the snot out of someone, or both. Kind of defeated the purpose. And I'm not as young as I used to be, lol - I end up not sleeping for a day or three due to life, so I don't require a party to induce it these days.
I've heard that's a decent beer. I probably tried it back when I was pretending to be a professional drinker; after all, I drank everything I could, whether it was made out behind someone's barn or imported from another country and named something unpronounceable. But I never could get... Beer just never appealed to me. For one, it wasn't flammable, and it all seemed to taste like I'd washed out my socks in it after going camping for a week and forgetting to pack more than the pair that were on my feet. <SHRUGS> Different strokes for different folks and all that. If I was drinking beer, it was usually whatever came in quarts or 40-ounce bottles and sold by the case/box of 12.
I don't really drink much at all any more. Might go a year or three without alcohol. Ironically, I tied one on just the other night (go figure). First time in a long time, probably be a long time before I do again. It doesn't seem to turn the brain off, unfortunately (or, depending on how you look at it, fortunately - I think they're supposed to give you something to make sure you're completely out before shoving the tube down your throat and pumping out your stomach, but if you've had enough they don't bother and... it's no fun at all when you realize what's going on and start fighting it).
Yes I'm a Navy Veteran. 3 deployments. Adapt, overcome has stuck with me.
I didn't do the service thing. Probably should have, but... Anyway, my buddy was on the Nimitz (early '80s, IIRC) and told me that NAVY stands for "Never Again Volunteer Yourself." He also said that a trash bag was good for exhaling your toke into and that the reactor room was one of the better places to get high because officers didn't venture into it without reason. IDK, could just be stories. He also told me that a good way to get a break was to grab an empty box and carry it around whilst looking put out and annoyed, because everyone would assume you were already dealing with more sh!t than they would have heaped on you. But I'd already figured that out when I found myself working for a complete pr!ck who talked me out of quitting when I put in my two weeks' notice (SIX times :rolleyes3 ).
I'm just rambling. Doctor prescribed two per day to keep my heart from exploding
.
Oh, the "Bubble Summer" were given to me by a friend. I've never heard of them and I've tried researching them and can't find anything.
I just tried using my search fu and couldn't find any information, either. Bastardization of "Bubblegummer," perhaps, IDK.
