Gubba's Grow Journal - 2012

thanks jandre, im sure he will be back on soon to reply, ph issues are a bit beyond me, ive been lucky enough so far not to have these kind of problems, but it does warn me that i do need to start thinking about getting a ph tester for when i do have problems, im bound to run into some sooner or later, thanks
 
donpaul.p said:
thanks jandre, im sure he will be back on soon to reply, ph issues are a bit beyond me, ive been lucky enough so far not to have these kind of problems, but it does warn me that i do need to start thinking about getting a ph tester for when i do have problems, im bound to run into some sooner or later, thanks
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As a grower the question is not "IF" but "WHEN" as you pointed out. We just try to be proactive and be prepared for any eventuality nature decides to challenge us with.


BTW, I am subbed, so any further questions or replies on this thread I will get directly and will see it soon after you post it. In other words, you're not far from support. I'm here, I'll help.


((que heroic theme song)) There's no need to fear jandre2k3 is here!
 
looks like im off to the auction site to get some ph tester, i have got some strips and different liquids i use on my tropical fish that tells me more than ph it gives me loads of different readings, if i add a certain liquid it changes the color of the liquid then i look on the chart and see if my water is ok, checks nitrogen and good bacteria and all that, but it takes ages to take tests plus i would need to make sure i checked the run off, and not sure if it would work the same on plants as it does fish tank water, the pens are pretty cheap so ill order one of them, would be good to have an easy way of checking the ph of the plants in soil and also the dwc grows,
 
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Thanks Jandre2k3 and Donpaul! I just tested the soil using a MosserLee "SoilMaster" electronic PH tester, and a MosserLee "SoilMaster" soil testing kit (RO water+tablets+color chart). Both show my soil being in the 7.0-7.5 range. Additionally I think that I may have been cooking the leaves with the lights being too close. She is looking better today, but need to get the PH down to around 6.0 correct?
 
donpaul.p said:
looks like im off to the auction site to get some ph tester, i have got some strips and different liquids i use on my tropical fish that tells me more than ph it gives me loads of different readings, if i add a certain liquid it changes the color of the liquid then i look on the chart and see if my water is ok, checks nitrogen and good bacteria and all that, but it takes ages to take tests plus i would need to make sure i checked the run off, and not sure if it would work the same on plants as it does fish tank water, the pens are pretty cheap so ill order one of them, would be good to have an easy way of checking the ph of the plants in soil and also the dwc grows,
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I'm surprised you don't have a pH pen already for your DWC... must be very, very lucky.
 
Gubba3Bump said:
Thanks Jandre2k3 and Donpaul! I just tested the soil using a MosserLee "SoilMaster" electronic PH tester, and a MosserLee "SoilMaster" soil testing kit (RO water+tablets+color chart). Both show my soil being in the 7.0-7.5 range. Additionally I think that I may have been cooking the leaves with the lights being too close. She is looking better today, but need to get the PH down to around 6.0 correct?
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What nutes are you using right now?
As per the chart above, your pH is a little high. Blood meal is good to lower soil pH, is the longest lasting, but takes the longest to react. It also has the added benefit of being high in Nitrogen (N) whis is good for growing plants in the vegetative state. HOWEVER, it is VERY easy to overdo it.

What, please, is the volume of soil your plant is in? 1, 2, 3 gallon? 4, 8 10 Liter?

Be careful to closely follow the instructions on how to apply the blood meal that you have purchased as it is a very concentrated form of nitrogen. Too much nitrogen in the soil can, at best, keep the plants from flowering or fruiting and, at worst, “burn” the plant and possibly kill them.

DO NOT add vinegar, or Lemon juice to your soil. Vinegar will not last long, and lemon juice has been known to kill plants, mine included.
 
She is in a 5 gal Soft Pot, transplanted from a solo cup about 8 days ago. other than the soil from the cup she was in (Mirical Grow Organic) she is now in Sunshine brand "Rainforest Blend" Coco with added nutes 0.06 0.02 0.05. I have not added any nutes since the transplant. The watering yesterday would have been my 1st nutes added watering but since she got sick I did a 1 gallon RO clean water flush. The nutes I will be using are Terra Vega by CANNA at 2-1-3 mixed at 50% stregnth.

Both the new soil as well as the nutes were recommended by the local Hydrophonics Store in my area. I can't tell an exact number on the PH with the kits I have but I would say right at 7.0 but below 7.5. I will go to the store today and get something to lower the PH slightly. Thanks...
 
i wouldnt say lucky mate, more like foolish, but im using bpn at recomended doses and its been doing the job.

put a pic up of the plant and we can check if its looking better or not, its hard to tell yourself when you look at it often , i was amazed when i compared my pictures on my budding plants, i didnt notice the change myself but when i compared the pics it put a smile on my face, it shocked me how different the 2 pictures where.

im doing what i can to get ph pen, im suffering with fungus gnats now the summer is here, taking preventative measures till i can get some bug stuff to get rid of them for good
 
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Right now is the hottest time of the day in my place The sun is directly on the two big windows on the same side of the house as my room. 81f in the room at the time of these pictures. 7pm EST.

Any suggestions on what PH pen I should purchase? Thanks...
 
Gubba3Bump said:
She is in a 5 gal Soft Pot, transplanted from a solo cup about 8 days ago. other than the soil from the cup she was in (Mirical Grow Organic) she is now in Sunshine brand "Rainforest Blend" Coco with added nutes 0.06 0.02 0.05. I have not added any nutes since the transplant. The watering yesterday would have been my 1st nutes added watering but since she got sick I did a 1 gallon RO clean water flush. The nutes I will be using are Terra Vega by CANNA at 2-1-3 mixed at 50% stregnth.

Both the new soil as well as the nutes were recommended by the local Hydrophonics Store in my area. I can't tell an exact number on the PH with the kits I have but I would say right at 7.0 but below 7.5. I will go to the store today and get something to lower the PH slightly. Thanks...
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If you have added zero nutrients at all, I would suggest adding Cal/Mag to your RO water. Coco lacks in those areas. Also, go ahead and get some Blood Meal while you're there. Read the directions, and divide the suggested amount for your soil volume by 4 and add that to the top of the soil and rake it down to the top 3". Water it in and then check pH at the next watering. You have a probe-type pH meter, I take it? Is it temperature adjusted?
 
i agree mate, looks like very slight change, id try what andre said, get some nutes into the soil nothing to harsh, just give the plant something to take in, flushing it with ro water removes all the goodness in the soil so when you flush its best to mix up weak nute solution and use this in the water your flushing with, this way it flushes out the stuff causing the problems but still gives the plant something to take in after the flush, im not sure on the compost either or even if it is recomended as im not in your part of the world, i just used some cheap peat moss compost, cost next to nothing, had nothing added and worked wonders and i used nutes from day 1 as suggested in the bpn feeding guide,

is blood meal the same as bone meal mate, i got a big tub of that it looks like its just a loads of dust and bits of old bones hence the name, never used it as using bpn and didnt want to mix things up, would it be worth adding some next time i start some plants if i mixed it into the compost or would you advise against anything like that.

try adding some nutes mate, the plant will need to take something back in and if their is nothing their for it to take in then it wont get any better, it needs the N part to make the leaves healthy, but all the NPK info is way over my head so i go on the guides im given and dont mess about to much, but i did notice one of my plants looking lighter green so i upped the dose slightly and the plant went back to normal.

now im the one with problems, got flies everywhere, think their fungus gnats, but with people like andre on the case these problems get solved pretty quick

looking at your plant i dont think it has got any worse so thats got to be a good sign, if it was getting worse it would of done it by now, so all been well its on the rode to recovery,
 
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This is the electronic PH meter I am using.

Headed to Lowes to get the Cal/Mag and Blood Meal now. How much water since the soil was completely saturated yesterday? Add the nutes then use a 16oz solo cup full of the diluted mixture? Thanks...check back in 30-45 minutes.
 
mate id throw that meter away, i got the exact same one, the only part that is acurate is the how wet is the soil part, the ph reading is well off, its not electronic as it has no batteries, i have not used mine since trying it when i got it, i think i tried it in vinegar and it was off, also the further you push it into the ground the more the gauge gives a different reading, the only way i found to use it was to push it into one pot and leave it in all the time, as far as i can tell with mine its a load of junk, but maybe i got a dodgy one, it was brand new and off the auction site, the light meter is measure in god knows what, the ph meter seems well off and depending on how far you push it in the soil it will give a different reading, the only reading that was about right was when i tried it in my tap water, filled a bucket with tap water and it read between 7 and 8, i dont think they are acurate enough to use for these plants, i think their more for outdoors where you leave them in the ground and check them that way, i cant seem to get mine acurate or working properly,

the digital ones will give you a digital reading and not a needle that moves side to side, your may work perfect but mine was far from it, try it in some vinegar or something to test if it works properly, check the tap water and see what it says, put it on ph then push it into the soil and check what reading it gives are your pushing it in, mine seems to change, acurate i would say they are far from it unless i got a dud
 
i just checked it again and pushed it in all the pots with compost and soil and in put it in a bowl of water and everything read between 7 and 8, the only thing that gave a slightly different reading was a lot of vinegar, but you can just dip the ends in you need to push it all the way down, i dont see them been very good to use

something like this in the link is more acurate and something im trying to get hold of, i really cant see them been acurate enough, you cant tell if its 7.5 or 7.8 etc and it changes the results if you push it in further, the light reading goes off the chart even under a light that puts out less than 2000 lumins and thats even if the reading is in lumins, the only thing i found it good for was finding out if the soil is wet or dry, unless anyone else has used these and found they work well then i certainly wont be buying another one to replace it, i need something more acurate that reads the ph like 7.3 etc something with digital display, but if your going to grow more plants then its worth investing in one, im not trying to say yours dont work but mine is identical to yours in every way apart from mine dont say soil master, mine is blank their apart from the light sensor
 
Don is right on this one. Although they are quite handy for telling you dry/wet, they're not much good for anything else. I'd pick up a digital pH meter at either that rainforest site (South American Rain Forest and River name), or the auction site. Be careful though, some can me a little clunky to deal with, and whatever meter you get, ALWAYS buy at least a sachet of the calibrating fluid with it. Calibrate it every time before use and throw out what was used. With the sachet I snip off a tiny corner and let some drip into a shot glass that just a tiny bit larger inside than my meter, that way the meter displaces the solution much more and gets almost up to the "Max" line for accurate calibration. My $14 pH meter has a tiny screwdriver that adjusts the calibration and it is very sensitive (tiny hair turns make it jump .2-.3 so you have to be really steady-handed), but there are others that recognize the calibration solution automatically and self calibrate.

Either way you go, get a pH meter that automatically adjusts for TEMPERATURE so you always get an accurate reading of your runoff after it's been calibrated.

okay, after 3.5 days awake, delerium is starting, so I'm going to try to lie down and get some rest, even if I do not sleep. just post here and I will reply when I either get tired of staring at the ceiling, or I wake up. wither way it should be no longer than about 2 hours.
 
The only Blood Meal i could find is a Mirical-Grow product! Small town Lowes sucks ass! Is the Blood Meal supposed to be high in "Nitrogen? 12-0-0...

I don't want to add it if I am not sure...can get to the Hydrophonics store first thing in the morning if that would be best!?!
 
Gubba3Bump said:
The only Blood Meal i could find is a Mirical-Grow product! Small town Lowes sucks ass! Is the Blood Meal supposed to be high in "Nitrogen? 12-0-0...

I don't want to add it if I am not sure...can get to the Hydrophonics store first thing in the morning if that would be best!?!
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jandre2k3 said:
What nutes are you using right now?
As per the chart above, your pH is a little high. Blood meal is good to lower soil pH, is the longest lasting, but takes the longest to react. It also has the added benefit of being high in Nitrogen (N) whis is good for growing plants in the vegetative state. HOWEVER, it is VERY easy to overdo it.

What, please, is the volume of soil your plant is in? 1, 2, 3 gallon? 4, 8 10 Liter?

Be careful to closely follow the instructions on how to apply the blood meal that you have purchased as it is a very concentrated form of nitrogen. Too much nitrogen in the soil can, at best, keep the plants from flowering or fruiting and, at worst, “burn” the plant and possibly kill them.

DO NOT add vinegar, or Lemon juice to your soil. Vinegar will not last long, and lemon juice has been known to kill plants, mine included.
Click to expand...
jandre2k3 said:
If you have added zero nutrients at all, I would suggest adding Cal/Mag to your RO water. Coco lacks in those areas. Also, go ahead and get some Blood Meal while you're there. Read the directions, and divide the suggested amount for your soil volume by 4 and add that to the top of the soil and rake it down to the top 3". Water it in and then check pH at the next watering. You have a probe-type pH meter, I take it? Is it temperature adjusted?
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To divide by 4 is best unless it gives specifically "to Lower soil pH" instructions.
 
Okay, did some research on your blood meal.

Your label directions read this:
[TABLE="class: outer_border, width: 600, align: left"]
[TR]
[TD]Directions


  1. Apply 1 cup per 20 square feet (4 ft x 5 ft) of garden area, or 1 Tablespoon for every 1 square foot of area.
  2. Rake or mix into the top 1-3 inches of soil.
  3. Apply evenly around plants. Do not concentrate the blood meal near the trunk or crown of plants.
  4. Water after application.
  5. Apply every two months during the growing season starting in Spring.

Tip for Success:
Rich soil conditions, along with nutrients and proper amounts of sun or shade are the most important factors for success in your garden.
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

​
Following those directions for application is directly in line with the application I would use. 1/4 strength is 1TBS for your size container. So use 1TBS and rake it in as I said before, just be sure not to get it directly on the young trunk. Water it in, and let the soil nearly dry before watering again. Every time you water, the best test is to poke your finger down half-way between pot edge and plant. Go as deep as the second knuckle and remove. if there is moisture on your finger, do not water yet. Also, if you are misting the plant with water, this should stop as well. When your finger comes out dry in 2 days time, it should be time to water again. This gives you time to get a proper pH meter. When you water, collect some of the runoff in a glass and test it that way. If you're between 6.0 and 6.8, you're golden.

Good luck. I'll be here if you need any further questions answered. There are no stupid questions, so ask anything you need an answer to. We all start somewhere and have the same questions. Our answers had to come from somewhere, and that is where... we asked for it.
 
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