New grower

[Ghostwriter31]

Looking really good there ghost. I think you will be in great shape now with watering under control.

You know, that’s exactly what I did and feel like that’s why only the one leaf turned brown on edges. I did half strength and really feed only 3 times in two weeks. I felt like super soil was doing it’s job so I was light handed with feeding. I feel like all will be well

 

[Ghostwriter31]

I really appreciate all the love and helpful tips to aid me with a few things I needed to know and read especially on watering. I found the article explaining 1/4 at a time method and taking it slow to be helpful. I will try this out once I am comfortable they are dry . No water for 36 hours running now. The bag feels dry but plants look like they are beaming but could start to droop soon possibly? Hmmm this is where I just keep an eye on them

 

[Ghostwriter31]

Sorry @MochaBud , but I have to correct this even though I am grateful for the referral to my watering thread.

Fox Farm's Ocean Forest is a very good organic soil, rich in organic materials and I also use a mix of this in the top 2/3 of my containers. It however, is NOT a supersoil. A supersoil by definition is an enhanced soil that has had added to it all the minerals that will be needed for the entire grow, that are then cooked into the soil in a compost pile. A supersoil has everything needed in it, so that all you need to do is give plain water, and the plant will have all the nutrition that it needs, provided that you also take care not to kill off the microlife in that supersoil or as in your case, re-supply the microlife that is needed to break down these minerals and which, as said above, brings the soil to life.

The biggest problem here is that synthetic nutrients are not compatable with the super soil you have in your bottom third. The only product that FoxFarm makes in their nutrient lines that is compatable with an organic supersoil grow is the Big Bloom, but the other two that you have already used will flat out kill all the microlife that may have been in your supersoil. So, in effect, at the moment you have wasted your money on the supersoil in the bottom of your container. It is no longer alive and the nutrients are no longer available to the plant.... but the good news is that you can fix it.

First, another point. It is a myth that an organic grow needs to stay moist to stay alive. Microbes are incredibly resilient and a little bit of drying out does not stop them. Microbes can go into hibernation, hide within the organics and go dormant when there is a lack of water, and upon watering the container they spring back to life and rapidly start multiplying. Knowing this, it is still important even in an organic grow to let the container dry out all the way to the bottom during veg so as to entice the roots to fill the container... if you leave the soil moist all through veg the roots do not have to work, and they will not. Pamper a weed in veg and you will end up with a horrible root system, thus a horrible final yield.

Now... first off, FFOF is such a rich soil that adding any extra nutrients to it before week 5 is to be highly discouraged, and you had active supersoil in there too! The plants do not need any extra nutrition in such a soil and even in plain FFOF, until the start of bloom where nutritional needs change, the regular FFOF can supply all the needs. All the advice above about not needing nutes in this grow is correct, and you saw the results on your plants of not trusting the soil.

The biggest problem is that you have supersoil at the bottom, a fully loaded and rich soil that can provide everything that plant needs, even during bloom, therefore you do not need the FF nutes... not at all... at least until you killed the microlife by applying the toxic synthetic Grow Big to the system. Right now, the soil has enough free Nitrogen in it to be able to supply the plant what it needs. You need to trust the system you have built, and put your nutes away... you don't need them nor do you want them in your organic supersoil grow.

Would you like to turn this back into a supersoil organic grow, or are you going to be happy with a synthetic Fox Farm Nutrient grow? You need to decide right now. You of course can forget about the now dead supersoil and simply use the soil in the container as a medium to supply your bottled nutes to it. Follow the instructions that FF provides, and you will be able to grow a very nice FF grow. Doing it this way, the pH of all of your fluids becomes critical, and you will need to carefully measure every fluid that hits your soil to adjust it to 6.3 pH.

If however you wish to get back to your original supersoil idea, you can forget about pH. Since you won't be using bottled nutes, there is no need to adjust pH... the organic soil does not care. To go this route however, you are going to have to repair the mistake you made by adding back some microlife to this grow. There are 3 good products that can do this for you, or you can get all the raw materials needed and an air pump and you can learn to make your own actively aerated compost teas. If you are in the USA, I suggest RealGrower's Recharge, a very economical microbial superpac that you can regularly add to your soil. This is not a nute, it is microbes... gobs of them... and they will bring your supersoil and indeed the FFOF, to life. Other more expensive products that do the same thing are URB and Voodoo Juice and are the only commercial options in some places in the world.

So, you are at a crossroads and need to choose your direction, now. Go with the FF nutes and figure out pH and mixing the nutes and then come to realize that unless you invest a fortune in every product FF produces to enhance a grow, it will never be as good as the truly organic grow would have been. My advice: wean yourself from the nute bottle, and follow through with your original plan... go full organic.

Oh my Emilya
What a response. Thank you . Let me ask a silly question? What if I used only half what the bottle ask for and I only feed twice where the water may or may not have made it down that far? Would this have killed the super soil? Will just a little kill it? Could it be half dead or lost? Or is it a situation where a little spreads like a disease and all’s lost ? We can go from there maybe damn I felt like this was a no no

 

[Ghostwriter31]

Sorry @MochaBud , but I have to correct this even though I am grateful for the referral to my watering thread.

Fox Farm's Ocean Forest is a very good organic soil, rich in organic materials and I also use a mix of this in the top 2/3 of my containers. It however, is NOT a supersoil. A supersoil by definition is an enhanced soil that has had added to it all the minerals that will be needed for the entire grow, that are then cooked into the soil in a compost pile. A supersoil has everything needed in it, so that all you need to do is give plain water, and the plant will have all the nutrition that it needs, provided that you also take care not to kill off the microlife in that supersoil or as in your case, re-supply the microlife that is needed to break down these minerals and which, as said above, brings the soil to life.

The biggest problem here is that synthetic nutrients are not compatable with the super soil you have in your bottom third. The only product that FoxFarm makes in their nutrient lines that is compatable with an organic supersoil grow is the Big Bloom, but the other two that you have already used will flat out kill all the microlife that may have been in your supersoil. So, in effect, at the moment you have wasted your money on the supersoil in the bottom of your container. It is no longer alive and the nutrients are no longer available to the plant.... but the good news is that you can fix it.

First, another point. It is a myth that an organic grow needs to stay moist to stay alive. Microbes are incredibly resilient and a little bit of drying out does not stop them. Microbes can go into hibernation, hide within the organics and go dormant when there is a lack of water, and upon watering the container they spring back to life and rapidly start multiplying. Knowing this, it is still important even in an organic grow to let the container dry out all the way to the bottom during veg so as to entice the roots to fill the container... if you leave the soil moist all through veg the roots do not have to work, and they will not. Pamper a weed in veg and you will end up with a horrible root system, thus a horrible final yield.

Now... first off, FFOF is such a rich soil that adding any extra nutrients to it before week 5 is to be highly discouraged, and you had active supersoil in there too! The plants do not need any extra nutrition in such a soil and even in plain FFOF, until the start of bloom where nutritional needs change, the regular FFOF can supply all the needs. All the advice above about not needing nutes in this grow is correct, and you saw the results on your plants of not trusting the soil.

The biggest problem is that you have supersoil at the bottom, a fully loaded and rich soil that can provide everything that plant needs, even during bloom, therefore you do not need the FF nutes... not at all... at least until you killed the microlife by applying the toxic synthetic Grow Big to the system. Right now, the soil has enough free Nitrogen in it to be able to supply the plant what it needs. You need to trust the system you have built, and put your nutes away... you don't need them nor do you want them in your organic supersoil grow.

Would you like to turn this back into a supersoil organic grow, or are you going to be happy with a synthetic Fox Farm Nutrient grow? You need to decide right now. You of course can forget about the now dead supersoil and simply use the soil in the container as a medium to supply your bottled nutes to it. Follow the instructions that FF provides, and you will be able to grow a very nice FF grow. Doing it this way, the pH of all of your fluids becomes critical, and you will need to carefully measure every fluid that hits your soil to adjust it to 6.3 pH.

If however you wish to get back to your original supersoil idea, you can forget about pH. Since you won't be using bottled nutes, there is no need to adjust pH... the organic soil does not care. To go this route however, you are going to have to repair the mistake you made by adding back some microlife to this grow. There are 3 good products that can do this for you, or you can get all the raw materials needed and an air pump and you can learn to make your own actively aerated compost teas. If you are in the USA, I suggest RealGrower's Recharge, a very economical microbial superpac that you can regularly add to your soil. This is not a nute, it is microbes... gobs of them... and they will bring your supersoil and indeed the FFOF, to life. Other more expensive products that do the same thing are URB and Voodoo Juice and are the only commercial options in some places in the world.

So, you are at a crossroads and need to choose your direction, now. Go with the FF nutes and figure out pH and mixing the nutes and then come to realize that unless you invest a fortune in every product FF produces to enhance a grow, it will never be as good as the truly organic grow would have been. My advice: wean yourself from the nute bottle, and follow through with your original plan... go full organic.

Oh and I did get the big bloom with the trio pack , I truly am at a crossroad if the super soil is dead

 

[Emilya Green]

Oh my Emilya
What a response. Thank you . Let me ask a silly question? What if I used only half what the bottle ask for and I only feed twice where the water may or may not have made it down that far? Would this have killed the super soil? Will just a little kill it? Could it be half dead or lost? Or is it a situation where a little spreads like a disease and all’s lost ? We can go from there maybe damn I felt like this was a no no

Well, I did get a little dramatic so as to make a strong point... but you likely did not kill all of the microlife, but even at 1/2 strength, you didn't do it any good. There is a good chance that if you immediately switched to nothing but water and every other time some of the Big Bloom, you could replenish the active microlife in that container. I still swear by the Realgrower's Recharge though... those microbial superpacks are amazing and would immediately get your grow back to where it should have been by now, teaming with microlife.
Trust me, the water got to the bottom layer... gravity is unrelenting and the water has to drop.
Since you are still in veg and like I said, there is plenty of free nitrogen in the soil, your nutrition needs are taken care of for now, microbes or not. Trust in the soil and trust in the Big Boom and give only water from here on out. By the time you reach bloom, there is a good chance that your microlife will have multiplied out enough to be able to supply the bloom nutrients out of the supersoil. With luck, you will have a lesson learned, with just enough time to fix it. Don't rush into bloom at this point... time is your friend.

 

[Ghostwriter31]

Well, I did get a little dramatic so as to make a strong point... but you likely did not kill all of the microlife, but even at 1/2 strength, you didn't do it any good. There is a good chance that if you immediately switched to nothing but water and every other time some of the Big Bloom, you could replenish the active microlife in that container. I still swear by the Realgrower's Recharge though... those microbial superpacks are amazing and would immediately get your grow back to where it should have been by now, teaming with microlife.
Trust me, the water got to the bottom layer... gravity is unrelenting and the water has to drop.
Since you are still in veg and like I said, there is plenty of free nitrogen in the soil, your nutrition needs are taken care of for now, microbes or not. Trust in the soil and trust in the Big Boom and give only water from here on out. By the time you reach bloom, there is a good chance that your microlife will have multiplied out enough to be able to supply the bloom nutrients out of the supersoil. With luck, you will have a lesson learned, with just enough time to fix it. Don't rush into bloom at this point... time is your friend.

Yeah I said to myself, who are you trying to kid, the water made it to bottom. I was very liberal with nutrients and my hand. I will just ride this one out and water only through harvest .... hopefully
I feed twice and only once with the blueish green one and I only did half recommended dose. Also I’ll make sure I use the big bloom when time is right . I may be asking this forum for help but hopefully I will see and know when myself
Thanks again for your lengthy and detailed reply

 

[Ghostwriter31]

Yeah I said to myself, who are you trying to kid, the water made it to bottom. I was very liberal with nutrients and my hand. I will just ride this one out and water only through harvest .... hopefully
I feed twice and only once with the blueish green one and I only did half recommended dose. Also I’ll make sure I use the big bloom when time is right . I may be asking this forum for help but hopefully I will see and know when myself
Thanks again for your lengthy and detailed reply

Oh I do have a pound of super soil on hand if I was reading you right by maybe adding some super soil back too? Did I read that correctly or would that be a risk? Maybe when bags are completely dry slide some in down the side of bag by creating a small gap between soil and bag?

 

[Emilya Green]

if you have a gap at the top before you get to the rim, you might want to lift the entire ball up once it has dried out, and then place that new soil underneath where it belongs, and then set everything back on top of it. I like that idea, and it can only help. Also, don't wait on the FF schedule to apply Big Bloom. It is a the only organic product they have and it is teaming with microlife. Use it the next time you water and use it every other time. Lets double check the water too... you using clean water, ie, no chlorine? That also plays havoc with the microlife.

 

[Ghostwriter31]

Yes I have a 30 gallon cooler that I set out in the sun for 12 hours two days in a row, sampled it and no chlorine whatsoever. PH is still at 7 tipping 6.9 but it’s completely dry or seems so . So pull up root ball well not pull it up but I know what your saying. I’ll give that a go in the am early. I been watching them and I feel like the next 8 hours they will be ok .i May need to get a fresh battery for ph reader , my box of batteries are old I believe but that’s no biggie

 

[Teddy Edwards]

Oh snap, I intended this to go under introduce yourself, I ventured over to different forums and forgot to toggle back to intros, I wonder if there’s a way to move it hmmmm

I have merged it back into your Introduce Yourself thread.

 

[Usherwood]

Your plants are looking great. Don't let yourself over think your growing. Keep things simple. Doing to many things can lead to major issues. I had some hard sad times when I got started, killed some nice plant's. I went off in my own semi crazy direction and haven't had any issues since. I don't wanna stir up a hornets nest but be careful with the whole feeding thing its not the only way to great nugs and doesn't help at all with the taste. Ill show ya pics if you want and give ya a list of my semi organic ( nothing is organic really) grow setup.

 

[Ghostwriter31]

I have merged it back into your Introduce Yourself thread.

Thank you, dang you guys are Johnny on the spot. I appreciate all the outpouring of support from the people who seem to do this best. If I hadn’t found you all or someone else at another forum, I’d killed my plants . Glad I stopped here!

 

[Ghostwriter31]

Success, super soil put back into pots for added protection. After coming clean with my nutrients use and determining that my super soil could be active still I decided to put half pound of super soil back into each of the healthy plants. I’m going to ride this one still the end and use this as a learning experience. On a side note. This little guy was germinated the same exact time as the two healthy ones. She got sunburned in germination because I forgot her in tent at a most crucial time .. I thought she was dead, fell over once and completely left her home. Had to replant her . Gorilla Shizzle ( this plant I wanted most and for obvious reasons, 25 % THC ) I hate to kill her. I just wish she’d speed it up a bit so I could transplant her

 

[John Wick]

Great job Ghost and Emilya, now I don't feel so bad for asking you to stop by. Thank you for always helping out when we kinda loose our path. and to you.

 

[Emilya Green]

Great job Ghost and Emilya, now I don't feel so bad for asking you to stop by. Thank you for always helping out when we kinda loose our path. and to you.

Always glad to help where and when I can. Good luck Ghost! It sounds like you are on the right track now. May I suggest starting up a grow journal so we can follow along and watch how this goes?

 

[Ghostwriter31]

Yes John, Emilya was very helpful ! She is very detailed and doesn’t sugar coat a thing. I appreciate her hard nail approach and thoroughness. I’m not sure I could be that person with detailed useful information especially in the time frame she was able to do so. If she typed every bit of that directly to me? She is extra special and I’m truly mean that in a good way. I couldn’t have copied and pasted that fast lol
I appreciate all the support and help! I feel like i am part of a great family here and I just came on board. That says something for everyone here.
Im sure I’ll still make some mistakes and need help. Im glad I have you all!
Much love,
Ghost

 

[John Wick]

Yes John, Emilya was very helpful ! She is very detailed and doesn’t sugar coat a thing. I appreciate her hard nail approach and thoroughness. I’m not sure I could be that person with detailed useful information especially in the time frame she was able to do so. If she typed every bit of that directly to me? She is extra special and I’m truly mean that in a good way. I couldn’t have copied and pasted that fast lol
I appreciate all the support and help! I feel like i am part of a great family here and I just came on board. That says something for everyone here.
Im sure I’ll still make some mistakes and need help. Im glad I have you all!
Much love,
Ghost

No she doesn't suger coat anything, just so you know, I got my ass kicked into gear once too.

But she saved my two plants, so it was well worth it.

 

[Ghostwriter31]

Always glad to help where and when I can. Good luck Ghost! It sounds like you are on the right track now. May I suggest starting up a grow journal so we can follow along and watch how this goes?

I don’t mind at all. In fact I was going to do that in November when I have my second go with purple punch and another go at gorilla shizzle . I’ll fire up my laptop and get started today. I will assume the journal is self explanatory
I read A thread last night where a vendor was sponsoring a journal grow with a 2000 LED lift set up but you must have 2 years experience. That’s not me but one day will be I am excited to say I do have a COB cree/ LED that will be here Monday. It was supposed to be here Friday but got held up and delayed till Monday. This should really boost things up quite a bit
My LED now is 12’ by 8’ inches of that gives you an idea of how little light these guys are getting ( says 2000 watts but I doubt seriously it is) I paid $70 retail if that says anything .... the new one is definitely a step up

 

[John Wick]

Actually she did it twice, when I wanted to buy a new light instead of of a good pH pen.

I bought the the good pH pen.

 

[Ghostwriter31]

No she doesn't suger coat anything, just so you know, I got my ass kicked into gear once too.

But she saved my two plants, so it was well worth it.

What are y’all talking about? PH pen??? What is this