- Thread starter
- #101
Nivana's Chrystal 11 Weeks Into Veg - Advice Welcome!
No it doesn't matter...
It only matters which is in the pot.
I think you follow the program we outlined yesterday...just the schedule is what it is for how fast they are going through the water. I think you have successfully recovered from the first problem. You have successfully recovered from the first whack attack. Now you have the tools and the skills. Follow your gut . Make sure everything dries out before the next watering. When you are about 1 week before bloom is when we will start to modify things again.
It only matters which is in the pot.
I think you follow the program we outlined yesterday...just the schedule is what it is for how fast they are going through the water. I think you have successfully recovered from the first problem. You have successfully recovered from the first whack attack. Now you have the tools and the skills. Follow your gut . Make sure everything dries out before the next watering. When you are about 1 week before bloom is when we will start to modify things again.
- Thread starter
- #103
hi V! i'm copying your post from another journal because i want to be able to find it easily in the future...i hope it's ok to do that...
Well that is a little bit of a complicated topic with me. I try to avoid transplanting. I am an engineer so I design my grows with what we call Russian engineering practices. That's an old engineering joke because in Russia they would just overbuild stuff supper big and say to hell with the math. No need to calculate it...I will just add a bunch of extra reinforcement and it will work. Specifically that is what the did for Dams and Nuclear reactors. They would build ones 10 times the size we would ever allow in America.
Anyway So I use a very aerated soil blend that is really almost a soilless blend. It does not have any of the issues that re-potting helps with. I used to repot when I started back in the mid 90's. I spent years experimenting with soils and different techniques and came up with a blend that is very simple and has all the benefits of soil and soilless mixes and gets me growth (when done correctly) as good as hydro.
I used to in fact place my seed directly in the pot I was to bloom in and never repot at all. Fresh seed does not need the paper towel trick. Fresh seed is like all fresh seeds. You can place it in soil and water lightly and it will come up in a few days.
So for indoor I never go below 5 gallons. The scrog I posted above above has a plant in a 15 gallon fabric pot. That plant will never run out of space for roots. It can grow roots as long as it wants and the above ground plant can get as big as I want. The above ground plant is a function of the root mass. In the absence of doing some fancy stuff the above ground plant can only get so big based on the root mass. So limiting the root mass directly limits the above ground mass. So I never want that to happen. I reuse and recompost my soil so none of it is a waste. So I use over sized pots because I happen to know that the root ball is the most important part of the plant. Many people never think about it because they don't see it...but the root ball is the most important part of the plant and everything above ground is a function of how healthy the roots are.
Lately I have been trying those peat plugs to start seeds but I think I am done with that and only using those for clones.
So I will use very weak and heavily aerated soil in a solo cup for sprouting seeds. When they have enough root mass to hold that together I will transplant to the final pot. I never want the tap root to curl up more then it has to as I want it to go as deep as it can.
To transplant I use a separate solo cup in the new pot and fill around it and when done I remove the solo cup and have a hole perfect for the one I am placing in there.
I am not in a hurry, I grow just for myself and I SCROG. After you get a few grows under your belt you wont be in need of weed so you can take your time. I am happy to let the plants grow in the final pot as soon as possible.
These are two autos I ran in a 7 and 5 gallon pot and never up potted just put it right in there and they took off.
Well that is a little bit of a complicated topic with me. I try to avoid transplanting. I am an engineer so I design my grows with what we call Russian engineering practices. That's an old engineering joke because in Russia they would just overbuild stuff supper big and say to hell with the math. No need to calculate it...I will just add a bunch of extra reinforcement and it will work. Specifically that is what the did for Dams and Nuclear reactors. They would build ones 10 times the size we would ever allow in America.
Anyway So I use a very aerated soil blend that is really almost a soilless blend. It does not have any of the issues that re-potting helps with. I used to repot when I started back in the mid 90's. I spent years experimenting with soils and different techniques and came up with a blend that is very simple and has all the benefits of soil and soilless mixes and gets me growth (when done correctly) as good as hydro.
I used to in fact place my seed directly in the pot I was to bloom in and never repot at all. Fresh seed does not need the paper towel trick. Fresh seed is like all fresh seeds. You can place it in soil and water lightly and it will come up in a few days.
So for indoor I never go below 5 gallons. The scrog I posted above above has a plant in a 15 gallon fabric pot. That plant will never run out of space for roots. It can grow roots as long as it wants and the above ground plant can get as big as I want. The above ground plant is a function of the root mass. In the absence of doing some fancy stuff the above ground plant can only get so big based on the root mass. So limiting the root mass directly limits the above ground mass. So I never want that to happen. I reuse and recompost my soil so none of it is a waste. So I use over sized pots because I happen to know that the root ball is the most important part of the plant. Many people never think about it because they don't see it...but the root ball is the most important part of the plant and everything above ground is a function of how healthy the roots are.
Lately I have been trying those peat plugs to start seeds but I think I am done with that and only using those for clones.
So I will use very weak and heavily aerated soil in a solo cup for sprouting seeds. When they have enough root mass to hold that together I will transplant to the final pot. I never want the tap root to curl up more then it has to as I want it to go as deep as it can.
To transplant I use a separate solo cup in the new pot and fill around it and when done I remove the solo cup and have a hole perfect for the one I am placing in there.
I am not in a hurry, I grow just for myself and I SCROG. After you get a few grows under your belt you wont be in need of weed so you can take your time. I am happy to let the plants grow in the final pot as soon as possible.
These are two autos I ran in a 7 and 5 gallon pot and never up potted just put it right in there and they took off.
- Thread starter
- #104
and this one, too, V...copied from another journal....
Perlite mainly but also some coco.
swwilson20 needs to know this we were going to talk about it eventually.
Sub cools super soil is a compost that you put at the bottom of the pot. The top 2/3rds is a simpler basic soil blend. The compost is hot so you want the plant to be a bit more mature first. And 1/3 compost and 2/3rds soil blend is for a 10 gallon pot. If you go smaller it is more like 1/4 compost.
You can find a ton of videos on his compost and on him directly on youtube. I am posting the 3 min one all the time. There are many types of compost and soil blends...subcool's is just the most famous. there are many websites dedicated to his formula.
Here I posted a few good videos in this thread...
What is your Super Soil?
So what you do is take your used soil and use it as the first component. Add in some coco and do the rest as prescribed.
It is much like the tea. You are using the microbes in the worm castings and bat guano (I don't use that for ethical reasons but it is good stuff) to break down everything. It takes 2 months to get good and some cook it for longer.
And yes I know all about letting it use up dirt and then grow into new dirt. My way is more like nature (are you sensing a theme here?) My plants will grow indefinitely and never have an issue. They will always encounter new fresh soil and my soil is full of microbes breaking down stuff always keeping it fresh. That is the beauty of subcools compost. You can grow forever in there and it keeps breaking down the stuff. It can easily go 6 months and it is constantly making fresh nutes in there and you never need to add anything but water.
Some people ( I am going to try this next) actually put earthworms in the pots. I am going to get some and throw them in my compost pile. My next grow is all small pots but the next time I do a 15 gallon one I will be throwing in some worms. They will keep fresh earth worms castings in there daily.
Perlite mainly but also some coco.
swwilson20 needs to know this we were going to talk about it eventually.
Sub cools super soil is a compost that you put at the bottom of the pot. The top 2/3rds is a simpler basic soil blend. The compost is hot so you want the plant to be a bit more mature first. And 1/3 compost and 2/3rds soil blend is for a 10 gallon pot. If you go smaller it is more like 1/4 compost.
You can find a ton of videos on his compost and on him directly on youtube. I am posting the 3 min one all the time. There are many types of compost and soil blends...subcool's is just the most famous. there are many websites dedicated to his formula.
Here I posted a few good videos in this thread...
What is your Super Soil?
So what you do is take your used soil and use it as the first component. Add in some coco and do the rest as prescribed.
It is much like the tea. You are using the microbes in the worm castings and bat guano (I don't use that for ethical reasons but it is good stuff) to break down everything. It takes 2 months to get good and some cook it for longer.
And yes I know all about letting it use up dirt and then grow into new dirt. My way is more like nature (are you sensing a theme here?) My plants will grow indefinitely and never have an issue. They will always encounter new fresh soil and my soil is full of microbes breaking down stuff always keeping it fresh. That is the beauty of subcools compost. You can grow forever in there and it keeps breaking down the stuff. It can easily go 6 months and it is constantly making fresh nutes in there and you never need to add anything but water.
Some people ( I am going to try this next) actually put earthworms in the pots. I am going to get some and throw them in my compost pile. My next grow is all small pots but the next time I do a 15 gallon one I will be throwing in some worms. They will keep fresh earth worms castings in there daily.
- Thread starter
- #105
what does coco add to the pot? i have never used it, but i know that many do.
yesterday, i spent some time with #2...it's starting to show some good growth down low. ultimately, i want to take out that center stalk, so i took off all the growth up top, except for the big fan leaves...the pots are getting lighter, but they are not needing water, yet.
yesterday, i spent some time with #2...it's starting to show some good growth down low. ultimately, i want to take out that center stalk, so i took off all the growth up top, except for the big fan leaves...the pots are getting lighter, but they are not needing water, yet.
Well I am flattered that you would repost my stuff...especially and give me credit 
Starting with the pics...
So I think your new growth on all of them are looking healthy. I am fairly certain you are over the hump of the original problem and have things under control. I know for a fact the 2 bushy plants have rebounded. In general I think you can go as aggressive as you want on pruning at this point just remember never more than 1/3 of the plant in a week...and never do big pruning sessions back to back wait a few days between.
I am fairly certain the 2 that are slow are just over watered and need a good dry out. After a good dry spell and the next round of tea they will be banging.
As to soil mixing... (coco question is answered at the end of this but it is because of the soil mix so it all matters)
Well I started growing back before anyone would dream of having a website like this and talking openly on the internet about this stuff. Not to drag on but I did lots of experimentation and my good friend and eventual roommate was a horticulturalist. We worked on soil blends together for years. It wasn't until I started getting back into it a year and a half ago when I got on the web and found all these new ways of growing that were things I tried and discarded as inferior. I even got slammed on here back when I was just asking questions about it.
Anyway the point is I have tried lots of combinations of the basic parts in many ratios and many different flavors. But there are effectively 3 things to a good soil blend (not talking about a compost here).
1) You need a decent base bag of soil for a number of reasons. I have been using Fox Farm froggy lately. There are many kinds out there. I just grabbed the fox farms because it has on the label what I am looking for. I also found some real good stuff at Home depot. they are getting into it and have 2 real good brands there now so you don't have to go crazy at some hydro store. You want a soil that has Mycrorizal fungi, Oyster shells (or some kind of crustacean), Earthworm casting and or Bat Guano, Humic acid / humis soil / ancient forest soil (those are all the same thing basically...ancient forest soil is a very old greater than 100 year compost soil that beaks down into Humic acid). There are a few more things but if the soil you buy has that it will have the rest or at least is great stuff. Next time you buy a bag of good stuff look on the label and research the parts they are advertising so you know what you are using.
2) You need some straight up steer manure for 3 purposes. Mainly it is a huge source of nitrogen and done correctly is all you need for the grow. Nitrogen is the most commonly underfeed nute so have a ton of organic nitrogen in there is a huge help. Since it is poop and composted already it is full of all these microbes we keep talking about so you basically start right out of the gate with a living soil blend that is the bomb. And the third reason is you need organic material in there to absorb the nutes you add later. Without organic material fertilizers will just run out the bottom of the pot. They need to be absorbed into something and only organics can actually absorb and hold them. So with them you can feed less often and it acts as a very good time released nute provider but only in the proportions that the plant wants. It self regulates.
***NOTE*** Steer manure is not soil it is considered fertilizer.
3) You need an aeration component. You need something to make the blend light and fluffy and full of air. Perlite is great for this and also has the added benefit of retaining moisture well.
So the question is why coco...
Well Coco works as both an aeration component and an organic component to retain fertilizer. It is used most commonly in soilless mixes for these reasons. But the main reason I tell people to use it is newbs freak over a little nute burn.
I honestly mostly have used the first 3 components exclusively in a 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 ratio for many years. But you have to deal with slight burn in early veg as it is hot. But you get real great performance for a long time without any fertilizers so I put up with it. Now if you do the math there you notice that I am 2/3rds soilless. At that ratio you get all the benefits of soil and soilless. You get nearly hydro growth with tempered pH control, great organic performance with natural beneficial microbes and long term slow release natural balancing nutes.
So lately I have been recommending to people to cut down the manure a bit replace that with coco fiber to compensate and keep the ratio of soil the same. You are adding in useless organic matter by adding the coco which is basically replacing half of the manure. So you get all the same stuff just a reduced nitrogen content so less burn.
I came to 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 after tons of experimentation with many types of amendments and ratios. I tried all sorts of things and as most things in life the simple answer is the best.
Now if you go to using a compost at the bottom of the pot like Subcools you can nix the manure and go 1/3 coco as there should be enough in your soil portion to get you through until you get to the compost but I like to keep it in there at the ratio of 1/6 like I stated.
So yeah that's what coco is for.
Starting with the pics...
So I think your new growth on all of them are looking healthy. I am fairly certain you are over the hump of the original problem and have things under control. I know for a fact the 2 bushy plants have rebounded. In general I think you can go as aggressive as you want on pruning at this point just remember never more than 1/3 of the plant in a week...and never do big pruning sessions back to back wait a few days between.
I am fairly certain the 2 that are slow are just over watered and need a good dry out. After a good dry spell and the next round of tea they will be banging.
As to soil mixing... (coco question is answered at the end of this but it is because of the soil mix so it all matters)
Well I started growing back before anyone would dream of having a website like this and talking openly on the internet about this stuff. Not to drag on but I did lots of experimentation and my good friend and eventual roommate was a horticulturalist. We worked on soil blends together for years. It wasn't until I started getting back into it a year and a half ago when I got on the web and found all these new ways of growing that were things I tried and discarded as inferior. I even got slammed on here back when I was just asking questions about it.
Anyway the point is I have tried lots of combinations of the basic parts in many ratios and many different flavors. But there are effectively 3 things to a good soil blend (not talking about a compost here).
1) You need a decent base bag of soil for a number of reasons. I have been using Fox Farm froggy lately. There are many kinds out there. I just grabbed the fox farms because it has on the label what I am looking for. I also found some real good stuff at Home depot. they are getting into it and have 2 real good brands there now so you don't have to go crazy at some hydro store. You want a soil that has Mycrorizal fungi, Oyster shells (or some kind of crustacean), Earthworm casting and or Bat Guano, Humic acid / humis soil / ancient forest soil (those are all the same thing basically...ancient forest soil is a very old greater than 100 year compost soil that beaks down into Humic acid). There are a few more things but if the soil you buy has that it will have the rest or at least is great stuff. Next time you buy a bag of good stuff look on the label and research the parts they are advertising so you know what you are using.
2) You need some straight up steer manure for 3 purposes. Mainly it is a huge source of nitrogen and done correctly is all you need for the grow. Nitrogen is the most commonly underfeed nute so have a ton of organic nitrogen in there is a huge help. Since it is poop and composted already it is full of all these microbes we keep talking about so you basically start right out of the gate with a living soil blend that is the bomb. And the third reason is you need organic material in there to absorb the nutes you add later. Without organic material fertilizers will just run out the bottom of the pot. They need to be absorbed into something and only organics can actually absorb and hold them. So with them you can feed less often and it acts as a very good time released nute provider but only in the proportions that the plant wants. It self regulates.
***NOTE*** Steer manure is not soil it is considered fertilizer.
3) You need an aeration component. You need something to make the blend light and fluffy and full of air. Perlite is great for this and also has the added benefit of retaining moisture well.
So the question is why coco...
Well Coco works as both an aeration component and an organic component to retain fertilizer. It is used most commonly in soilless mixes for these reasons. But the main reason I tell people to use it is newbs freak over a little nute burn.
I honestly mostly have used the first 3 components exclusively in a 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 ratio for many years. But you have to deal with slight burn in early veg as it is hot. But you get real great performance for a long time without any fertilizers so I put up with it. Now if you do the math there you notice that I am 2/3rds soilless. At that ratio you get all the benefits of soil and soilless. You get nearly hydro growth with tempered pH control, great organic performance with natural beneficial microbes and long term slow release natural balancing nutes.
So lately I have been recommending to people to cut down the manure a bit replace that with coco fiber to compensate and keep the ratio of soil the same. You are adding in useless organic matter by adding the coco which is basically replacing half of the manure. So you get all the same stuff just a reduced nitrogen content so less burn.
I came to 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 after tons of experimentation with many types of amendments and ratios. I tried all sorts of things and as most things in life the simple answer is the best.
Now if you go to using a compost at the bottom of the pot like Subcools you can nix the manure and go 1/3 coco as there should be enough in your soil portion to get you through until you get to the compost but I like to keep it in there at the ratio of 1/6 like I stated.
So yeah that's what coco is for.
- Thread starter
- #107
what's really helpful is the way you line things out so they make sense and it's not overly complicated...i have so much to learn!
"It wasn't until I started getting back into it a year and a half ago when I got on the web and found all these new ways of growing that were things I tried and discarded as inferior."
you see...that is the problem with trying to read around and find answers...there are too many opinions and too little credibility and it gets too complicated. i enjoyed your explanation of the coco...
thank you for being so detailed in your explanations!
today, it's been a week since i gave them the cal mag/sugar/silica drink. i will watch them for signs of needing water and then i will get the tea ready...
today, i looked back on the early pictures of these 4 plants and i can definitely see a difference in the lower branches!
"It wasn't until I started getting back into it a year and a half ago when I got on the web and found all these new ways of growing that were things I tried and discarded as inferior."
you see...that is the problem with trying to read around and find answers...there are too many opinions and too little credibility and it gets too complicated. i enjoyed your explanation of the coco...
thank you for being so detailed in your explanations!today, it's been a week since i gave them the cal mag/sugar/silica drink. i will watch them for signs of needing water and then i will get the tea ready...
today, i looked back on the early pictures of these 4 plants and i can definitely see a difference in the lower branches!
I get short with some people. I am a real smart ass and I have no time for fools. But if someone wants to listen...especially if they want to try my tea (which I feel obligated to help with since I have a special version)...I will go all in to help as best I can.
You are respectful and are trying to learn so I will go out of my way to help you. Some people on here I don't even know why I try.
You've earned the long answers!
Plus I can't wait for you to take pics of these at the end and go back to the original post and drop them there and proclaim "IT WORKED!!!" ...may have taken 3 months but it was worth it.
Then someone will be like "I could have grown a whole nuther round in that time..." LOL
Anyway I will share what I can with those who listen.
You are respectful and are trying to learn so I will go out of my way to help you. Some people on here I don't even know why I try.
You've earned the long answers!
Plus I can't wait for you to take pics of these at the end and go back to the original post and drop them there and proclaim "IT WORKED!!!" ...may have taken 3 months but it was worth it.
Then someone will be like "I could have grown a whole nuther round in that time..." LOL
Anyway I will share what I can with those who listen.
- Thread starter
- #109
it's about power, V...to bring them back like that is about power...and knowledge...but knowledge=power...
- Thread starter
- #110
morning V! #4 is droopy today...thirsty...was thinking i would give her a little drink to keep her alive and start the tea today...
what do you think?
what do you think?
You can but they can also go thirsty for a day.
We are not on a fast schedule. We can give a little stress here and there. And drying out is a positive type of stress. Some stress is bad but some stress is good...that said in your case it probably wont help. You probably have a fully mature root system by now so stressing it to increase root growth may not help.
I think this is 6 one way half a dozen another. Just don't give a lot. give a little around the edge of the pot. try to avoid watering near the stem. We prefer the water to be transported in from as far away as possible.
Did you know that water is used mainly for transportation of other stuff not growth? The second big thing is is used for is transpiration. But very little is actually used % wise in the chemical reactions going on... (like less than 1% of water is used in the plant for the purpose of being water)
Most of the water that gets sucked up is transpired out.
Transpiration - The Water Cycle, from USGS Water-Science School
Transpiration - Wikipedia
We are not on a fast schedule. We can give a little stress here and there. And drying out is a positive type of stress. Some stress is bad but some stress is good...that said in your case it probably wont help. You probably have a fully mature root system by now so stressing it to increase root growth may not help.
I think this is 6 one way half a dozen another. Just don't give a lot. give a little around the edge of the pot. try to avoid watering near the stem. We prefer the water to be transported in from as far away as possible.
Did you know that water is used mainly for transportation of other stuff not growth? The second big thing is is used for is transpiration. But very little is actually used % wise in the chemical reactions going on... (like less than 1% of water is used in the plant for the purpose of being water)
Most of the water that gets sucked up is transpired out.
Transpiration - The Water Cycle, from USGS Water-Science School
Transpiration - Wikipedia
And hey not tooting my own horn here...but this is really what I want you to get out of this journal.
You can go online and read about recipes and equipment and build a setup that works and have wonderful weed. People do it all the time. Doesn't mean they know shit about what the hell they are doing.
Weed is a plant. It does photosynthesis. It has some very rudimentary well documented and clearly understood processes going on. It has a standard life cycle like many plants. It works just like a lot of things out there. In some respects it is more robust...but in others...if you want sticky Crystally white buds you really gotta push the knowledge.
People who don't take the time to get a horticulture book and understand what is going on inside plants and root zone are just novices. Even a decent hobbyist has enough care respect and concern to learn about things in their hobby (regardless of the hobby). If you want to be able to be as good as a pro...well you can't buy your way there and ask a few questions on a forum.
All I am saying is I am just re-quoting you...Knowledge is power. I can't give you that. I can only give you motivation to go off and teach yourself.
You can go online and read about recipes and equipment and build a setup that works and have wonderful weed. People do it all the time. Doesn't mean they know shit about what the hell they are doing.
Weed is a plant. It does photosynthesis. It has some very rudimentary well documented and clearly understood processes going on. It has a standard life cycle like many plants. It works just like a lot of things out there. In some respects it is more robust...but in others...if you want sticky Crystally white buds you really gotta push the knowledge.
People who don't take the time to get a horticulture book and understand what is going on inside plants and root zone are just novices. Even a decent hobbyist has enough care respect and concern to learn about things in their hobby (regardless of the hobby). If you want to be able to be as good as a pro...well you can't buy your way there and ask a few questions on a forum.
All I am saying is I am just re-quoting you...Knowledge is power. I can't give you that. I can only give you motivation to go off and teach yourself.
- Thread starter
- #113
ok...i gave her 8 oz of water ph'd to 6.4...i drizzled it all around the edges of her pot...and i did not know that water was the transportation...probably because i never really thought about it...and i should if i'm going to be a grower!
so far, the other 3 are not showing any sign of needing water...so i won't start the tea today...i'll just gather it all and have it ready when it's time.
do you use the cannabis for cooking? i'm a medical user and i use it for making rick simpson oil (rso) - but that's for night time use, only. and i use it for making brownies because i'd rather eat it than smoke it...but when i can get ahead a little bit, i'd like to try using it for making creams and salves for topical use, as well as other ways of cooking with it. i just watched a video on making tincture...i think i'm going to do that this afternoon. i like the brownies ok, but don't like eating all that sugar...
so far, the other 3 are not showing any sign of needing water...so i won't start the tea today...i'll just gather it all and have it ready when it's time.
do you use the cannabis for cooking? i'm a medical user and i use it for making rick simpson oil (rso) - but that's for night time use, only. and i use it for making brownies because i'd rather eat it than smoke it...but when i can get ahead a little bit, i'd like to try using it for making creams and salves for topical use, as well as other ways of cooking with it. i just watched a video on making tincture...i think i'm going to do that this afternoon. i like the brownies ok, but don't like eating all that sugar...
- Thread starter
- #114
exactly...everything that you said is exactly right...and it really helps to have a guide!
you know the plant and understand what it needs and why...and you know how to push it and you know when to back off and you know how to get that extra special result and that is where i want to be. i've always had a superficial interest in herbalism (is that a word?)...i believe that cannabis is the ultimate herb and i'm going to focus on it.
Yeah I usually make butter or cooking oil. You can use those in most recipes. Home made Mac and cheese takes a good amount of butter. There are good chicken recipes out there too. My wife is know just in general as a great baker and her cookies are better than anything I have ever had from any other source. So I get her to make me some of those too. There are also many biscuit type recipes that are lower in sugar. anzac biscuits / cookies are good to make.
- Thread starter
- #116
good sunday morning, V!
yesterday, finally, #5 started looking thirsty so i started the tea. it will be fed today....and i'll post pictures...i had to give #4 another 8 ounces of water yesterday, too. she was so thirsty i thought she was going to start crying!
also wondering...in soil do you always chase the tea with ph'd water? or just in the case of our 4 patients? i'm going to give it to the clones and wondered if they need to have it chased with ph'd water, as well?
yesterday, finally, #5 started looking thirsty so i started the tea. it will be fed today....and i'll post pictures...i had to give #4 another 8 ounces of water yesterday, too. she was so thirsty i thought she was going to start crying!
also wondering...in soil do you always chase the tea with ph'd water? or just in the case of our 4 patients? i'm going to give it to the clones and wondered if they need to have it chased with ph'd water, as well?
So I am stuck in the airport on my crappy tablet trying to type...
Yes I drive in the tea with good water. Whenever you water you want10% to 15% run off. Doesn't matter if it is plain water or a feeding. If you have a good blend with organic materials like I explained then the stuff you want in there will get absorbed in there and not run out the bottom. Runoff is important for a few reasons.
Mainly though you want all of the soil evenly moist.
So I just wanted to reiterate we want to treat these as individuals. The ones with more leaves will drink more and need higher concentrations. They will need more frequent waterings. What you are doing is fine but the best for the plants is heavy infrequent waterings not light constant ones. After this tea dose lets try to water and feed them when they are ready individually. If you may be able to keep this tea dose alive in there. Once a good colony takes hold you are good to go.
But that is just thinking ideally...what you are doing is fine. Soil conditions matter...root health is the most important thing. So ideally we water plants in a way that saturates all of the soil evenly and then dries out fully...whatever that takes.
Yes I drive in the tea with good water. Whenever you water you want10% to 15% run off. Doesn't matter if it is plain water or a feeding. If you have a good blend with organic materials like I explained then the stuff you want in there will get absorbed in there and not run out the bottom. Runoff is important for a few reasons.
Mainly though you want all of the soil evenly moist.
So I just wanted to reiterate we want to treat these as individuals. The ones with more leaves will drink more and need higher concentrations. They will need more frequent waterings. What you are doing is fine but the best for the plants is heavy infrequent waterings not light constant ones. After this tea dose lets try to water and feed them when they are ready individually. If you may be able to keep this tea dose alive in there. Once a good colony takes hold you are good to go.
But that is just thinking ideally...what you are doing is fine. Soil conditions matter...root health is the most important thing. So ideally we water plants in a way that saturates all of the soil evenly and then dries out fully...whatever that takes.
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condolences on having to be in the airport! here's hoping it was a short visit...
i worked in the grow room yesterday, but wasn't able to post until this morning....following are the pictures...but first i just wanna say that you are correct about treating them as individuals...that isn't something that i've ever really thought about, but it's probably even more important when the plants are so sick. #4 & #5 were dry dry dry and very light, #3 was kinda light and #2 still had some heft to her. she's the sickest imo, and early on she lost one of her main branches, so she probably isn't using as much as the other 3 plants. in the future, i'll just mix up the tea and feed it was they need it...if i can keep it going by just adding sugar...that'll be fine...we're probably not talking longer than 4 or 5 days.
i gave them each 2 cups of the tea ph'd to about 6.9. the tea was at 7.4 after it was brewed and strained and it was real hard to get it under 7, so i settled for 6.9 and then chased it with plain water ph'd to 6.3.
but i also gave the tea to the clones...and while i was in the clone room looking at them, i noticed that the 4 on the left were darker and healthier looking than the 6 on the right...and then i remembered that the 4 on the left got a dose of the tea a few weeks ago and the 6 on the right did not....so i took a picture. if you look closely, you can see the difference in the plants...amazing! oh yeah, and the 4 on the left are 2 weeks younger than the other 6.
so first, the 4 patients and then the 10 clones...
i worked in the grow room yesterday, but wasn't able to post until this morning....following are the pictures...but first i just wanna say that you are correct about treating them as individuals...that isn't something that i've ever really thought about, but it's probably even more important when the plants are so sick. #4 & #5 were dry dry dry and very light, #3 was kinda light and #2 still had some heft to her. she's the sickest imo, and early on she lost one of her main branches, so she probably isn't using as much as the other 3 plants. in the future, i'll just mix up the tea and feed it was they need it...if i can keep it going by just adding sugar...that'll be fine...we're probably not talking longer than 4 or 5 days.
i gave them each 2 cups of the tea ph'd to about 6.9. the tea was at 7.4 after it was brewed and strained and it was real hard to get it under 7, so i settled for 6.9 and then chased it with plain water ph'd to 6.3.
but i also gave the tea to the clones...and while i was in the clone room looking at them, i noticed that the 4 on the left were darker and healthier looking than the 6 on the right...and then i remembered that the 4 on the left got a dose of the tea a few weeks ago and the 6 on the right did not....so i took a picture. if you look closely, you can see the difference in the plants...amazing! oh yeah, and the 4 on the left are 2 weeks younger than the other 6.
so first, the 4 patients and then the 10 clones...
my goodness what a long hall to where you are now! I see your growing crystal from Nirvana as well! I'm growing her in a RDWC if you would like to take a look! I have a journal up and I'm subbed to this post now! great job VilliageIdiot on the info on the tea stuff! do you use it in both your hydro and coco / soil grows? if so could I use this instead of great white? I'm all for DIY if it makes sense to!
Well 2 and 4 look a bit over watered there. Not a big deal they should be happy soon.
Nice to see the difference in those clones!!!
@AKGrowBig... I use the tea in both soil and Hydro. I haven't tried pure coco. I spent years experimenting with different mediums. Coco is a variant of something I found inferior. I never have tried pure coco so I can't really talk about it. I did get harassed when I asked on here about it in the forums so I just try to avoid talking about pure coco soil-less. It can be done well. In my opinion you are wasting money. That said when i do DWC I don't need fancy nutes to get great results so I could probably do the same in coco and not waste as much money.
Soil done correctly only needs water. I am cooking some compost now for my next grow but it may be immature so hopefully it is ready in time. Won't matter I can get it over the finish line with very little nutes I bet.
Nice to see the difference in those clones!!!
@AKGrowBig... I use the tea in both soil and Hydro. I haven't tried pure coco. I spent years experimenting with different mediums. Coco is a variant of something I found inferior. I never have tried pure coco so I can't really talk about it. I did get harassed when I asked on here about it in the forums so I just try to avoid talking about pure coco soil-less. It can be done well. In my opinion you are wasting money. That said when i do DWC I don't need fancy nutes to get great results so I could probably do the same in coco and not waste as much money.
Soil done correctly only needs water. I am cooking some compost now for my next grow but it may be immature so hopefully it is ready in time. Won't matter I can get it over the finish line with very little nutes I bet.