Nutrient deficiency or nutrient burn? Opinions?

[Emilya Green]

Yah I didn’t do the bottom layer method, should I be treating this soil as a coco or peat moss grow? Or treat it like soil, also I’m glad to hear ph and ppm doesn’t matter I don’t like messing with anyway haha my RO water does come out at a 6.7 but when I say 6.2-6.7 I just make sure my water is in that level. and I do get most of my advice from guys at the HTG I grow shop I have here in PA. all of which are using this soil, organically but everyone I know is using auto pots. But like I said this is my very first grow every, never grew anything in my life minus the mold in the bread box haha so it’s all a learning curve for me and getting so many different opinions But Im finally feeling much better on all of this thanks to you

Treat this as a soil grow. The coco and peat are in there in lesser quantities than actual soil content and are there for the moisture holding capabilities and the bottom end buffer for pH, for those who need it. For the record, not all grow shops are good at soil methods... they actually (secretly) want you to fail so that you go to their more expensive hydro methods where you need to buy all those fancy meters and such. Master soil, and they won't be able to make a lot of profit on you.

 

[S0AR3R]

You are not ready to read the wilt. Usually it is not wilt you will see anyway when it is time to water, you will just see the leaves go from above horizontal and pointing themselves at the light, to dropping to horizontal or below. This process starts at the bottom of the plant and moves up, and finally when there is no more water available to keep the water pressure up in the trunk of the plant, the plant will wilt and bend down at the trunk. Don't go that far, but even that would be better than overwatering.

Do yourself a favor and go by weight, the LIFT THE POT method. Compare the weight of your container with a similar one filled with dry soil. If your human senses can tell the difference between the weight of the containers, it is not time to water. Some people employ a kitchen or postal scale to take the guesswork out of it.

When you do water, water with gusto. You have already seen that it takes a whole lot more water than you have been giving, to properly saturate the soil. I even go back an hour or so after I have achieved runoff to see that the plants have sucked up that runoff water and the drip trays are dry. I then water again, slowly, to achieve runoff a second time. Then I know for sure that I have saturated that soil. My baseline as to how much water to give is variable, and dependent on how well developed the roots have gotten. This amount will go up, depending on the strength of your roots, which of course are starting to drink from the moment you start watering. The amount to give increases just a little bit each time you accomplish a wet/dry cycle. Your standard is your ability to see when the soil is actually saturated.

The time between waterings also changes each time. At first, like with a seedling, or a plant with damaged roots, it might take 10 days to get "dry." Each wet/dry cycle will speed that up a bit, until you get down to 1 day, when it is time to uppot and start the process over again. I have learned that 10 days is too long to let the plant go unattended, so I come back every 3-4 days to just give a mini watering... maybe a quarter of what the plant was able to take in the complete watering stage, and try to aim mostly for the outside edges of the container... entice the roots to grow in the direction of the most water. Give a little of that water to the entire top surface, so that your mini-watering also sends nourishment to the top layer of spreader roots, that exist from the top surface and down 3 or 4 inches. A mini watering should only nourish those areas, and not drop down to the water table, that lake that exists below the surface because of gravity pulling the water to the bottom. This mini watering should not add to the volume of the lake that you are waiting for the plant to use. Continue giving mini waterings every 3-4 days and continue to wait for the weight of the container to go down to dry levels. By working the plant in this manner, you can achieve massive growth. It takes constant work to actually achieve a rootball... they don't happen by accident.

So after my full watering last night I should be give small amounts of water every 3-4 days till my pots weigh significantly less?

The problem with measurements of runoff is that it is totally arbitrary, depending on the amount of the runoff. Where is an accurate amount of runoff that actually represents something in the soil above? is it 2%, 5% or 20% runoff where that reading actually means something? The correct answer is never... runoff readings have nothing to do with what is happening in the soil, no matter how many people out there advise you otherwise.

Yes, I start this process as soon as the seedling appears. If you coddle your plant, and because you overwater, the plant never has any needs, you will get a lazy plant. I hate to tell you this, but my plants following this method are bigger than yours at the end of the first week. Go through some of my journals to see this. You have to be cruel to be kind to a weed, and make that plant work for a living... force it to send out new roots to look for water by letting your plant go dry between waterings. It is better to see a vegging plant wilt than to overwater it by watering too soon.

You also seem to think that pH is a magical thing that always affects our grows. I threw my pH meter away for my organic grows... I have no need for it. The soil does not care what the pH of the incoming fluids is. The plants don't care either. Again, THE ONLY REASON that we need to pH adjust is when we are using synthetic nutrients... you are not. The system you have chosen does not care about pH either... you are wasting your time, and killing off a few microbes, by adding acid to your water to bring the pH down. It is unnecessary. Do you have a hydro person giving you your advice, or maybe you have come from that world? A water only supersoil grow is much easier to manage than you seem to think. You need to stop micromanaging and just let the process work. Before I get you to understand the uselessness of measuring pH, I have a question for you. What exactly do you mean that you adjust your pH to 6.2 and 6.7? How is that even possible? I only ask because this is such a wide range and neither is really where you would want it to be if you were using synthetic nutes.

Lastly, you seem to have missed my point about using the Recharge. You are adding millions of new fresh microbes every time you use this product. You have no need to filter your water. It takes swimming pool concentrations of chlorine to kill off the microbes... it takes tap water weeks before it kills your microbes in a closed container... but you are adding new microbes all the time, in the millions. The tap water can't touch this. Your grow is in no danger from tap water as long as you are adding Recharge regularly.

do u let you tap water sit for 24 hr or anything like that. I know and heard of a lot of people always talking about chlorine and organic and to at least let it sit. water here near Pittsburgh is very hard, and comes out at a ph of 8.8 and high ppm but imma return my RO device and get my 70$ back if I don’t need it for sure.

 

[Emilya Green]

So after my full watering last night I should be give small amounts of water every 3-4 days till my pots weigh significantly less?

do u let you tap water sit for 24 hr or anything like that. I know and heard of a lot of people always talking about chlorine and organic and to at least let it sit. water here near Pittsburgh is very hard, and comes out at a ph of 8.8 and high ppm but imma return my RO device and get my 70$ back if I don’t need it for sure.

if you are regularly applying microbes (you mentioned recharge) you have nothing to fear from tap water. The old adage is that if its ok for you and the pets to drink and doesn't kill your lawn or backyard garden, it is ok for your plants. Without the recharge though, eventually even the little bit of chlorine in your tap water would eventually kill off the microbes and stop your grow.

 

[cbdhemp808]

@S0AR3R ~ nice looking plant(s). RE: the necrosis spots... looks like calcium or phosphorous deficiency, if indeed this is a deficiency and not over-fertilizing (nutrient burn). If not nutrient burn, I vote calcium deficiency. Your growing medium looks dry, so perhaps lack of water is affecting nutrient uptake. Good luck with your grow!