The Hexapus's Garden

Stolen words...
"Perlite is made from a mined volcanic glass of the same name. As a raw material it contains water, trapped by the rapid cooling of lava. The moisture vaporizes explosively when heat is applied. The result is a much-expanded mineral popcorn, white in color thanks to light reflecting off tiny bubbles on the surface of its particles. It has a texture that retains water on that surface (though not in the volume that vermiculite does) but retains air in the spaces between."

I learned something... it's not obsidian and water mixed to make it... it's lava with water already in it. Who could imagine lava having any sort of water content? Crazy!
The words about it's water and air retention are exactly why it works so well in my hempy pots.
 
Sorry Tead, but I had this same conversation with my grow store guys, we also looked it up and we're surprised. I'm glad I did not divert your train of thought and I see you got some good (new) information too.

Cheers

Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420
 
It's incredible how far we've taken our human genius for tool use. Finding some fluffy mineral popcorn and deciding to dig it up and grow plants in it-this is nothing compared to the other feats we can accomplish. Kinda shows how we leave no stone left unturned though.
I talked to a trucker yesterday who does occasional delivery trips south and takes shopping orders from the common folk to fill his truck on the way back. So he says he 'thinks' he can get me some perlite and is 'probably' going south 'maybe' next month. I'll wait and see if that one pans out while I continue to nose around for a cheapish source here.
No big deal. This is the way it goes here- it's kind of a diy/scavenging economy with none if the big box type places that infest the 'real world'. Usually what happens is that I just let it stew. I ponder the issue for a year or two, and keep my eyes open for whatever product it is I'm chasing at the time. Then I stumble across a big pile of it at a garage sale, or the ever bountiful thrift store.
It's either that or go online and pay 100-200% more in shipping. I'm not especially cheap- it just goes against my hunter gatherer nature to do it that way.
Maybe I'll try a plant in pea gravel. Easily available here. It just sounds -heavy!
 
Well-you are right. They always look better through a screen on the other end of the internet. Overall my plants do like quite crappy, and I didn't make much effort to show this last night in the photos. I'll try and take a better overview of things on the weekend if I can.
But it's not what kept me from posting pics of them as much as general life chaos and the off-colour tint I'm getting from these lights. I'll try my other camera/phone thing again and see if I can adjust my way into a more natural looking picture. I have three different brands of cheap hps sunglasses now but none of them work well for the Hortilux bulbs. What's more- even the MH one in veg has a pinkish tint- so I can't do my previous trick of dragging them in to the veg room for shots.
I'll get a different type of bulb when these ones are used up. I'll see if I can dig up anything about the bulb change causing troubles. It could be one factor of several. When I see plants struggling even in veg though- under what seem to be fairly normal conditions which worked in the past- I get pretty antsy about my growing setup.


Which reminds me- and sorry that I seem to constantly be nattering about 'problems' here but I'm often in problem solving mode- I have another trick to add to my list of things to try.
That is- to raise my ph range up a bit. Before I switched to the 5.8-6.2 range, I used to run in the 6.5-7 range, which was clearly too high especially for late flowering. But during veg the plants were fine. Maybe in the low sixes would be a better way to go for Sunshine Mix.


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If I can believe this hydro chart which I often see VillageIdiot posting around - (PH is represented by the green line) then it appears that plants might benefit from higher ph in veg which slowly shifts downwards through flowering- even though it's getting a little complicated for my liking. At any rate, it's clear that Mama Thai hates low ph. Every time I dip low on the ph range she turns purple and curls up, hisses and spits at me and looks generally pissed. I'll take some pics of her today and post later.
I'll see if I can get more photos soon. Lights are on at night time and I'm usually not around, etc.
Yes - Critical Cheese will be on the next seed order for sure. I haven't smoked any yet. I have a sample to a friend and he said it's the best thing I've ever grown - 'better than the Pineapple Chunk and the Malawi'. What more can I ask for?
 
I have come to the realization that Conradino is bang on in his assessment of the Ace Malawi. Smoking lower amounts makes me very happy and clear. Large amounts - still pretty happy- but he is right, it is very disorienting. Like being on acid and you know you have about 1000 things on the to-do list -but can't quite remember what any of them are!
Note to self- when you get to the bottom of a three ounce jar of Malawi, and find a spoonful of glittery looking crystals in the bottom, and decide to smoke it all, make sure you don't have anything much booked for the day, if possible. Lol...
 
Thanks :thumb: I'm letting it cure a month or two before trying it. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself...
I can see perlite having many uses, and it's obvious I need some especially if I go the organic soil route, which I will sooner or later because it's always calling me.
 
Oh, and I found some coco at a store here just now! I don't know how many times I have been in there in the last year and stared at this stuff. It looks like coco. I wanted it to be coco. But it says Peat on the bale.
I finally read the fine print. It's coco. It 'beats' peat. I always thought 'Beat' was a strange name for a parent to give their kid. Kind of a magnet for bullies -like a boy named Sue.
Later to grow up super tough, turn the tables and become 'Beat'- world heavyweight boxing champion or something, or kick ass peat moss tycoon? But I digress.

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I'm not sure what marketing genius thought this one up. (Maybe it was Beat after all). Looks like they're trying to infiltrate/trick their way into the peat moss market or something.
I live surrounded by the stuff! Sure it would be nice to live under the coconut trees for a while instead of surrounded by hundreds of miles of cold and wet sub-arctic Canadian peat bog. Then maybe i would be craving peat. But I don't. I want coco!
And I got some. (Happy ending)
 
That's what I call aggressive marketing lol. I get the name now but I needed another chuff :passitleft: Congratulations on the peat! I mean Coco ;)
 
To understand plants PH needs you could read up on horticulture. But late flower turns soil acidic. Look at Synid's page, he PH'S his soil throughout his grow. Soil FFOF or other Pete moss will control PH to an extent. Larger plants are more stable and seedlings are very sensitive to PH issues. I've found 6 to 6.5 will not stress what I've grown. I was feeding at 5.7 but tips of plants leafs would burn and yellow. When I backed off bloom nutes ph was closer to 6.2. Aldo I use bloom nutes for PH down and K potash for PH up. Dyna grow, pro teht is my nute of choice. Rino skin works too or most any poly si nute. This is hard work to get quality smoke. 88 to 100 days is a long time to devote to something.

Cheers

Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420
 
Yeah... I know it will come to that eventually. I'd be a better grower if I understood basic botany and plant chemistry, but...
I'll get there. For now I'll probably flail away it by trial and error like a Neanderthal, since this seems to be how I work everything else out.
Anyway- growing perfect looking plants in veg is something that has come very easily in the past. I'm getting in the mode to switch mediums and try new things - feel more in the mood to go that way than tweaking things right now. I could read up on horticulture I guess but who's to say it's not because of devils that were in that particular bag of Sunshine Mix?
I'm going to sacrifice a chicken.

I'm going to check out Snid's grow. He did wonders with an auto plant I saw a couple pictures of.
I think chicken blood may help balance the ph.
 
Almost forgot. Here is a pic of the vegging Mama Thai from today. Generally this crazy look from her is a sign of the ph being low. I feel like I've been upping it a little higher than usual to counteract this look, but weeks keep going by without improvement. I've been in a hurry lately so haven't exactly done a forensic investigation of the circumstances- not losing sleep over this at all.


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Hmmm... maybe I should be monitoring PH, too. But the $15 meter I bought remains at 7 no matter what I stick it in. Will have to drag out the aquarium PH kit (tubes, drops, wait for the color change, etc).

Is that a 10 gallon pot? There's no way I'd have the room for something THAT big. 5 gallons, maybe, but def not 10!
 
If you haven't needed to before this, then you're not missing much. Ph has been a lot of trouble for me- busted meters, all sorts of fun. One of the great attractions of soil is the thought that I wouldn't have to test ph. Even hydro I found easier than soilless- it's like a chalkboard that's so easy to erase and rewrite whenever you want. Soilless is more like a stew that you keep adding to for month after month. After a while you have no idea what's in the stew- and when something goes off you're scrambling to fix it- throwing a pinch of this/ a cup of that in the pot, stirring and playing guessing games.

I think that's a 5 gallon pot. She's kind of a 'project' - a bit stalled out till she starts growing more happily.
 
I too had cheap meter $10 amazon china, it broke. This is what gets me going. I see people spend lots of money on lights, nutes, fans, but not a PH pen. My Blue Lab PH pen is $100, but its the best one on the market that I've seen. I also cal it for every use (another $12 for PH4 & PH7). This is the one thing that take a great grow into nothing fast. Portland tap is at 8 to keep pipes from degradation. It also helps keep your nutes over 5.5. The issues start when it rains. Tap PH drops to 7.5 and now your non PH'ED nutes that were fine last few times are now under 5.5 and you have lockout. It happened to me, first grow no ph, second I had lockout immediately. It's up to you how to spend your money, I know I'm not rich. But for a $1200 garden (LED lights, ect) $100 is cheap.

Cheers

Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420
 
Weaselcracker said:
Almost forgot. Here is a pic of the vegging Mama Thai from today. Generally this crazy look from her is a sign of the ph being low. I feel like I've been upping it a little higher than usual to counteract this look, but weeks keep going by without improvement. I've been in a hurry lately so haven't exactly done a forensic investigation of the circumstances- not losing sleep over this at all.


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Click to expand...
Ph lockout would wrinkle leaves and show more spotting. That looks like heat stress or possibly a bit to much water. Both issues will present drooping leaves, over water will just hit fans first, where heat will droop everything.

Cheers

Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420
 
Mmmmm... I don't think so. Temps don't get past the low 80's.
Wouldn't hurt me to triple check the environment but I'm fairly sure I've got the temps and watering on a predictable routine here. I'm not even around to overwater them during the week :)
I know what you mean about the overwatered look- and this plant had just been soaked down the night before I took that photo- but it goes dry as a bone between waterings. The leaves have more of a curly thing going on than plain overwatering, and take on a purple stemmed look. It happens when I run at low ph- particularly with the Mama Thai. At least this has been my experience in the past. If I get a couple spare clones going I'll do a side by side and try to confirm I'm not just tricking myself.
The photos in this link below are pretty much identical to my experiences with low ph.
I have a Bluelab Guardian meter. It was about $400 Canadian. Did way too many years with the crappy pens ;)


Oops forgot the link- here

www.centennialseeds.com >> Comparison of Low pH Leaf Symptoms in Cannabis to New Mexico Chiles and Broad Leaf Sage
 
Great link weaseley, thanks for it,, i water with a ph around six, sometimes a bit less,, i maybe see some of those symptoms, subtley maybe,, me gonna check much closer now,, cheers

And,, i am a week away from a mama thai/pineapple chunk harvest, first one of the gifted seeds, and a couple of weeks from a mama thai reg harvest,, that plant has totally different buds, kooky buds,, goofy shapes,, dense as all get out too,, not super trichomy,, yet,,

But the coolest plant, so far is the mama thai/Thai Stick,, she is so very different,, completely,, skinniest leaves ever,, so classic a look,, just a few weeks into flower still,, this one has me super excited,, indeed

Rainy day today,, maybe some pics in order,, cheers friend
 
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