Virgin Ground And The Little Star Asterion

Have the girls a bit of mag and ph water to 6.4.
Runoff is 6.4.
Had to supercrop my lanky lady. She was all of a sudden 4" taller than the other girls.
I think she is a clone of my purple girl. She grows just like her. Faster,bigger, longer node spacing.

I am excited to see them grow. I am trying to be less heavy handed with the molasses this time around. I think it may have acidified my soil a bit too much last time.

I am also ph-ing my water. I did not do this last time, as I am sometimes stubborn to my own detriment. I am using an aquarium ph test kit that is very reliable. I found that it takes 3/4 of a tsp of vinegar to 2 gallons of my tap water to ph to 6.4. Easy enough. So now I should only need to test on feeding days.

I think I may have been underwatering toward the end too.

I also added fox farms big bloom this time. I switched it for the molasses this time around. So I'm using their full 3 part now.

I am going to do a feed, water, water, feed loop. Last time it was feed,water with molasses and mag,feed. My run-off was always very dark brown. I will use the molasses with more restraint and only for late flowering.

I still have no clue as to the ppms of my source water. I'm going to see if my local nursery will test my water. I don't have a hydro store where I am. If they won't perhaps my local fish store guy can help. He might have either a ppm or tds meter.

I am at a crossroad. Go organic , stay with Fox farms which is half organic, or try something totally synthetic. This grow will be Fox farms because I have it on hand and I may have overused the tiger bloom. I'd like to give it another shot.I shouldn't have to give them much. They have only been in their new soil for a few weeks.

What do y'all think? Am I going in a better direction? Any glaring problem that you see that I may be missing? I do appreciate your input greatly.
 
Your thinking, and that is good.

I tried FF nutes. They are great. But a little TB or GB goes a long way. It's easy to overdo it. Can you grow excellent bud with them, of course. I stil buy and use their Big Bloom quite a bit.

My first few grows I used bagged soils and I felt like at flower they lost their kaput. I was using FF nutes. So I started mixing soil, letting it cook, adding more N to the point where I really don't have to add N via nutes for the grow....(except they get a touch in ca/mg). I like this route, because I can basically water with teas, and only occasionally give a very mild chemical fertilizer during early flower. The bud is pretty darn smooth. But I have a place to mix and store soil.

My experience with molasses or any other nute is to pH adjust after everything is added to your water...aim for 6.5 in most soil. I used quite a bit of molasses last grow and I think I like the result.
 
I wish I had room to cook soil.

So... I wasn't too happy this morning. Red streaked stems, bright red-purple petioles, older growth tips and edges burning and curling upward.
Cal-mag deficiency i think. I will increase mgs04.
Would a foliar work faster/ better?
 
Do you have some pictures ! Would be helpful in getting a solution for you!
 
The white spots are bits of dusty perlite. You can see the purple here.
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I've fed them once 1/6 of a dose of grow big. 1/6 of a dose of big bloom since they were transplanted. I went back and it looks like 3-4 weeks ago when I did that. I've just been giving ph corrected water with 1/4 teaspoon mgs04. The nute burn is on lower leaves. I am more concerned with the pale leaf margins and bright red petioles on the newer growth.
 
Potassium sounds good. Seems to mesh up with the symptoms better. Next feeding was supposed to be water, but now I guess it should be their first tiger bloom feeding.
 
I think the only thing I have on hand that has calcium in it is molasses.

1Tblsp =
Potassium 210mg
calc 8%
Mag 8%
Iron 2%

I can get some fast acting garden lime or pelletized lime. I don't have any calmag in my entire city. I would have to order it. I do have hard water. My town has a limestone aquifer. Was hoping I wouldn't need the extra cal or mag.
 
Ok then....I'm not gonna go crazy. I think I will start with 1/4 dose of tiger bloom,big bloom and grow big and 1/2 Tblsp per gallon molasses.

Looking back, I believe that this is the same problem I had with the last girls. I thought I was overfeeding. I think it was the other way around, perhaps. I never went over a half dose of nutes with them. I'll figure this out yet. Second guessing yourself is never fun.
 
My soil is Fox farms ocean forest, happy frog and coir mixed.
 
Watering day should be tomorrow. I'd better figure it out before then. The burn is only on older,lower growing leaves. Pale margins on new leaves.

I can't find my journal....I need to post my feedings here. It would let you see what's going on a bit better.

I have a bad habit of removing leaves that have blemishes. I need to leave them on I think. Let them show me what is really going on ,if that makes sense?

I'm going to test the run-off in the morning, see where it is at. I've been testing the run-off after the plant drains. I will do it at the beginning now. Is this is the correct way?
 
I think testing runoff is nearly useless unless we are talking about a runoff pH in the extraordinary range-like 4 or 8-9 or something. I've tested many times, and it's usually around what my incoming water mix is. This water I am testing has minimal contact with the soil. What I am trying to say is to not make a huge decision off a few tenths measurement of pH runoff, now if your getting something wild...then you need to fix it.

I know a lot of people use FFOF and their three pack of nutes. I tried it, even cutting it with sunshine #4. I found it difficult to not get some burn using straight FFOF, my thoughts are that it's not fully cooked/composted. I also found there to be some variance in it's' hotness from bag to bag.

As far as mixing soil and cooking it, any rubbermaid container works....I do in a 40g trashcan, but you could get one of those rubbermaid storage containers and mix a few pots in there.
 
They were still too moist today. They have slowed their drinking. The stems are really brittle, I accidentally snapped a few. I'm going to give them a bloom feeding tomorrow after I check run-off. I'll keep an eye out for burn. I am also going to pick up some quick acting lime for ca and mg.

I've been looking at deficiency pics for a couple days. I got this .......but cross yer fingers just in case;).
 
Use a loupe on some of those leaves that are curling up/glossy to check for mites. Specifically russet mites. Really tiny little suckers. Just a thought that I often overlook. I assume I can see any garden pest with the naked eye and need to remind myself that's not always the case.
 
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