Hello-
First, what a great resource for new growers. Really impressed with the breadth and depth of information here.
So, it's my first grow and I have a question regarding an ammonia smell that's developed over the past couple of days. First, here is a quick rundown of some basic information about my first grow:
So, how concerned should I be? Is this anaerobic process (assuming my diagnosis is on point) reversible without transplanting or flushing/amending with hydrogen peroxide solution- both of which would neutralize the KindSoil and force me to transplant anyway? If I don't see any adverse effects in the plants themselves, is that a good sign or is this ammonia smell simply a first sign of problems to come...
Are there any other less evasive countermeasures I can take to preserve the KindSoil and avoid transplanting? I mean honestly, if I can't get this organic supersoil water-only method right, the idea of me successfully transplanting during veg and switching to plain soil with nutes on my first grow sounds crazy!
I've exhausted several forums for similar issues and reached out to KindSoil for any helpful tips with no success yet.
Thank you for listening- any advise would be greatly appreciated. I'd include images but I'm not sure how they would help inform this particular situation since ther are no observable issues with the plants themselves.
TRENT
First, what a great resource for new growers. Really impressed with the breadth and depth of information here.
So, it's my first grow and I have a question regarding an ammonia smell that's developed over the past couple of days. First, here is a quick rundown of some basic information about my first grow:
- Strain: 2x Grape OG indica/sativa hybrid feminized
- Grow Medium- Fox Farm Ocean Forest unamended layered on top of 5lb of KindSoil as prescribed on their website
- Pots- 2x 5 gallon RootTrapper Ground squat
- Water: Distilled water PH 6.8-7.0
- Nutrients- None
- Grow environment: Apollo grow tent 36" x 20" x 62"
- Lights: G8LED Full Spectrum 240 Watt LED
- Ventilation: iPower 4" inline fan with carbon air filter alongside small interior fan for circulation
- Temps: Ave 80F/65F day/night on a 20/4 light schedule
- Humidity: 35-40% RH
- Currently in early veg- 29 days from seedling as of 12/8/16
- Day 0: Germinated 2 seeds of Grape OG for 24 hrs- both taproots were visible at that point
- Day 1: Planted seeds in 16 oz Solo Cups I vented and filled with FFOF under 4x 2800 lumen CFLs (24hr of light cycle)
- Day 3: Seedlings sprouted
- Day 4-6: Monitoring growth with periodic waterings until run-off only after soil was dry
- Day 7: First set of fan leaves fully developed
- Day 14: 3 sets of nodes. Fan leaves reached the lip of the solo cups so I transplanted to 5 gal RootTrapper fabric ground pots. Healthy root growth observed during transplant. Watered until there was just a couple ounces of run-off (which I guess according to the KindSoil is a no-no. They suggest no run-off). Swapped CFLs for 240w LED grow light at 22" distance (manufacturer says between 18" and 24"). Switched to 20/4 light cycle.
- Day 22: Girls look healthy, temps 65F-80F night/day and RH 35%-40%. First 6" of of soil bone dry (these pots are approx 11" tall) and the girls were beginning to droop so I watered until medium was uniformly moist.
- Day 25: Early veg- 6 nodes and approx 6" tall- begin LST. Girls look healthy, good color. Growth a bit slow probably due to lower humidity but December in the upper midwest presents its own challenges even for an indoor grow
- Day 27: Pulled pots from tent to make it a bit easier to continue LST. Noticed a bit of standing water in the recessed areas of the plant saucers I had the pots resting on and sniffed a hint of ammonia. No mold on the girls- they looked fine, smelled the mesh bottom of the fabric pots immediately know that's where the odor was coming from- specifically, the base layer of KindSoil.
- Overwatering- again, they've only been water twice in these pots over a 15 days...
- Transplanting too early so that the root system could not absorb the water in a pot that size quickly enough before the KindSoil started going south
- Plant saucers not allowing for enough airflow, or
- Using the wrong pots- KindSoil suggest using the RootTrapper II which has 2 inches of exposed fabric at the bottom, where as the RootTrapper Ground Squats I ordered have a white insulting material that covers the entire height of the pot
- Failed amend the soil with some perlite to allow for additional aeration, although KindSoil suggested that would not be necessary...
- Perforated the bottom 2" of each of the pots to hopefully allow them to breath a bit more
- Tossed out the plant saucers and placed the pots on a raised wire shelving platform about 6' off the bottom of the tent to allow the mesh base to breath more
- Place a 60 CFM PC fan under each pot facing upward to help dry the moist medium at the base of the pots
So, how concerned should I be? Is this anaerobic process (assuming my diagnosis is on point) reversible without transplanting or flushing/amending with hydrogen peroxide solution- both of which would neutralize the KindSoil and force me to transplant anyway? If I don't see any adverse effects in the plants themselves, is that a good sign or is this ammonia smell simply a first sign of problems to come...
Are there any other less evasive countermeasures I can take to preserve the KindSoil and avoid transplanting? I mean honestly, if I can't get this organic supersoil water-only method right, the idea of me successfully transplanting during veg and switching to plain soil with nutes on my first grow sounds crazy!
I've exhausted several forums for similar issues and reached out to KindSoil for any helpful tips with no success yet.
Thank you for listening- any advise would be greatly appreciated. I'd include images but I'm not sure how they would help inform this particular situation since ther are no observable issues with the plants themselves.
TRENT
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