HELP! Soil?

[Firsttimernate123]

I got the entire setup and 15 Days In on (my first grow) I'm realizing I'm using the wrong soil which is why I can't get the pH balanced in the soil. Expert Gardener from Walmart with the slow releasing nutrients...looked good to me when I was there but I should have done more research! I just I want to know where I should go from here having just transplanted from smaller parts yesterday to what you see in the picture should I switch soils or is shock too big an issue this early? thank you

[Ell]

for me it takes about a week after transplant till i see them taking off. i would not freak out yet.
have you been trying to balance ph the one day or long time ? slow releasing nutrient soil is not usually reccomended.
other people would know more.

[Firsttimernate123]

Yes I now know the correct soil when I transplanted yesterday I transplanted right back into the same soil just to be safe cuz they are growing as you see but it's definitely not the right soil! And because of that the pH is way out of whack

[Firsttimernate123]

Ty for helping! I feel like it's over this year based on that one mistake

[Firsttimernate123]

I check pH daily before n after adding nutes (foxfarm) until I can get a PPM meter or EC or TDS I donno! I got to figure out where my water is at from tap as I know this is affecting pH. It's drinkable, I got the town report from the water district with every percentage....so I've been letting it set out for 48 hours and then using to try to get the ppm's down

[BillBates]

How do you know your pH is out of whack?

[BillBates]

Nevermind.... I should have read the entire post first. Yeah, I have that same pH meter, I think. Three position switch that does moisture/light/pH. Bought it at walmahts & it did exactly what everything else I've ever bought at walmahts does. Worked half a dozen times & went south. I started to get real strange readings & decided to take advice from the GWE tutorials page & buy a decent pH meter. Less than 20$ and I'm very happy & much less fretful about my pH levels.

[GreenhouseEffect]

Hi Firsttimernate,
Hears what I would do if they were mine. Get some good quality organic soil, and transplant them. Check out "Growing basics" that Nebula haze has got posted above, especially her recommendations on super soil. If you could get your hands on something like Kindsoil, that would be primo, if not, a lot of stores are now starting to cary the Fox Farm line, get either the Ocean Forest or Happy Frog. Not my first choice of soils, but Fox Farms will be a vast improvement over the timed release stuff, and will do ok. After that, watching your PH will become much less of an issue, specially with Kindsoil. The Micro Organisms in organic soil do all that PH balancing for you, so you really shouldn't have to worry about it to much.

I would use non transparent pots, or cover them so light doesn't hit the soil. How is your fan situation? It looks like they might be getting to much breeze. When you transplant, go all the way up, to within about an inch of the leaves, it looks like the light used to be a little to far away, which made them "stretch" to reach it. Don't go moving that light to close yet though, they don't want it to bright right after transplant.

Those plants aren't done yet, not by a long shot. Your gonna do just fine. Lot's of great help, and good folks on this site to help you along. Make sure you read through the Growing Basics up top, I still learn a lot there, when something doesn't go right for me and so I read through it again.

[BillBates]

Exactly this^

[Firsttimernate123]

I can tell you know what you're talking about because I just lowered my lights 2 days to go from what online recommended for a 150 watt sodium bulb hps? what the recommended 2 ft But the more research I did I realized 150 watt could be much closer... should be much closer! And the fan isn't oscillating it's the square one I keep on 1....4 ft away. When I transplant into the other good soil (tomorrow) should I Clump the roots with my hand as is now to avoid shock.... this is the part I fear I'll mess up on..p.s. Thank you so kindly for your help

[Firsttimernate123]

I can't believe I did everything right literally down to the foxfarm nutrients why wouldn't I get their freaking foxfarm soil!?

[Redwasp]

Maybe i missed some stuff but not sure what your doing. If you do decide to transplant work around the roots ompletley. They will fill the new area.

[Firsttimernate123]

What do you mean by working around the roots? I should leave as much behind leaving only roots into new soil or my question was should I grab like a fist full of that (bad soil) and re-transplant it in to foxfarm soil

[Redwasp]

Leave the soil on the roots. Try not to interrupt the roots at all. Dig around them if you replant. I think that maybe flushing very well and then adding the right nutrients would work as well.

[Firsttimernate123]

That's what I'm kind of in the process of doing now is letting the soil dry a little before I transplant, now here's the good question I agree with the flush and will try that before I transplant but what kind of water should I use out of the tap or purified , distilled!? Ty btw

[Redwasp]

I am trying to remember but drill holes in the sides of those buckets all over. As many as you can make so it drains from the sides and bottom if your in buckets. In effect making an "air pot."

[Firsttimernate123]

This is why I love these forums ....I never would have thought of that! But I'm on it as we speak

[Redwasp]

Look up air pots so you get the idea. Those buckets will work very well with side holes. Sorry if im wrong and your not in 5 gallon buckets.

[Firsttimernate123]

Yes cheers I took a knife and punctured a bunch holes in each container! Like 50

[Redwasp]

That will help alot

[Firsttimernate123]

So you think I should let it be in the soil it's in...see if soil starch drying quicker and not worry about transplanting into different soil?

[Redwasp]

Try flushing really good. And see what happens.

[Firsttimernate123]

Okay when I flush should I use my tap water distilled or spring you know purified.. no I got the town report from the water district and the chlorine and fluoride levels are both under 1% so I don't think that's an issue but when I add my foxfarm nutes it's because of the wrong soil Im using... Really makes me want to transplant it after I flush it ( the right way) ASAP!

[GreenhouseEffect]

We all have different ways of doing things, and thats ok. If it were me, I would carefully flip the plant over in my hand, fingers supporting around the stem and top of root ball. Be very gentle, and if loose soil from that old stuff wanted to come out, I would just let it fall out of there. Then I would plant into the new soil. If you just transplanted again,leave them be.
Again, not saying Redwasp is wrong, just different ways of growing. Also, I am pretty confident in my transplanting skills, if your not that comfortable with it yet, then do as redwasp says for sure.

Seedlings really don't need a breeze, and it can hurt more than it helps, at first. Shut that fan off for at least a few day's, I think the bigger part of the leaf problem is caused by the fan, as I've done the same thing!!
When there looking good and healthy again, either point the fan at the wall, and let the air bounce back at them, making it less intense, or get an oscillating fan, I use both methods in my grow room. The time you really need the fan the most, is during flowering, but it is good throughout most of there life, except seedlings are easily damaged by it.

I would keep the light back at first, till they recover, don't want to much excitement at once for such little kids.

[Firsttimernate123]

Thank you very much I appreciate the input now when it comes to Flushing with the soil you know I have should I use distilled purified or my tap which is 450 ppm's?

[GreenhouseEffect]

Personally I don't flush my soil, since I don't really use anything that can build up and need to be flushed out. But your case may be different with what you have, especially if you used more nutrients on top of what was already in the " Expert Gardener" soil.
What soil are they in right now?

[Firsttimernate123]

It's day 17 but on day 14 I had to transplant using same soil to the next size up so it's only been 3 days but they're still alive! Should I flush with mineral water distilled or out of my tap at around 450 ppm's? I planned on going in buying some peat moss and foxfarm soil today and trying to transplant into dry/ moist soil. Thank you for your feedback

[GreenhouseEffect]

Ok, so have you given them a bunch of extra nutrients lately? If you have, then maybe do a flush, before you transplant. Reason being, is that after transplanting, you will still have a bunch of that old soil in there, and if you also gave them lots of additional nutrients, then it would be way to rich, and burn them/cause problems later.
I would probably just use the tap water if it were me, distilled if you want to be super safe maybe, but really I think the tap is fine.

I'm also happy to have folks that flush chime in, cause I've never had to. You are basically just giving a bunch of water to wash out all the extra nutes, IF you added a bunch.

I think you can forgo the peat moss with that fox farm, but maybe add some Perlite to it( about a 1/4 by volume, this adds a little extra oxygen capacity to the soil, which cannabis LOVES.

Just be real careful and gentle when you transplant, cradle that root zone from the top, with your fingers around the stalk, let the extra soil just fall off if no roots are into it yet. If you do flush, It will be easier to transplant if they dry out a bit after.

Once those plants get into that Fox Farm, you can kinda stop worrying about the PPM and PH a bit, since you will be growing in a living soil, with a community of micro organisims that take care of all that stuff for you. Nature figured that whole part out for us a long time ago. When you are growing in Hydro, coco, or using something besides soil, though, that's when it becomes your job to keep an eye on all that stuff.

[Redwasp]

Holy crap your tap water is 450ppm? Mine is 65