Why is Fox Farm soil SOOO Acidic??

[No3odiesShad0w]

As you can see, the plant that had the most soil pH issues is doing the worst despite growing about 6 inches taller than it's sister plant. The leaves are super droopy probably due to all the pH fluctuations. Now I'm not sure if it's acidic or basic. I haven't pH'd the soil in a 2 weeks. I don't want to water log it. It's possible it has root rot. The stems are red so there's def problems with nutrients.
Meanwhile the other plant is doing great. In color, height and flower development it's more or less on track. The leaves on the bottom are yellowing but that's too be expected.

All 4 of the babies are doing great! They're on day 12 and they're all between 3-4 inches. I don't think the autos like the Espoma soil by itself. Seems very.... Heavy and dense despite the perlite but they still look healthy either way.

Week 9 will be November 16 so I'm expecting the flower growth to really ramp up in the next 2 weeks. I have them a teaspoon of some flower boosting top dress

Next soil I'm going to try is roots organics. ... Still trying to find a soil that i like

[No3odiesShad0w]

Looks like the Espoma and Fox Farm mixes are doing the best so far but to early to tell.

[No3odiesShad0w]

All 4 babies sprouted of the auto Northern lights. So far 100% germination rate with these seeds from seedsupreme.
with these 4 i decided to mess around with soil, perlite ratios. Also messing with the autoflower soil from Nature's Living Soil. Living Soil technique. 2.7oz/gallon 1 gallon buckets with 30% perlite mix. Center for seeds 50/50 soil/perlite mix
1. Espoma 30% perlite (back left) 2. Espoma 50% perlite (back right)
3. 50/50 Espoma/ Fox Farm (front left)
4. Fox farm/perlite (front right)

[No3odiesShad0w]

Looking like the pH issues cleared up nicely and it's smooth sailing going forward!

[No3odiesShad0w]

Update***

So it's looking like the soil is finally within range. The plants are blooming and look healthy. Now just to keep to a watering schedule and things should be good. I planted 4 more seeds in different combinations of soil and perlite. We'll see as we go what happens.

[No3odiesShad0w]

Yeah the red or purple stems is a first sign that something isn't right. Everytime i had acidic soil, the stems would all be red. Then it started showing on the leaves. I know now it was my soil

[No3odiesShad0w]

That's exactly why i wanted to do this side by side grow. The shorter one might be stunted. It was going well at first and the soil pH was okay, now i think the pH went down again because it's really growing slowly all of a sudden....

I had to raise my light because i noticed the tops growing really small on the bigger one. I might have to put raisers under the others to keep them the correct distance of this one keeps growing so fast.

The shorter one has a bit of heat stress but that's going away. The color and the leaves look great.. you'd think it would grow faster....

Not sure what they put in the soil that makes it get so acidic because even after adjusting the pH, it seems like it's back to being acidic. Crazy how acidity can make plants look so different. With all the pH issues I'm sure there's nutrient deficiencies. Everything will be revealed now that it started to bloom
I'm scared to test the pH. They've had it wet for some time now. I need to let the roots breathe. It's possible the stunting can be because of the persistent wet soil in trying to get the pH right.

[RetiredGuy]

Interesting, looks like two completely different strains.I see a purple stem in one photo. Curious if you see more purple stems in the low pH soil. I had a lot of purple which I understand may or may not be signs of a phosphorus deficiency ( could also be normal in some strains).

[No3odiesShad0w]

21 days and i see the first flowers! The height difference is wild. You would think the one with the nice green leaves would have grown better instead the one with the pH stress and acidic soil grew taller. We'll just have to see

[No3odiesShad0w]

Nice! I actually have a nice printed chart on my wall because this isn't the first time I'm dealing with overly acidic soil . At first I thought it was the water so I started buying gallons of water from the store.... But the problem continued. Eventually i tested the soils I've been using and that's when i discovered the issue was the FF soil

[3Berries]

A couple of graphics to show what nutes and what pH is best for their uptake.

[No3odiesShad0w]

Not to mention my last plant, the soil was so acidic it started to grow bananas on me. First Time i got a herm plant and it might even have seeds. ... I don't need pollen in my grow room!
it's also why i bought seeds for the first time instead of relying on free seeds. The ones i bought sprouted in 2 days and they're growing much better than all the mystery seeds i got.

[No3odiesShad0w]

Well IDK about growing the best... It's just taller but doesn't look as healthy as the others. When it starts flowering it's really going to show. All the leaves will fall out within the first month. The buds won't grow well etc etc. I'm not sure why it's growing faster than it's counterpart but that's why I'm experimenting. I'll keep posting updates.

As far as the watering goes. Yes you're correct. It has been wet because i needed to test the soil pH so i had to water enough to get drip out of the bottom. I was worried about it as well.... Hopefully the pH is close enough. I don't want to water log it again. I even tried to flush it a little bit the last time. No more FF. I don't need these problems. The seedlings in the Espoma look nice!

[Franklin]

So the acidic soil is growing the best plant so far? An I reading that correctly? Maybe FFs response is correct. Super interesting. Btw, the curl in your leaves suggests over watering and/or too much light to me. Probably over watering. Very interested to see what happens

[3Berries]

ProMix BX doesn't have much nutes at all. It got hit with a Ca and other deficiencies from the start. Never recovered but still got 100 grams out of it.