Brown thumb grow

[Gingerbeard]

A knife works well to separate the root ball.
My method is to put my hand over the soil with the trunk between middle and ring fingers and invert the pot. A few taps on the bottom should loosen it.

[Brwnthmb]

Someone might post a timelapse video for you so you can see how plants do that thing with the leaves. They look like they're trying to fly.
I haven't said it so I'm going to say it because I've wanted to say it and I won't bring it up again. Upsize those pots!
I feel better.

I’m really glad that you said that (upsize those pots!), because I need help with that. I do have 3 gallon fabric pots (just received my second batch of 5) to transplant into, and I have plants growing in 8” and 10” clay pots that need transplanted. What I lack is knowledge and experience. [because of size constraints I cannot go larger than 3 gallon fabric pots.]
The last time I tried this (and the one and only time) I had a hard time getting the root ball out of the pot. I read up on it since then and discovered that one of my mistakes was that I didn’t water the plant the day before. The soil was too dry. (I mistakenly thought you wanted it dry, but apparently not 3 days worth.) I do have a flexible piece of metal that I can run around the outside of the root ball and inside the pot, so I think I got that right.
Do you have any other advice for extracting a root ball from a flower pot?

[Gingerbeard]

Someone might post a timelapse video for you so you can see how plants do that thing with the leaves. They look like they're trying to fly.
I haven't said it so I'm going to say it because I've wanted to say it and I won't bring it up again. Upsize those pots!
I feel better.

[Gingerbeard]

Post new pictures in a new post. Pictures added to an existing post tend to get lost in the shuffle.

[Brwnthmb]

This is the 7:45 am picture, with perky leaves at the top. So I just hadn’t waited long enough (I needed to be on plant time.)

[Brwnthmb]

I got my answer. It’s 7:45am the next day (today) and the upper leaves have perked up. I took a picture and if I could find out how to post it in this comment I would show it. But I can’t find the button.

[Rwise]

I would not trust that to be a calibration, mine uses 2 fluids one 4.0 and one 7.0 to calibrate, as suggested before one could get these solutions to test with to see where it falls.

[Rwise]

no, it is natural substances.

[Brwnthmb]

@Rwise
About the pelleted dolomite and sulphur for raising and lowering the ph; is this because it is a “gentler” way than ph up and down?

[Brwnthmb]

This picture was taken at 2:30 pm before I watered this plant. It is a 10” diameter pot and I put 500ml of water in it. The ph of the soil measured 7.0, 7.1.
This picture was taken just after 6pm. The bottom leaves have perked up quite a bit but not the top leaves. Is this what to expect or do the top leaves normally get perky also? To me the darker leaves look healthy and I like the way this plant looks. It is a Northern Lights variety. (I have others which are not as dark green.) is this a healthy looking plant and what I want my other plants to look like?
(I would not normally ask such a question but there is a category of problems on the leaf troubleshooting chart under dark green leaves.)

[Brwnthmb]

@Gingerbeard
Bureau! Of course! The national bureau of standards!
Thanks

[Gingerbeard]

Burro? Burrow? Bureau? The other bureau?
If you right-mouse-click on a red underlined, misspelled word, it will give suggestions.

[Brwnthmb]

@Rwise
It does give calibration instructions but seems to me to be more of a reset to zero than a calibration. You push two buttons at once while the screen flashes. It’s not like you compare it to the national “buro”of standards. (Someone help me spell buro).
And there are no adjustments.

[Brwnthmb]

@Rwise
It does give calibration instructions but it seems to me to be more of a reset to zero than a calibration. You push two buttons at once while the screen flashes. It’s not like you compare it to the national “buro”of standards. (Someone help me spell buro)

[dirtymike]

Using litmus paper has always been a staple of mine.