SOIL Projects and Plans

[No3odiesShad0w]

The whole "you don't need to worry about pH when you organic grow" is such a LOAD OF HORSESHIT. My Water going in is 7.2 with ppm of 130ish. Fox farm happy frog soil. That should be Gucci for an organic grow right??? I mean shit even with synthetic you can get away with that pH after you add the nutes you'll get like 6.5. Why is my runoff 5.2 to 5.5pH.
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WHY IS THE SOIL SO ACIDIC??? My Lord. EVERY SINGLE GROW. IDK how to avoid it. I know WHY it happens. I just don't know what to effectively do about it. I'm trying Prilled Dolomite Lime and it's questionable if it's doing anything. I've been putting about 1 tablespoon per gallon and it doesn't seem enough. I don't even know how much I need for a 5 gallon soil to go up 1.0 pH ....... Some sites say half cup to a cup per gallon. Others say 1-2 tablespoons....... That's a HUGE DISCREPANCY! If I put half a cup in there and then my pH swings to 8.5 then I'm doing just as much harm as I would having it super acidic. YouTube videos tell how to much to add for acres of land... That doesn't help me.

Should I just start watering with like 8.5 water??? After it goes through the super acidic soil, I should get runoff at 6.5ish but that will leave me with the problem of different layers of soil might be different pH..... The top half of the soil will be high while the bottom will be low pH. Secondly, that's going to be a lot of potassium carbonate going into the water. Not sure what problems that would cause

Should I try a different soil or medium because the fox farm soil... For 2 years almost it's the same problem time and time and time again. Will I get better results in coco? I just haven't wanted to change because it's a whole different learning curve and I just wanna grow some weed....3 years of learning is enough. I want some damn results that don't just end up on edibles because it's not smokable..... What problems will I have with Coco.... Hella frustrated.

Veg is PERFECT. Not a single issue during veg... My plants look amazing, grow amazing, let me SCRoG with no problem everything is perfect...... Then boom starts and the stretch. After the stretch stops, I start getting the red stems and plants start losing some color. As bloom continues it just gets worse and worse. The gorilla is a month in but it looks like in a week I'm gonna lose ALL my leaves.

The Bruce banner for example....11 days into bloom and I have red stems everywhere..... Soon the color is going to start draining from them and same shit will start to happen like what happened with the Gorilla glue. Exactly the same time... Exactly the same problem, exactly don't have a solution.

Any recommendations are welcome and appreciated.

​​​​​​​Remember I do have my dad's cutting. That's my experiment plant. I can change the medium, I can switch to synthetic, I can add more dolomite lime per gallon....... I'm willing to try whatever. I NEED this issue resolved. I lost out like 2 weeks of growth already and the plants health is just declining. I need to prevent and adjust the soil in the Bruce banner otherwise.... Same bullshit.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

Can I still do the living soil method but with Coco coir and perlite? Since Coco likes 5.8ph maybe better for my situation? I never tried but I need to know because I don't want to fuck up on the blue dream and tangie seeds

 

[Bluey]

If growing in coco you must give coco nutes...it's arguably the best medium and easiest to manage with maximum yields comparable to other top yields, if not the best for indoors.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

I really think the problem is the fox farm soil.....I had issues running synthetic with it, organic, synganic. Always acidity issues.

I added 5 tsp to each plant of the dolomite lime. I looked back at my notes and when I did it in July 3, there was a noticable uptick in positive growth. Maybe I just need to add more so I did 5 tsp instead of just 3.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

I do still have the GH Trio and Cal/mag synthetic nutrient line. But I would prefer to use compost and worm castings, mycorrhizae and the like over synthetics...... But..... If synthetics will give me less headaches then I'll do synthetic indoors and keep doing organic in my garden outdoors.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

So I ordered Canna coco 50L bag. I have a huge bag of # 4 perlite to mix in so I didn't get a pre mixed variety. I got a better PPM/EC meter because I have the cheap vivosun one from Amazon. I picked up the Inkbird TDS meter.

I just need to figure out the cal mag situation. Like do I water with call mag each time or will my organic amendments have enough of what I need? Because realistically if I had perfect pH then the plants would look amazing but because of the acidity, they look like trash and can't take up nutrients.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

This is the Amnesia Haze. Def looks like I chopped a bit early... Which I expected but she was turning all yellow on me. Flavor wise she tastes like lemon wood. Not great but not terrible. The high on the other hand is actually really nice and uplifting. Not bad out of the vape either.
she's not perfect but she's smokable.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

The bubble gum on the other hand I absolutely love! The flavor, the smell, the couch lock..... All great! Out of the vape, it tastes like super fruity and sweet gum. It smells way more spicy than it smokes. Very smooth. I'm very happy with this one.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

Turns out the one on the right is a male too. Later Boomer. But I already knew all 3 are garbage genetics

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

Everything is back on track!!

After I freaked out the other day, I ended up giving the gorilla glue 10 tsp of dolomite lime and watered in with 6.8 pH water with GH Trio fertilizer at 1/4 the feeding recommendation. I know there's plenty good stuff in the soil. I just wanted something instant to get her going while the soil gets adjusted with the lime. She had responded well. Plenty new flowers all over the place. Grew about an inch in 3 days and getting some color back. She still has a month to go so if this keeps up, she'll give me some decent buds.

The Bruce banners on the other hand. 2b the one I accidently topped is growing huge! She only had 8 top colas so that's where she focuses all her energy.
1b on the other hand has much more flower sites and has a main top so the flowers aren't as big but more of them.

I watered both of them today and 2b has 6.2 runoff with 7.0 going in and 1b had 5.8 so we're at where we want to be. The dolomite lime really helped. Really hating Fox farm happy frog soil lately. But having a much better go with the Bruce banner than with the gorilla.

I got my canna coco so I'll be planting People punch Auto in the basket into the amended coco. From everything I've been reading and listening to, the Coco is maybe better to grow in. Whether your like synthetics or dry amendments or living soils, you can use Coco as the base and just add all the other stuff yourself. I also have some shit coco brick I used for one run off mushrooms and realized it's crap. I can use that to practice flushing and buffering the Coco.
This seems like the better way for me because I build my own soil in my garden but for indoor because I didn't want bugs, I bought bagged soil. Maybe building my own with the Coco as a base will give me even better results without fighting soil acidity the whole way through.

But yeah hopefully smooth sailing going forward! Happy growing!

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

Oh I also checked the EC. I got an Inkbird TDS meter since I'll be using coco. I figured it's important. But I checked the runoff for 2b @ 6.2pH I got an EC of 3.1(3120)and the other Bruce banner 1b @5.8pH I got an EC of 3.8(3799). So for soil it seems like it's for plenty nutrients and looking at the 1b, she's got claws all over. It's definitely a bit spicy in there.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

Another week another update.

First off the Purple Punch auto is coming along. She's 7 days old. So far so good Another day or 2 and I'm going to stick the whole cup into the coco... Never used Coco before..... Let's hope the canna coco goes better than the fox farm soil. I'm excited and nervous. With soil, I know to expect acidic issues and more or less how to deal with it. With Coco, I don't know if I'm going to have these issues or new issues or no issues. I'm going to aim for 6.0 to 6.2ph but if I fall down to 5.6 like I have with the soil, it shouldn't be as harsh as the soil. I've just been CRAMMING knowledge and Coco and how to grow in it. I think I logged 106 hours on YouTube last week. Listening to podcasts during work and at home. I want to try to avoid any surprises and just have some smooth sailing.

Second MYCORRHIZE WORKS!! Just look at the Bruce banner compared to the gorilla glue. The Bruce banner were double innoculated with mycorrhize. First time was when I planted the seed on a bed of mycorrhize and then the psuedo transplant into the bigger container. The Gorilla Glue on the other hand, I had planted and sprouted without the mycorrhize (only soil drenched some in not sure about the effectiveness with a soil drench)and just wow what a difference it makes. The Bruce banner is so much easier to take care of and less nutrition problems even though I see red stems all over, it doesn't seem to be effecting the plant as much. Meanwhile with the Gorilla glue, any dip in pH and right away there's nutrient lockouts because of acidity.

The gorilla is bouncing back. The yellow leaves were all too far gone I think to come back. But the bud growth is just off the charts. There's new buds all over the place. Flowers popping up, buds getting fatter. If she keeps it up, then in about 3+ weeks I'll have some half decent stuff but there's the Bruce banner

​​​​​​​The Bruce is about 10 days away from 1 month. The structure of the flower is amazing! The smells... Amazing!! They're both going strong. While 2b is putting on 6 really nice fat colas, 1b has that one laying top cola that's leaps and bounds past the other flowers on that bush.

​​​​​​​The third thing.... WOW that room smells good. When I walk in, the first thing I get smacked in the face with it's all the minty smells from the Bruce banner and then the chemical kinda gassy smell from the gorilla next. From just 3 plants I can't believe the smells. My biggest regret for the gorilla. I should have used a trellis net. Same with the Bruce banner. It would have made it much more manageable plus a more even canopy. I'll be doing it in the future.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

An update on my father's plants. I think he gave them some miracle grow out something because they came back to life. The 2 males are piling on the balls while the female plant finally looks like it's starting to come into bloom. With the 2 males on both sides, it's going to be a pollen bukkake fest out there🤣. It's crazy how tall that male is. Another foot and it'll be as tall as me and I think they're in maybe half gallon containers. This is why I wish I could grow outdoors. I might try an auto outside in between my cucumber trellis. They shouldn't be visible there. I have some freebie Acapulco Gold Auto seeds. I'm not particularly interested in that cultivar I've had it a couple of times I never liked it..... But then again it wasn't the best of quality so maybe growing my own may change my mind. But that's for next year.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

It's only been rooting for 2 weeks and so many roots already!!

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

The Bruce is technically 3 weeks into bloom on week 4..... There's something amazing going on here though. You can see it in the buds! 😍😍

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

So I've been working on something new ... Like always. I started a purple punch Auto using coco as the base instead of using Fox Farm Happy Frog. The purple punch is 3x the size of the Bruce banner and it's only on day 18 of life. HOW BIG WILL IT GET IN A 4 GALLON POT????? It hasn't even started stretching yet and it's already growing over an inch a day. (I'll be starting a new thread for the purple punch because I'm also doing time lapse video... My first ever time lapse...... For everyone's enjoyment. Because who doesn't love a tone lapse of a plant growing?? I'm just so amazed at the growth so far. I never had anything close to this in soil. And and and ... NO RED STEMS. By now in the FFHF soil I already have red stems and soil acidity issues by day 20. But not with the Coco!!!!!

I keep running into soil acidity issues. I loaded the Bruce banner with about 15 tsp of dolomite lime about 2 weeks ago and I check the runoff yesterday and I'm back down to 4.8 pH. It's just mind boggling ....... How much dolomite lime do I need to adjust this? I ended up flushing basically all the nutrients I added yesterday and had to add everything back in but it's still going to need a few days to break down before the plants can use it. Will they recover? They have 3 more weeks to go..... I HATE THIS SOIL. Literally 2 days ago I noticed some fading and some spotting on the leaves so I gave it some fertilizer......2 days later this is how it looks...... Same problem different grow. I'm not even going to show you the gorilla glue. It's embarrassingly ugly.

I'm completely finished with Fox farm. It's just been struggle after struggle. The soil is super acidic. Fighting that acidity is a constant struggle and takes all the enjoyment out of growing because you're always stressing about the pH level and plants looking stressed because of the acidity. I'm done with it. The Coco looks super promising so I'll be trying that in the next few runs.

The purple punch is taking the place of the gorilla and I'm going to be starting the tangie and the blue dream seeds in a few days. Starting in coco... Also starting in the final pot so that I don't transplant. I'm hoping to have the biggest plants I've ever grown with these next few grows using coco.

That's all for now. Happy growing!

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

OMG are these ladies looking and smelling AMAZING!!! I can't wait until I can smoke some. August 31st will be 84 days since sprout. So the time is getting closer and they put on weight daily. The buds are rock solid. And that minty smell is just heavenly!!! This grow want very well. A few bumps in the road but nothing more then bumps. They are definitely much bigger than what I got in 2.5 gal containers. I wish I could say the same for the gorilla glue.

The gorilla glue is on day 106 and I just can't get the trichomes to get cloudy. She looks bad. There's maybe an ounce or 1.5oz of airy buds. There's a lot, they have a lot of trichomes but it just doesn't look great and it's way past due. I lost the battle with the soil acidity. I didn't front load with the dolomite lime and it went super acidic. For the Bruce, I front loaded the soil with a tablespoon per gallon, which wasn't enough, but it was enough to make a small enough difference until I added more. Maybe if I decide to grow with soil in the future, I'll put much more into the initial soil mix and should have even better results. For now, I think I'm going to do a few runs with Coco.

Today, I planted my next run. Seeds from 420FastBuds. Tangie autoflower (Tangie O'matic) and their Blue Dream auto!!! Super hype about these 2 cultivars. I grew a blue dream about 2 years ago and then I cloned 4 plants from her and lost everything to spider mites. Only had one harvest. The mom 😢. I loved the smoke so much. The high was fantastic so I had to grow it again. Tangie on the other hand, I had an ounce of one time and listening to music on this strain was just amazing. I wrote my best songs during that time and had the best inspiration from it. So I really wanted to grow some.
I'm growing these in coco again since the purple punch is going so well. Added perlite, compost, earthworm castings, insect frass, kelp meal. The seed starter is Coco, perlite, castings and kelp meal. That should feed them until week three and a bit further but I'll be top dressing around week 3 or tea . The buds website says they're both heavy feeders and want lots of nutrients and grow up to 4 feet tall indoors.... So I'll def be ScROGing these girls. They won't be finished until November but they'll be fully cured for Christmas and new years so that will be a great gift to myself!!

After this grow will FINALLY be the Mandarin Zkittlez that I'm just dying to grow. I love that cultivar so much it's my current favorite but the dispensary quality is slipping so I want to grow my own stash.

 

[Bluey]

That pick of the 3 plants, the one on the right has just packed those buds on. They look big and dense. Great job

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

The gorilla glue finally packed some weight. Just waiting to chop. It's close. It's like 50% cloudy. So I'm just gonna chop when the tangie and blue dream pop so they can take the space. It's not a complete loss. If I dry and cure it properly, I'll have some decent smoke. Until I get the Bruce. That will be some top shelf smoke

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

She filled in and self manicured itself too 🤣🤣. I'm gonna have very little trimming to do with this one. I have a feeling the seeds are going to pop tonight. So she's gonna get chopped today or tomorrow. I have the perfect weather right now for drying and curing. It will be easy to keep that 62%. The soil acidity won but it's not a complete loss.

The Bruce banner though 🤤🤤 I even dreamt last night that I smoked some and ended up riding some comets out in space . I hope it's one of those premonition dreams where it all comes true because it looks delicious it smells delicious I absolutely cannot wait. I think this is going to be one of those that I only cure for 2 weeks before I give it a try. Love a good Bruce banner joint. I'm drooling just thinking about it. Gonna have maybe 4 ounces between the 2 plants. I even spread the branches yesterday to get more light in on the lower branches. She's gonna be great!!