SOIL Why is Fox Farm soil SOOO Acidic??

[No3odiesShad0w]

Now i only do a top dress of compost and molasses during bloom and I've been getting amazing results. I try to keep it simple. I mean the compost is super complex but the grow itself is a piece of cake.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

Removed the dry yellow leaves and maybe 1 or 2 fan leaves from the top to uncover some flower spots and that's it. No more touching until harvest. Wednesday is week 7 so 2-3 weeks more until harvest.

 

[3Berries]

I watered mine to run off yesterday and the pH came out at 6.8. I did use some limestone in the mix from the start and usually use 7.0 to water with.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

I watered the plants today and had a little run off so i decided to pH test it to see where i stand and to confirm some suspicions i had. Now i know which plants need lower pH or higher pH water to get them growing as best as they can.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

As long as the plants are happy then it's all good. I'm still trying to dial in what i got going on.

 

[3Berries]

7My auto grow at 8 weeks is just now showing calcium deficiencies. I've been feeding full strength nutes for a couple weeks. I added a bit too much perlite as it needs watered twice a day at about a quart each time now. Anymore and it runs off. Moisture meter is always low, not pegged. I water with 6.8-7.0 but seldom to run off. Last time I did the run off was 6.8.​

I never fully saturated the whole pot till about 6 weeks. The run off is so good pH wise I reused it.

Ocean Forest in 3.5 gal pot. 1 cup DS Lime, 1 qt perlite

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

My next run in gonna do it without the fox farm soil. I keep having acidity issues with it. I'm gonna use the Espoma and i use the acidic water from the Brita filters. That should give it the perfect pH. That's been my biggest struggle. Soil pH. But i think i understand the problem and how to fix it. Next ones in going to grow in a 2 or 3 gallon bucket now that i feel more confident about what I'm doing.

 

[3Berries]

I don't think just using pH water will help keep Ocean Forest at the pH water level. It needs more limestone or other buffer. Wood ash?

 

[Franklin]

You might consider using mulch, I just use rice hulls (they're much cheaper if you get them from home brewing stores instead of gardening stores, same stuff though!) You'll find you have to water far less.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

I'm not sure. I never used Ocean Forest before. Tbh i never even read the ingredient list for it. I'm using Happy Frog. The last 2 grows i also used FF Happy Frog and also had soil acidity issues. Back then i didn't know that Brita filters made the waters so acidic and i didn't have a pH meter.
I'm still having soil acidity issues but it's only in one of the plants. 2 of the plants in the Espoma soil actually have pH of 7.3 so i need to get that down. While raising the one of the FF soil.
I'm just not sure why my main one stopped growing. No new flowers no noticable changes but not showing any kind of issues either. Looking healthy considering it has maybe a week or 2 before harvest

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

Next grow of I do decide to use the remaining FF soil i have, I'll just add dolomite lime to it before i plant anything in it. That should resolve any of those pesky acidity issues. Not sure but i gotta be ready. Next grow is going to be a serious attempt. I haven't seriously tried since i lost my last grow to spider mites. So I'm nervous.

I've been testing soil pH, water pH, soil to perlite ratios, different soils, mixed of soils, super soils, liquid nutrients.... Man i feel like i tried it all. I want to have the same success as i did with the Blue Dream a year ago. Everything else had been crap that's ended up in brownies because it wasn't smokable.

Now i think i have the knowledge and all the experience of failure. I wanna give it a serious go again. I'm getting a mix pack on ILGM. I think I'm going with the super pack containing GSC, GG4 and Bruce Banner autos. Or the sweet pack with Wedding Cake, Gelato and Zkittles. I haven't decided yet. I really need those to be a success. Dispensaries are expensive and now with inflation it just sucks. Would be nice to have my own stuff and not spend so much money at the dispensaries because cancer is expensive af.

I have a good plan. Only thing i haven't decided yet is if i wanna do 2 gallon or 3 gallon buckets. .... I have low ceilings.... I can only have maybe 3-4 feet max height.

 

[3Berries]

I use 3 gallon and added a cup of the DG limestone product. Also a quart of perlite so it does not hold the water so much too.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

3Berries YES!! That's exactly what I'm going to do as well. I'm going to add some dolomite lime to the FF soil and goodbye acidity issues. The one that i added the lime to is doing the best out of all of them.
I also add 20-30% perlite to the soil as well. I believe i have [NODE="2"]Forum[/NODE] size perlite. Drainage..... Is.... IMPORTANT AF! I killed a plant before because of drainage issues. Never again! Add about 3oz per gallon of my special blend super soil. In the center i do a 50/50 mix of perlite and soil because the center always has more moisture. No compost because it would be too hot. And yeah that seems to be the winning blend for these autoflowers

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

All the girls are doing great. With the minor water pH adjustments, I've noticed plenty new growth. Even droopy is exploding with new growth. All those soil acidity issues but she turned it around at the end and it looks like I'll have some popcorn nugs but wow is there lots of trichromes.

I spread and tied the branches for my main girl to give those small buds some light penetration. We're down to the last week or 2 so i need her to get more chunky everywhere. Some gentle spreading gives all the flowers some light and i lowered the lights 3 inches. 22 inches from the top.

 

[3Berries]

I'm at 8 weeks on an auto in the FF OF and I'm having to lay on the nutes pretty heavy. pH of the run off was 6.6 yesterday.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

I've been adding molasses and a compost flower boosting top dress. For bloom. I think they have plenty nutes. What was killing me was the soil pH but i think that's under control

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

I did some math to figure out the actual sizes of the buckets i have. Turns out the square one is 4 gallons not 3 gallons. My red and white buckets are 2.3 gallons and my current grow is in 1.1 gallon buckets.
The 1.1 is too small. The 4 gallon might be pushing it. The 2.3 might be a bit small. I would like 3 gallons because of my height restriction.
Getting everything ready for the next one. It's going to be for real real. Not just messing around and testing stuff.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

I think they might be ready!!

 

[Franklin]

Cool, it's so rad that you were able to pull this around. They look great

 

[3Berries]

My auto in FF OF. 10 weeks Bubba kush. It started showing the need for nutes at 8 weeks so next time it's start boosting the nutes at 6 weeks, and calcium for the stretch. Then more Mg for the flower.

I added perlite and limestone. pH has always been spot on at 6.7 the few times I got run off. Really limited the excess water on this one. Been giving it 50/50 rain well water for the Ca. Just a boost a couple times.