Soil Test Results

[Wetdog]

The problem with using high amounts of kelp, I didn't get the micros that I was looking for. I just answer my own question then about using more kelp, I already did it... The biggest micro that I am missing is Mn and that is supposed to be in the "Composted pine firs", so hopefully I will be able to give it a rest soon!

I have grown irritable from my on-going problems... I like to think that adversity builds character, but that character can't give up and has to keep learning.

So, when is the pine bark going back in your mix?

Sorry, it just dawned on me that you ( I think), meant fines when you typed fir and I thought you were refering to Fir trees. A conifer for sure, but still different than a pine tree.

I really think the root of your problems goes back to the rabbit manure, coir bedding in the worm bin and both in the compost pile. You ended up with an almost perfect storm of stuff contributing to excesses of P, K, and sodium that likely would not be a problem in a side yard garden, but blew up in containers.

Just the feeling I get after following all this over time.

Wet

 

[MustangStudFarm]

coir bedding in the worm bin

I have been guilty of this in the past, but I don't use coco coir anymore... That was a separate problem, but still a problem.

I had good N-P-K numbers but the micros were a little short. The sodium and sulfur were high, but I seriously soaked the soil since then too. I have a pallet that I put my 8gal pots on and I put it in the middle of the yard and soaked them for 2 weeks. Plus, it rained a lot during that time. My soil Ph went from 6.2 to about 6.5, so I imagine that some of the sulfur leached off. I am probably not that far off, but I am really striving for perfection.

My dad lives around the corner from me and he has the trailer. The agreement was that he would buy the compost and I would help him spread it, then I get some left-overs. I only need about 100gal. Anyways, he was supposed to get it today but I doubt that he did. I'll probably have to ride with him tomorrow to get it. He is just happy to have the help and a productive garden, he has a brown thumb. I had his garden tested and it was a easy fix compared to my potting soil... He doesn't have a clue to what he is doing. The only thing that he has done to his garden is throw veggie and coffee scraps in there and water it.

 

[MustangStudFarm]

I really think the root of your problems goes back to the rabbit manure, coir bedding in the worm bin and both in the compost pile. You ended up with an almost perfect storm of stuff contributing to excesses of P, K, and sodium that likely would not be a problem in a side yard garden, but blew up in containers.

I started composting in 2016 and that is basically ALL of the problems that I had wrapped in one statement. They are all true, but I experienced them at different times. The manure is def the culprit to high P and K. The leaf/grass compost that I recently mixed is taking forever to breakdown. I think that it was the straw in the bedding that sped up the composting process because I always get dry spots when leaves are piled too tightly.

 

[Growitpondifarm]

Back to my original question a bit here.

I’m going to mix up my final potting soil today and let it sit for another week till I up pot.

My plan is to take 3 parts of my original soil mix(test results) mix in some epsoma seed starting mix I have(basically just peat, EWC and lime) and more perlite. Throw in a cup of kelp and call it a day. Unless you guys have anymore suggestions for this.

I figure the epsoma, which is super mellow, I have great results with germination and seedlings in this stuff and it is cheap and easy to get, will soften the mix a bit and comes PH balanced and with some good bennies available.

 

[Wetdog]

Back to my original question a bit here.

I’m going to mix up my final potting soil today and let it sit for another week till I up pot.

My plan is to take 3 parts of my original soil mix(test results) mix in some epsoma seed starting mix I have(basically just peat, EWC and lime) and more perlite. Throw in a cup of kelp and call it a day. Unless you guys have anymore suggestions for this.

I figure the epsoma, which is super mellow, I have great results with germination and seedlings in this stuff and it is cheap and easy to get, will soften the mix a bit and comes PH balanced and with some good bennies available.

Yeah, sorry for the hijack, but that sounds like a plan. ^^

It can take several years to finally get a mix tailored to your grow style, location and environment. Mainly it's after the grow when you see what you have too much of, not enough of, and what's just right.

I liken it a lot to making a perfect chili for yourself. Takes about 4 batches to get everything dialed in to "your" satisfaction.
But, you will get there.

Wet

 

[Growitpondifarm]

Totally agree, I just found a box of azomite in my gardening gear. I’ll add a bit of that to the mix too for a slower release micro boost.

I’ll post results here for anyone interested!

 

[Growitpondifarm]

Figured I’d update this thread.

I mixed in a little under 5 gallons of the seedling mix into 20 gallons of my soil(test results from beginning of the thread), 5 more gallons of perlite, a light cup of azomite and half cup or so of kelp meal.

I transplanted 3 of my seedlings so far into their final 7 gallon pots(first three to show sex). So far they look just ok, they’ve only been in the big pots for 4-6 days and they were quite root bound when I transplanted them. Hoping the perk up a bit and start to grow quickly like they should be at this stage.


Ocean grow Ninja Fruit

Oceangrown Jawa Pie

DJ short blueberry

Looks like they may be a bit short on micros. I’m going to steep some kelp and give them a foliar while they adjust to the transplant.,

 

[Wetdog]

If it's only been 4-6 days since xplant, I'd give them a week or 2 of just plain water to let them get adjusted to the new mix before trying to 'fix' them.

See what they look like in a couple weeks time.

Wet

 

[Growitpondifarm]

If it's only been 4-6 days since xplant, I'd give them a week or 2 of just plain water to let them get adjusted to the new mix before trying to 'fix' them.

See what they look like in a couple weeks time.

Wet

Will do,

I pulled my lights up about 10” too and they seemed to really like that. I’m wondering if the lighter colored leaves are more due to too much light. I have 400 watts of Citizen Cobs running in my little closet, which is only 5’x3.5’x5’,

 

[Growitpondifarm]

Everything look much happier now,

 

[Growitpondifarm]

Anything to get too worked up over here ? New growth showing yellowing tips today on the Jawa. Also the closet is 86 degrees today which is like 5 degrees hotter than it typically gets. It doesn’t look like a typical mute overdoseing.

I’m thinking it is related to my micro nutrient levels. Suggestions, criticisms etc welcomed

 

[Wetdog]

Nothing to get overly worked up about.

Could be heat related, could be the LED's. No actual experience with LED, but have read a lot of wild shit about LED's and nutrient uptake. Most that I've read seems to be more conjecture than actual VOE but IDK.

Could be micros, but the thing with micros just seems to be slow. Slow to become available, slow to be taken up and slow to show effects. They will get there, just not overnight like a fast release N source will do.

Wet

 

[Growitpondifarm]

Wet

Thanks for staying tuned. I’ve got 3 runs under these fixtures in soil and never ran into these LED caused calmag issues. I think cannabis growers get super caught up in this calmag thing, maybe it’s the catchy name.

I’m sure there are plenty of micros available to these plants with the azomite and kelp added. Like you said probably just take a bit to get absorbed/become available. Overall vigor and growth have been getting better by the day since transplant. Flipping next week so just trying to make sure everything is in line before the fun starts

If anyone interested in these I’ll keep posting updates here as they progress

 

[Growitpondifarm]

Anyone have any input on what this may be on my Blueberry?The plant has had it throughout its life cycle so far. I have treated it with spinosad twice. It doesn’t appear to be any sort of bug. At least none that I am familiar with. Could it just be genetics? Some sort of virus?

Overall health of the plant appears to be fine, fast growth, leaves praying etc.

 

[Growitpondifarm]

No takers on the blueberry leaf issues but I think it is genetic as the plant is growing the fastest out of the bunch.

Things have got a bit weird in here as of late.

The two ocean grown plants are tacoing and showing light green new growth. Plus overal vigor of the plant is down, no praying like they were previously as of last few days.

They started to just barely droop about 4 days ago. I had a tea brewing(EWC, pinch of kelp, molasses), so I was waiting for it to finish before watering. Thinking that the drooping was related to watering I gave them a heavy watering, tea and regular water. Couple hours later I expected them to be pointing to the sky and the opposite happened they dropped even harder. Today they perked up a bit, haven’t watered in day hal. Think this could be related to overwatering ? It almost appears like they are hungry but I don’t believe there aren’t plenty of nutrients available in my soil as they have only been in these new pots for 14 days or so. With the added microbe life from the tea I thought they would be raging. I want to get these back on track as I am going to flip lights shortly. I’d do it today if I was happy with there current state but I am not. Temps are around 80-86 during lights on downt to 72 during lights off. Humidity fluctuates between 40-55%.

Anyone have any opinions, comments ? Group shot

Jawa pie close up, this one is most droopy.

Ninja fruit, less droopy more tacoing.

Still getting used to this style of growing with more frequent waterings with less amount to keep soil life happy. I’m wondering if I’m overwatering. Any help from the more knowledgeable soil guys would be greatly appreciated !!

 

[MustangStudFarm]

You shouldn't freak out about the P unless everything is fading yellow badly... Then, there is a iron and micro feed. It works but it has chelates in it, I'm not sure, but I think that they are bad for organic? It says that you can use it as a foliar spray. Again, I am just letting you know about it and I am not telling you to use it right now. I would wait until you def see some yellow... https://www.fertilome.com/product/chelated-liquid-iron-and-other-micro-nutrient

I stand by my comment still... I HATE spraying my plants, but like Wet said, micros are slow moving and that is why new growth is affected first. So, a foliar feed might help. Last time, I used the Fertilome product, but I now have some Mn sulfate and Zn sulfate. I am fine on Fe, so I didn't feel that I needed a product that focused mostly on Fe. However, it looks like you are low on everything that this product offers. This product is used to treat P toxicity because P locks out iron and most of the trace elements. I'm not saying that you are dealing with P tox, but the symptoms look the same and the treatment is about the same. I don't think that I am dealing with a tox issue myself, but the micros are still low. Rock dust seems to release micros too slow and I think that using too much kelp would add sodium. So, I got Mn and Zn sulfate because that is all that I need.

I was looking at your #'s again and everything seems to be 2x the amount. Did you say that you diluted it? If you cut your soil in half, most of the #'s should be right except for the Micros. You should google "Frizzle Top" for palm trees and see how similar the problem is. Key words: Iron Chlorosis and Frizzle Top(Mn def)

 

[MustangStudFarm]

No takers on the blueberry leaf issues but I think it is genetic as the plant is growing the fastest out of the bunch.

Iron Chlorosis

 

[Growitpondifarm]

Very interesting mustang regarding the fertilome spray. After researching more about micros I think this is definitely my issue here. Could be related to my high P and K numbers or just lack of availability. Did you notice positive changes with the fertilome color ?

 

[Growitpondifarm]

I stand by my comment still... I HATE spraying my plants, but like Wet said, micros are slow moving and that is why new growth is affected first. So, a foliar feed might help. Last time, I used the Fertilome product, but I now have some Mn sulfate and Zn sulfate. I am fine on Fe, so I didn't feel that I needed a product that focused mostly on Fe. However, it looks like you are low on everything that this product offers. This product is used to treat P toxicity because P locks out iron and most of the trace elements. I'm not saying that you are dealing with P tox, but the symptoms look the same and the treatment is about the same. I don't think that I am dealing with a tox issue myself, but the micros are still low. Rock dust seems to release micros too slow and I think that using too much kelp would add sodium. So, I got Mn and Zn sulfate because that is all that I need.

I was looking at your #'s again and everything seems to be 2x the amount. Did you say that you diluted it? If you cut your soil in half, most of the #'s should be right except for the Micros. You should google "Frizzle Top" for palm trees and see how similar the problem is. Key words: Iron Chlorosis and Frizzle Top(Mn def)

Yes I did cut my mix a bit before I potted these. I add about 5 gallons of organic seed starting mix which was basically peer ph adjusted with dolomite lime. I also add another couple of gallons of perlite. The final amount of total soil used was 29 gallons.

 

[MustangStudFarm]

Very interesting mustang regarding the fertilome spray. After researching more about micros I think this is definitely my issue here. Could be related to my high P and K numbers or just lack of availability. Did you notice positive changes with the fertilome color ?

Not in color, but they did start growing again. Also, watering it in the soil didn't do much. Wet said it and I read recently that micros move so slowly in the plant that adding it to the soil might not be a good idea unless you are recycling. Basically, if you add micros AFTER you are showing def it is too late to add it to the soil...

I'm on the same page as you are... I'm kind of jealous because I have been fighting this problem for 3yrs and I am still having problems with it. High P locks out most of the micros, so my 1st step was to eliminate excess P but that didn't exactly help with the micros like I was expecting... This is where the Mehlich 3 test would be handy. It would show if there are micros present, but the Soil Savvy test would show what is locked out. You would need both tests to have a complete picture