Burned up my plants. Starting over. Help!

[TruckerKevin]

I’m a fairly new grower, I’m sure the title makes that much a given. So for some reason, all the reading I had done (which seemed like tons) I never saw that autos needed less nutrients and were easier to burn up in rich soil until now, and that is exactly what I just did lol. That explains it now. My 3 autos turned out very mediocre to poor because I mixed up a batch of super soil and looking back I really douched the soil mix. Like an idiot I even added a bit more than the recipe said because I had the more is better mentality. Since 2 were pathetically dwarfed and the other one looks like it wasn’t coming back, i culled them, admitting defeat today to make room to start over again because I don’t have a large tent. My 3 before that (my very first grow) actually turned out fairly well I used just regular potting soil from Walmart lol and thought I just got lucky because they grew ok. Very robust white widows. Those ended up getting some hard rust spots on some leaves right at the end so I harvested them quick.

So,,,, what I have now is (3 ) three gallon fabric pots and am going to sprout 3 beans of Grandaddy Purple autos.

This is what I have on hand as far as soil/amendments

Canadian peat/Coco coir/homemade compost/worm castings/perlite/gypsum/lime/azomite/humic acid/Mycorrhiza granula/blood meal/bone meal/alfalfa meal and I have some nutes like jacks granular and also some synthetic dyna gro

im sure I probably don’t need all of that perhaps someone can give me a recommendation on what you would mix and perhaps the ratio so I can have better luck this grow. From my latest research on this site I now considered 1 part peat, 1 part coco, 1 part perlite and then 1/2 part of compost/worm castings (together)to make up 1 part. So 4 parts. Perhaps then a teaspoon each of gypsum, blood and bone meal. Would that still be too rich? It would be cool if I could mix something I don’t have to nurse but just water, but if I have to add amendments as I go then so be it.

 

[Marq1340]

I’m a fairly new grower, I’m sure the title makes that much a given. So for some reason, all the reading I had done (which seemed like tons) I never saw that autos needed less nutrients and were easier to burn up in rich soil until now, and that is exactly what I just did lol. That explains it now. My 3 autos turned out very mediocre to poor because I mixed up a batch of super soil and looking back I really douched the soil mix. Like an idiot I even added a bit more than the recipe said because I had the more is better mentality. Since 2 were pathetically dwarfed and the other one looks like it wasn’t coming back, i culled them, admitting defeat today to make room to start over again because I don’t have a large tent. My 3 before that (my very first grow) actually turned out fairly well I used just regular potting soil from Walmart lol and thought I just got lucky because they grew ok. Very robust white widows. Those ended up getting some hard rust spots on some leaves right at the end so I harvested them quick.

So,,,, what I have now is (3 ) three gallon fabric pots and am going to sprout 3 beans of Grandaddy Purple autos.

This is what I have on hand as far as soil/amendments

Canadian peat/Coco coir/homemade compost/worm castings/perlite/gypsum/lime/azomite/humic acid/Mycorrhiza granula/blood meal/bone meal/alfalfa meal and I have some nutes like jacks granular and also some synthetic dyna gro

im sure I probably don’t need all of that perhaps someone can give me a recommendation on what you would mix and perhaps the ratio so I can have better luck this grow. From my latest research on this site I now considered 1 part peat, 1 part coco, 1 part perlite and then 1/2 part of compost/worm castings (together)to make up 1 part. So 4 parts. Perhaps then a teaspoon each of gypsum, blood and bone meal. Would that still be too rich? It would be cool if I could mix something I don’t have to nurse but just water, but if I have to add amendments as I go then so be it.

Words and pictures will never compare to real world experience. I learned that lesson as well.

So why not just buy a bag of roots organic or fox farm soil since you're still a newbie at this?

 

[TruckerKevin]

Well I could and considered that, but I already own the amendments and once I got it right I could use all my stuff up

 

[Budzbuddha]

Second on the advice of just a ready to use bagged medium ( RTU ). All of those separate elements that you threw together obviously isnt gonna work - first gypsum is a big time calcium component and excess calcium can cause big issues. Also lime raises soil PH , so I doubt with all of the elements you used that it just made things worse.

Example : How would you know the ratio of each to make a balanced mix ?

Plus you have at a minimum of 3 nitrogen sources - Compost / blood meal / worm castings. Blood meal takes time to fully breakdown and then how ready your compost was prior to use.

AUTOS absolutely do not need complicated feeds.
A good bagged medium can carry an autoflowers feed upfront for weeks - on water ALONE.

Then you can introduce a general dry fertilizer at intervals til end or even topdress ( fresh soil / water in ) to recharge what the plant uses.

Remember an auto has around a 100 days of life ( average ) so why blast it with some heavy handed nutes ?

 

[TruckerKevin]

Good point. How would I introduce dry fertilize? Just sprinkle it on the soil and water it in like a top dress?

 

[Budzbuddha]

Good point. How would I introduce dry fertilize? Just sprinkle it on the soil and water it in like a top dress?

Allow what amended bagged soil ( fox farm / happy frog / Dr. Earth soil / Recipe 420 / etc. ) to do the initial feeding upfront. Plant will acclimate to it - pull what it wants , when it wants. Most are prebuffered so tap water will work.

After say 4-5 weeks then you can introduce a tablespoon or so of dry fertilizer ( depending on container size ) - scratch it in ( so it mixes in a little ) and water.

Or topdress with more fresh soil ( the same as its already used too ) and water that in.

You may want to ph your water to at least match the medium ( 6.5 to 6.7 ) - this seems allow buffering to last longer and not exhaust too fast. But as I mentioned autos can go an easy 10 weeks or so on simple soil tweaks. Plus never believe breeder estimates on finish time. Plant finishes when it finishes. Plants give zero shits about calendars or what grow week its on.

 

[PadawanWarrior]

Allow what amended bagged soil ( fox farm / happy frog / Dr. Earth soil / Recipe 420 / etc. ) to do the initial feeding upfront. Plant will acclimate to it - pull what it wants , when it wants. Most are prebuffered so tap water will work.

After say 4-5 weeks then you can introduce a tablespoon or so of dry fertilizer ( depending on container size ) - scratch it in ( so it mixes in a little ) and water.

Or topdress with more fresh soil ( the same as its already used too ) and water that in.

You may want to ph your water to at least match the medium ( 6.5 to 6.7 ) - this seems allow buffering to last longer and not exhaust too fast. But as I mentioned autos can go an easy 10 weeks or so on simple soil tweaks. Plus never believe breeder estimates on finish time. Plant finishes when it finishes. Plants give zero shits about calendars or what grow week its on.

I agree with most of what you said.

Another idea is to add dry fertilizer to the fresh soil and mix it up. Then use that for a topdressing.

I disagree about the acidic 6.5-6.7 water though. Especially if you want the buffer to last longer. The more acidic the water going in the faster it will use up the buffer you're talking about. FFOF uses OSF, but others use dolomite or whatever. You can witness this by adding acidic water and then testing runoff if you do it over time. At first the runoff will read way higher than the actual soil or water going in. And as you continue it will get closer to the water going in. Don't know if that makes any sense.

 

[Budzbuddha]

I agree with most of what you said.

Another idea is to add dry fertilizer to the fresh soil and mix it up. Then use that for a topdressing.

I disagree about the acidic 6.5-6.7 water though. Especially if you want the buffer to last longer. The more acidic the water going in the faster it will use up the buffer you're talking about. FFOF uses OSF, but others use dolomite or whatever. You can witness this by adding acidic water and then testing runoff if you do it over time. At first the runoff will read way higher than the actual soil or water going in. And as you continue it will get closer to the water going in. Don't know if that makes any sense.

i hear what you are saying but i NEVER have to think about or even check runoff. I mention the range of ph i use because i can narrow potential ph drift.

 

[Budzbuddha]

Of course you can “ layer “ dry fertilizer into a bagged medium even bennies. I mention that most off shelf ammended potting mixes can carry the growth alone. Without much else - maybe perlite or pumice for better aeration . Ewc is another good tweak ( i start at 10% of container volume ).

 

[PadawanWarrior]

i hear what you are saying but i NEVER have to think about or even check runoff. I mention the range of ph i use because i can narrow potential ph drift.

I don't check runoff either. When people talk about runoff I always say it can be deceiving. I was just saying if you water with more acidic water the buffer will wear off faster.

 

[TruckerKevin]

I carefully read each word of all the replies here.

we actually make great homemade compost here. We have a small rabbit farm. When we clean the rabbit kennels, we keep the waste (which is comprised of shredded paper, pine shavings and of course rabbit pellets) in trash bags. When lawn mowing season is here, I mow a certain part of my yard with a bagging mower (the rest of a zero turn). I mix the saved rabbit waste with the freshly cut wet grass, the urine in the waste helps set off a great composting procedure. i don’t even have to add anything. I don’t use my compost the very next year, but the year after. So,,,, 2 years later I consider it ready. I use no pesticides or harmful/synthetic products on my property with the exception of my hydroponic.

I made myself sound like a complete bumbling idiot in this tread, and I did it on purpose, but I’m actually only a slight bumbling idiot . We grow lots of stuff here, I have one heck of a garden every year, and have done so for many years.. I even have some very nice regular cannabis plants going on right now. I’ve been experimenting with breeding males/females in a tent, making my own feminized seeds etc.

but the auto flower thing is somewhat new to me. I decided to try it because I’m running out of space, and thought it would be good to have something that didn’t require the light cycle. Yes I know they can all coexist together but I have special rooms I do my light cycles. I have no clue how I missed that autoflowers didn’t require as much as photos. This explains why the ones I tried in hydroponics didn’t fair very well either. In fact, knowing what I know now, I’m tempted to try again in hydro using less nutrients and see what happens.

im going to fo ahead and follow the advice and buy some soil today and get my pots ready. I thought I read somewhere that fox farms was nutrient rich but I might be getting confused with something else, my old brain gets like that. So I never considered fox farm. It’s all that’s available to me locally without having to order anything online.

 

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I carefully read each word of all the replies here.

we actually make great homemade compost here. We have a small rabbit farm. When we clean the rabbit kennels, we keep the waste (which is comprised of shredded paper, pine shavings and of course rabbit pellets) in trash bags. When lawn mowing season is here, I mow a certain part of my yard with a bagging mower (the rest of a zero turn). I mix the saved rabbit waste with the freshly cut wet grass, the urine in the waste helps set off a great composting procedure. i don’t even have to add anything. I don’t use my compost the very next year, but the year after. So,,,, 2 years later I consider it ready. I use no pesticides or harmful/synthetic products on my property with the exception of my hydroponic.

I made myself sound like a complete bumbling idiot in this tread, and I did it on purpose, but I’m actually only a slight bumbling idiot . We grow lots of stuff here, I have one heck of a garden every year, and have done so for many years.. I even have some very nice regular cannabis plants going on right now. I’ve been experimenting with breeding males/females in a tent, making my own feminized seeds etc.

but the auto flower thing is somewhat new to me. I decided to try it because I’m running out of space, and thought it would be good to have something that didn’t require the light cycle. Yes I know they can all coexist together but I have special rooms I do my light cycles. I have no clue how I missed that autoflowers didn’t require as much as photos. This explains why the ones I tried in hydroponics didn’t fair very well either. In fact, knowing what I know now, I’m tempted to try again in hydro using less nutrients and see what happens.

im going to fo ahead and follow the advice and buy some soil today and get my pots ready. I thought I read somewhere that fox farms was nutrient rich but I might be getting confused with something else, my old brain gets like that. So I never considered fox farm. It’s all that’s available to me locally without having to order anything online.

I would suggest you use bigger pots, it will help immensely with keeping the soil biology happy. Also, I think you could make a killer blend if you used a third of your compost, a third pumice and one third coco coir/peat (half and half).

I would also suggest you mix that up and and get it tested (Logan Labs) and have them give you an amendment rec. That's going to be about $90, plus the cost of what ever minerals and amendments you might need.

You don't need to do any testing but IMO it's well worth the cost.

 

[TruckerKevin]

Not a bad idea at all. $90 would certainly be worth it to know what I need going forward. I would probably make that back soon with yield verses guessing at it. That happy frog potting mix ended up being $21 a bag locally. (It was $18 the other day )

im having to use the 3 gallon fabric pots for now because I’m having a space issue. I figured since they are granddaddy purple compacts, I would still be able to get somewhat of a good yield. Once I harvest a previous existing crop in about 3 weeks, I can afford to move up in size. Thank you for the suggestions!

 

[TruckerKevin]

The complete package at Logan labs says $60, but you said $90. Is there something im leaving out?

 

[Rufus T. Firefly]

The complete package at Logan labs says $60, but you said $90. Is there something im leaving out?

60 for the test 30 for an agronomist to read and make amendment recs. I use Byrant Mason https://www.soildoctorconsulting.com but you can have Logan do it as well.

 

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Not a bad idea at all. $90 would certainly be worth it to know what I need going forward. I would probably make that back soon with yield verses guessing at it. That happy frog potting mix ended up being $21 a bag locally. (It was $18 the other day )

im having to use the 3 gallon fabric pots for now because I’m having a space issue. I figured since they are granddaddy purple compacts, I would still be able to get somewhat of a good yield. Once I harvest a previous existing crop in about 3 weeks, I can afford to move up in size. Thank you for the suggestions!

They don't all need to be in their own pots, you might be able to up your soil volume without increasing your footprint.

And it's my pleasure.