Coots mix problems

dubekoms

dubekoms

Well-Known Member
Hey everyone any help is appreciated. Growing in coots mix, 1/3 peat moss,perlite and quality compost with worm castings. 1/2 cup each kelp,neem and crustacean meal per cubic foot and buildasoils mineral mix.

Plants were started in 1 gallon pots and are 18 days old. I've watered twice with an ewc tea and kelp meal with aloe. Temps are between 70 and 80 with 60rh. Tap water is around 8ph and 110ppm.

Plants have been growing more slowly recently. Some have gotten yellow and the leaves are very droopy. I'm also noticing some brown spots on lower leaves. Yellowing tends to be towards the top of the plant but on one its all over.Symptoms kinda seem like overwatering but I've only watered twice and their not underwatered because the soil is still moist. Also the light makes them look more yellow then they really are but they are still a bit yellow.
 

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genuity

genuity

Well-Known Member
dubekoms said:
Hey everyone any help is appreciated. Growing in coots mix, 1/3 peat moss,perlite and quality compost with worm castings. 1/2 cup each kelp,neem and crustacean meal per cubic foot and buildasoils mineral mix.

Plants were started in 1 gallon pots and are 18 days old. I've watered twice with an ewc tea and kelp meal with aloe. Temps are between 70 and 80 with 60rh. Tap water is around 8ph and 110ppm.

Plants have been growing more slowly recently. Some have gotten yellow and the leaves are very droopy. I'm also noticing some brown spots on lower leaves. Yellowing tends to be towards the top of the plant but on one its all over.Symptoms kinda seem like overwatering but I've only watered twice and their not underwatered because the soil is still moist. Also the light makes them look more yellow then they really are but they are still a bit yellow.
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Whats the roots look like?

It really looks like all the soil is not getting wet.
 
dubekoms

dubekoms

Well-Known Member
genuity said:
Whats the roots look like?

It really looks like all the soil is not getting wet.
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Hmm when I'm watering I'm usually putting them in a big tray and just top watering with a cup and letting them soak up any runoff for a few minutes . Maybe I'm just not taking my time watering? I'm getting a pump sprayer soon so what I think I might do is let the pots dry out a bit and then brew up a nice aact and water properly.
 
W

Wetdog

Well-Known Member
Did you get the mix thoroughly wet before you used it to plant in? Or, did you plant in it while mostly dry?

Dry peat actually repels water and takes some effort to get it wet the first time. It looks like a dry mix.
 
dubekoms

dubekoms

Well-Known Member
Wetdog said:
Did you get the mix thoroughly wet before you used it to plant in? Or, did you plant in it while mostly dry?

Dry peat actually repels water and takes some effort to get it wet the first time. It looks like a dry mix.
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Yeah it was nice and wet when I mixed it up and when I planted into it. I think it might be my watering methods so I'm grabbing a pump sprayer tommorow and brewing up an aact right now.
 
dubekoms

dubekoms

Well-Known Member
I'm also noticing the drain holes are only on the sides off the pot, so whenever I water a bit sits inside the pot on the bottom and has nowhere to go. I dont know if that's really serious but I'll drill a few holes just in case.
 
genuity

genuity

Well-Known Member
dubekoms said:
I'm also noticing the drain holes are only on the sides off the pot, so whenever I water a bit sits inside the pot on the bottom and has nowhere to go. I dont know if that's really serious but I'll drill a few holes just in case.
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Definitely want some drain holes on the bottom, are a look at the roots.

I water my 1gal pots,with a full party cup,and that don't get all the medium wet...
 
dubekoms

dubekoms

Well-Known Member
Ok so they've been getting worse but I finally watered today with a real dank ewc tea, I also added a tiny pinch of kelp and a lil capfull of fish hydrolysate. I took my time watering with the pump and they're nice and wet now. I'll update if they're gettin better or worse tomorrow
 

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dubekoms

dubekoms

Well-Known Member
swedsteven said:
Soil ph maybe no lime or oyester shell
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I'm using buildasoils mineral kit which has oyster shell. I've also heard from a ton of people here that you don't need to pH in soil haha maybe they all have amazing tap water or something idk mine comes out at 8 pH and about 115 ppm maybe I should start phing? Idk it's frustrating tho I get all these amendments and make a dope soil mix following it exactly and literally all my plants are fucking up.
 
W

Wetdog

Well-Known Member
No, you're only listening to half of that statement. You don't need to worry about pH IN A PROPERLY BUFFERED SOIL. You still need to lime the mix and get the pH right at the get go. Then, no worries for the rest of the grow. You will also more than likely need to add more lime when you reamend to reuse the mix for the next grow.

The amount of oyster shell in the mineral mix is likely not enough. You should be adding your liming agent @ 1cup/cf of mix and not part of a 'mineral mix'. I always do my lime totally separate from any minerals I add and prefer pulverized dolomite lime.Locally it's a whopping $4.50 for a 40lb bag, at either Lowes or HD.

Never really heard of watering with a spray pump. *I* water at about 30 to 50% of the containers volume, ie; a gallon to 1 1/2 gallons for a 3 gallon pot. Give them a real drink, not a spritz on the surface. Save the spray can to spray foilage, not soil.
 
J

J-Icky

Well-Known Member
did you give the soil time to cook? and I know you said quality compost but what exactly was the source of the compost?
 
dubekoms

dubekoms

Well-Known Member
Wetdog said:
No, you're only listening to half of that statement. You don't need to worry about pH IN A PROPERLY BUFFERED SOIL. You still need to lime the mix and get the pH right at the get go. Then, no worries for the rest of the grow. You will also more than likely need to add more lime when you reamend to reuse the mix for the next grow.

The amount of oyster shell in the mineral mix is likely not enough. You should be adding your liming agent @ 1cup/cf of mix and not part of a 'mineral mix'. I always do my lime totally separate from any minerals I add and prefer pulverized dolomite lime.Locally it's a whopping $4.50 for a 40lb bag, at either Lowes or HD.

Never really heard of watering with a spray pump. *I* water at about 30 to 50% of the containers volume, ie; a gallon to 1 1/2 gallons for a 3 gallon pot. Give them a real drink, not a spritz on the surface. Save the spray can to spray foilage, not soil.
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You're correct I misread that statement. The mineral mix is basically coots mineral mix 2 parts basalt,1 part gypsum and 1 part oyster shell. Ive been told that that was enough to "buffer" the mix. The pump sprayer is actually pretty nice, it holds 3 gallons of water and let's out a nice even spray. Takes a little bit longer to water but I feel it does it more thoroughly.
 
dubekoms

dubekoms

Well-Known Member
J-Icky said:
did you give the soil time to cook? and I know you said quality compost but what exactly was the source of the compost?
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I let that shit cook for a solid month. Compost is a mix of fungal compost and ewc from https://www.makeorganicsoil.com . It was really nice dark and rich with a great smell. Good prices because I live very close to them. I've started my own piles though for next year.
 
dubekoms

dubekoms

Well-Known Member
I do have some dolomite lime on hand though, I'm thinking when I transplant I'll do half the plants in my soil with 1tbs a gallon of dolomite added and the other half with nothing added maybe that will help figure this shit out.
 
W

Wetdog

Well-Known Member
dubekoms said:
I do have some dolomite lime on hand though, I'm thinking when I transplant I'll do half the plants in my soil with 1tbs a gallon of dolomite added and the other half with nothing added maybe that will help figure this shit out.
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Make that 2TBL per gallon. If you're going to figure this shit out at least use the proper amount.

You might also find a shortage of P when you go to flower since there is no bone meal in Coots mix.

The lack of lime and bone meal has been commented on by more than a few growers using this particular recipe.

I don't use it myself and prefer something more along the lines of LC's #1 mix, Blood, Bone, and Kelp, but with seed meals instead of blood. I also don't bother much with "Designer" amendments like the crab meal, custracean meal, fish meal, etc., that is super expensive having to be shipped ~2,000 miles to my location. Don't get me wrong, I've tried them, but the results just didn't justify the cost. If I lived near a Concentrates distributor it would be a different story.

Hope you get it all figured out and get to a solid mix.
 
dubekoms

dubekoms

Well-Known Member
Thanks wet, 2 tbl a gallon it is! I'll do a little test. 2 plants transplanted into same soil nothing added, 2 plants transplanted into same soil with lime and 2 plants transplanted into same soil with lime and fish bone meal. On a good note they seemed to have perked up a bit from the watering..but I'm for sure looking into new mixes hell I might even go with ol Jacks and promix next round
 
genuity

genuity

Well-Known Member
All my times using Coots with SS#4 mix...I would double the coots mix/minerals
I would use Extreme tea compost brew,the first run.

Then next run I would top the pots with the build a soil flower kit mix...

Then add neptune harvest fish & seaweed..
 
dubekoms

dubekoms

Well-Known Member
genuity said:
All my times using Coots with SS#4 mix...I would double the coots mix/minerals
I would use Extreme tea compost brew,the first run.

Then next run I would top the pots with the build a soil flower kit mix...

Then add neptune harvest fish & seaweed..
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I definitely saw a recipe calling for 1 cup a cf for the amendments. So you were using 8 cups a cf of the mineral mix? Did you purchase the mineral mix from buildasoil or make it yourself?
 
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