Need help ASAP

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Plant on the right appears to be in active soil; looks healthy. Plant on the left could just be in soil that has become inactive; try top dressing with some active compost...preferably worm castings. If they have been in the same pot for awhile do a full transplant to a larger container with fresh soil and vermicompost if you can. Adding a slow release fertilizer like manure and/or dry amendment like fish bone or kelp meal in small amounts could also help. See if it looks better in a week or so. If that doesn’t seem to work...
Epsom salts or hydrated lime could help lower the ph in the root zone. Bubble 2-3 tsp with water for a hour or so and give it to the plants but this is kind of a drastic measure. The final solution is to use 2 part nutrients; most contain ph buffers but I would exhaust all other options first.
 

Ravmanski

Member
Plant on the right appears to be in active soil; looks healthy. Plant on the left could just be in soil that has become inactive; try top dressing with some active compost...preferably worm castings. If they have been in the same pot for awhile do a full transplant to a larger container with fresh soil and vermicompost if you can. Adding a slow release fertilizer like manure and/or dry amendment like fish bone or kelp meal in small amounts could also help. See if it looks better in a week or so. If that doesn’t seem to work...
Epsom salts or hydrated lime could help lower the ph in the root zone. Bubble 2-3 tsp with water for a hour or so and give it to the plants but this is kind of a drastic measure. The final solution is to use 2 part nutrients; most contain ph buffers but I would exhaust all other options first.
Thanks pal great help is it necessary I repot
 

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
No you could always just dump nutes on them but if that was what you were gonna do you would have done it already. Just trying to explain why your mix is seemingly falling off. Looks like an absorbtion issue to me. If you want to stay mostly water only then go bigger with fresh mix; that is the easiest solution imo.
 

MrToad69

Well-Known Member
Question..I havent managed to get a decent answer on...Isn't hydrated Lime suppose to raise pH (more alkaline) not lower pH (more acidic)?

Thanks





Plant on the right appears to be in active soil; looks healthy. Plant on the left could just be in soil that has become inactive; try top dressing with some active compost...preferably worm castings. If they have been in the same pot for awhile do a full transplant to a larger container with fresh soil and vermicompost if you can. Adding a slow release fertilizer like manure and/or dry amendment like fish bone or kelp meal in small amounts could also help. See if it looks better in a week or so. If that doesn’t seem to work...
Epsom salts or hydrated lime could help lower the ph in the root zone. Bubble 2-3 tsp with water for a hour or so and give it to the plants but this is kind of a drastic measure. The final solution is to use 2 part nutrients; most contain ph buffers but I would exhaust all other options first.
 

ebcrew

Well-Known Member
IS there any magnesium in your mix?

Its either deficient in mag or mag is locked out due to pH.
 

MrToad69

Well-Known Member
Hey ebcrew...

I'm just trying to make a compost tea..

Started with molasses and a little compost to get it going...The pH of our city water is about 7.2..so after letting it sit in a 50 gal plastic food grade barrel...I added some phosphoric acid to pH down and over shit thr mark slightly..in an attempt to bump pH back up a touch I added the Hydrated Lime..
(The hydrated lime is suppose to raise pH from everything Ive read)...but instead, the pH dropped further :)

WTF...:(

This shouldnt be that difficult...
 

MrToad69

Well-Known Member
Pardon the typing..my monster fingers on this iphone dont meld very well..

Should have read over shot the mark
 

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Did you try to repot to a larger container with added compost?
Don’t try to add everything into a tea; keep it simple: compost, CLEAN water, and a form of sucrose...maybe some kelp and/or guano. That’s it..
 

MrToad69

Well-Known Member
Hey Richard
I did keep it simple..
I think my pH meter is having an issue trying to read pH with the molasses in it..and there isnt even that much..approx 1 tbsp/gal
 

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
So did repotting help or is that one plant still yellowing off?

Been growing in organic soil for years and have not checked the ph of anything even once. Don’t overthink it. Every time plants begin to yellow I just repot to fresh mix with added compost & it usually corrects whatever is wrong. In this case it could simply be a lack of minerals/macronutrients that assist with absorption like calcium. Adding organic material like compost, base soil, and mineral inputs to the root zone typically drops the ph a bit more acidic. You would also need a decent soil ph probe to accurately measure it. I don’t have one but don’t really need it either. The plants tell you if something is off.
Hydrated lime or epsom salt as stated above is a last resort but bubbling a few tsp either one in water for an hour or so could help...just not mixed in a tea. If you are not giving calmag like gen organics cal mag plus that could be at the heart of the issue. It’s actually kind of hard to provide cal-mag in a soluble form without it coming from a bottle. Add in some D-lime and/or crushed oyster shell and/or garden gypsum when you recycle the soil for next run. Composted eggshell is another good source of calcium but as a side note.. takes a real long time for them to break down; use a soluble cal/mag until then to assist with absorption. Finally if you are not sprinkling granular mycorrhizae in the hole at each transplant your plants could be missing out on the benefit of symbiosis with fungi which assists with the absorption of all the nutrients present in a given mix. Once your mix reaches the coveted supernatural status absorption and/or ph issues no longer surface.
 

MrToad69

Well-Known Member
Fortunately, I gadnt put
My compost tea on anything...
Total head scratcher though...

Add a base..ph drops..add more ..ph drops..add pH up ..pH drops.
Something must have been reacting with my alkaline ammendments
 
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