Worm castings and plants with nutrient burn

GenericEnigma

Well-Known Member
I PH my water to 6.4-6.5 so would that cause lockout
Is there something wrong with your tapwater?

If you have access to tapwater that's decent (less than 200 ppm, no serious contaminants, pH between 6 & 8 ), just use regular tapwater with that peat-based soil. The organisms in the Recharge will take care of the pH for you.

If you are manually adjusting pH, that's making it harder for the soil to do what it's supposed to for the plant - and could very well be the source of your problems.
 

Week4@inCharge

Well-Known Member
Is there something wrong with your tapwater?

If you have access to tapwater that's decent (less than 200 ppm, no serious contaminants, pH between 6 & 8 ), just use regular tapwater with that peat-based soil. The organisms in the Recharge will take care of the pH for you.

If you are manually adjusting pH, that's making it harder for the soil to do what it's supposed to for the plant - and could very well be the source of your problems.
Is there something wrong with your tapwater?

If you have access to tapwater that's decent (less than 200 ppm, no serious contaminants, pH between 6 & 8 ), just use regular tapwater with that peat-based soil. The organisms in the Recharge will take care of the pH for you.

If you are manually adjusting pH, that's making it harder for the soil to do what it's supposed to for the plant - and could very well be the source of your problems.
I like this advice, check your local water report..it will give you a lot of info about your tap water. Going through these roller coaster rides is all part of growing. Foliar spraying... Google is your friend.
 

go go kid

Well-Known Member
The nutrients i added was gaia green 4-4-4 and its a slow release. And at the time my plants had a deficiency so I was assuming that the nutrients in the soil I baught was lacking what the plants needed and or was running low ...if that makes sense?
next time, you can use seaweed solution/meal, that cures most if not all trace/micro/macro nutrient problems without the danger of over ferting the plant
 

go go kid

Well-Known Member
err. disregard above post, herbs n suds got you cowever on this onae from as far as ive read properly
 

Week4@inCharge

Well-Known Member
next time, you can use seaweed solution/meal, that cures most if not all trace/micro/macro nutrient problems without the danger of over ferting the plant
Clean Kelp, capful of that in a 32 ounce spray bottle, maybe a dash of cal mag, spray them leaves, don't have to get them soaked, just a light mist, every day till the 2nd week of flower.

Anybody here use silica for foliar sprays? Kinda tempting to try.
 

Jimi O'Connor

Active Member
I like this advice, check your local water report..it will give you a lot of info about your tap water. Going through these roller coaster rides is all part of growing. Foliar spraying... Google is your friend.
No my tap in shity Binghamton is pretty decent the ph is around 7 consistently, i let the water sit in the big blue water jugs that go upside down for atleast 24 hrs to declorinate
 

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Jimi O'Connor

Active Member
Is there something wrong with your tapwater?

If you have access to tapwater that's decent (less than 200 ppm, no serious contaminants, pH between 6 & 8 ), just use regular tapwater with that peat-based soil. The organisms in the Recharge will take care of the pH for you.

If you are manually adjusting pH, that's making it harder for the soil to do what it's supposed to for the plant - and could very well be the source of your problems.
So your saying dont ph my tap water? Just let it declorinate and then its good to go?
 

GenericEnigma

Well-Known Member
So your saying dont ph my tap water? Just let it declorinate and then its good to go?
If it's a living soil and your tapwater falls within those ranges (<200ppm, pH 6.0-8.0, no glaringly bad contaminants), then I would strongly recommend to not pH the tapwater and just water straight out of the tap.

I wouldn't (and don't) dechlorinate - but that's not a big deal either way.

You will find this to be common advice from veteran organic growers. Chasing pH in living soil (either input or runoff) typically causes problems where none existed.
 

Week4@inCharge

Well-Known Member
If it's a living soil and your tapwater falls within those ranges (<200ppm, pH 6.0-8.0, no glaringly bad contaminants), then I would strongly recommend to not pH the tapwater and just water straight out of the tap.

I wouldn't (and don't) dechlorinate - but that's not a big deal either way.

You will find this to be common advice from veteran organic growers. Chasing pH in living soil (either input or runoff) typically causes problems where none existed.
+1 letting it sit for 24 hours is a good way to let the chlorine gas off. And do not pH the tap water. The root zone of your flowers do that for you to where they want it in an organic setting/grow. Let the soil do it's thing. A compost tea might help ya out here. (Google compost tea) and/or a worm casting tea. (Google Earth worm castings tea)
 

Nizza

Well-Known Member
Check out the plant moisture stress and symptoms thread by uncle ben-- very eye opening for me the way salinity increases when the medium gets dry
 

Week4@inCharge

Well-Known Member
Check out the plant moisture stress and symptoms thread by uncle ben-- very eye opening for me the way salinity increases when the medium gets dry
The salinity in organics isn't as severe as synthetic grows. If you over do it with the amendments maybe a problem, but highly doubt that scenario with dry amendments. One fertilizer (organic) is derived from the earth, the other (synthetic) from a factory. Two entirely different approaches to the grow room. Organic is as close to setting it and forgetting it as you can get when done right. I think he should've done a tablespoon to a gallon with the dry amendments and it probably didn't need it till the flower stage as "new" soil usually comes with enough nutes in it to carry ya for at least 6 weeks. The way he described this soil he's using, probably 8 weeks.
 

Jimi O'Connor

Active Member
If it's a living soil and your tapwater falls within those ranges (<200ppm, pH 6.0-8.0, no glaringly bad contaminants), then I would strongly recommend to not pH the tapwater and just water straight out of the tap.

I wouldn't (and don't) dechlorinate - but that's not a big deal either way.

You will find this to be common advice from veteran organic growers. Chasing pH in living soil (either input or runoff) typically causes problems where none existed.
The salinity in organics isn't as severe as synthetic grows. If you over do it with the amendments maybe a problem, but highly doubt that scenario with dry amendments. One fertilizer (organic) is derived from the earth, the other (synthetic) from a factory. Two entirely different approaches to the grow room. Organic is as close to setting it and forgetting it as you can get when done right. I think he should've done a tablespoon to a gallon with the dry amendments and it probably didn't need it till the flower stage as "new" soil usually comes with enough nutes in it to carry ya for at least 6 weeks. The way he described this soil he's using, probably 8 weeks.
So I just wanted to run this by you guys. So when I added the gaia green 4-4-4 @half strength at first i read the amount wrong, so i put to much in the one plant and i thought to myself thats alot of nutrients, like it looked like a lot sitting on top of the soil. So i looked back at the directions and its a good thing i did bc it was way to much. So i scooped out alot of the soul on top of the one plant and then added the half strength amount to the other 3. The reason im mentioning this is because the plant that i scooped out the top dress that had to much is now pretty green again.

I was trying to "ride it out" and it seems that it worked for that plant i guess. The other 2 plants that are turning yellow still looked fucked up. I had to fill the trays yesterday so i pH the water at 6 not 6.5 like normal to see if maybe that would help without doing anything to drastic like flushing or something. The other shorter compact plant is oing good and has been which is confusing because it got the same dose of gaia green and same ph of water.

I really need to fix this because I need to flip them asap there gdting to tall

as far as not ph-ing the water the onlything thats non organic that ive added is the general hydroponics ph up and some times down if i needed it. Would that make the grow non organic? I'm not trying to make this problem worse, or start another one

So what do you guys think?
 

GenericEnigma

Well-Known Member
So I just wanted to run this by you guys. So when I added the gaia green 4-4-4 @half strength at first i read the amount wrong, so i put to much in the one plant and i thought to myself thats alot of nutrients, like it looked like a lot sitting on top of the soil. So i looked back at the directions and its a good thing i did bc it was way to much. So i scooped out alot of the soul on top of the one plant and then added the half strength amount to the other 3. The reason im mentioning this is because the plant that i scooped out the top dress that had to much is now pretty green again.

I was trying to "ride it out" and it seems that it worked for that plant i guess. The other 2 plants that are turning yellow still looked fucked up. I had to fill the trays yesterday so i pH the water at 6 not 6.5 like normal to see if maybe that would help without doing anything to drastic like flushing or something. The other shorter compact plant is oing good and has been which is confusing because it got the same dose of gaia green and same ph of water.

I really need to fix this because I need to flip them asap there gdting to tall

as far as not ph-ing the water the onlything thats non organic that ive added is the general hydroponics ph up and some times down if i needed it. Would that make the grow non organic? I'm not trying to make this problem worse, or start another one

So what do you guys think?
Show us some photos of what they look like now.

Also, are these plants all from seed?
 

Honyuk96

Active Member
Ditch the up/down, that can kill microbial action you’ve worked so hard to establish. Quit ph’g water. When your plants need watering, make a tea of worm castings and Recharge. Bubbly it for 24 hours and water in.
 

Jimi O'Connor

Active Member
So i uploaded the pictures from yesterday lastnight idk how many of you seen them ?

Anyway I did some trimming yesterday so the plants are "Lollipop'd". The plants are lookin worse, the leaves are turning yellow pretty bad now.
Yeah, I could be wrong, but it looks like a few different lockouts going on at once. Combined with the droopy leaves, I'd say a pH issue. I stand by my initial advice, which, even if I'm wrong, will only help.
So i was thinkin is there a chance that the soil is cashed like i used up all the nutrients that was in it to start with? I transplanted then into the 5 gal pots on march 19th. But since im using a wicking system the water never runs out the bottom like f i was pouring from the top. So im wondering if its even possible that the plants ate all the nutrients. I also have a fan on the floor oscillating (and a clip fan ontop of the canopy) could the fan on the ground have anything to do with any of the problems? Like the air blowing on the cloth pots maybe?

Also i trimmed them yesterday into "lollipop'd" i know thats probably not good when there struggling but my rh% was geting over 60% some nights up to 64. There was just to much mass in the little 3x3. I also haven't had much free time, my dogs gotten older and she's more or less a special needs dog at this point unfortunately so i didn't know when id have enough time to do that and i need to flip soon anyway

Should i keep ph-ing the plants that seem to be doing fine or stop ph-ing them? I dont want to mess them up too ?

One other thought is the leaves on the lower part of the plants in question are the normal green color or a little blotchy lighter green and the normal green and theb on top is where there light green

Last but not least the one shorter plant has a leave that's like looks like its shriveled or folded up its in the one picture what is that and why's that happening now? Is it stress from trimming?

Tks to everyone who's been giving there advice, hopefully down the road ill have the knowledge to pass on
 

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Jimi O'Connor

Active Member
Out of quriosity i measured the tap water after a sitting in the jugs with the lid off for a few days and its at 7.6 is that to high to not ph? I knoe recharge raises the ph also
 

Honyuk96

Active Member
I don’t know exactly what was in your soil from the get go, so i’m unsure if you have a buffering agent in there or not ? Last year was my first foray into organics and i am no expert, only sharing what i have learned. I ran into lock out myself last yr myself. This year the key for me has been ensuring my initial soil had adequate dolomite to carry a full run and i am having zero issues. I certainly feel you have a bit of lockout going on.
Using dry ammendments, i have found the key is topdressing at the appropriate time, keeping in mind, it will take a couple weeks for those ammendments to break down and become available to your plants. I’m now topdressing every 3 weeks and things are working beautifully. A EWC/Recharge tea once a week and thats it. Other than that, plain tap water that hasn’t been ph’d. I’ve heard from others that you can bubble dolomite in your tea to try to help correct ph/lockout issues but i am unsure how truthful that is. If it were my plants, i would quit ph’g and water in w EWC and Recharge teas and ride it out. Good luck w your grow.
 

Jimi O'Connor

Active Member
So i checked the runoff ph and it was 6.6 when I poured it in and 6.5 when i tested it. What does that mean?

I thought it was supposed to be higher bc of whatevers in the soil nutrient wise
 
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