Dark Green, Clawing leaves, bone dry soil

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Ind

Ind

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Coco is complex lol... soil is a little easier... at about half and half soil/coco... I honestly don't know how I would treat it watering and nute wise, my gut says more like soil? Are you transplanting again before you go outside?
No, they're not going to get transplanted again until they go outside. I started a little early this year because last year where I live we had a very early winter and it was a nightmare getting them to finish flowering in sub 50 degree weather. Had to build a green house around them basically and keep heaters out there at night, then wake up early and turn them off and remove some plastic tarps so the tunnel I built could air out before the sun heated it up to 90+ degrees.
 
Ind

Ind

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Ok, the Down to earth has Ca & Mg in it, so you should use only soft water EC 0-0,2 (for now). And maybe watch your plants when they ask for water, it's the lower leaves that first start becoming droopy upon reaching the wiltpoint.
I've read you don't have to pH water when growing in soil, which is hard to believe. Since this is half soil and half coco coir with worm castings, what pH would you recommend? I have distilled water. Does that count as "soft"? And isn't a PPM meter the same as an EC meter? I have the former.
 
Observationist

Observationist

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I've read you don't have to pH water when growing in soil, which is hard to believe. Since this is half soil and half coco coir with worm castings, what pH would you recommend? I have distilled water. Does that count as "soft"? And isn't a PPM meter the same as an EC meter? I have the former.
Properly made/amended soil will have PH buffer.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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Thats going to be a mess and a big challenge to get them the proper nutrients. In coco you need big pots if going with amendments to feed them.

understating your media is the key to watering and you mixed it up with a lot of different kinds and going with slow release and organics.
you now need to treat this like an organic soil grow with higher frequency watering needs.

you can’t water with lots of runoff as typical coco and synthetic does. If you do you will be washing all of your nutrients out of your media.

On the otherhand it depends on how much you’ve added in terms of amendments… you could see toxicity if you added to much and dont get some runoff.

basically you have created a yourself a fair challenge mixing all those things together.

nevermind your ph buffering challenges to follow
 
Ind

Ind

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Ok. Good to know how Fcked I am. What do you guys suggest I do at this point though? How should I proceed? If I can keep them alive for another month, I can then move them outdoors into natural soil that every plant does well in. No one has really told me what the photos appear to be showing.... They don't look or feel limp, like plants that are starved for water. They're clawing, drooping, super dark green.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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read these 2 threads to gelp you understand the me hanics of what everyone is saying.

Also start in the media you intend to finish in. That in itself can cause a whole host of other issues.


 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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Ok. Good to know how Fcked I am. What do you guys suggest I do at this point though? How should I proceed? If I can keep them alive for another month, I can then move them outdoors into natural soil that every plant does well in. No one has really told me what the photos appear to be showing.... They don't look or feel limp, like plants that are starved for water. They're clawing, drooping, super dark green.
You can do this its just likely to give you a bit of trouble along the way as its outside the common guidlines of each media.

put away your ppm meter but monitor your ph of runoff. Pom can be used as a trend but not a good example of nutrients in your media. They could be 2000+ and ok…. So go by the plant reaponse to nitrogen.

I would add NOTHING until you see what halpend with the PH and your watering once you get that right. Then you can see what may need changed. This grow is going to be a lot of reaction to results so it wont be lerfect but it will teach you alot.

Honesty you haven’t fucked up…. Just created a big learning curve for yourself and will learn a lot from it
 
Ind

Ind

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You can do this its just likely to give you a bit of trouble along the way as its outside the common guidlines of each media.

put away your ppm meter but monitor your ph of runoff. Pom can be used as a trend but not a good example of nutrients in your media. They could be 2000+ and ok…. So go by the plant reaponse to nitrogen.

I would add NOTHING until you see what halpend with the PH and your watering once you get that right. Then you can see what may need changed. This grow is going to be a lot of reaction to results so it wont be lerfect but it will teach you alot.

Honesty you haven’t fucked up…. Just created a big learning curve for yourself and will learn a lot from it
Sorry, what is "Pom"? How do I tell what the plant's response to nitrogen is? So you're saying I should just water them for now with.....some kind of pHed water. I am still reading the link you sent me. I definitely needed to learn more about pH and alkalinity. I knew my pH meter wasn't working well with distilled water because there's nothing in it to I guess "buffer"? Still learning. But I also use the pH drops and the little shaker bottle when the meter fails me. Like I said, I just gave one of them enough water to collect some run off and the pH of the water I poured in was 6.1 ish, and the water that came out appeared to be 6.3 ish. Again, I'm just using the shaker and the drops to measure pH at the moment. Thanks for your help
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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Sorry, what is "Pom"? How do I tell what the plant's response to nitrogen is? So you're saying I should just water them for now with.....some kind of pHed water. I am still reading the link you sent me. I definitely needed to learn more about pH and alkalinity. I knew my pH meter wasn't working well with distilled water because there's nothing in it to I guess "buffer"? Still learning. But I also use the pH drops and the little shaker bottle when the meter fails me. Like I said, I just gave one of them enough water to collect some run off and the pH of the water I poured in was 6.1 ish, and the water that came out appeared to be 6.3 ish. Again, I'm just using the shaker and the drops to measure pH at the moment. Thanks for your help
So measure PH of runoff dont worry about imput right now. Sorry pom=ppm parts per million/TDS/EC
 
N1ghtL1ght

N1ghtL1ght

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Sorry, what is "Pom"? How do I tell what the plant's response to nitrogen is? So you're saying I should just water them for now with.....some kind of pHed water. I am still reading the link you sent me. I definitely needed to learn more about pH and alkalinity. I knew my pH meter wasn't working well with distilled water because there's nothing in it to I guess "buffer"? Still learning. But I also use the pH drops and the little shaker bottle when the meter fails me. Like I said, I just gave one of them enough water to collect some run off and the pH of the water I poured in was 6.1 ish, and the water that came out appeared to be 6.3 ish. Again, I'm just using the shaker and the drops to measure pH at the moment. Thanks for your help
You don't pH distilled because there is nothing with which the acid could react with. RO has around a "natural" pH of slightly acidic due to atmospheric CO2 that makes it into until a certain equillibrium is reached... but it doesn't push your medium up or down it's basically neutral.
You shouldn't stick your pH probe in RO as this will force some of the inner electrolytes out and make it harder in the future to get a proper reading.

You gotta watch drain pH to get some idea of what your media pH is - this is important for proper nutrient absorption. IMO you should aim for 6,2, usually cocos would be handled a bit more acidic, and soil can go up to 6,5, even 6,8. Roots of plants, microbes and N-metabolizing can still alter substrate pH, usually drag it down acidically.

You can see how much N a plant has by the greeness of its leaves. In abundancy they will get darkgreen, then start to claw downwards beginning with the topleaves. In deficiency, the plant will first generally brighten up a bit, later the lower leaves will turn yellow and fall off. The availability of nitrogen has the greatest impact on the overall growth of a plant, so this decides if, and when, you should start adding extra liquid fertilizer.
 
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Ind

Ind

31
18
You don't pH distilled because there is nothing with which the acid could react with. RO has around a "natural" pH of slightly acidic due to atmospheric CO2 that makes it into until a certain equillibrium is reached... but it doesn't push your medium up or down it's basically neutral.
You shouldn't stick your pH probe in RO as this will force some of the inner electrolytes out and make it harder in the future to get a proper reading.

You gotta watch drain pH to get some idea of what your media pH is - this is important for proper nutrient absorption. IMO you should aim for 6,2, usually cocos would be handled a bit more acidic, and soil can go up to 6,5, even 6,8. Roots of plants, microbes and N-metabolizing can still alter substrate pH, usually drag it down acidically.

You can see how much N a plant has by the greeness of its leaves. In abundancy they will get darkgreen, then start to claw downwards beginning with the topleaves. In deficiency, the plant will first generally brighten up a bit, later the lower leaves will turn yellow and fall off. The availability of nitrogen has the greatest impact on the overall growth of a plant, so this decides if, and when, you should start adding extra liquid fertilizer.
Thanks again. Will do. I'm sure I'll be back for help later.
 
TSD

TSD

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No, they're not going to get transplanted again until they go outside. I started a little early this year because last year where I live we had a very early winter and it was a nightmare getting them to finish flowering in sub 50 degree weather. Had to build a green house around them basically and keep heaters out there at night, then wake up early and turn them off and remove some plastic tarps so the tunnel I built could air out before the sun heated it up to 90+ degrees.
Oh I battle mother nature every year. Covering, leaf blowing, you name it... just an FYI, starting earlier isn't going to mean they finish any sooner unless they're autos... or if you manipulate them in some way to flip to flower before they naturally flip sometime after the summer solstice, when exactly is strain dependant... I usually see signs of impending flower around 3 weeks after the solstice in most strains it seems. They will just be larger plants due to the longer veg.
 
Moshmen

Moshmen

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I've read you don't have to pH water when growing in soil, which is hard to believe. Since this is half soil and half coco coir with worm castings, what pH would you recommend? I have distilled water. Does that count as "soft"? And isn't a PPM meter the same as an EC meter? I have the former.
The problem is you’re not in soil ! You’re not in coco ! Pick one or you are going to have nothing but trouble sorry for the Debbie downer but just being real .
 
breedwheel

breedwheel

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I made fancy soil like that once and it didn't go so well. I bet you will be able to keep them alive until you can get them in the ground. You might want to look into how much light you are hitting them with too.
 
Ind

Ind

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The plants have perked up a bit, but some of them still have leaves that are curling down and some pale leaves. The ones that are pale, that's a lack of nitrogen yes?

20230320 191811
20230320 191821
 
Ind

Ind

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18
Some soil mixes have coco coir in them. So what percentage of coco coir in a soil mixture is still acceptable to be called "soil"? And what percentage of coco coir is unacceptable and turns what was soil into whatever the hell I created?
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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Some soil mixes have coco coir in them. So what percentage of coco coir in a soil mixture is still acceptable to be called "soil"? And what percentage of coco coir is unacceptable and turns what was soil into whatever the hell I created?
Any mix is a blend and will change how its watered… any damaged leaves will not recover and will get worse. Look at new growth for signs of improvement.
 
Ind

Ind

31
18
Any mix is a blend and will change how its watered… any damaged leaves will not recover and will get worse. Look at new growth for signs of improvement.
Based on what I said about my mixture, you would say I can't really over water it? I just so used to overwatering when it comes to pots, but then again I used to only use Ocean Forest by its self. Since it's about 40% coco coir, I can water as soon as it feels light and dry on top?
 

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