Ok so I'm not a fan of soil and bottled foods. I prefer soil that's amended. And top dressed as needed. I also don't like soil. I prefer a ProMix or DWC. No Fox farms or anything. And when starting out a 1 part food is fine. Rhino skin and cal mag going into soil is just hard to measure in my opinion.
Now for this algae like substance. First let's
*defoliate. This will reduce moisture and increase the flow of air where it's needed most. Start small.
Remove by hand the top layer of green and fouled media. Top dress with the same media or worm castings.
Stick a finger all the way in the soil to gauge moisture and density. If its wet and heavy don't water.
(There is a sticky thread on this forum that describes good watering practices.)
Fungus Gnats.
You have options. You can use diatomaceous earth. Thoroughly powder the top of the soil and any where pests are use a dusting bulb.
You can get some pest spray. Like safers 3 in 1. Or you can get safers defender powder and sprinkle that on the top of the soil.
Diatomaceous Earth creates a barrier that the gnats can't survive. It dessicates their bodies.
To increase success for your next grow I highly urge you to try a simple method. Using ProMix HD. And Floranova or Maxi series. Or another popular 1 part. And no supplements.
And hermaphrodite plants are typically genetic. It's a huge part of getting your genetics. It's about sourcing quality genetics and having the proper lighting conditions.
If your heart is set on soil you should use amendments to the soil and teas and top dressing and quality de chlorinated water.
For promix and DWC I literally use straight tap water and use it immediately. No issue.
Thanks got your response, so may be a dumb question but what is amended soil and what does it mean to top dress? Clearly this will have to be done on next grow. But i love some good constructive feedback and ultimately knoledge. As others have said, yes I have been playing the guessing game seeing how the plants react to tap water as a pose to bottled or purified water.
Luckily for me where I’m at there is almost enough calcium and magnesium to sustain the plants on its own. As for the fungus like algae what I’ve been doing is taking the layers of soil out that are contaminated and then letting the soil dry out completely as I read somewhere in a article that that is the quickest way to dissolve of them. Im not a fan of using pesticides around something im going to be smoking . Ultimately im trying to get to an all organic grow, but haven’t found a good source/ someone to actually explain to me what that would look like as far as ingredients. I know the earthwarm castings, The fir bark , the perlite, and coir are almost musts for a strong healthy grow. Well atleast popular amongst growers. But what is a good way to make your own soil or base. Idk the proper terminology for it. I will link in a picture of the ingredients of the soil I use. As for nutes, I never knew there was another source of getting them then a bottled source. Would love to be spoon fed that knowledge as well. But as I said sometimes you got to spoon feed it to me when writing. I’m more of a hands on learner. But great at reading instructions lol. Also is
promix hd something that’s local to everywhere ? I’m in so cal. Is it the same thing as miracle grow ? And I’m not necessarily SEEEEETTT on a soil base. I found this really cool guy on YouTube thag created a self sustaining ecosystem where his plants were perpetually rotating through its own ecosystem using every leaf and stem we would typically throw away. Growing other plants in the same pots to give it the nutes it needed with a
auto watering system all organic. Still at a loss for words with it in amazement. But end of the day I’m trying to lean all organic and would love tips. I know sometimes it takes months to churn and develop your own medium/base. Oh FYI everyone I know the pictures are out of order and confusing but those are from 3 different grows. I’ll attach just photos of the grow in on this second !
So these are my current plants at the moment excuse the jumbled mess I’m in the middle of setting up a second tent to put 3 or 4 depending on space in cause clearly the need a bit more wiggle room
Excuse my hand was trying to get a pic without the light murdering it to show I’m using breathable mesh pots ( 5gallo
however 3 did get started late due to they’re length of time for germination.
Don’t know if you can really tell from this photo but especially bottom left is getting hard almost crumpled looking leaves. I’m assuming it will correct itself when moved to my 4x2 tent along with its two sisters, but here’s a good question. Should I be having them on the same grow if during germination only 7/10 are fully germinated and they’re still in the seed casing .
Do these plants lol pretty healthy to everyone other than the little guy wining in the corner ?
now as far as ph goes… I’ve always been afraid of number all the way back to grade school never excelled with math or school I. General . Any recommendation on ph meters and what is the general rule of thumb on your levels ?
I see one person above mentioned 5.3-6. Something . Is that a pretty typical reading ? And what is each number for? Or is one number all you typically read on those meters? I’ve seen them on Amazon but the tech and descriptions kinda scared me off with trying to understand it hence why I’ve been going by if it’s green and growing then I’m good if there’s bacteria or spots let it dry out and lower the nutes to refrain from chemical burn. But knowing now there is forums and places tk chat and ask all the dumb questions in my head without actually having to look that stupid asking them in person… GAME CHANGER. Im ready to learn and ask all the dumb questions .
now if someone can please explain to me how to use this mega bees knees “best of the best of the best sir ! “ lighting I think I might be able to do something with this hobby of mine.
check out these bulbs and housing and let me know what you guys think. Buddy owed me some money and acquired this whole set up and I’ve had it over a year now and really wanna learn how to use it for its reputation of max yields and all in all top of the line equipment .
I keep my plants from going hermaphadale ? Also general insight would be good. Oh will be attaching pi’s of all talked about above I have to put plants in my other tent because of lack of receiving light…and they’re growing A LOT FASTER and I need my tents in tact when I get them back. Also green algae shit that gets stuck on top layer of soil on and thousands of flies come out of them… any suggestions?
