growsince79 said:

Add enough perlite and it's almost impossible to overwater.

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What % perlite do you add to your medium?

Mygrow808 said:

What % perlite do you add to your medium?

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It should not be over about 30% because you will be taking food away from the plant.
Fabric pots with 30% pearlite is like he said, almost impossible to over water.

freezeland2 said:

So it’s the blumat fault? The blumat didn’t ruin your plant. You could have used a reservoir of ph adjusted water to supply the blumat. And in your case through a carbon filter first to fill the reservoir to remove contaminates.

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this would require something to pump the water into the Blumat which I do not have nor know how.

GDub51 said:

this would require something to pump the water into the Blumat which I do not have nor know how.

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Thought I’d bring you up to date: ALL seeds purchased (58) runted and died. After extensive research, I’ve got one theory: Thatching; due to the first round of failures in March, the soil was suspected as harboring some pathogen. Following suggestions, reinforced by several sights, I treated the soil to an H202 bath (one pint to two gallons for each pot. Soil puffed up like a soufflé. Then dumped out in the sun and raked for 10 days +- to sterilize. This raking I now believe broke all leftover hyphae from the two previous grows with supplemental mycorrhizae, into tiny sponges that now in a finely grained soil combined to make it too hydrophilic and dense, choking all attempts with any of this soil in the mix. Only my LAST ATTEMPT, now with the auto’s since no more time for photoperiod plants, is growing normally in a mix of 40% brand new Ocean Forest, with 60% draining agents; pumice, sand, rocks, cactus/succulent soil and “seed starter soil” (mostly sphagnum peat moss). No Worm castings, compost or any “food” of any type.

Now I have something to salvage from this season it seems!

FoxFarm has requested, and I have sent, a sample of the suspected soil for them to analyze. I will get back to you with the answer.

GDub51 said:

this would require something to pump the water into the Blumat which I do not have nor know how.

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You can gravity feed blumats

GDub51 said:

Thought I’d bring you up to date: ALL seeds purchased (58) runted and died. After extensive research, I’ve got one theory: Thatching; due to the first round of failures in March, the soil was suspected as harboring some pathogen. Following suggestions, reinforced by several sights, I treated the soil to an H202 bath (one pint to two gallons for each pot. Soil puffed up like a soufflé. Then dumped out in the sun and raked for 10 days +- to sterilize. This raking I now believe broke all leftover hyphae from the two previous grows with supplemental mycorrhizae, into tiny sponges that now in a finely grained soil combined to make it too hydrophilic and dense, choking all attempts with any of this soil in the mix. Only my LAST ATTEMPT, now with the auto’s since no more time for photoperiod plants, is growing normally in a mix of 40% brand new Ocean Forest, with 60% draining agents; pumice, sand, rocks, cactus/succulent soil and “seed starter soil” (mostly sphagnum peat moss). No Worm castings, compost or any “food” of any type.

Now I have something to salvage from this season it seems!

FoxFarm has requested, and I have sent, a sample of the suspected soil for them to analyze. I will get back to you with the answer.

Click to expand...

How did you manage to kill them al?

GDub51 said:

Thought I’d bring you up to date: ALL seeds purchased (58) runted and died. After extensive research, I’ve got one theory: Thatching; due to the first round of failures in March, the soil was suspected as harboring some pathogen. Following suggestions, reinforced by several sights, I treated the soil to an H202 bath (one pint to two gallons for each pot. Soil puffed up like a soufflé. Then dumped out in the sun and raked for 10 days +- to sterilize. This raking I now believe broke all leftover hyphae from the two previous grows with supplemental mycorrhizae, into tiny sponges that now in a finely grained soil combined to make it too hydrophilic and dense, choking all attempts with any of this soil in the mix. Only my LAST ATTEMPT, now with the auto’s since no more time for photoperiod plants, is growing normally in a mix of 40% brand new Ocean Forest, with 60% draining agents; pumice, sand, rocks, cactus/succulent soil and “seed starter soil” (mostly sphagnum peat moss). No Worm castings, compost or any “food” of any type.

Now I have something to salvage from this season it seems!

FoxFarm has requested, and I have sent, a sample of the suspected soil for them to analyze. I will get back to you with the answer.

Click to expand...

OK, FoxFarm has replied! They confirm thatching from raking soil left me with "dust" that fills air holes and chokes off the plants. The Shocker is that "we do not recommend reusing FoxFarm soil, and we agree that the recharged soil should be disposed of." YES, they are telling us to throw out all our old soil each year. That would amount to an additional $400 a year in expense for me! Plus I already have tons of supplements on hand. Many of which they sell! They market a substrate that is a 70/30 blend of coco coir and perlite. Perhaps this base would be better for those who wish to customize the feeding routines of their grow like me. All the work that goes into managing a supplemented photo period grow is what the hobby is about! Seeing the fruits of your labors is more rewarding than finding a killer stash from the local dealer, and chasing their quality is what this is all about.

OH, by the way, the ONE Bruce Banner Fast, set in brand new soil without supplements is doing fine. The few Gorilla Bomb that survive actually are sporting some healthy looking flowers near the top. I harvested the first planted auto, a runt that threw about 10-15 grams of dark purple flowers, burnt in soil too hot for auto's. Whereas, the last planted one could be worthy of pictures here in another month or so!