Help asap! Low PH peat moss. How to fix?

I already added dolomite to the soil but that takes time. Soil ph is around 4.7-5.5. Added about 1/3. Cup of dolomite per 5 gallons. Might add another 1/3 cup this week. I need something more fast acting tho. The plants seem to be entirely healthy, just underdeveloped. I dry amended down to earth 4-4-4 in the peat moss for feeding which is working fine but im about to switch to synthetic. Feeding isnt the issue because the plants arent underfed or showing def.

Problem was when I started this experiment i didnt know about the low PH of peat moss and thats all the garden center had due to riots so i went with it.

It alto retains a ton of water. Ive been watering like once a week or less. (Of course not watering the full bucket). This is the main issue with me and the dolomite because i just mixed it in the already wet soil a week ago but havent gotten to actually water it in fully since its still been wet.

Hi!

Armyofsprout said:

Feeding isnt the issue because the plants arent underfed or showing def.

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actually the one to the right already shows a fan leave chlorosis which is a sign of underfeeding - which seems impossible in these big pots, so --> lockout most likely Mg.

My Dol Lime has a Ca:Mg ratio of 2:1 so you wanna mix in some more Ca-based lime (perhaps Algae Chalk or something similar)
A thing that's heavily alkaline is Potash...
Water-soluable bi-carbonate also works and contains a form of CO2 that can be uptaken by the roots.

But you need to mix these things really good right into your soil.... I'd unearth all these youngster... and actually its much better to start with small pots (much better rootball development)

Greets

Kassiopeija said:

Hi!

actually the one to the right already shows a fan leave chlorosis which is a sign of underfeeding - which seems impossible in these big pots, so --> lockout most likely Mg.

My Dol Lime has a Ca:Mg ratio of 2:1 so you wanna mix in some more Ca-based lime (perhaps Algae Chalk or something similar)
A thing that's heavily alkaline is Potash...
Water-soluable bi-carbonate also works and contains a form of CO2 that can be uptaken by the roots.

But you need to mix these things really good right into your soil.... I'd unearth all these youngster... and actually its much better to start with small pots (much better rootball development)

Greets

Click to expand...

They started in starter pots and the roots filled it up. But once i transplanted they didnt get too much bigger. Thanks I’ll look into it. I just gotta wait for these darn pots to dry out and I think thats the problem

actually, it's sort of normal that after transplant the upper plant is "a bit throttled" down in growth - esp. if it's been rootbound before... some folks mistake that for "transplant shock"... but actually a plant develops it's roots first before increasing its green mass.... because all these leaves need to be supported with water otherwise it would render them functionless...

for plants rootboundness is somewhat unexpected.. in nature there's plenty of room (but actually nutes are sparse - so they counter that by increasing roots...) in an indoor scenario, these ratio's change to the opposite - less room, but plenty of nutes. most soil (mothersoil) outdoors has an EC of just 0.3 -1.0 (if not fertilized)

Kassiopeija said:

actually, it's sort of normal that after transplant the upper plant is "a bit throttled" down in growth - esp. if it's been rootbound before... some folks mistake that for "transplant shock"... but actually a plant develops it's roots first before increasing its green mass.... because all these leaves need to be supported with water otherwise it would render them functionless...

for plants rootboundness is somewhat unexpected.. in nature there's plenty of room (but actually nutes are sparse - so they counter that by increasing roots...) in an indoor scenario, these ratio's change to the opposite - less room, but plenty of nutes. most soil (mothersoil) outdoors has an EC of just 0.3 -1.0 (if not fertilized)

Click to expand...

It was bad medium. The roots werent even growing thru it anymore and its been about two weeks. The PH on the peat wasnt getting any higher and the even though i was watering the peat it would still be dust like. They started to show signs of PH lockout So i needed to get them out of that low PH medium I got some new soil and dug them up and transplanted them with more added perlite for aeration and EWC. Its been 30 days and theyre super stunted for now but hopefully they'll bounce back. Ill veg for another 30 days so they can recover.

i didnt waste the peat i dug them out of tho. I put it in a container and added a bunch of water to it to rehydrate it. I didnt know that was a step that was needed (similar to rehydrating coco bricks) and the bag of peat that i got was suuuuuper dry and it was literally dust everywhere when planting. But me not knowing about the medium i just assumed it was supposed to be like that. So i took my used peat and mixed it up with a bunch of water and wow it made a huge difference. Ill use it my next grow now that i know. And ill add dolomite to it a month before and let it cook so that the ph is correct.

look at the photo of the bin of peat now and see how different it looks from my plants in the original post?

Ok so far so good, try to catch a Dolomite that is alkaline, so it can counter the acid... also potash... wormcastings... try different stonemeals to get a correct 3:1 ratio of Ca:Mg; some gardening gypsum or elementary sufur prills... and start always low in potsize.... for veg N + K high (N slightly higher), for the final potsize add in Bat guano to get the P high, also use Mykos then to increase P-assessability.
+ find out the proper distance of your lights (closer!)

Bump an old thread. To more quickly raise the PH with Lime, use Calcitic Lime. Promix BX contains 2/3 parts Calcitic Lime to 1/3 parts Dolomitic Lime. Promix BX is a Sphagnum Moss based product with added Perlite,, Vermiculite, and mycorrhiza, Calcitic, and Dolomitic lime. You also get a good balance of both Calcium, and Magnesuim mixing them.