Help! NEW brand of Coco soil

READ ENTIRE POST BEFORE YOU JUDGE, SWIM WANTs EDUCATED/EXPERIENCED ADVISE, NOT BULLSHIT FROM YOU TROLLS OUT THERE.

SWIM picked up a new brand of coco soil from kellogs.. May be the root of the problem, but not sure. Here are the details:

(Clones - Mazari) planted 2/26/12 (4weeks old)
Environment: Indoor 3' x 3' x 6' Growtent by Virtual sun
Medium: Gardener & Bloom (kelloggs) Eden blend potting soil. See pic for ingredients..
Light: 400w MH
Water: Standing Tap : approx ; Sundays and Wednesdays
Temps: On: 78 - 84 Off: 68 - 70
Humidity: High:52% Low: 30%
Light cycle: 18/6
Nutes: Alaska FE (511) <--- Used twice (since troubles)
Run off pH: 7.9 :\ (may be uncalibrated tester, using Milwaukee instruments pH tester)

First off, SWIM's ordering pH 7 calibration solution to calibrate my meter. Tested some tap from school in the greenhouse with $1000 pH/TDS meter. It was 7.6. With milwaukee pH meter, it read 8.9 , so it is off, way off.

SWIM's problem looks like Nitrogen and maybe Phos def. as well as Magnesium and Calcium. Not sure though, could just be over watering. Watering about every 3-4 days. MH and fan dry soil out quick. Growth is way slower than when SWIM used FFOF and Dolomite with straight tap. SWIM's using this soil because the 1.5 Cuft. bag was FREE at a Horticulture trade show. Figured I'd give coco based soil a go. THINGS ARE Going BAD..

SWIM Figured it was a Def.. So SWIM started using Alaska Fish Emulsion (1/2 cap per gallon) Every feeding. (Last two waterings) Cant tell if things are getting better. Stems are purple below the 2nd node from the top. Bottom leaves yellow and tips brown, some are starting to mottle. Have any suggestions? Should SWIM transplant into FFOF and say F**K that soil? This Coco soil is on it's way to being OMRI certified. FFOF is not. SWIMS' Alaska FE is OMRI Certified as well.

Also in the past SWIM used smartpots, currently using Azalea pots right now because that's what SWIM got from school.

Someone Who Isn't Me is paranoid because medical card expired and may have children (living away), so the name is SWIM.

To be honest, I really doubt that you have a nitrogen deficiency. Your PH level is way too high though, so you're probably locking something out. Drop it down to a confident 6.3-6.5.

The fact that the lower leaves are turning Yellow at this stage of growth, coupled with the red/purple stems brings me to think that you have a slight Potassium deficiency. If I'm wrong on that point, it almost has to be a Manganese or Molybdenum deficiency. You should have enough of both in the soil, but they can be touchy with PH levels and solubility. Lower your PH and feed some Potassium and I can almost promise you that they will not worsen!

Folks that refer to themselves in the third party are often thought to be mentally deficient... just sayin...

alp

Folks that refer to themselves in the third party are often thought to be mentally deficient... just sayin...

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Did you read the first line? It said GTFOut trolls. You are the one who is mentally deficient.

Do not post again. I will not reply. I disregard you're incapacity to positively communicate, troll boy.

To be honest, I really doubt that you have a nitrogen deficiency. Your PH level is way too high though, so you're probably locking something out. Drop it down to a confident 6.3-6.5. The fact that the lower leaves are turning Yellow at this stage of growth, coupled with the red/purple stems brings me to think that you have a slight Potassium deficiency. If I'm wrong on that point, it almost has to be a Manganese or Molybdenum deficiency. You should have enough of both in the soil, but they can be touchy with PH levels and solubility. Lower your PH and feed some Potassium and I can almost promise you that they will not worsen!

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That's what I'm thinking. I'm waiting for the calibration solution to come in mailbox. When it gets here I'll be able to get an accurate reading. In the past I grew in fox farms OF with Lime added. No issues back then, just robust plants. And I watered with the same tap. Card is valid now so I'm not trippin' too hard, whoever "I" am.. (as in the guy who may be using this computer, and may be mentally deficient)



They all look real red-stemmed from the top.

You have lock out or you will have lockout caused by high ph. Get a general hydroponics test kit it comes with acid and base ill bet you wont touch the base at all. coco and peat are a soil-less mix and any ph above 6.3 will give you problems. How do I know this? I did the same thing with my bx promix running it like it was soil at a ph of 6.8 my leafs were tuning yellow and getting spotty. add your nutrients to the water and test the water add acid to lower it to a ph of 6.

The prob with pH down is it isn't organic and it will kill the beneficial microbes/fungi. If you look at the first pic, the bag is obviously a potting soil, not a soil-less mix. It has enough nutrients to feed through vegetative state with just water, especially since I planted with dolomite and nitrogen fixing bacteria. Plus I added the 511 when yellowing happened.

I just gave them a good deep watering after letting them get almost bone dry. The dolomite may have raised the pH and caused a lockout, like you said. I don't want this good bag of soil to just sit there, being unused. I definitely want to stop paying $12 for 1.3 cuft. of soil. (FoxFarm)

I'm going to transplant into same soil with no dolomite using Smartpots because the roots are pretty thick at the bottom. Light has been switched to HPS. General hydro kit says my tap water is 7.5 - 8.

What can I lower it with besides pH down? Can I use a squeeze of lemon? What about Apple-cider vinegar? I hear this only temporarily lowers your water. If that is the case, isn't it OK because I only need it to be lowered while the plant is soaking it up?

I want organic, not chemical. Anyone can grow with scotts soil, osmocote, and a ph kit. I don't want to smoke that. I want to smoke real weed.

Roots at the bottom are pretty brown. They were very white but after last 511 feeding, they browned pretty bad. Anyone think this is rootbound? not sure if I should transplant. For sure though they are going into smartpots, not plastic. It looks like the bottom roots are suffocating.

Looks like overwater causing stress to the roots to me perhaps...when mine are overwatered they will look like that..and also when they are rootbound, or close to becoming so...

if your using coco and peat its a soil-less mix. it may have microbes in it sure. so does bx promix and you cant grow fer shit in bx unless you drop the ph. Lemon juice will work btw

If you have brown roots you may be having a fungal problem as well as a ph problem. I'm just saying this as I went through the heartbreaking process of trying to fight this same symptoms without adaquate knowledge on the subject. Stressed plants can become succeptable to fungal attact. My sugestion is to first get that ph problem under control. Don't worry to much about killing the microbes in your soil with ph down as you can easily reintroduce the benificial microbes after you get everything adjusted back to where it needs to be. The brown root issue shows a distinct possibility of a root rot fungas. Treating with H2O2 ,is the cure for that by using 29% H2O2 at a rate of 3 to 5 ML per gal. Treating with H2O2 will also kill the benificial microbs so you will have to reintroduce them back into the soil. I use a worm casting tea as well as molassas to do this.

Update: New growth looks different since I switched the bulb from MH to HPS. Leaves and stems seem healthier at the tops, but the roots are browning more.

If you have brown roots you may be having a fungal problem as well as a ph problem. I'm just saying this as I went through the heartbreaking process of trying to fight this same symptoms without adaquate knowledge on the subject. Stressed plants can become succeptable to fungal attact. My sugestion is to first get that ph problem under control. Don't worry to much about killing the microbes in your soil with ph down as you can easily reintroduce the benificial microbes after you get everything adjusted back to where it needs to be. The brown root issue shows a distinct possibility of a root rot fungas. Treating with H2O2 ,is the cure for that by using 29% H2O2 at a rate of 3 to 5 ML per gal. Treating with H2O2 will also kill the benificial microbs so you will have to reintroduce them back into the soil. I use a worm casting tea as well as molassas to do this.

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I have seen some fungus gnats. I'm positive they came from tomoato plants I put in the grow tent with my herbs. I got them from my schools nursery, so I know they brought the gnats. Can gnats cause this damage? Or can they cause a fungus? Is that why they are called fungus gnats?

I wonder if the h2o2 will kill off they gnats as well as supply additional oxygen. The plants are too stressed for a dose of azamax. I do have some of it but I don't like to use it until the plants are bigger.

if your using coco and peat its a soil-less mix. it may have microbes in it sure. so does bx promix and you cant grow fer shit in bx unless you drop the ph. Lemon juice will work btw

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I see. I'm going to try lemon juice over apple cider vinegar. I hear ACV will bring more gnats.

Thanks for the tips people.

The H2O2 treatment will kill the gnats as well as their eggs.

So I calibrated my meter and I just got my TDS meter.. My tap is 60ppm and after calibration, the pH is 7.2. Acording to the litmus test (General hydro dropper test) it reads 8. I trust the calibrated meter more than the drops.

Everyone says how its so easy to grow, 'it's a weed.' I'm a hort major and grow all kinds of ornamentals, houseplants, fruits and veggies, but when comes to this plant.. They just don't grow for me. This is the pickiest plant I ever seen.
The only strains I've ever had with no problems are LA conf. and Grape ape. I want my grape ape back,that strain was easy. All i did with that strain is throw it in an air pot with foxfarm and some lime and watered. I didnt give it nutrients until after 2 weeks of flowering. It had no problems. FML

Things are getting worse. I just watered with H202 and lemon juice. pH of water was 6.5
The runoff is 7.6 with my meter. I don't think I know how or when to water. How much water should I put into a one gallon plastic container??!!? temps are 68n - 82d and humidity is 50%night and 35%day

Looking at that one pic you showed your plant is rootbound

I just picked up a bag of Ocean Forest and a few 5 gallon smart pots. As soon as they dry out I'm going to transplant into the smart pots with some Nitrogen fixing bacteria/root inoculant from xtreme gardening.

Think the fox farm soil will be enough? Or should I add dolomite/dry ferts? I don't want to use fish emulsion anymore because it stinks. I ran out of kelloggs tomato and veg.. but I have a big bag of Citrus-Tone from Epsoma.. should I mix some in with the fox farms, or wait a few weeks? here is the info on the citrus-tone: http://www.espoma.com/p_consumer/pdf/products/tones/Esp_Citrus.pdf seems like good stuff because it's got calcium, magnesium and sulpher, as well as a good proportion of NPK and beneficials.

Also, I installed the new hood which pulls air from outside the tent, straight across to the other vent. this should keep the temps to a tolerable level without the giant fan drying things out. Sometimes the humidity level was 20% because I needed that fan to cool the wing reflector light. That caused fast respiration which could have added to the stress.



I'll keep posting.. This thread will turn into somewhat of a grow log. Maybe I need to move it somehow to grow log section.. Not sure how to do that.

OK here is an update. .. I have a pan of water in the tent to keep humidity slightly higher. Its 40% lights on and 60% lights off. Temps peak at 84. Night is 68-70 now with new hood and fan.

The plants were transplanted into air pots. I mixed up FFOF and The kelloggs coco soil 50/50. I used 1 tsp. dolomite per gallon of soil. I also mixed in the recommended rates of espoma Citrus tone, and watered with nitrogen fixing bacteria to reduce transplant stress. I'm not worrying about pH adjustment of my water. Things are leveling off , I believe. Anyways growth looks good.

Its been 3 weeks since the first pics at beginning of the post. Plants are looking much better.
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Should I be worried about the yellowing on bottom of the plants? Tops look really healthy, but the yellowing may be starting to move up to newer fan leaves. It has been a little over three weeks since I planted, but I planted with Citrus tone mixed in with fox farm. I don't think I should put anything else in the soil. I have just been watering with Tap, nothing else. The Water sits out in a 10gal drum with a black bag over it.

Maybe a foliage feed? I have Dr. Earth 333 Liquid solution, Fish Emulsion 511, and FF Big Bloom.
I don't know which I should use because I don't know if the Def. Looks like Mag, Mb, N, or Zinc? Not sure...