"Just add water soil" problem

So i got the soil from a hydro store but its from a kinda local farm from groton ny called rabbit creek farm. Its a peat base " easy grow just add water" soil. The guy at the store said they get it local and its "surprisingly good, it has everything you will need, just hit it with recharge once a week and even though thats a simple grow, it will work"

Well im clearly a beginner and i have a 3x3 ac infinity tent and fan setup. I also have the ac infinity cloth pot trays ( its a self watering wick system) Long story short i have a simple set up and im a beginner at best. Idk what to do when something happens like a plant deficiency or something. That being said i think the soil might be running out of plant food. The leaves are geting to be a lighter color on top like a lime green i toped them a week ago about and just sis some LST yesterday. I wanted to switch to flowering bc the plants are geting to big as it is and now i think the soil is running low maybe?

Id like to grow "organic" the only thing ive used with the soil is recharge once a week, some black strap molasses, general hydro ph up and down and thats it. Everything was going great till the other day.

So is there a product that i dont know about thats made for this purpose ( for when the just add water nutrients run out and your still growing) maybe Gaia green?


Also it might be worth mentioning that the self watering cloth pot trays feed the bottom 3rd of the plant, could this have something to do with it?

I added some pics if anyone can please help me id greatly appreciate it....tks id advance for any help

There's sugar in recharge so I'd quit the molasses and contact grow store. For all I know the amended their soil with a slow release fertilizer. Also I am against adjusting ph for soil, it causes me problems every time. My tap is 8.4 and I don't adjust.

Too wet of a medium can cause nutrient uptake issues and root problems.
There really isn't a 'water only' medium from start to finish. You'll have to amend some nutrients in the cycle.

If I had to guess, it's mostly a watering issue. Don't do that bottom watering thing unless you're using a proper SIP setup (there's a thread here on that).

I don't understand how they can claim it's a "just add water" soil mix, but then say you need to add recharge... weird. I don't think the recharge is necessary as often as you've been told. And your plants don't seem old enough to have depleted the nutrition from the soil...

Molasses? Again you shouldn't need it in a soil that has everything.

pH up/down, you don't need it.

Focus on watering correctly. If by hand, do it slowly and completely until you see run off. Don't let it sit in the run off. Let it dry out completely before you water again.

Keep some general liquid fish ferts on hand. If you see deficiencies crop up, lightly begin adding some fish ferts in. Less is often more in this case.

MtRainDog said:

If I had to guess, it's mostly a watering issue. Don't do that bottom watering thing unless you're using a proper SIP setup (there's a thread here on that).

I don't understand how they can claim it's a "just add water" soil mix, but then say you need to add recharge... weird. I don't think the recharge is necessary as often as you've been told. And your plants don't seem old enough to have depleted the nutrition from the soil...

Molasses? Again you shouldn't need it in a soil that has everything.

pH up/down, you don't need it.

Focus on watering correctly. If by hand, do it slowly and completely until you see run off. Don't let it sit in the run off. Let it dry out completely before you water again.

Keep some general liquid fish ferts on hand. If you see deficiencies crop up, lightly begin adding some fish ferts in. Less is often more in this case.

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The soil company didn't suggest anything, it was a guy at my local hydroponic store. Fish farts?

Jimi O'Connor said:

The soil company didn't suggest anything, it was a guy at my local hydroponic store. Fish farts?

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Stop adjusting pH and adding molasses to start with. I'd also get some organic fertilizer because most likely you're gonna need it.

Jimi O'Connor said:

The soil company didn't suggest anything, it was a guy at my local hydroponic store. Fish farts?

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Lol fish farts. I'm talking about simple fish fertilizer. Like Neptunes Harvest or similar. You can find it pretty much everywhere. I'm just saying if you find your "water only" soil to be lacking, you could add a little fish fertilizer, start with 1/2 strength every time you water. But I doubt the soil is spent at this point.

What's up with your lighting? How many watts and how close is it to the top of your big plant?

To me it looks like your plants are doing well, until they get high enough to get blasted by your LEDs. I'm not an expert on all forms of lighting, but that shit looks way to close.

Maybe try raising that thing up a couple feet and see if your plant improves.

youraveragehorticulturist said:

What's up with your lighting? How many watts and how close is it to the top of your big plant?

To me it looks like your plants are doing well, until they get high enough to get blasted by your LEDs. I'm not an expert on all forms of lighting, but that shit looks way to close.

Maybe try raising that thing up a couple feet and see if your plant improves.

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Good call. I didn't even look at that.

I was gonna guess light stress too

Jjgrow420 said:

Too wet of a medium can cause nutrient uptake issues and root problems.
There really isn't a 'water only' medium from start to finish. You'll have to amend some nutrients in the cycle.

Click to expand...

Idk if you know what im talking about whwn i say "self watering cloth pot trays" the plant soakes it op from the wick system so its not really to "wet" id say. I included a link so a video on them so you get what i mean, also if you zoom in on the pics you can kinda see some of the spots i got. Kinda looks like rust or something

Jimi O'Connor said:

Idk if you know what im talking about whwn i say "self watering cloth pot trays" the plant soakes it op from the wick system so its not really to "wet" id say. I included a link so a video on them so you get what i mean, also if you zoom in on the pics you can kinda see some of the spots i got. Kinda looks like rust or something

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Yep. I know exactly what you're talking about. You have standing water soaking the medium in the bottom through a wick. It's not ideal. A rope can't tell when the plant needs water. It simply wicks the water into the medium as it dries keeping it wet. It's not a good way to water MJ. A wet/dry cycle is preferable. Oversaturated medium locks out nutrients especially p-k which is some of what you're seeing. Good luck.

I also agree with the lighting comment above.

Looks like a couple things going on. Light is definitely too much, and possible overwatering. If you're not using bottled nutes, you only want 5-10% water to soil volume. You don't want runoff in living organic soil. Also you're prolly going to need to feed. Get a good all purpose fertilizer. Dr earth, gaia green, craft blend, any one will do, along with earth worm castings.

Jjgrow420 said:

Too wet of a medium can cause nutrient uptake issues and root problems.
There really isn't a 'water only' medium from start to finish. You'll have to amend some nutrients in the cycle.

Click to expand...

So i got gaia green on the recommendation of the working at the hydro store

Hollatchaboy said:

Looks like a couple things going on. Light is definitely too much, and possible overwatering. If you're not using bottled nutes, you only want 5-10% water to soil volume. You don't want runoff in living organic soil. Also you're prolly going to need to feed. Get a good all purpose fertilizer. Dr earth, gaia green, craft blend, any one will do, along with earth worm castings.

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I got gaia green "all purpose" and power bloom" for when flowering

Jimi O'Connor said:

So i got gaia green on the recommendation of the working at the hydro store

I got gaia green "all purpose" and power bloom" for when flowering

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You'll need worm castings as well. Also, get some kinda bokashi. It'll help give your soil fungal dominance.

So quick update the trays are a wick system and the one plant soaked up the tray of water fast! Way faster than the other larger plant. But both plants are lime green on top and starting to get lighter under the net too

I thought maybe bc it soaked up the water to fast but the other plant is in the same boat and didn't drink that fast.

I wonder if i should not fill them right after therr empty, maybe wait a few days?

Also i got gaia green and i had a bottle of foxfarm liquid plant food it has worm castings, i beleve its called big bloom. Should I maybe use that?

Jimi O'Connor said:

So quick update the trays are a wick system and the one plant soaked up the tray of water fast! Way faster than the other larger plant. But both plants are lime green on top and starting to get lighter under the net too

I thought maybe bc it soaked up the water to fast but the other plant is in the same boat and didn't drink that fast.

I wonder if i should not fill them right after therr empty, maybe wait a few days?

Also i got gaia green and i had a bottle of foxfarm liquid plant food it has worm castings, i beleve its called big bloom. Should I maybe use that?

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Fox farm liquid are just bottled salts. If you want to do true organic, successfully, then you need to go all in.

Also i know this prolly sounds stupid, but the two taller plants

Hollatchaboy said:

Fox farm liquid are just bottled salts. If you want to do true organic, successfully, then you need to go all in.

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What do you mean by all in?

Jimi O'Connor said:

Also i know this prolly sounds stupid, but the two taller plants

What do you mean by all in?

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Get some dry organic amendments. Fox Farms even has organic dry nutrients. But get whatever's local and cheap. Dr. Earth, Down to Earth, etc.

Edit: if you already have Gaia you're all good.