WOW @blackthumbbetty
Just look at all those flowers…wow awesome ! Great job
Wiil
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Thanks, @garrigan62! What do you think of the babies?
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holy mother of flowers bat man! lol looking pretty @blackthumbbetty
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They look very strong and healthy…by the way…were did you learn how to grow like that…hmmm
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@garrigan62 @Countryboyjvd1971 @Myfriendis410 @Bogleg
Did a slurry test today (took about a tbsp of soil from each pot, mixed it with distilled water, and let it sit for 12 hours, shaking it vigorously once in a while):
Ec: 2.6
pH: 7.3
Ok, when can I freaking flush the soil! I know they’re young, but I need to take care of this before my plants show issues, and they always show issues.
I’m thinking if I flush around the cowpots, I’ll shock the seedlings the least. In other words, I won’t pour water w/in a 4" radius around the seedling, to avoid directly disturbing the roots, though the roots will be wetted via soil saturation.
I know that if I don’t deal with this now, come flowering, my plants will go belly up. I can actually nip this in the bud! If I had the funds & there was a store close to me, I’d just transplant into different soil, but I’m broke & it’s 20 below…my butt is not making the 220 mile r/t drive to get dirt.
Next grow, I’m going with promix hp or something. I’ve been fighting this soil through 5 grows, now.
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Can you transplant them into more dirt ? What i mean is do you have extra dirt around you can flush and adjust the ph levels to exceptable range then transplant the toungbplants inti that ? Maybe do one plant at a Time? Just a thought
I use promix bx myself
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Not a single cup of extra soil anywhere in this house! Blerg.
The local farmer’s co-op does have promix hp for $70. It’s enough soil for all my plants. So, now I choose between buying a sack of herbs or buying a sack of soil. Decision, decisions.
I spend so much $ on soil. If I buy the promix for this grow, that will make my soil budget for this grow over $120!
So, do I take a chance with flushing or take a chance with transplanting my autos into a soil I’ve never used? Oh, and the money, so much $.
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To me the only real thing to do with autos is leave them. I would order some dolomite lime and while that’s on the way do a flush. Don’t go below 6.3 and 3 times the pot size is the amount of water. Do another slurry test after.
I would add the caveat that you need to dry out the soil afterwards as quickly as possible and plan on feeding at the next watering.
Your plants are currently looking good so yes: this needs to be done, but it looks like you could afford to let them fill the pot better before flushing.
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You think they’ll be fine til next Friday? I had already planned a flush at 3-4weeks, b/c of the issues I’ve had in the past with this soil. My plants always thrive in veg, but get very angry at me w/in one week of the flip. I’ve never grown autos, but I assume once they start flowering, they’ll probably have the same problems photos have in this damned soil.
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@Myfriendis410 @Countryboyjvd1971 @garrigan62
Ok, so I decided to flush 2 of the seedlings. I chose these 2 specifically, b/c if I need to lower my plant count to make room for better growth, these are the 2 I’d give away. I tried it on wwxbb#2 & the tangie with leaf damage. Both of these were dry to start.
I gave each 6 gallons of regular tap h2o with 1tbsp florakleen per 5 gallon bucket, pH’d to 6.2.
After the initial flush (I did it in 2 waves, w/in 10 minutes of each other), ec from run-off was still up at 2.0; after the second wave the ec is down to 1.6. I know that’s still high for seedlings, but at least I got it down by one whole point.
I didn’t check the pH, b/c I’m an idiot.
The cowpots actually made great guidelines.
Ok, time to empty my waste water buckets. Thank goodness for shop vacs & kitty litter buckets!
If the 2 flushed seedlings show no overwatering or root issues over the next few days, I’m going to flush all of them.
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If you can, run a fan on them directly just to speed drying back out. That should get the root zone back where it belongs.
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Already have the fans going & my tent is half open. Luckily, with the temp drop outside, the ambient humidity has been sucked dry.
Honestly, 20 minutes later, the top of the soil is already less muddy looking.
Note the cowpot outline.
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This is where fabric pots shine! You should be fine. Monitor your output ph by taking the last bit of runoff after watering and that should give you a good idea. You can check the tds too.
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I was so worried about the ec, I shop vacced all the run-off after I checked that, but forgot to get my pH pen in the run-off. See, this is what happens when I’m not high. Lol! I did just check the h2o I vacced up…pH down to 7.0, but I wouldn’t trust it, since it went through the shop vac filter. Oh, well, I have a slurry going, now; I’ll test in am.
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And I just realized you posted to flush w/3x the water, not 2x. Sorry, I didn’t catch that, so only did the 2x. Just didn’t want you to think I was ignoring your advice–my brain didn’t catch it, is all. Again, no herb this morning, so my brain is a little fuzzy. Was. Was a little fuzzy. Right as rain, now. 
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You did fine! That 3 X pot size doesn’t account for Florakleen.
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I get the pro mix fir 34$ a bushel you might want to look around a bit if you have options
@blackthumbbetty
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I live in rural Alaska. My nearest option after is over 220 miles, round-trip, away.
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Well you better get moving lol
I forgot your up north @blackthumbbetty 
That would explain the high cost of the promix tho
Have you thought about getting tour local soil lab tested might be worth it ti know what minerals you have available locally then just supplement withbthe on s you need ? With soil amendments
Just a thought i would think you have some fertile soil up your way hun ?
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Are you talking about actual soil from the ground? Or bagged soil?
I think I’m just going with promix. Lab testing is expensive up here. Heck, just to get to town, it costs me over $75 in fuel.
Promix is actually an economic choice for me. I’m used to the high cost of goods, up here. I very happily spend all my extra cash on growing. 
. It’s still cheaper than my annual weed budget of 7k…just for me. Lol!
Also, I think the cowpots are really going to help me out with flushing, b/c the seedling’s roots are still contained in those pots; my flushing isn’t disturbing the roots or drowning them.
As soon as I get out of bed to go test my slurry, I’ll have more results from yesterday’s 2 plant flush.
Next year, I’m going with promix, for sure! The organic soil I’ve been using is the same price as promix, so no biggie, and waaaaay less hassle than I’ve had with hot soils.