Hey everyone, this is my first post here, and I am excited to learn all about the community of growers here.
I have several grows under my belt, few have been what I would call successful, but I have learned a lot. I started outgoing the liquid nute route, non-organic. I didn’t like the idea of that. My current grow is in organic soil and I have been using General Organics liquid nutrients. I have 3 strawberry cough strains, purchased from ILGM, and it has been 25 days since I flipped to 12/12. The plants are definitely hairy, but have put on almost no weight. It took them a full 2 wks to show hairs after flip, so maybe they are just slow. But, I haven’t been pHing my water, as the nutes say it is not required. My water comes out the tap at 7.5 pH, and I have since found out that my water is chlorinated. So, in an effort to rebuild my soil life, I have purchased a real good quality pH pen, a hose filter which dechlorinates and removes heavy metals. I am going to give a compost tea or two over the next couple weeks and pH everything that goes in my soil at 6.5. That being said, should I do a flush at 6.2 or 6.5 to try to get my soil pH down (I didn’t have the budget for a soil pH meter, that comes on the next grow)? Or if i just start and continue to pH everything to 6.5 will it take care of itself?
Any tips, thoughts, or suggestions are greatly appreciated!
That is what I am hoping, but it also won’t hurt to start getting serious about the ph of my water. And from what I’ve read, there is little to no potential harm from giving compost teas, and I am sure it will only help in this situation. Thanks for the replies!
When you get your pH meter you can do a slurry test to find your soil pH.
The plant(s) looks pretty content, so I wouldn’t start out doing anything drastic, like flushing.
Keep your input at pH 6.5 for now and readdress things as you get more info.
Most of the GO line doesn’t qualify as organic. Just cause organic is in the name doesn’t really make it so. Keep an eye out for OMRI listed products, if ya wanna be 100% sure and don’t wanna spend your time researching.
That’s because it takes 2 to 3 weeks to transition before you can call that wk1 of flowering. You’re just beginning to flower and pistols weigh nothing.
With organics, pH’ing your water is pointless because the microbes self regulate the pH to their needs. That assumes you use a natural method of up/down so you don’t murder the micro heard. If you adjust the pH and then check it 3 hrs later you’ll see that it went right back to what it was.
So what would you do, in my situation. Stay the course? Compost tea with filtered tap water? I will be switching my nutrient regimen on my next grow, but this grow will continue with the Gen Organics.
So to be clear, as an organic grower, there are 2 camps of organic growers. Some believe growing in coco and using organic liquid nutrients is organically growing. Then there are those that believe true organics is soil that is made with natural organic ammendments. I am in the second camp. Thats not to say that I dont use the other stuff, I just dont consider it organic gardening. That said, yes teas work fantastic, but they can still be too strong for plants so the belief that teas are hard to overdo is totally wrong.
Ph is buffered quite well in a healthy organic soil, so unless you water is brutal I would only be concerned with chlorine. That sterilizes all the goodness out of your organic soil in a hurry !
As for your plants, they look happy enough, and buds form at different rates for different plants, it really cant be forced. So stay the course and use teas sparingly.
I want to go full organic, living soil, etc. I have a good plan for my next grow and I won’t be shooting from the hip as much, but I am where I am with this grow, and i just want to try and make it as successful as possible.
I planning to do a tea of compost and fresh worm poo, both are homegrown from my buddy. Would you recommend not doing a tea? Maybe just dilute it a bunch? I just want to restore the microbes to the soil. I did the slurry method and my soil is definitely within the 6 to 7 pH range.
I prefer teas to bottled fertilizers to be honest. If you get a rain barrel and an airstone with a decent air pump, get some ingredients together like comphry leaves, worm poo, and compost, mix it all together and throw it all in a nylon stocking. Hang that baby in the barrel and pump some air into it for a day or 2. That will get you started! There are tons of good recipes on the internet that you can use! Just dig in! When you are fully invested in organics you soon realize plants are like people, the bigger the menu, the happier the eater!
Oh yeah, when you are done brewing the tea feel free to top dress with the remains! Nothing is wasted!
@Budbrother I did a slurry test, my soil was at 6.3, so well within range. I want to begin using dechlorinated water, I bought an inline filter that removes chlorine and heavy metals, and the pH jumped to 9.3 compared to 7.5 coming from the tap. I have an aerator and am aerating 5 gal of water overnight to see how much that raises pH. Would you say it’s better to use the filtered water, the tap water as is, or aerated tap water?
I am currently renting a house, and am under contract on a house and once I move, I will figure out a better watering scenario (rain catch, whole house filter, both). Until then, I want something that will work well enough to not kill my soil and grow halfway decent buds.
@Cannabian - tagging you to get your thoughts as well.
While I have both of you, would you recommend a whole house filter, as it pertains to watering cannabis?
Possibly? I have a carbon filter, particulated filter, and a UV light in my house, however, if Im using that water ( municipal from the lake and chlorinated ) regardless of the filtration, I still let it stand for 24 hours. If you are using coco or peat and commercial fertilizers, i would recommend mixing the food and checking the EC as per, and before you water check the ph and correct as needed. If you are in natural soils and the ph if you water is reasonable, the soil will buffer it somewhat. The choice is yours ultimately, and worst case is you learn from the experience. We all do.
!