ok, brace yourselves, this is going to be long winded!
all the soil info i have found on this forum has to do with fox farm soils. ive noticed it is really expensive. im looking to do a cost effective grow. i blended 2 different types of scott’s brand topsoils 50/50 with about 25-30% vermiculite blended in. no other fertilizers or nutrients added. the soil has a nice rich scent one would expect for potting soil.
i also bought a soil pH tester- but it seems to have vanished into thin air. we searched for it for the better part of 2 hours and it never reappeared. looks like im gonna have to buy a new one.
i bought ILGM’s auto-flower mix pack (blueberry, northern lights, amnesia haze).
i hand picked the smallest, scrawniest, most pathetic looking seeds from each strain to germinate first. over the course of a few days, all 3 of them germinated with a taproot. all 3 of them went into soil on the same day ( 6/1/2020 ) this was no accident.
now, the soil i put the seeds in was 50% the soil blend mentioned above, and 50% burpee seed starter soil. they say whats good for tomatoes is good for weed, and i have had success with this type of blend before (with tomatoes).
in addition to the weed plants, i also planted a few different types of vegetables, they are using the exact same soil blends as the weed. 2 different types of tomatoes are among the food plants i am also growing. all plants have been started off in solo cups (yes, with drainage holes at the bottoms).
as mentioned above, my soil pH tester grew wings and flew away, so i was unable to test for that. but i have been able to approximate the water pH thanks to lithmus strips i got to tide me over while i wait for my digital tester to arrive on the slow boat from china. (pH at around 6-7)
all plants started off with distilled water until the lithmus strips arrived. after that, i started using the tap water (exactly 13 days into grow).
(i must digress for a moment to explain that our tap water is well water. i know it has minerals in it, not sure what all there is, but calcium for sure. i dont know what the PPM count is on the minerals in the water… is this calcium bad? will boiling the tap water remove the minerals if need be?)
back to the plants- grow journal is like this:
(room where plants were put temps reach up to 85-90. dont have a way to measure humidity yet- but it is humid where i live, averages about 65% RH according to google)
june 1st:
germinated seeds went to soil. added 1/4 cup distilled water to bone dry soil, left in window sill (light and tent not set up yet)
june 3rd:
amnesia haze has first leaves, blueberry and northern lights sprouted out from soil. plants moved under grow light (mars hydro TS1000- set to 75% intensity), 2 feet from plants. soil bone dry again. added 1/4 cup distilled water to all plants. small fan added to room to keep air moving. light on for about 36 hours.
june 4th:
blueberry and northern lights grow first leaves. amnesia haze is about 1 inch tall and looking good. timer added to grow light- 16 hours light, 8 hours darkness. this is the lighting schedule from now on.
june 5th:
northern lights browning and beginning to wilt. blueberry and amnesia haze looking good. soil bone dry again- another 1/4 cup distilled water added to all plants,
june 6th:
northern lights DEAD. blueberry browning and beginning to wilt. amnesia haze still thriving.
june 7th:
blueberry looks like shit. northern lights still dead.
soil bone dry again- another 1/4 cup distilled water added to all plants.
june 8th:
northern lights DEAD. blueberry DEAD. amnesia haze still looking healthy, but no further growth
june 10th-
soil dry- 1/4 cup distilled water added to amnesia haze. no longer bothering with the dead plants.
june 11-15
no changes. amnesia haze still 1 inch tall and with same leaves as when sprouted.
soil dry on the 13th, added 1/4 cup pH balanced tap water added
june 16th
amnesia haze not looking good… turning brown and wilting. not looking good. soil dry- 1/4 cup pH balanced tap water with fox farm nutes* added to amnesia haze.
(vegetation nutes at 50% less than directions call for) (same nutes given to food plants)
i expect the amnesia haze will be dead by end of today (june 17th)… “Way She Goes, Boys…”
as i mentioned, my soil PH tester vanished so i havent been able to measure that. but on the other hand, im also growing veggies in the same soil blends, including watermelons, squash, 2 different types of tomatoes, and bell peppers. all the food plants are thriving and loving the marshydro ts1000 light and scotts topsoil + vermiculite/ burpee starter soil blend. they all have also been getting the same amount of water and care as the weed plants. the food is doing fine, but the weed not so much.
so does anybody got an idea what went wrong? i am pretty sure i did not over water them. it does get hot in texas. the room the plants are in is not airconditioned, but there is a fan. im pretty sure the light is not too strong, i decreased the intensity by 25%, and light is 2 feet away from the plants. food and weed plants are all in a clear bin together, with cheese cloth covering the top to keep bugs out.
food plants are ready for transplant and will take up more space, so i will be setting up my grow tent soon… my tent is 8ft X 8ft X 6.5ft tall.
on a secondary note, i started germinating 3 new seeds june 13th, about 12pm. one of each strain again. this time picked seeds at random. blueberry grew a taproot in about 24 hours. by 30-40 hours- northern lights had its taproot. they both went into soil june 15th about 2am. amesisa haze has not yet germinated, not sure if it will.