Hoping you can possibly help with my ongoing issue with my first Grow
Some basic info below:
Media - soil FF Ocean forest
2x4 & 4x4 indoor grow tent (6 plants total)
250 watt Viperspectra 1500 Pro LED & Viparspectra KS5000
Fabric pots - 5 gal
Originally spring water for first 8 weeks, changed
this week to RO water.
Indica plants
Fox Farms Trio nutrients, Cal Mag, recharge
Carbon exhaust and clip on fans
Plants in 8th week of veg
Watering/feed at about 1.25 gal per plant
Ran 6 weeks veg without flush and PPMs in runoff got as high as 1800-2000 ppM, runoff ph around 6.0- 6.25… Leafs started to yellow with green veins and then brown spots.
After flush with sledgehammer, ppM down to 550- 700. Did a feeding at next watering and PPMs up to 700-900 runoff after feeding. Did a watering with calmag and fish shit 3 days later and PPMs at 1000-1200. PPMs going in are about 600-700.
Plant do not seem to want to move from lime green to darker green and PPMs continue to rise concerning me that they are not up taking nutes. I talked to Fox Farm and they said don’t go by runoff, do a slurry PH which I did and came out with 6.4 ph. I have been wanting to move these to flower but concerned that they will continue to degrade.
Interesting to note that internal and lower leaves are nice dark green.
A couple of questions:
Do you think the plants are stilled locked out and require another flush? Is only been 2 weeks since last flush.
Am I too concerned with PPMs and not feeding enough so perhaps that is why they will not recover. When feeding, only 1/2 Trio recommended.
Should I top dress with some dolomite lime to increase the soil ph ?
Could high humidity in late veg cause some of this problem 60-75%
I have been delaying flipping to flower for 2+ weeks and concerned that the what I hope to see in improvement may not ever get there…. Do I flip or wait more?
Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I would try another flush as soon as the soil is dry enough to water again. 3x the capacity of the pot pHed 6.5 and start with 1/2 g to 1 gallon of water and walk away for at least ten minutes to allow water to soak in good and start to dissolve any excess salts then continue flush until you have run all the water through. You can add the sledge or not, with that amount of water it would not be necessary. Top it off with your regular feeding after you finish flushing. What are you checking the pH and ppm with?
It’s a good idea to flush down to a runoff PPM of 300 to 400 to correct pH. Fox Farm soils will revert to a pH of ~6.5 this way.
You will have fewer pH problems by switching to the Jacks 321 product as it isn’t as salty as the Trio. Jacks Part A, Part B, and unscented Epsom salt for magnesium is all you really need, but of course you can still supplement with Recharge and whatnot.
The humidity is not the cause but you will want to keep it in the 50s for flowering. I would delay the flip until you see improvement. Lime is a bit imprecise for me personally and I have had better results with proper pH to adequate runoff.
Lime can help buffer pH in the proper range, but it takes lime too long to break down to affect pH in any significant way. It cannot be used to adjust pH.
Agreed . Tried it on my first grow and took about three weeks to get back in range. Before planting if you are going to use it. Glad you’re on board, I just wanted to nudge ‘‘em in the right direction until an expert joined the conversation.
Quick question @MidwestGuy
Ppm advice here is rarely accompanied with a reference to which scale is being used. I use an ec meter then do the math. I read somewhere once that x 700 is ppm and x 500 is tds but some people seem to be using the 500 scale and referring it as ppm. I’m still confused a bit because of this inconsistency in the advice out there. What scale are you going by?
I use the 500 scale. I think the 700 scale is widely used in Europe and maybe Australia. So long as you account for which scale you are using it doesn’t really matter. I have a side-by-side conversion chart, but will not be able to post it until I can get home to my desktop. Remind me if I forget to post it by tomorrow.
Thanks for helping clear this up. I was coming around to the notion that most were going by the 500 scale. Lots of people say maintaining anywhere from 900-1200 but no reference to which scale and the difference between the two is considerable.
Keep in mind that wet soil isn’t going to absorb nutrients very well as the soil is already saturated… I usually give a light feed immediately after the flush and then do a full feed again after the soil has dried out.
I recommended the 3x flush because I had a suspicion that the soil might not be getting saturated enough from either not enough water or too fast. @MidwestGuy is one of the core group of people here regularly dedicated to helping people with solid advice. You are in great hands and I would follow his advice over mine.
Fox farms is rough. Its salty as hell. I started with fox farms. I think alot of us do because we recognize the bottles and it’s so familiar. However, once I started growing watching videos and what not. I learned ALOT of people walk away from fox farms because the salt build ups. Ive since switched to organics. It seems over whelming at first because there’s so much knowledge and amendments you can use. Honestly it’s not tho. Specially when you go with an organic line that has everything for you. I’m running Cold War Organics and I love it. No deficiency or toxicity. Ive also got into seed sprout teas and different home made amendments. I was ready to give up after my second grow. I’m glad I didn’t.
Not sure i’d go that far. I’ve grown some crazy top shelf plants in FF soil without any issues whatsoever. Like any medium you need to really get to know it before you get good with it. That said i think there are far better soils out there. I’m having good luck with Michigan Made Mix (fairly hot tho) and SoHum.
I’m not stating fox farms can’t be used. Or that it doesn’t create good or decent buds. What in stating is alot of people that I e watched and talked to in the industry has left or moved on from fox farms because of the high probability of salt build up and the issues it brings. Fox farms themselves tell you you need to flush after like every third feeding.
with my first Grow
. Tried it on my first grow and took about three weeks to get back in range. Before planting if you are going to use it. Glad you’re on board, I just wanted to nudge ‘‘em in the right direction until an expert joined the conversation.
