Hey buddy, happy new years to you. Sorry to hear you're having a rough first go at this. Just wondering, what is your experience with outdoor growing? Did you grow autos before and have you done your own organic soil mix previously? From what I've read it can be tricky getting a mix that works well for autos if you haven't done it before since they can be so sensitive to nutrients. And unfortunately with autos, if they are stunted badly during the beginning it's almost a lost cause since their cycle is so short... I think this might be the case at least for your PG and HD. Is going the organic route a necessity for you? I just ask because you might want to consider just doing something like Pro-mix plus Advanced Nutrients pH perfect base nutes for your next grow... that combo is almost guaranteed to give you good results and would not cost much.
Anyways... sending you some
hope things get better for you.
Hi Hans, happy new years to you too and thanks for keeping a look out on my forum!
My outdoor experience is pretty decent, always done organic, but was totally different. I was on a farm on the mountains, so I had 4 pits in which i used to chuck about 1-1.5m3 of a mix of pigeon, chicken, horse and goat manure, along with all the veg waste from farming (olives, cherries, apricots), ashes from the fire etc....all were so readily available, plus had sooo much space, everything always worked great. Ahhh....also had gorgeous weathet...good days!!!
But no, never did autos before. Actually decided to do them because of AFN, i think i mentioned before I really liked the vibes??
Also not done rich organic soils the few times I did run pots - maybe that is why they came so good!! Lol
would really like to stick to organics, tho I appreciate it takes a lot longer to get it spot on indoors - I am not after huge amounts, 60g would probably do me between grows, but if there was more I would not complain - neither would my brothers!
plus... I like the challenge!
I was expecting pitfalls, but not quite like this, I fell for the worst mistake, proper noob: haste and impatience!! To my defence, over the last 6 yrs, i have grown nothing! :-/
so my biggest mistake was not measuring my initial soil pH AS WELL AS not letting it "cook". (Didn't have pH meter at time and just wanted to get started - after all, never had soil probs in past...(darn selfed assurance!)
let me explain why it was my impatience and what I think is happening.
Today I flushed my plants as suggested, and actually measured the run off....my soil is at 7.2 for the HD, 8.1 (!!!!!!!!!) for the PG. To be fair to the soil testers, they were indicating high pH in those sort of regions, but they begun on 6.5 and having read so much about how inaccurate they are I just put it down to cheap readers.
Also I had put the problem of the seedling down to overwatering (which they were to an extent, but obviously not too bad and nothing I have not done before. I know my soil drains well,which I had observed but decided to ignore for some subconsciously convenient, wishful reason...too much water is an easy fix after all!), when the signs are prob nutrient deficiency. though could well be some burn there too!. Nute lock is the obvious candidate for me (sigh). Calcium/mag maybe potassium as well? Need toread up what locks out at high pH.
looks Not done Somango yet, having a time-out...:Sharing One:...
I should've just let this run start in normal soil and then cure deficiencies through teas/topfeeding, while this batch of mix sat and went through its pH swings as the different nutrients (pelletised vs. powder for eg.) released into the soil from the fertilisers, and use it in next grow . Incidentally, that is what I have done! So in 6-8 weeks there will be some sweet stuff....though I have been reading so much about top-feeding and seen AMAZING results (but then, is that not true for many differing techniques? The beauty and attraction to the indoor for me was here, so many more variables to control with so many different results for each setup! Crazy little scientist in me coming out again hehe), which means I might use it as a top feed only...but I have time to think that over!
woha - what was supposed to be a short post turned out in a book! Apologies...and I hope it makes sense...been "busy" while typing!
thanks Hans and everyone for keeping an eye open for fellow growers - love the vibes!
now,
round to the. Somango....
