New Grower Overwatered or underwatered

[Arthur]

I shy away from adding acids if I can, really messes with theach micro-life... the run off idea is sound, but I'd run a slurry test as well. That'll give you a more accurate pH were the roots live. Runoff can be erroneous, as it's not what's in the soil, but what washed out. The guys on here swear by the accurate 8 probe, I haven't picked one up yet, and will, but I hear such conflicting ideas on testing soil pH... I figure the more ways I can test will give me a more accurate reading, given a larger average.

 

[Dabber]

Silly question but is the pot sitting in or on something I just started using fabric pots and found out quickly that mine didn't like sitting in something where the bottom didn't get air. When I water I do the same amount for every plant and I could tell a big difference after raising my pots so air could get to the bottom. Note they dry out quicker also.

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[bad dragon bzzz]

if you have spare soil and a spare pot,fill the pot with soil and put it in a corner.that is your dry pot lift it up and down get a gauge of its weight.
next time it comes round to watering if your pots with plants in them are noticebly heavier than the reference pot dont water.
if the pots with plants in them are allways almost as light as the reference pot water more and more often.
im shite at diagnosing defencencies/toxicities and whatnot.panic flushing,stab in the dark,lucky guess and taking the first bit of advice given is the wrong thing to do.
its not going to die on you,its only a lil bit sick.you gaining the info needed fo fix,and plenty of good folk to help out.
good luck n keep er lit.

 

[Delta9Heavy]

I'm not at home when my watering log is but those are about true 2.5(they say 3 gal) gal pots watering 2L every 4 days or so off the top of my head

Correction they are 5 gal pots but 3.5 true gallons. I am watering 2L every other day now since Tuesday. Before that it was about every 4 days

 

[Delta9Heavy]

Silly question but is the pot sitting in or on something I just started using fabric pots and found out quickly that mine didn't like sitting in something where the bottom didn't get air. When I water I do the same amount for every plant and I could tell a big difference after raising my pots so air could get to the bottom. Note they dry out quicker also.

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They are on diy saucers-basically big bucket lids so yea the bottom of the pots are flat on the lid. How would you raise the pots off the "ground"? Like just momentarily while watering, or permanently like airflow under the pot too?

 

[Delta9Heavy]

Thanks man. I more meant doing a soil slurry test in a bowl and using baking soda on one test and vinegar on another, instead of distilled water. If one fizzles when you put it in, it's either basic or acidic. I can't remember the details I'll ask google. But I can do a slurry and test the ph with the gh ph drops also

 

[wwwillie]

Hey now!
This just caught my attention so I thought I'd say hey!
Archie's spot on with his advice about the weight for watering, it's how I learned. I too am a fan of the slurry test. But a decent TDS and pH pen are really needed to get any kind of read.
I do my slurry test by extracting an ounce of dry soil from 2 inches down and mixing with a ounce of pH neutral water at 0 TDS. Wait about 5-10 minutes stir it up a bit and take a TDS and pH reading. This should give you a good idea of your soil pH and how much fertilizer is in it. I shoot for about pH 6.3-6.6 and a TDS around 400 (my meter uses 500 as a factor) with my nutrients.
Hope this helped...
WWW

 

[Dabber]

They are on diy saucers-basically big bucket lids so yea the bottom of the pots are flat on the lid. How would you raise the pots off the "ground"? Like just momentarily while watering, or permanently like airflow under the pot too?

I used a plastic pallet and pop crates note pic my new area will have 1 crate per plant. I've seen all types of racks I call them basically anything you can use to rise pots so air gets to the bottom and they don't sit in water

 

[Delta9Heavy]

This is what it looks like now on the crates. Set up s third fan for below pot airflow also. Btw-I turned the pic sideways i dont know why it's still showing sideways.

Hey now!
This just caught my attention so I thought I'd say hey!
Archie's spot on with his advice about the weight for watering, it's how I learned. I too am a fan of the slurry test. But a decent TDS and pH pen are really needed to get any kind of read.
I do my slurry test by extracting an ounce of dry soil from 2 inches down and mixing with a ounce of pH neutral water at 0 TDS. Wait about 5-10 minutes stir it up a bit and take a TDS and pH reading. This should give you a good idea of your soil pH and how much fertilizer is in it. I shoot for about pH 6.3-6.6 and a TDS around 400 (my meter uses 500 as a factor) with my nutrients.
Hope this helped...
WWW

I have the gh ph test drops and a ppm meter. Will do said slurry tests tonite and report. I am using supersoil though and tested some runoff awhile back in was 4500ppm. Just figured with organics it didn't matter too much like it would with hydro nutes

 

[wwwillie]

This is what it looks like now on the crates. Set up s third fan for below pot airflow also. Btw-I turned the pic sideways i dont know why it's still showing sideways.

I have the gh ph test drops and a ppm meter. Will do said slurry tests tonite and report. I am using supersoil though and tested some runoff awhile back in was 4500ppm. Just figured with organics it didn't matter too much like it would with hydro nutes

Hey,
I use a line called NFTG Nectar for The Gods, One of the ways they teach is to do the slurry test as I described. It is not a salt based based line and I use ACT type teas and all sorts of benes. Not a super soil type of grow, so I am not sure just how to run that way, water, I don't know I add all sorts of stuff but I depend on feeding the soil for a lot of how my plants absorb their nutes. So that being said I shoot for a PPM of 400 with my meter. I'd be curious how yours comes out. I did a slurry my poor girls last night. I was so busy battling the mite they got hungry!
Peace