tucked up Voodoo Girl

[trailanimal]

Need the help of more experienced folk. Voodoo Girl is an auto ultimate. She is in a 3 gal smart pot. In "soil" I've been building for 5 years. Started with very fine river silt, basically crushed mountain rock, been making and adding compost yearly. Base soil drains and dries easily. She lived the first 53 days in the window then moved out to the greenhouse May 14. Few days after she was out it turned real cold and overcast. I over watered her and she looked like textbook of over water. A couple days drying she looked ok. About the first of June she starts taking on a droopy look and I'm thinking she is getting too much water. It's getting 70-80F at times in greenhouse with a constant drying breeze. Droopy, a few leaf edges curling in. Waited till top 1" of soil pretty dry, she was droopy but not that textbook sog look. Watered 1 gal Fri night, Sat morning she was not quite so tucked. Pics are Sat morning. Now Sunday early am, still moist under mulch and still droopy. Lifted pot edge, some run off has been going out and smelled good.

 

[namvet25]

;]It's either to wet or to dry.If your pot is wet and feels heavy then the soil Is not getting enough oxygen to the roots.Either that or it's to dry.

 

[briman]

Heya trail, stick your pointer finger in the medium to the second knuckle and pull it out. If the medium sticks to your finger, its too wet, if it doesn't stick its ready for water/feed. Also, like Nammy said, lift the pot daily and note the weight. If the whole pot feels light, water it. If it feels heavy, let it go a day or two. Both are proven methods to check. Looks over watered to me. It's amazing how lite a pot can feel, when its dry. Got me a bag of river silt at the ready as well. Sending some out to a few folks wanting to amend their soil. Hate to hijack your thread, but how much river silt are you using per gallon of soil? Best guess.

 

[trailanimal]

;]It's either to wet or to dry.If your pot is wet and feels heavy then the soil Is not getting enough oxygen to the roots.Either that or it's to dry.

Thanks, exactly, too wet too dry. Never had a plant so touchy. I'll start using the weight method, thanks again for the advice.

 

[trailanimal]

Heya trail, stick your pointer finger in the medium to the second knuckle and pull it out. If the medium sticks to your finger, its too wet, if it doesn't stick its ready for water/feed. Also, like Nammy said, lift the pot daily and note the weight. If the whole pot feels light, water it. If it feels heavy, let it go a day or two. Both are proven methods to check. Looks over watered to me. It's amazing how lite a pot can feel, when its dry. Got me a bag of river silt at the ready as well. Sending some out to a few folks wanting to amend their soil. Hate to hijack your thread, but how much river silt are you using per gallon of soil? Best guess.

Thanks briman. Will use the finger test and weight test. I'm treating her like I always water a plant her size and pot size, just failed to be tuned to her individual needs. Finger test and weight test, got it.
Don't worry about hijacking, love to talk about it. Nothing at this site we would recognize as "garden soil". First summer built cabin, second summer began to build soil. After spring flood hauled up silt to raised beds. Then scraped up leaf mould from under alders. The river silt is very fine crushed mountain, zero organic material, lots of mineral potential once biological action renders it available to plants. So next step was to start composting: humanure, leaves, grass, fish waste, etc. This takes more time up here with such a short growing season. Thermophilic decomp just isn't going to happen. Slow mouldering process, but it gets there after a couple of seasons. After 5 yrs of adding compost to silt have a decent base soil. A long way around to your question. Soil is still quite silty in looks and feel. I don't think you have to worry about too much. It will take some time for minerals and trace minerals to become available.

 

[Waira]

Hey TA :smoking:...agree with the above,... it looks a bit heavy and smothery, very fine particles do this,... might be why the roots are being bitchy about water and not breathing well enough,...

 

[trailanimal]

Hey TA :smoking:...agree with the above,... it looks a bit heavy and smothery, very fine particles do this,... might be why the roots are being bitchy about water and not breathing well enough,...

Thanks for the input Waira. Yup, the silt base still needs more compost for organic material to loosen it up. It can become dense, even when I dig into into it and it feels right for moisture, not soggy. Haven't watered since Fri and her leaves are picking up. Hoping I haven't stressed her too much to stifle production. Oh well, living and learning. What one plant can hack another can't. Over time my soil will get there. This experience will help me with the new crop coming up. Keeping the youngsters cultivated for O2, and when they get bigger will watch my water.

 

[trailanimal]

perking up some

 

[Waira]

..better! Even some perlite, finer grade, would help open things up some,.. I think the soil itself is just to compact, making for reduced capacity gas exchange,... add a heavy watering, and what little nano-air spaces there are become filled with water,... however, I gather you're remote enough that pretty much anything is horridly $$ to get sent to you,...... her color is rather light too,.. can you get some Fe, S and Mg in there? Molasses has Ca, Mg and a little K and Fe in it,.. epsoms salts are MgSO4,....

 

[trailanimal]

..better! Even some perlite, finer grade, would help open things up some,.. I think the soil itself is just to compact, making for reduced capacity gas exchange,... add a heavy watering, and what little nano-air spaces there are become filled with water,... however, I gather you're remote enough that pretty much anything is horridly $$ to get sent to you,...... her color is rather light too,.. can you get some Fe, S and Mg in there? Molasses has Ca, Mg and a little K and Fe in it,.. epsoms salts are MgSO4,....

Amazon prime free ship, epsoms salts and molasses would be easy, but, my PO 20 miles away in the village is totally dysfunctional right now, lucky if it is open 4 days a month. I'll order it and keep some on hand. How much should I use, and when. She was good until that first overwater during cold dark weather last month. I'll put a pic up so you can see her then. Thanks a bunch for the advice Waira .