Soil questions for autoflowers
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rollinbud
Active Member
wyteboi
Well-Known Member
its fine for now , but soon as they root , get them outta that pure peat moss. the ph of peat is way too low for pot. if you want to use it then you will have to add plenty of lime to the mix to keep the ph up.
try to find a good dirt or look into coco.
peat moss is a good thing to have around and use in your mixes but its not something you want to grow in by itself.
soil
try to find a good dirt or look into coco.
peat moss is a good thing to have around and use in your mixes but its not something you want to grow in by itself.
soil
as of now i neither have a water or soil ph tester, but i take your word for it as being low ph!! but is there a way that i could up it with watering? like if i mixed the lime with the water maybe. im sure there are ploenty of things natural and organic maybe that i could use to raise it???? maybe completly wrong i dont know lol..
wyteboi
Well-Known Member
now your brain is working correctly!
you can raise the ph slightly , but it will take a long time..... months. and then still its gonna try an fight its way back to its natural ph.
ANY bag soil is better then that. you can even use yard dirt , just as long as you add aeration to it.
i been reusing my bag soil for years now. i just add things back into it and its great again.
soil
sonar
Well-Known Member
Really? I've considered this in the past but was always hesitant. What do you use and how do you get the roots out? By the time I harvest a plant the soil and roots are just one huge mass really. The roots are so intertwined it seemed to tedious to separate the soil from the roots.
sixteenounces
Well-Known Member
If you get to mixing your own soil, you will want a soil shifting screen... You just throw the root balls on the sifting screen, smush them into it, then sift.
Add big bits of root to a compost pile, and let the smaller spider roots stay, organic matter will decompose and provide food for your next planting
farmerjoe420
Well-Known Member
so your mix is 70% peat and 30% vermiculite? if that is so you can almost use that with good success. if that is what you use, i would use 15% perlite & 15%vermiculite instead of 30% vermiculite, with the 70% peat and some compost or castings. then add 1 cup of dolimite per cubic foot and your golden. search lcs soilless mix and look at base recipe #1 and you will see what im talking about.
Ok i have two auto mazar in pots waiting to surface. i used good quality moss peat with a 30% vermiculite mix. is this good! heard maybe not, im worried now. ???
TheChodesman
Active Member
Peat and vermiculite sounds like a recipe for perpetual dampness. Also, I would never reuse any type of soil. But what do I know? My plants look like hell ATM.
wyteboi
Well-Known Member
the best soil growers in the world recycle their soil. there is just no efficient reason to keep buying dirt.
its all dirt , its all natural and is pretty much the same used or not. the only thing missin from it after you use it is food, an we all feed anyway right ?
basically in a good dirt , you start with soil, perlite, castings, compost and food. ..... when your done the dirt is just dirt an perlite , which is the majority of a good mix so you just add the other stuff back.
the second batch will be even better then the purchased bag because you are putting "fresh" ingredients back into the mix. plus you control what goes in there.
the goal that us organic guys shoot for , is to water all the way till the end with no food. we try to put just enough food in the mix for the plant to make it all the way through.
blood meal , bone meal, kelp , bat quanos and other organic matter goes into the mix to replace the food. roots are organic matter , so they stay in too. i try to get the big roots out an put them into the compost pile for futher composting but it will not hurt to leave um in there. the roots are excellent food for the biologicals. (the biologicals are the ones responsible for turning the organic matter into usable food. (chems)
soil
wyteboi
Well-Known Member
you are right. thats why we gotta get him into a better medium. there is just not enough aeration in that mix plus the ph wont hold up in peat.
soil
farmerjoe420
Well-Known Member
at 25-30% vermiculite,perlite, there is plenty of aeration. what do you think pro-mix is, a ratio of 70-80%peat, 20-30% perlite,vermiculite. Plus with added limestone and a good amount of humus, PH will be no problem. i use a mix similar to 70peat/30 perlite,vermiculite, with compost, lime and azomite along with amendments and my soil mix feeds my girls just like the expensive stuff. as far as PH, i use liquid fish and roots HPK, and never PH'd anything and have not have 1 problem ever . in a healthy organic soil that has been buffered, ph is irrelevant.
wyteboi
Well-Known Member
yes you are 100% correct on that one. good post!
however peat moss is no where near a healthy organic soil. pro-mix is a lil better because it has more aeration and lime added to the peat base. by itself it has the ability to buffer the ph to the sweet range for a short time. (over time the lime breaks down an gets used , then you will have to add more to keep the peat from fuckin up the ph)
peat moss , by itself will buffer the ph to around 4-5 , thats just not gonna work.
in your situation joe , you are creating a healthy organic soil by adding all the good organic matter which gives you all the nutes, microbes, fungus , humus, ect... needed to make a good dirt. without the amendments though, i would have to say i hate promix for organics. it can work fine , but its just much better to add the good stuff to it or make your own with regular dirt.
i myself never ever ph anything , but we have to remember , that its a very important factor for those who dont use good organic dirt.
soil
farmerjoe420
Well-Known Member
yes you are 100% correct on that one. good post!
however peat moss is no where near a healthy organic soil. pro-mix is a lil better because it has more aeration and lime added to the peat base. by itself it has the ability to buffer the ph to the sweet range for a short time. (over time the lime breaks down an gets used , then you will have to add more to keep the peat from fuckin up the ph)
peat moss , by itself will buffer the ph to around 4-5 , thats just not gonna work.
in your situation joe , you are creating a healthy organic soil by adding all the good organic matter which gives you all the nutes, microbes, fungus , humus, ect... needed to make a good dirt. without the amendments though, i would have to say i hate promix for organics. it can work fine , but its just much better to add the good stuff to it or make your own with regular dirt.
i myself never ever ph anything , but we have to remember , that its a very important factor for those who dont use good organic dirt.
soil
i never said peat moss alone or even peat and vermiculite are a healthy soil. i was just merely suggesting a few common items to add to what he has to make it work. as far as the lime though, i have used pro mix with 1 cup of lime per cubic foot and never ph adjusted nutrients or water. i think wetdog said it best on a recent post he made:
" Short answer: Lime will buffer and keep the soil buffered in the *sweet* range of ~6.4-6.8. Any liquid added will be altered to the pH of the soil in a relatively short time. High pH will be brought down and low pH will be brought up to whatever the soils pH is. pH'ng liquids doesn't do squat, except in the short term. Mostly *stoner science*.
Farmers and gardeners adjust and fix the soils pH at the beginning of the season and that's pretty much it. Think they pH thousands of gallons of irrigation water, or nutes, or ????
Even organically, if we grew food according to the way we are told we 'should' grow mj, we couldn't afford to eat.
Let's use a little common sense here.
Wet
wyteboi
Well-Known Member
yes this is exactly what i was saying. me and wet have been through this long ago.
..... were on the same page.
soil
farmerjoe420
Well-Known Member
ok good deal. i didnt meanto come off defensive but it seems like alot of people her like to argue. my apologizes bro
will feeding nutes, example lets say tomato food, will that not raise ph. all this ph stuff is over my head i admit, i mean if it does raise it, where does it go then
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