I would add dolomite or garden lime (not hydrated), to ANY peat based mix.
That means just about all of them AFAIK.
Wet
Roots Organics Soil and nutrient lockout
- Thread starter highinbreck
- Start date
That means just about all of them AFAIK.
Wet
<Grasshopper>
Active Member
I agree totally. I used equel parts roots...foxfarms OF...and sunshine mix #4 and added dolomite and by the end of my flowering the runnoff was 6.1 which is perfect. Next run I forgot the dolomite and had nitrogen lockout from a soil ph that was 5.4. I watered in some hydrated lime and that fixed it but still lost over 1.5 weeks right at week 2 of flowering when there was hardly any growth. This grow I am useing subcools supersoil along with roots soil without the sunshine peat mix #4. and am useing some bloom teas that I have made with budswell, High P bat guano, Kelp meal and mollases. This cycle I also have bigger pots and longer veg. My plants are just beasts this grow....really Big Big improvement. AND!!!!! I remembered the dolomite pellets this time. runnoff is a happy 6.3.
1 tablespoons dolomite pellets per 5 gallon pot of soil. I use the epsoma and another brand which I dont remember.
Grasshopper
<Grasshopper>
Active Member
And if your reverse osmosis filter is any good it will have a carbon filter along with 2 sediment filters before the membrane.
GH
highinbreck
Member
thx for all the replies. I do lower my ph with a single drop of ph down GH, so I do wonder if I'm dropping it too low. I've upped the nutrient intake and it seems to be alright, just a little bit of yellowing here and there. Still guessin my ph is a little out of whack, but you now have me thinking about the chloramine.... have never tested the water for anything other than ph
TheGeneticMutation
Member
Do you have a Ph meter? You might want to do a few Ph tests if you are experiencing nutrient lock out.
I actually think your wrong. Chloramine is Chlorine with ammonia attached to it. It can not be filtered with a carbon filter (R.O. water), distilled, evaporated out, or boiled. The only way to get rid of it is to un-attach the ammonia from the chlorine...with vitamin C. They make vitamin C filters, which are specifically made for Chloramine. I was at my local fish store, and was asking the owner what he uses to rid chlorine, and he told me "Its not the Chlorine, its the Chloramine". He then explained this all to me. Plus I think Ed Rosenthal goes into some details about this in his Medical Marijuana Textbook (not the actual name, but its the one they use at weed schools and such)
bushybush
New Member
While I stick by my love of roots organics soil......Unfortunately, you are CORRECT sir. Very Gnatty indeed. sand, diotomecous? earth, neem oil, gnat sticks. (IF it becomes a problem.) and it usually doesn't. But yeah....I wonder why that is?
Crash666
Well-Known Member
I recently read something Subcool posted about Aurora Innovations (roots organics) using an outside company to distribute their soil. Supposedly the distribution company stored the soil next to a garbage dump and since then people have been having fungus gnat issues. I know i've used Roots soil for over a year and just got the first bag with gnats in December. GoGnats seems to work good for my problem. I've read that predatory nematodes are also a good natural solution, but I've never tried them. As for the PH, I usually adjust my RO water up to around 8 to get runoff in the low 6 range.
Wolverine97
Well-Known Member
Good post. I'm using RO soil and love the stuff. I amend it with perlite, humus, casings, guano, perlite, azomite, mykos, trich's, dolomite, and a few other goodies. I have excellent results with it, better than I ever got using Fox Farm soils. I think the OP is underfeeding from the sounds of it.
Wolverine
With all those amendments, why are you even buying bagged soil? Get the 3.8CuFt bale of peat moss and mix yer own. ProMix is just peat moss, perlite and just SOME of the goodies you already have. All you need is a wheelbarrow or mixing tub. The peat moss is ~$12 for the 3.8CuFt bale.
Wet
NightbirdX
Well-Known Member
How much Dolomite Lime would you guys recommend using per 5 gallon container? I'm using Pro-Mix soil right now, and have been adding in GO CaMg+. Since I have been seeing a pretty uniform CaMg deficiency in everything I've been growing organically, I just wanna add the lime in the soil so I don't have to dink with my PPM adding the CaMg+.
Wolverine97
Well-Known Member
I know, I know. I've done it before, but it's a lot more work breaking up the bales, soaking and breaking up the coco, and then there's yet more amendments I'd have to buy. I started only adding a few extra's, and have slowly added more, and more... You see where I'm going with this, though I will probably eventually start mixing from scratch again. I get fairly good prices on roots soil from my hydro guy, but I buy 12 bags at a time. Also, there's a local place that sells Ocean Forest for $12/bag but I'm getting away from that product.
NightbirdX
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the tip. I was going to buy some the today, but wasn't sure how much to be using.
NightbirdX
Well-Known Member
So I added the Dolemite Lime in the amount suggested to my BioCanna run. I'll be adding it to my Canna run also. I transplanted my Sour OG into 7 Gallon pots of Pro-Mix and 14 Tablespoons of Lime and thoroughly mixed it in. The plants love it. They hadn't been growing much in the last week. Now they are stretching and spreading out and the purpling in the stems is going away. They are taking off and look like they are liking the add very much. Thank you again. Now if all my fixes were this easy. 
I swear I am sticking to 1 or 2 strains only lol. With 10 different strains going and using 3 different nutrient lines, I've had to be on point in making adjustments. One plant needs heavier nutes, another plant needs more Cal/Mag, One plant needs less nutes, the other Nute locked from pH (at least I think that's what it is.) I've been spraying, flushing, tweaking all weekend, lol. I need a vacation.
I swear I am sticking to 1 or 2 strains only lol. With 10 different strains going and using 3 different nutrient lines, I've had to be on point in making adjustments. One plant needs heavier nutes, another plant needs more Cal/Mag, One plant needs less nutes, the other Nute locked from pH (at least I think that's what it is.) I've been spraying, flushing, tweaking all weekend, lol. I need a vacation.
bomb hills
Well-Known Member
Damn... I have been having the exact same problems using Root Organics soil and nute line. No Gnats thought. Every time about 3 weeks into flower my larger fan leaves start to yellow, brown spots, burned tips and progresses to the rest of the plant. By week 5 most the big leaves are toasted. I have experimented with no nutrients, normal nutrients, light mix of nutrients, it don't matter, happens all the same. I check my PH and its always 6.5-7. During Vegetative the plants are super healthy in 3 gal, then I switch to 5 gal for flowering give them a few weeks and then start into 12/12. Then 2 or 3 weeks into flower things go south.
This time around I am hoping for better results. Going with adding in Epsom salts with every water and using Earth Juice Micro Blast and some RO Grow and Bloom every other. Next time I may try and cut down the soil and add in some Dolomite. Thanks for all the good advice here, I will post back hopefully with good news.
This time around I am hoping for better results. Going with adding in Epsom salts with every water and using Earth Juice Micro Blast and some RO Grow and Bloom every other. Next time I may try and cut down the soil and add in some Dolomite. Thanks for all the good advice here, I will post back hopefully with good news.
Wolverine97
Well-Known Member
They're not burning, they're starving. Roots nutrient line is notoriously weak, though their soil is great. Feed them girls, mang.
bomb hills
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the input... I will do.