Soil Quality Dramas

[Capn THC]

Hi everybody,

 

I'm new to oz stoners posting but i've been sussn it out for weeks.

Lots of great topic and good feedback! keep it up!!

 

Now here's my drama-

i have 3 female plants growing in soil which has no extra conditioners added (perlite n such), but i used a couple hand fulls of expanded clay in the bottoms for extra drainage.

I water them when needed and always watch not to overwater or overfeed (i use dynamic lifter in liquid concentrate, also use an addative called mega-bud by grow australia)

2 plants are of an unknown indica variety and one mainly sativa.

The sativa elongated to the max and looks really pathetic, but the 2 indicas look n smell awesome but have a wierd purple colour to the leaves and stems of larger fan leaves.

I tested the soil ph and it seems to be fairly acidic- could this lock out the nutrients n make them grow retarded? alot of people never even worry bout ph tho...

 

But even worse on closer inspection i saw f****** little black bugs crawling on my buds (which are still small but only a couple of weeks into flower). I noticed them crawling around in the soil and a few buzzin round the canopy, what the hell are they? how do i piss them off totaly? are they the problem for lack of nutrition or is it a combination?

I also noticed clumps of white crap, like a honey comb looking poo.

Is this a tell tail sign of problems, or what?

With the start of flower underway, i want the buds to keep expanding not stop and make me cry and curse!!

 

I have read a ph chart for soil (i think luke skywalker posted a ref to it)

what could i use to alter soil ph that is plant friendly?

Look i'll stop here cause it's alot to digest. Any replys are very muchly appreciated!

 

p.s. no digi camera....sorry

[Tom]

It sounds like you may have a scarid fly (fungus gnat) infestation, before using any treatments take a few clones. The main problem with scarid fly is that the larvae attack the protective coating on the roots and this in turn causes root rot.

 

Firstly read through the pests and diseases forum and confirm that it is scarid fly, check the prevention link in my signature and get some of those moth killers mentioned, read through it as the brand recommended changes.

 

Secondly, come back and confirm what pest they are and we can recommend what to do about it.

 

[Luke Skywalker]

Yeah, it could be a few different pests potentially.

 

What kind of soil is it? Cos I note you don't mention the brand or anything, is this just soil from the garden or is it like a bag of potting mix from the local supermarket or something? That can make a big difference to your grow.

 

Also, you don't mention if your plants are in or outdoors. This can help too.

 

I tested the soil ph and it seems to be fairly acidic- could this lock out the nutrients n make them grow retarded? alot of people never even worry bout ph tho...

 

Well, it depends on what you mean by "fairly acidic". Let us know the exact number of the pH and you'd be able to get a better answer. But in short, the pH levels for best nutrient uptake is a slightly acidic one, around 6 to 7. Outside these ranges the nutrients become more and more unavailable due to basic chemistry and nutrient levels in the soil, and this can cause nutrient deficiencies even if the plants are regularly fertilsed.

 

what could i use to alter soil ph that is plant friendly?

 

You can use lime, which will only raise the soil up to the same level as itself, or you could use hydrated lime, which, whilst working quickly and effectively, can overdo it sometimes and will leach out of the soil quicker.

 

Depending on the pH level, you add lime to the surface and cultivate it into the top layers of the soil, and water in. This can be better described by the individual packages as to the application rates which should be applied, as they can be of slightly different composition. You can also get dolomite lime, which has magnesium in it as well, and this can be very beneficial for magnesium hungry crops.... (mj included.)

 

So yeah, take a trip down to the local gardening center, ask about their lime products, and that should fix any low pH problems you may have.

 

Hope that helps a bit.

[Capn THC]

Thanks for the info you guys, preciate it ::

 

The plants are indoors under a 400w hps dual spectrum lamp. The pots are 10lr buckets with shit loads of wholes in the bottom. I bought the soil from a nursery, i can't memba the brands thought, but they were not the cheap ones. I think that the bags may have had them in them before i even opened them though! Only a small time nursery so they probably game me the water damaged stock, or sumpn :angry:

To be more specific bout the ph- it would have to be 7-8 cause i only used a pond testing kit and got a bright yellow result, the highest rumber on the chart is only seven, so i will have to obtain a soil ph tester on the cheap to be more exact.

 

Do you know why there is little white clumps of honey-comb type poop nuggets sitn on the soil surface? is it an excretion of a bug or sumpn? it is a mystery to me!

 

I will get the lime tomorrow to correct ph tomorrow, thanks luke!

[Luke Skywalker]

Yeah, go and pick up a good soil pH testing kit before you adjust the pH levels. These can be found at any garden center. These should contain an indicator liquid, a container of white powder for showing the colour of the pH through the soil sample, and a chart to read the pH on.

 

This will far more accurately diagnose the ph level of your soil, and give you a better idea of what needs to be done to it.

 

As to the soil, if it was a quality assured, (with the red ticks down the side) potting mix then it should be alright, but as you said, some small garden centers may have water all over the place, it may have been stored for a long time, etc etc. This is why most people grow soil outdoors, not in, as insects in the soil are essentially given a perfect tropical atmosphere to breed in and can go nuts. Not to say they can't get in there in a hydro indoor grow, but they tend to hitch a ride easier in soil than in perlite. At least initally anyway. *mutters to self about shore fly*

 

Anyway, as to the poo/honeycomb looking stuff, I have no idea about that one. Got a bird in there? Could be some kind of bug, but I can't really comment from that description. Anyone else have any idea?

 

Good luck with the growing mate, keep us updated as you go along.

[Capn THC]

Thanx Luke

 

As you were writting that post, i was down at the local garden shop. They had 50% off sale goin on!!!!!

i got 12kg of lime a ph test kit, and pyrethrum- to kill those root feedn freaks! all for like $18, what an awesome turn of event!

So anywayz- i was just about to use the lime to correct the ph (after another triple check with new test kit) and poison those hungry pricks :angry:

 

I thought that i might correct the ph first and then wait till after the weekend to spray, what your thoughts (or anybodies for that matter)?

I have an old vacuum cleaner i can use to sanitise the room a bit better (i got dust n a bit of cruddy soil on the ground- a no no i know), so i'll suck them buggers up quicker than a prostitute workn a millionare

 

blaa...blaa...blaa, sorry- once i start typn i don't stop

 

Any quick pointers (i read most of your posts, but it's a shit load to remember )

 

I'll wait for any replies before i do anything, cause i value everybodies opinion and especially luke's.

 

Oh p.s. while it's 50% off here any other recommended products for pest, flowern or whateva?

 

p.s.s. coz i dont have a picee device yet:

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[Capn THC]

sorry me stoney bloke didn't turn out too good- wont try that again

[Luke Skywalker]

I've had good sucess with a product, interestingly enough, called "sucess", a spinosad product. It's a naturally derived insecticide, and after a bit of research I tried it out as a drench at 5ml/L on my shore fly infested mothers. Sure enough, total obliteration. So I tried it on my main plants, once again, total population decimation.

 

Now, I'm using a perlite mix for my grow, and it was just one flush through with the spinosad drench and then hooked up into the normal recirc system after that, but I'm yet to see the little buggers back since.

 

Have a look round, it's worth finding if you can. Has an interesting background too.

 

But yeah, with the pyrethrum, or any insecticide, be it natural or synthetic in nature, they're usually short lived. Unless they're systemic, (which I wouldn't suggest using on plants you intend to smoke anyway) the spray or drench you do today will not kill bugs in a week. So you have to make sure you follow up on these things.

 

I've also had great results in keeping mite and whitefly populations down and even eliminating them using horticultural white oil. There are recent products which are oil based products made from canola or other crop oils with essential oils as an added repellant factor. White oil is a great way to organically attack your pests with minimal damage, but I'd suggest looking up a few posts on any pesticide and ask around about how to apply them first.

 

Hope that helps.

[Capn THC]

Hey mr skywalker sir, um... i was interested to know about the success of your successfull "success" product

Is it a application specific product or is it for a wide range of uses (ie different pests)?

N what is the main active ingrediant? i would like to see if i can get some- if it totally wiped out a population it has to be good. Most products require several reapplications to be sure(like in my case).

I also read on the pyrethrum bottle i bought; that it is mainly for surface spraying, have you eva heard of it been used to soak to roots? Or do i need a specific products that is used for that?

Sorry to probe your brain so much, but i have got alot to learn about soil condition and pest control. I try to read all your posts- currently reading bout your most current venture in hyg, they look good! I really liked your styrofaom (bad spell) double plant settup you had goin before you got dutch pots, it was ingeneously cheap n simple!! :mellow:

 

I will be runn a hyg auto pot setup soon, and will need to research pests and diseases that may attack these setups too.

 

Oh yeah, just put lime into pots n watered thru. i couldn't help myself tho- i spayed with a slightly dilute pyrethrum as well. everywhere (with light off)

They didn't like it (bugs that is)