Newbie Issues

[FullCircle]

I'm no expert, but yes I believe it's too high. There is quite a difference between 7 and 7.5. Here's a simple graph showing the the availability of nutrients in relation to pH. As you can see, if the pH is over 7, some nutrients might not be absorbed.

 

You can get pH up/down from a pet/aquarium store in the fish section, or on ebay, or a hydro store.

 

I've read you can also use vinegar to lower the pH (it's acetic acid), but I honestly am not sure how good this is for plants. You only need a tiny amount though.

 

Growers, please correct me if I've got this wrong?

Edited May 5, 2016 by FullCircle

[growbabygrow]

If you were to use vinegar even lemon works but you need a dropper and you literally use 1 or 2 drops does the job.

[FullCircle]

Oh had not thought of lemons, good to know!

[lux01]

So here we are 6 weeks in. No bigger and completely stunted. As said previous this has turned out to be a good learning curve for spring.

 

Eco oil has done its bit and no spider mites present.

 

Today I noticed she's fuzzing up and I had a sniff and she's smells like buds !!!

 

 

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160514/44b4d0ad98503ebb43107e8e005e7da5.jpg

[growbabygrow]

i had heaps like that one in your pic when i did my first grow. Stunted little babies memories hehe.

[Blackadder]

My first attempt at a grow resulted in mini-plants too. Frustrating at first, but part of the learning curve too I guess. I was pretty anxious and upset about the whole deal after blowing the last of my money on a tent and stuff.

 

I'm going to try again - this time I will make the following changes:

 

• Use filtered water. I live in a small country town and our town water is very alkaline. I miss my good old rainwater on the farm!
• I think the potting mix I got from Bunnings was shite. Even though I thinned it out with pearlite, it still wasn't too good.
• I think I may have overwatered them at first, then I pissed off to my GF's house for weeks and neglected them under lights.
• And next time I don't think I'll give them 24 hours of 600 W MH, more like 18/6 (which is a bit leaner on the power bill).

 

Oh - and I'll do a grow blog too.  I'm all for sharing and learning from others.

 

Peace,

 

Blackadder.

[Nutter3]

Good luck Adder......  Ive to had failure, but always with Auto's, thet are not forgiving at all, .....one other thing i notice about this thread , is changing PH & a very handy chart put up by F C,  a couple drops of fresh lemon juice diluted , does a good job if needed.

 

Looking forward 2 your grow  blog

 

Nutter

[brick]

I grew auto's once. No success, due to not giving them enough nitrogen. Some auto's need high doses of nitrogen throughout their life. Not all but some. 

[lux01]

So here we are Spring has sprung and I can't for the life of me find any one that stocks Searles seed raising mix in Sydney Metro. Anyone have any idea? @Sir PsychoHashy?

 

I am finding a lot of amgrow and debco branded mixes though.

 

From my enquiries Amgrow is very sandy, no bark like the osmocote and is PH neutral. It does contains some wetting agent in it. Not sure if that's a bad thing.

Edited September 7, 2016 by lux01

[Indycar]

I never bothered with seed raising mix. Cracked beans go straight into Searles Premium Potting Mix around here, and in full Sun. Just be careful that when it comes to transplanting the leaves don't touch the potting mix for the first couple of hours, otherwise you'll get some nutrient/chemical burn on them like I did last week when I transplanted a few. Even gave the plants a good wash down, but it was a little too late. Nothing that is too detrimental to the plants though.