Common soil problems.

[NWGREENY]

I like it CC.

You know in my opinion 80% of problems people have when using soil are improper watering and over fertalization. On OG I would spend time helping people with this on the Sick plants and problems forum. Most of the posted questions read:

I think I have a Mg difficency?

Leaves are yellowing with dry brown spots?

Why are my plants leaves turning brown and dying?

Things like that.

And most of the time it was a result of improper watering.
People wouldn't let water drain out of the bottom of the pots when watering and the disolved salts would build up causing neut lockout that would manafest itself in Mg difficency and N difficencys. Having learned this the hard way myself my advise was always the same.

Flush with clear water and start at 1/2-3/4 strength fert solution and always let some water drain out of the bottom of the pot when watering.

Its amazing how much just this small adjustment in your watering can make in the health and vigor of your plants, its just night and day. When the amount of neuts you are intending to give your plant admistered correctly it is about as close to perfection you can get but just with improper apllication things can go from bad to worse very fast.

Hope this helps.

 

[Crazy Composer]

Of course it helps!

Of course it helps!

Any experiences are worth documenting. Thanks for posting your experience.

Good submission
Thanks,
cc

 

[moonymonkey]

agree totally with watering being the sourse for alot of problems,people claiming spoted leafs,mag. def. and som ph,which they are not,its just bad watering techniques!+i too hav answered ouestions there,and lik u ,found it was a watering problem,not mag. or whatever else,they were claiming to be.i was going to post this at og,but didnt want to start a riot! he he he...oh well...thanks crazy composter for postin that before i did!++i hav already explained ph=volume xdensityxkind of amendments there,all of theses factors afect drainage which affects ph.volume refering to amont of soil draining,afecting ph,density afecting drainage,kinda of amendments afecting ph and drainage.my next question is how much is this a factor wen u water correctly for a given volume of soil?....peace from the moon/

 

[Coopdog]

Gotta stand up for some of "those" people. I always had good luck stickin to one kind of soil, moved across country, could not find it, and began a fruitless search for a good potting soil. I water using the soak it and let it dry method, and I use very little ferts comparably, as I use Miracle Gro continuous feeding potting soil.
This soil is perfect right out of the bag, and will grow plants for a month with no ferts whatsoever. I usually give a light shot of some storebought 6-30-10 ferts about a month into flowering, and they are just starting to lose lower fanleafs as they mature out. So far this is the best I have found, though I want badly to get my hands on some foxfarm ocean blend.
I had all sorts of problems using several store bought brands that people say they use successfully in growing forums. I had all the symptoms you describe, just like a mg deficiency that would not get better using standard treatment. It all sorted itself as soon as I found the Miracle Gro again.
BTW, I been doin this for a lot of years successfully, so my watering must not be too bad I dunno what the difference is from one bag to the next of potting soil, but ya can definitely get some sour ones.
I would also agree that watering is a major source of newer peoples growing maladies, just not always Peace...

 

[NWGREENY]

Hey coop,
I don't know if you want to try somthing other than miricle grow but if you are in the NW as I am(WA) then you should really try Sunshine mix #1 or #4 they are a completly soilless mix and are sterile, they are avalible at most all hydro shops in the Seattle area and across the NW. To find one do a serch of indoor gardening on verizon.com and they will give you a list. I have found that starting with a sterile mix and adding ferts is much easier than starting with prefertalixed soil mainly because you can controll the amount of ferts the plants have at different times especially late in flowering when a flush is needed.

Just one mans opinion though. Good luck.

 

[Coopdog]

Yeah, somebody else was just tellin me the same thing, but till they sell it someplace besides a hydro shop, I will stick to the store bought soil. Hydroshops scare me fer some reason. That is why I never have setup my bubbler buckets I been wantin to do.
In Defense of Miracle Gro soil, I have been usin different bagged soil and soilless mixes for yrs, and Miracle gro is as good as any and better than most IMHO.
I was unable to find my pro mix anyplace here, so I went thru a dozen different kinds of soil and hand mixes. My yields were shit for some reason. Then I found the Miracle Gro soil, and I look to get my yields back up there this round
As for flushing, I hardly add any ferts at all, maybe a shot in mid flower, the MG soil has just the right amount of ferts that they starts to lose lower fan leaves and leech out at about 6 weeks into flower. The harvested buds taste great, no taste of ferts or poor burning qualities like I was getting using bonemeal as an additive. All in all, I gotta give Miracle Gro my endorsement. I agree the boxed ferts are shit, but the soilless mix is one of the best "out of the bag" mediums I have found. No mixing necessary.
Edit:
I am in WA too Nice to meet you (handshake)

 

[NWGREENY]

Likewise coop. (Handshake) Good luck seattle is a great place to live I hope you like it here. Try to find a good outdoor spot if you are in to that sort of thing usually the summers are great here. Nice and mild.

 

[fred]

in order to control the fert. in prefert. soil all you hav to do is control the watering period and my water ph is 7.4/schultz,miracle grow,poting soils for me that hav starting ph at 6.5/ fred/

 

[fred]

fred=moonymonkey,sorry bout that but hav major web problem for a while,was locked outs og,and cw.also forgot i registered before i had problems,anyway everthings cool now!++ som peeps will take a 8oz cup of prefert. soil and pour 16 oz water threw pots,wait till they start to dry and plant,then use 2-4oz,s of water to water seedlings wen needed,this is a flushin technique,but usally is not needed,som use it in extreme high ph situation lik 7.6,ask igothesix at worm-hole.net mm+fred/

 

[fred]

on last post thats 2-4 tablespoons of water to start seeds in prefert. soil under flores. not 2-4 ozs of water,sorry!+wait till soil starts to dry then plant,not wen soil is dry,for flush trick.dam i need coffee.cya,s....mm&fred/

 

[Freedom....13]

that spag. peat moss in most mixes fcks up the PH bad and its hard to fix the PH problem unless you mix some lime in with the soil BEFORE you plant. Ive poured 10 gallons of water at one time, of PH adjusted water/fert, through a 3gallon pot and still had a bad PH reading coming out of the draining water.

 

[SpitRhyma]

OK my plants are about 5 feet tall each... and 1 of my fav. indicas started wilting 1 day (late in the day) and i watered it and the next day it was fine... then another plant died... then today that same indica that started wilting once just started wilting again and it really looks like it's not gonna get better cuz it's a BRIGHT SUNNY day...

now i've read that u should NOT water ur plants as much as i had been doing... but if i killed my plant by over watering it... how is it that it got 5 feet tall w/ the same ammount of water that killed it? BTW: I watered them like a crap load every day until I read these posts about watering today...

 

[Guest]

Probably because the root system wasn't as extensive and aeration could occur,when the rootball filled the bucket and you continued watering every day you committed horticultural homicide by asphixiation

 

[Guest]

"...committed horticultural homicide by asphixiation.

Oh my God

The soil I made up used a regional soil mix made of compost, coco coir, sphagnum moss and perlite. I may be new at growing weed, but not other stuff. MG works fine if people use it right. Any good soil mix works if used correctly. Those that are acidic from peat need to be limed properly. I used, dare I say it, "horticultural lime", that dreaded white floury powder, and not "dolomite" lime.

Watering correctly is a big problem for some people. Most who kill house plants do it with water (horticultural homicide by asphixiation)

Obli