composting soil question

[vonforne]

ya Suby I think you might be on to something there. Look like cedar mulch to me. C, do you still have your bag? If so , take a pic and podt it up. Don't kill the plant. Take some luke warm water (after you make a new soil mix) remove the plant...gently. Let the loose dirt fall away...dip in the luke warm water that is in a good sized container until all of the dirt is removed...place in new container of dirt. To mix up the new batch. Do you have a 5 gallon bucket? if so go 3-5gallons of peat...2-5gallons of perlite, one bag of compost 2/3 of a 5 gallon bucket (cow poop or muchroom compost) ,1-bag wormcastings... . Mix it together.1 tabls of dolomite of lime per gallon one on bottom and one on top, 1 tbls N (blood meal) per gallon one on bottom and one on top, 1 tbls bone meal (on bottom), 1 tbls Kelp per gallon, one on bottom and one on top, add more mix until about 3-4 inches from top, Add 1 dolomite on top, and 1 P guano on top and fill to top with mix. Should take about 10 days to recover. That really does look like funny soil. I would can the mix you have now and make a new batch. Don't kill the baby.

 

[vonforne]

Hell that plant does not need to be flush out, it needs to be taken out! Its choking to death. And if thats cedar, the ph will continue to fall...fast but on the brighter side it won't have any bugs.

 

[minds_I]

Hello all,

My very first attempt at growing I used "hyponex" soil of some sort. It nearly killed tehm till I moved them to "Supersoil" brand which nearly completed the job. Fortunately, they adapted to teh Supersoil.

I say remove your plant fromt hat offending soil and transplant into something it likes.


SO, from my experience- use a good soil to start with and the headaches will be less.

Just my dos duckets.

minds_I

 

[3BM]

Hey Curtis,

Is that mulch on top of the soil, or is that just the surface of the soil itself? I agree with Von and others, transplant that plant ASAP. If you get into a more balanced medium recovery sets in quickly. Give us a list of all the soil building tools you have on hand ... maybe we can cobble something together to start you off in the right direction. For example: peat, perlite, lime, N-P-K sources (BloodM, P Guano, Kelp), compost. With these basic elements you can make a serviceable medium.

Start with a 50gal rubbermaid "Roughneck" tub (or whatever you have). Most peat comes in 3.8cubic feet bales. Add 1/2 of this bale, and dump in 1 or 2 30lb bags of worm cast. Now add 50% of this amount in Perlite. Wet the peat first and cover the perlite quickly after adding an adequate amount. Measure the nutes with a 16oz "Dixie" cup. Add 2 scoops of Blood meal, 2 scoops of Guano, and 4 scoops of Kelp meal. Finally, add 3/4 a scoop of lime. Mix all this together thoroughly. Dumping the mix from one container to another empty version is a clean, efficient means of mixing batches of dirt. I dump the mix back and forth several times to ensure adequate mixing. If you are without a partner, just shovel over enough dirt to make the load manageable. During the mixing, add more water if it seems dry. Always wear a mask when mixing dirt in enclosed spaces. The mix should be "field capacity", meaning it feels moist but no water can be squeezed out. If you over water, no worries, just leave the lid off for a day or two until it reaches proper moisture then cover it. The soil is done at this point, but it needs to rest. Specifically, it needs to colonize with microorganisms. Thermaphilic bateria will heat the medium, so that in 2-3 days the soil will feel warm when you plunge a hand in. Incidently, when you plunge your hand in to test, it should penetrate easily to the bottom of the container. If not, add more perlite. You can use the soil as soon as it cools. Normally, a longer rest is better (2 weeks minimum), but in your case the soil should come on line as soon as possible.

Hopefully this isnt too basic, or just plain redundant. Those photos show an intrinsic imbalance in your plant ... many factors are at work. Improving your soil mix will help eliminate 90% of the possible issues. The rest comes from solubles, which you can adjust much easier. Get a good pH meter, or test kit, something with a range from 1-14. Water with a pH of 6.0 and this soil mix should get you to about 7.0. Do not feed with every watering since over-ferting may contribute to any imbalances. Let us know how things go, and fire back with specific points in need of clarification.

3BM

 

[minds_I]

Hello all,

I just noticed abottle of water- do you use baottled water and if so- is it distilled?

I hear distilled and RO water lack Calcium and Magnesium.

This can be supplimented with Dolimte lime...not too much I have found just using 2 teaspoons per gallon does the trick for pH control.

Just another thought.

minds_I

 

[Guest]

these are all my ingredients i have on hand:










i was told at the store that the "black crystal" is the brand name for humic acid...

i currently have 1 gallon of this mix that has been composting for a month and a few days. i dont know the exact measurements, but it has blood meal, bone meal and 2 tbs of dolomite lime and about 30% perlite and 70% of this spaghnum peat.

because that mix has no kelp in it i was planning on mixing some in...

when you say transplant do you mean i should do what vonforne said and just get the roots then put the plant completely into the new mix? how do i do that without damaging the roots?

and if i was to transplant should i put the plant into a bigger pot? i believe this one its in is either 1 or 1.5 gallon and i have 3 or 4 gallon pots sitting beside my cabinet...

edit: oh yeah, and in that picture i believe my mix was 5 parts sphagnum peat, 3 parts perlite 1part EWC.. it might look barky because the top was very dry when i took the picture...

 

[Suby]

OK put the fucking brakes on one second...
That shit your using as soil is not peat moss, it's just liner moss, not peat.
In short you have no medium, plain moss is not a medium it's alining for planters.
It say on the bag Just Moss, that should have tipped you off, you need PEAT moss.

C if you have no substrate working for you you might as well be growing in thin air the soil is necessary to buffer nutrients to the rootzone.
I've been saying it from the start that soil looks supicious.
You need ProMix, Fafard, MG organic mix, etc. anything utwhat your using.

Suby

 

[Guest]

how much is a bale of promix hp?

 

[vonforne]

around 20.00 I think.

 

[Guest]

ok, thanks. at what stores do they sell it? would i be able to get it at a hardware store like home depot?

 

[Suby]

OMG you poor, poor man, you could have spent alot good money on ferts had you not posted those pics, a picture does speak 1000 words.

If it managed to live at all in that medium you are sure to be a kickass grower in no time .
You can get it at Lowes,HDepot, Reno or Rona even has it.
Promix HP is by far my favorite.

 

[vonforne]

You do have some very nice soil admendments. Their quality was probably what kept it alive and you being persistant. Nice job in taking care of her. Most people would have let the plant die. It shows that you really want to learn and grow. Good Job!

And good eye Suby.

 

[Guest]

suby, im pretty sure that you can grow in this stuff. its just sphagnum peat moss. here are some more pictures:







if you want to see the texture of the stuff i can go out and take another picture...

 

[vonforne]

C, see the botton line of the "moss" bag? It says to "top" with this stuff for house plants. Its also very high in zinc. It also says to put this stuff "around" the potting mix. I wouldn't use this but that is up to you.

Suby, what do you think?

 

[Guest]

i am also looking for suby's opinion...

 

[Suby]

sry i've been away my friend got married...

Nope, that stuff is shit.
I stand by my original evaluation.

Find the word peat on that bag...

Suby

 

[Guest]

suby, i was at home depot earlier and i couldnt find any pro mix at all. im going to try a rona sometime this week. hopefully they have it.

 

[inc0gnit0]

Hey Subs..... congrats are in order! Good luck with all. Sorry Curt.. didn't mean to change the subject.

 

[vonforne]

Curtsid, I cannot find the Promix HP where I;m at either so I use the Lamberts brand. It;s just Peat but the also have a Lamberts with pumic and perlite there also. That's if you cannot find it else where.

 

[Suby]

Hey boys, Incog ty very much a good time was had by all, maybe too much but...


C just look for a PEAT based potting mix, that's the essential part, Rona often has Fafard brand which is good, the Miracle Grow Organic stuff is a good product also from what i've heard.

S