My ph appears too low at the moment, ....

[moose eater]

Thanks Rico. To be clear, the jury's still out on what, exactly, I'm dealing with. There are markers in labs that are 6-8 times normal range, and other aspects of my function that point in ugly directions, but that isn't a 'done-deal' quite yet.

I felt a bit better after the trip to the Yukon Territory last month with my younger son, but when I came back, having been a bit more active, I was still shedding lbs. without effort, and eating good, too; decreased another 20 lbs. (+/-) in the last 2 months, while increasing the intake of a couple high-carb/high-cal items.. Yin & Yang, again. Almost down to where I was when I first met my current wife, 31 years ago. That can't be all bad, right? ;^>)

Can recall considering the number of times I've (unintentionally) inhaled rooting hormone powders, dust from perlite, old-school, asbestos-days vermiculite, guano dust, blood meal particulates, etc. in the air, as a respirator mask doesn't fit me well, due to pervasive beard, etc. And my old Israeli gas mask is too restrictive in all kinds of ways. Retrospect; the years of being 10' tall and bullet-proof. ;^>) No hearing protection, no chainsaw chaps, no eye protection, no masks, etc. All that shit was something someone else might fall prey to. ;^>)

And yep, activity is key to several of my current conditions.

The clinic/Doc I want to see (not my first choice) scheduled me for a Sept. 11 appt. I told them that was not a good omen. ;^>)

But the Doc they ended up putting me with has a medical and schooling history pertinent to my needs, and has a socio-political history wherein she has put her own life at risk to do work abroad (with a group of folks I've long admired). So out of all of this, I find myself in a position that affords me the opportunity to meet someone whom, at least thus far, appears to be someone I am quite excited and blessed to meet, despite the causes that bring this about.

Meanwhile, the tuning of the mix continues, and if it would ever stop raining here (flood watches/advisories to the south and east of me, all around), I might get outside to do some firewood cutting from the dead standing, or dead-and-downed trees that need to go, as well as tilling the unplanted spud field for the 4th or 5th time this summer, toward eradicating the chick weed dilemma to the best of our ability, hopefully to benefit next year's efforts..

Still need to get back down to Chitina for the later red salmon run, and do some dip-netting for reds/sockeye, straggler kings, early silvers, etc. which also affords me hiking in (depending on where I net from), as well as the regular cardio exercise of hoisting a net out of the water over and over, clubbing fish, carrying heavy stringers, cleaning fish back at the clear-water streams, etc.

Rarely been one for exercise for the sake of exercise, as there's always been plenty to get me active, dependent on timing, weather, energy, pain, etc. but my spine's improved enough since surgery last year, that I can do things now that I couldn't for a few months or so back then, too.

Thanks again. All of those battles continue.

 

[moose eater]

New reformulation of the mix now written down, and further decreasing most sources of the nutes and micro-nutes in abundance, while upping P a touch. Traded out another 2 or 3 TBSP of dolomite for the same and slightly more of garden Lime with greater calcium and less magnesium.

Decreased the bokashi to 2 TBSP, and verging on DCing it altogether.

Cut back on N via ^N Bat shit and Blood meal by a solid 33% of what had been in there.

Reduced (slightly) the 2 sources of pre-mixed potting soil I use for the early boost after transplant into their final containers.

GTH#1 is the most resistant to the current mix. She's less happy in this particular mix than she was her first go-round, as seen in the pic of her before being cut. Even then, she was in greater need of support than any others.

CI is coming along nicely, with lots of visible trichomes, her classic peppery, minty odor, bulking up her buds, and already showing, despite it being 3-1/2 to 4 weeks from guillotine time, that she will again out-shine the others where production is concerned. Her stem structure is currently as it should be; she's the only one not yet on crutches, though in the next week to week-and-a-half, I'll likely stake her up too. Likely before she collapses..

Jury's out on SLH; lots of trichs, some slowing to her bulking up, but then I'm prone to watching pots boil, clocks tick, and all of those things that we were told as youngsters possessed the capacity to cause time to stop. She has a nice lemon-like scent that is common to her, and fairly pungent at that.

^P bat shit tea, with Alaska humus and microbe food added to the stocking, has been bubbling away; when I doused it yesterday with 5+ gal. of H2O, I warmed the untreated, unfiltered well water up to about the same temp one would have it at for starting yeast for making bread.. about 103-105 degrees f. up to. Today there was some amount of froth indicating some microbial action, and I added about 60 ml of EM-1 to the bucket.

GTH#1 could use some increased P, maybe or maybe not any more K, and not very much N, if any at all. The rest can likely take my standard feeding, in metered or conservative amounts, with slight fish emulsion, and slight kelp extract added to the 2+ cups of tea to a gallon of untreated well water..

A person here at IC had offered, via PM, to help me set up an R/O D/I system such that the waste water down the drain is minimized. I wasn't prepared to purchase the unit at that time, but hopefully in the future, as the dust settles around other priorities, such as auto repairs, etc., school starting for my youngest, etc., I'll be getting back into that whole ordeal, though not without apprehensiveness relative to my last experiences with it, years ago.

With a total hardness of about 380, my intention is to mix well water to R/O-D/I water at a 50:50 or even 60:40 ratio, and not add any additional minerals, etc. to the larger holding barrel, but rather just mix desired nutes by the gallon. And to MAKE SURE I have an over-flow shut-off valve set up properly this time around.

 

[moose eater]

Today begins the review of my newly modified regimen, to make sure my mind-set, etc., when I re-wrote it, had my brain firing on all cylinders.

That'll come AFTER another cup of dark French roast coffee, as I've awakened later today, due to poor self-discipline last night, and I still need to till the unplanted spud field, now that the rain has ceased. (*Chick weed in that area has been a nightmare ever since we used poorly composted/un-composted horse manure years ago. BIG MISTAKE!!! "Danger, Will Robinson!!")

I'll try to scan my last 2 lab analyses, and either upload them to this thread, upload to another thread, or email them to another who asked about a listing of technical results.

Meanwhile, if the current re-write still looks logical and sane to me, I'll start the next episode of, "as the cement mixer turns," and begin tumbling the next batch of ~15 gallons of mix, with the intention of letting it sit for several weeks, before taking several cups into the lab's collection point, and giving them another lil' bit of cash to give me H2O extract and Mehlich III acid extraction results.

I've found that comparing the 2 sets of results, side-by-side, offers some insight into both the importance of letting the concoction sit and 'brew,' as well as the misperception of efficiencies and deficiencies, as presented by the plants, especially early on, when components are still 'waking up,' and the human factor of impatience can get into the mix too soon, screwing up an otherwise surmountable, or even positive experience.

"And so it goes..." (Vonnegut)

 

[moose eater]

Just checked the girls, and, in terms of both quality and quantity, unless I fuck it up, I may be looking at one of the best California Indica harvests I've had in a long while. Trichs up the wazoo, fairly tight colas (though not quite as tight as 18-20 years ago) amazing peppery odor that she's known for... and she still has about 3-1/2+ weeks to go... maybe a bit more.

"I think I'll keep her." (.. for another 21 years).

Trying to restrain my angst, and keep myself from doing something destabilizing to the SLH. She's arising from her mild to moderate funk of late, and, like the GTH#1, cleaning up the appearance of her pistils. Long, white, tightly clustered, dense are the pistils I'm looking for.

GTH#1 is showing some stress coloring to the pistils, but they're cleaning up a bit and looking a bit better, with the addition of some (mostly) P tea, with nearly no N or K. I apologize to her a lot for her taking part in the current experiments. Thus far she still seems to listen, rather than outright flipping me the bird. ;^>)

 

[slownickel]

Just checked the girls, and, in terms of both quality and quantity, unless I fuck it up, I may be looking at one of the best California Indica harvests I've had in a long while. Trichs up the wazoo, fairly tight colas (though not quite as tight as 18-20 years ago) amazing peppery odor that she's known for... and she still has about 3-1/2+ weeks to go... maybe a bit more.

"I think I'll keep her." (.. for another 21 years).

Trying to restrain my angst, and keep myself from doing something destabilizing to the SLH. She's arising from her mild to moderate funk of late, and, like the GTH#1, cleaning up the appearance of her pistils. Long, white, tightly clustered, dense are the pistils I'm looking for.

GTH#1 is showing some stress coloring to the pistils, but they're cleaning up a bit and looking a bit better, with the addition of some (mostly) P tea, with nearly no N or K. I apologize to her a lot for her taking part in the current experiments. Thus far she still seems to listen, rather than outright flipping me the bird. ;^>)

Saw your tweaks. Right on!

 

[moose eater]

Saw your tweaks. Right on!

Thanks Slow. I'm chronically out of rep.. again..

Trying to control the stereo-typical masculine , "Here, let me fix that..." and arrest my (sometimes premature) impulse to 'make something happen,' only to find I've O.D.ed them with too much love (and nutes).

At $60/pop, combined, for both H2O extraction and Mehlich III, I figure I'm within $60 to $120 of temporary Nirvana... until the sources change their pit or cave they're currently pulling amendments from....

I suspect there's a grant-funded study to be done here re. correlations of those trying to fine-tune an organic mix, and consumption of either sedatives or anti-depressants.

So far my tequila and cannabis intake seems effective in arresting my impulses to feed more to the plants..

Another hypothesis to pursue.

 

[St. Phatty]

One nice thing about low pH - a solution being lime.

Lime has Magnesium - and when do our plants get Magnesium ?

 

[moose eater]

Thanks Phatty.

Per my continued analysis of soilless mix, I'm stout in mag; it permeates nearly every commercially available earth worm castings I've tested thus far (2 high-end organic sources, to include Roots Organic 100% EWCs, and Wonder Worm, as well as the more random Wiggle Worm). All of which were high in K and Mag, etc.

The dolomite was too high, when in conjunction with the EWCs, and so I've switched from using mostly dolomite, to using garden lime, which has considerably lower Mag.

Add to that the changing -real- contents of some sources of limes, guanos, etc., and the dance begins.

I look forward to living in a Country that -meaningfully- enforces truth in labeling.. one day.. From LSD, to ecstasy, to cocaine, to steamed bone meal, to worm poop.. to..... "There oughta' be a law!!" ;^>)

 

[Rico Swazi]

that lack of truth in labeling is exactly why I don't use any off the shelf products
I always wonder about the 'what else' that they don't tell you is in there
only inert or other ingredients and the occasional proprietary



I never did trust the bastards in our Gov't to do anything other than take money from the agpharm industry and screw over the people they supposedly represent

don't look for a law to change the way it is anytime soon my friend

https://youtu.be/cOeKidp-iWo?list=RDcOeKidp-iWo


I'm gonna bow out now and let others help you get dialed in

I'll be back around to read those novellas of yours m.e
always something I find amusing



like this one of many-

I suspect there's a grant-funded study to be done here re. correlations of those trying to fine-tune an organic mix, and consumption of either sedatives or anti-depressants.

 

[FrostAie]

crab meal or oyster shell should help raise it

 

[moose eater]

Thanks Rico. As Robin Williams once said, among others who said similar, life's (hardships and ironies) are often the greatest source of good humor.

There seems to be a LOT to laugh at these days. ;^>)

Take care, and thanks again.

 

[moose eater]

crab meal or oyster shell should help raise it

Thanks.

Back when I first noted my sodium was over the top, I went through everything I had, valuable or not, and tossed it to the re-use bin at the dumpster transfer site(s). I'm sure someone was pleased; fair bit of name-brand stuff in those boxes and bags.

But the key was that anything that was suspect as a likely or potential source of sodium, went away then. Thus, so went my oyster shell flour and crab meal. (*I may still have some crab meal here some place).

At this point, other than decreasing likely sources of sodium and sulfur, and fine tuning the N-P-K balance toward a 1-3-2 ratio, with better tuning to secondary and micro-nutes, I'm on the road toward my next frustrating speed bump in this long process.

Thanks again.

 

[moose eater]

All of the hardware is here now to mount my wet-rated LED conversion flood bulbs (= 120 watts incandescent per each) to the inside corners of my boxes, with the exception of (48) wire nuts, and (32) 3/16" diameter, 3/4" long machine screws with washers and ny-locks.

The custom aluminum brackets for mounting the polymer junction boxes and lamp sockets to the painted 2"x2" vertical corners of the insides of the boxes, such that they can be raised and lowered along those same 2"x2"s via pins or screws on each side of the angle aluminum, were nicely finished by a distant machinist.

Machinists: definition- the person(s) you require when you need something made to precision specification that China hasn't manufactured yet.

Was cheaper to buy a decent 14/3 100' extension cord, and butcher it for 6' and 10' lengths of suitable cord, than to buy bulk 14/3 cord off the spool in many stores; a sad statement re. Asian products and modern corporatist opportunism where consumers and pricing are concerned.

I now need to build 16 of these things, and hang the wiring safely around the inside, top perimeter of the boxes, then have the cords exit the boxes through an existing cord-exit, to a 6-outlet plug-in strip that then plugs into a 6-outlet surge protector from there; (4) LED flood lights, (1) 6-outlet plug-in strip, and (1) six outlet surge protector per box, along with the existing 315 cmh and (3) 115 cfm PC muffin fans per box; comes out to slightly less pull on the meter than when I was running 400 watt hps with the same fans, but I get better spectrum, more lumens, etc..

"A good day.."

It's a good thing I have nothing else to do.. <sarcasm>

 

[St. Phatty]

Once I was scoping out the nute supplements at a local farm supply and started talking to this guy who was super-psyched about Sulfur.

he described using Sulfur in amounts we normally use Phosphorus & Potassium.

MAJOR sulfur.


When I grew hydro, I used to mix up the GH nutes and then add High-Phosphorus purple nutes from the Orchid place.

The plants LOVED that.

Once my pH meter was broken and I was correcting down to about 5. Somehow the plants survived.


Amazing how sensitive Cannabis plants can be, and also how accomodating.

 

[Frosty Nuggets]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I found these ph balancer gadgets and wondered if anybody uses them, they claim to keep ph between 5.7 and 6.5 with most between 5.8 and 6.2 and will last for several months between recharges done with a special solution.



https://growershouse.com/perfectph-n...lancer-capsule


https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Torus-Hy...r/264430231475[/FONT]

 

[moose eater]

Once I was scoping out the nute supplements at a local farm supply and started talking to this guy who was super-psyched about Sulfur.

he described using Sulfur in amounts we normally use Phosphorus & Potassium.

MAJOR sulfur.


When I grew hydro, I used to mix up the GH nutes and then add High-Phosphorus purple nutes from the Orchid place.

The plants LOVED that.

Once my pH meter was broken and I was correcting down to about 5. Somehow the plants survived.


Amazing how sensitive Cannabis plants can be, and also how accomodating.

Sulfur, within reason (and there can be great latitude) can be of all sorts of benefit, in my understanding.

At the moment, the higher S levels in my mixes are the result of residual or 'hitch-hikers' on other nute sources, as opposed to something added in isolated specificity.

LED05 stated (not too long ago, in one of the advanced botany threads) it, to some degree, drives potency/resin production.

I've used it in stout applications in the veggies' outdoor raised beds and spud field to lower ph every several years, in balancing the effects of our calcium carbonate in the well water. Some plants (broccoli, as an example) seem to not mind even harsh amounts of the stuff, while other plants will flip you the bird and go on strike if too much is applied.

In my experience, the results from sulfur (as a ph adjustment) are longer lasting, but slower in result, than aluminum sulfate or iron sulfate, and you can use way more of it before the plants get irritated with you. And given a choice between elevated amounts of any of the 3, the S seems less toxic overall; to all parties involved.

Once took a sizable harvest of some of our nicest organic broccoli to the Yukon Territory for an informal reunion. The amounts of sulfur I'd used to adjust the veggie gardens' ph that summer was such that the broccoli was OK, but some of the others were not happy at all.

When I reached my destination, I opened the 56 qt. cooler that was mostly full of nothing but broccoli; it smelled like a wholesale-size case of old-style matches.. The scent of sulfur was permeating the cooler. Yet the broccoli that summer was cool with it.

That was another moment of my impatience with outcomes leading to decisions that weren't necessarily positive for everything affected, but the broccoli seemed quite content with the whole ordeal.

Did I mention I like broccoli for ALL kinds of reasons?

 

[moose eater]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I found these ph balancer gadgets and wondered if anybody uses them, they claim to keep ph between 5.7 and 6.5 with most between 5.8 and 6.2 and will last for several months between recharges done with a special solution.



https://growershouse.com/perfectph-n...lancer-capsule


https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Torus-Hy...r/264430231475[/FONT][/quote]

Thanks frosty. No, never saw any of those before.

I've previously used various forms of lime to achieve the proper ph, and sometimes wood ash, though wood ash is high (7-9) in K, can be fairly caustic when used in excess, and is more water soluble, meaning that what ever ph adjustment is achieved, it can be washed away in fairly short order. Though hopefully by the time that happens, the natural adjusting capacity of the plants that Burn1 and others have referenced has had time to kick in.

In the past, my primary source of ph adjustment, etc., was dolomite, but as I try to control the mag over-doses, I've steered away from the dolomite.

I've also come to assume that the 2221 ph indicator reagent from LaMotte's Labs must've gone through some changes, or I received a questionable batch in my last bulk order I had sent by a friend in another state, as it has chronically been more problematic in reading the ph results on an immediate basis, as it once did.

Likely time to send some ore money, albeit indirectly, to LaMotte's, and see if they'll send me a batch that performs as it used to. I've spent a good deal of time trying to assess what culprit was interfering in the correct and immediate reading of ph with this tried and proven reagent, and I've tentatively come to the conclusion that in this moment, it's the reagent itself that is defective/problematic.

"It's always -sumpthin'-!!" (Rosanna Rosanna Danna- SNL character.. Gilda Radner?)

So I've tried to restrain myself, go with relatively tried and proven amounts of lime by way of (lower mag) garden lime, and let burn1's and others' statements of ph adjustment taking its own course though the roots and soil making peace with each other. Acknowledging that the amounts of lime in reference STILL need to be realistic and not outrageous.

 

[moose eater]

Below is the June Mehlich III lab report, followed by the June soilless mix that was in response to that report, then the August Mehlich III and H2O extraction results, followed by the amended august soilless mix that was in response to those results.

If the images are not large enough to easily read, and do not expand when passing your cursor over the image, then a larger view of the documents can be found at my member's profile/page under my album.

You may still need to use your 'zoom' feature to enlarge them a bit, even at my page, to make them legible enough.

Thanks.

Edit: larger, easier to view images of the reports and constructs/recipes below can be seen at:

https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=81012

 

[moose eater]

An often-telling of excess nutes involves an elongation to the watering cycle. In 'drinking' the plants can only take in so may nutes before reaching such an excess/saturation, resulting in less uptake of H2O, not because they're not 'thirsty,' but because they can't take the concentration of nutes.

Been balancing on this point off and on with the current (June) mix, as it requires a shift in ratio via feeding toward more P, while other nutes are in excess, with the other nutes, in general, being already quite stout..

Hence, the above-posted, yet-untried, adjusted August mix is a response to the recent August lab results for the previous mix that is currently contributing my plant's borderline indigestion.

Telling them that, "like depression-era parents, your children (or in this case, clones) may have a better life for your suffering."

Not sure they believe me yet. Gonna' have to work more on my delivery, if they're to be convinced..

 

[moose eater]

Having nudged the level of P upward via decent doses of bat shit tea, for all 3 strains, there are now notably better presentations of clean, white, elongated pistils on both GTH#1 and (to a bit lesser degree, likely as it approaches maturity) the SLH.

(In other words, the tight-rope walk of nudging specific nutes while knowing the plants were close to max in uptake, seems to have been successful).

(*When I read the 1st paragraph above, in the voice of Jacque Cousteau's narrator son, from the days of their documentaries aboard the Calypso, it's pretty humorous. Granted, I was stoned).

The CI reached -near- max uptake, and is still beefing up nicely, though the colas bent slightly after the last 'serving' of tea. Her pistils, however, have continued to be as described above, for the majority of her time in bloom. She's a trooper; initially an 'up' high, productive more so than any others here thus far, outrageous olfactory experience when ripe and fed well, etc.

Time for a water feeding, then see where we're at. My misinterpretation of extended watering cycles had the SLH slip into a near-wilted phase, but she's also bounced back from the effects of my misread and lethargy.

More pics of the girls to be seen (hopefully) earlier this coming week.