Remember that 80% of all moisture taken in by the plant occurs in the leaves, when you start spraying "stuff" on them the PH imbalance can cause serious problems....normally mix your foliage spray, then check the PH...Most rust issues I've ever encountered came from water PH issues...just saying Rasta
ph of soil has been 6.8.. just distilled water ...the rust thing and the high humidity and such just makes sense... not just a little humid... I had humidity all over the place..and never ran the vent...never ran a fan..
its really the only thing that makes sense...
I had rusty leaves years ago from high ph. Water needs to be around 6.4
right close to seven but just have strips..it was just too dang wet in there bwana im sure.. I had water drippin down the walls at times..not a stream im sayin but you could see trails...I have fab. buckets in there with soil that Im still tryin to get to dry ..im lowerin the humidity and puttin little domes on the seedlings till they grow a bit..things are finally stating to dry out some...soil finally starting to pull away from outside edges...after weeks...as I say , there are still a few sitting around waiting for there turn that wont dry out..they are finally starting after measures I have taken..Exactly, same here.
Rasta have you checked the PH of the distilled water ?, it has a variable range based on brand, and goes up considerably after opening the bottle(and leaving it sit)....I've had DW range from 5.6-8.2 straight from the jug.
I had loosened the soil once before as per your suggestion a while back..but I used the probe on my soil ph meter.. dual probes... they work pretty good and not too big...but the soil needed it again as I just finished...loose now... it did have a crust ...they might not amount to much but I sure am learnin a lot...I use a chop-stick to lightly loosen the soil/media to about 2"-3" in depth, to help dry and add air to the soil...poke deep holes too,,,a hard crust on top isn't good...seals the moisture in. Water by weight of pot is the best way.
What you can do is use mulch. Also always use a perlite or grow rock drainage layer, and pour off water every time you water/feed.A little confused ..roots need oxygen..loosen soil so it can breathe so roots can get oxygen from air... but air is bad for roots or is it..speaking for a soil grow.
Actually they are tough bastages, just keep the moisture right, keep the PH right, make the root zone happy, and,,,yea maybe they are finicky
Like a baby, give em what they need, and quit spoiling them or you'll be up all fuckin night.
I hear ya on the meter.. but confused now.. thought that lime raised ph of an acid soil...if mine is 7 , it needs to come down with the ph down you mentioned but why the dolomitic limestone.. thought that would make doil more alkaline..where I need to go acidic... or where is my thinkin messed up..guess Im confused on what is acid and alkaline maybe..I find 6.5 perfect for me and would use pH down from aquarium shop if was you.
Read up on dolomite lime, brilliant stuff
I also wouldn't put any faith in that meter either and if I couldn't get a good pH pen I'd prefer the fish aquarium pH test kits over that one
I also think other factors, humidity heat etc can also play part in pH balance.
Quite often still get great weed with bit messed up pH but can also wreck a grow quite quickly, I'm lucky that don't need to check mine often but its the 1st thing I check if see a problem starting