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Sulfur toxicity and low P issues

Stoobeey

Active member
Those are coming back pretty nicely.
Yep but then discovering my key lime jack baby is a huge N hog and has seemingly depleted it from the bu's potting soil I picked up. May have to repot today with my soil, but I'm not fully sure it's fem or male yet so holding off a couple of days before I cull my last 3 seedlings
 

Stoobeey

Active member
this is your issue, water only, your soil isn't balanced properly for water only, nor does it have an adequate nutrient density for that. ( CEC 5.3)

The biggest problem is too much mag and potassium in relation to calcium and the complete lack of Micronutrients.

with that mix you need to feed a good balanced fertilizer regime to get good results.

the testing service you used isn't providing all the info you need. I'd suggest you get the K2 test from spectrum or try logan. ask for all values in PPMs and don't provide any crop info. ask for a bulk density test, this gives the proper info on how much mineral to add based on how heavy or light your soil is, weed soil mixes are very light compared to field soil and therefor need less minerals added to achieve balance than a heavy field so would need. you want to add on the AA 8.2 test to get an accurate Calcium reading if you use logan labs, the Spectrum labs K2 test (slownickle's protocol) comes with it included.

this is your posted test plugged into my mineral balancing spreadsheet showing your Cation %'s

Calcium needs to be pushed to about 80- 85% to lower MG, K, and Na values lower.

P and micros need to be raised after you get the proper tests ran, Slow suggests aiming for a CEC of 10 to 12

I can try to help with a soil rec if you get a good test, Slownickle and folks like me who follow his mineral targets prefer Spectrum K2 or K3 tests, everyone else in weed seems to like Logan. you can do the bulk density at home by drying down the soil mix at 200 degrees in the oven until bone dry, then measure the volume in ml and weight in grams.


View attachment 18837833
Getting ready to send off to Logan labs for. Complete soil test . It's been nearly 4 weeks since amending my bins , bu lt my big plants have bounced back real nice. The smaller girls well the potting soil wasn't hot enough. Plants are trucking thru N, so I'm going to need to up pot to 2 gals today or tomorrow before they get too fucked again lol. Can't wait to be back in my own mix. Gave everyone tea and top dress last night
 
Last edited:

Stoobeey

Active member
Getting ready to send off to Logan labs for. Complete soil test . It's been nearly 4 weeks since amending my bins , bu lt my big plants have bounced back real nice. The smaller girls well the potting soil wasn't hot enough. Plants are trucking thru N, so I'm going to need to up pot to 2 gals today or tomorrow before they get too fucked again lol. Can't wait to be back in my own mix. Gave everyone tea and top dress last night

this is your issue, water only, your soil isn't balanced properly for water only, nor does it have an adequate nutrient density for that. ( CEC 5.3)

The biggest problem is too much mag and potassium in relation to calcium and the complete lack of Micronutrients.

with that mix you need to feed a good balanced fertilizer regime to get good results.

the testing service you used isn't providing all the info you need. I'd suggest you get the K2 test from spectrum or try logan. ask for all values in PPMs and don't provide any crop info. ask for a bulk density test, this gives the proper info on how much mineral to add based on how heavy or light your soil is, weed soil mixes are very light compared to field soil and therefor need less minerals added to achieve balance than a heavy field so would need. you want to add on the AA 8.2 test to get an accurate Calcium reading if you use logan labs, the Spectrum labs K2 test (slownickle's protocol) comes with it included.

this is your posted test plugged into my mineral balancing spreadsheet showing your Cation %'s

Calcium needs to be pushed to about 80- 85% to lower MG, K, and Na values lower.

P and micros need to be raised after you get the proper tests ran, Slow suggests aiming for a CEC of 10 to 12

I can try to help with a soil rec if you get a good test, Slownickle and folks like me who follow his mineral targets prefer Spectrum K2 or K3 tests, everyone else in weed seems to like Logan. you can do the bulk density at home by drying down the soil mix at 200 degrees in the oven until bone dry, then measure the volume in ml and weight in grams.


View attachment 18837833
 

Crooked8

Well-known member
Mentor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Your soil's nutrient sequence is out of range. You need to change soils friend because the amendments you want to add will take too long to work. Those additives you are adding will be very slow to break down.

A faster fix is changing soils by transplanting the root ball with the old soil, and put it in new fully amended fresh organic soil. Maybe even store-bought FOX Farms for a fix.

Gently dig up the clones and take the root ball and a little soil and put them in new soil. Maybe a little larger container for flowering and wait for them to start growing again. Either way, keep us posted friend.
This is excellent advice
 

Stoobeey

Active member
I guess this was my next logical step improving my soil and grow (it's just for me but the less shit I gotta think about the better).

Be nice knowing I have the right nutrient capacity for water only each time (I'd prefer to keep it to 7gal bags and not push to 10s like some have suggested for minimal living organics). I typically do top dressings end of veg and end of stretch when my soil was doing well. Ive grown some amazing bud since I switched to amended homemade (the chemd and GSC I have now is fantastic).

I guess in the scheme of things in unsure as well as to how to ensure it stays that way each recycle (obviously I'll be running test after I collect from my next run or so before amending)

Once I have my Logan results you'll be able to help me adjust the mix to run water only correct? I was an enviro science major, but having forgotten anything learned
 

Stoobeey

Active member
I guess this was my next logical step improving my soil and grow (it's just for me but the less shit I gotta think about the better).

Be nice knowing I have the right nutrient capacity for water only each time (I'd prefer to keep it to 7gal bags and not push to 10s like some have suggested for minimal living organics). I typically do top dressings end of veg and end of stretch when my soil was doing well. Ive grown some amazing bud since I switched to amended homemade (the chemd and GSC I have now is fantastic).

I guess in the scheme of things in unsure as well as to how to ensure it stays that way each recycle (obviously I'll be running test after I collect from my next run or so before amending)

Once I have my Logan results you'll be able to help me adjust the mix to run water only correct? I was an enviro science major, but having forgotten anything learned
Still waiting on my Logan lab results. They said I should get Tuesday (I called today to add the aa8. 2 test). In the meantime time here's a shot of the 7 gal girls after recovery. Planning to flip them to 12/12 Thai weekend. The little guys in veg were potted up to 2 gals for next 4 weeks probably before up potting to final 7s (had to space out flower or I'll run out of space). Jealousy in back is dragging a bit behind but I'll probably flip her anyway
16850273384382570535146345214858.jpg
 

Stoobeey

Active member
this is your issue, water only, your soil isn't balanced properly for water only, nor does it have an adequate nutrient density for that. ( CEC 5.3)

The biggest problem is too much mag and potassium in relation to calcium and the complete lack of Micronutrients.

with that mix you need to feed a good balanced fertilizer regime to get good results.

the testing service you used isn't providing all the info you need. I'd suggest you get the K2 test from spectrum or try logan. ask for all values in PPMs and don't provide any crop info. ask for a bulk density test, this gives the proper info on how much mineral to add based on how heavy or light your soil is, weed soil mixes are very light compared to field soil and therefor need less minerals added to achieve balance than a heavy field so would need. you want to add on the AA 8.2 test to get an accurate Calcium reading if you use logan labs, the Spectrum labs K2 test (slownickle's protocol) comes with it included.

this is your posted test plugged into my mineral balancing spreadsheet showing your Cation %'s

Calcium needs to be pushed to about 80- 85% to lower MG, K, and Na values lower.

P and micros need to be raised after you get the proper tests ran, Slow suggests aiming for a CEC of 10 to 12

I can try to help with a soil rec if you get a good test, Slownickle and folks like me who follow his mineral targets prefer Spectrum K2 or K3 tests, everyone else in weed seems to like Logan. you can do the bulk
Screenshot_20230530_081420_Acrobat for Samsung~2.jpg
Screenshot_20230530_081405_Acrobat for Samsung~2.jpg
Screenshot_20230530_081437_Acrobat for Samsung~2.jpg
density at home by drying down the soil mix at 200 degrees in the oven until bone dry, then measure the volume in ml and weight in grams.


View attachment 18837833
Definitely need help deciphering all of this. One report says cec 6.5 another says 22 so I have no idea where I stand on anything right now
 

Chunkypigs

passing the gas
Veteran
don't worry about that, there's only one figure that's important on the AA8.2, the Ca.
next time ask for all results in PPMs.

I need to run this through my spreadsheets later, I can put something up tonight or tomorrow.


stoobey2.jpg


look how different the logan test above is from the university test you got before....

Stoobey university test.jpg





stoobey.jpg
 

Chunkypigs

passing the gas
Veteran
How much soil do you have to adjust? are there plants in it still or are you waiting until they finish?
 

Stoobeey

Active member
How much soil do you have to adjust? are there plants in it still or are you waiting until they finish?
They resent me in PPM . Will post in a minute.
I have 2 nearly full 27gal totes to amend . I do have 5 girls I JUST uppotted to 2gals a cpl days ago into that soil bc the bus potting sucks lol (their compost is great), but they were in need of food badly (always amazed watching then green back up), but obviously they will all be going into 7s in a cpl weeks.

The girls in 7s I flipped to flower yesterday. I'm just top dressing and riding them out (they're a diff batch not included In that analysis ) when I cut it down I'll get a new test for reamend for that bin.
 

Chunkypigs

passing the gas
Veteran
OK so what we do is take the Calcium PPM value from the AA8.2 test and use it along with the Melich 3 numbers from that test to calculate your existing base saturations.

Stoobey value found.png


the ideal Calcium saturation using Albrect and Slownickle's targets is 80-85% depending on soil type.

Because you have such large amounts of potassium, magnesium, and sodium it needs 5800 PPMs
of additional Ca to get the base saturation numbers balanced.

your ph is 6.9 so adding that much lime would create an issue. gypsum would be a better choice as it's ph neutral 4218 PPMs of Sulfur. balancing the micros with sulfate compounds is going to add even more S.

given that you already have a mix that is super heavy on N it's probably smarter to start from scratch with a mix that's not overloaded with salt , nitrogen, Mag, and potassium, sorry about that.

if you want to try adding the gypsum to some or all of the 50-ish gallons you have get me the exact analysis of the gypsum you have access to and I'll run this calc again, these are generic gypsum percentages.


Stoobey Ca calc.png


So using these analysis figures for Gypsum we need 5254 grams of Gypsum to adjust 1 cubic yard of your mixture. there are 202 gallons in a cubic yard.

so if you wanted to adjust 25 gallons from a tote try 657 grams of gypsum and see if a plant or 2 grows in it. just a couple buck of gypsum and a little time wasted on the trial...

if it looks ok and you want to increase the micros we could try but I think it's a real long shot that this will give nice results indoors.

here's targets for the micros in proportion to existing K and Fe levels and targeted P and Ca.

Stoobey desired values.png
 

moose eater

Well-known member
Premium user
Your plants are suffering from having little too much sodium in your soil. You are in the 41 range when it should be much lower. Having excess sodium is locking up the other micronutrients.

I good fix is to flush the soil with rain water thoroughly a couple of times. The only water I know of for flushing sodium is pure Rain Water. Using any other won't work. Good luck friend and thanks for sharing your soil test.
I had chronically low P from what should have been decent organic components, and another poster headed me in that direction as well; too much Na leading to unavailable P even in testing.
 

Stoobeey

Active member
OK so what we do is take the Calcium PPM value from the AA8.2 test and use it along with the Melich 3 numbers from that test to calculate your existing base saturations.

View attachment 18850026

the ideal Calcium saturation using Albrect and Slownickle's targets is 80-85% depending on soil type.

Because you have such large amounts of potassium, magnesium, and sodium it needs 5800 PPMs
of additional Ca to get the base saturation numbers balanced.

your ph is 6.9 so adding that much lime would create an issue. gypsum would be a better choice as it's ph neutral 4218 PPMs of Sulfur. balancing the micros with sulfate compounds is going to add even more S.

given that you already have a mix that is super heavy on N it's probably smarter to start from scratch with a mix that's not overloaded with salt , nitrogen, Mag, and potassium, sorry about that.

if you want to try adding the gypsum to some or all of the 50-ish gallons you have get me the exact analysis of the gypsum you have access to and I'll run this calc again, these are generic gypsum percentages.


View attachment 18850049

So using these analysis figures for Gypsum we need 5254 grams of Gypsum to adjust 1 cubic yard of your mixture. there are 202 gallons in a cubic yard.

so if you wanted to adjust 25 gallons from a tote try 657 grams of gypsum and see if a plant or 2 grows in it. just a couple buck of gypsum and a little time wasted on the trial...

if it looks ok and you want to increase the micros we could try but I think it's a real long shot that this will give nice results indoors.

here's targets for the micros in proportion to existing K and Fe levels and targeted P and Ca.

View attachment 18850072
I'd definitely prefer to adjust what I have and use it (and I'd presume growing plants in it will bring my numbers down over a run giving me better numberson the next one. I'm in an apt so I have nowhere but the garbage to move this soil too.. can't even toss it out in a yard.
I can get you info from box but I have the down to earth gypsum close to 4 # probably.

All of those micros you told me to buy and the triple phos, etc came as well I'll be back home Tuesday to amend it. I'll amend gypsum in the containers too., But the plants I moved into that soil already have show some nice growth in the first 3 days.

Thank you.
 

Chunkypigs

passing the gas
Veteran
OK I'll figure out the micros also. if you can access a hydro store I'd get a bale of promix and after amending the existing mix dilute it with the promix.

10 gallons of amended mix cut with 10 gallons of fluffed out promix. this should cut the overall levels close to half and might even work decently.
 

Stoobeey

Active member
OK I'll figure out the micros also. if you can access a hydro store I'd get a bale of promix and after amending the existing mix dilute it with the promix.

10 gallons of amended mix cut with 10 gallons of fluffed out promix. this should cut the overall levels close to half and might even work decently.
I'm game . Hydro store easy peazy. Can grab Tuesday when I leave my office . There's one at end of that street. This wil work to my advantage cutting it.. means I can toss the messed up soil I'm flowering in when it's done and skip that test.

Much appreciated on all the help dialing this in correctly.
 

Stoobeey

Active member
OK I'll figure out the micros also. if you can access a hydro store I'd get a bale of promix and after amending the existing mix dilute it with the promix.

10 gallons of amended mix cut with 10 gallons of fluffed out promix. this should cut the overall levels close to half and might even work decently.
Should I get bx or hp? I have a giant bag of #4 perlite so I can always add more. Didn't know if it'll matter for this
 

Creeperpark

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
Should I get bx or hp? I have a giant bag of #4 perlite so I can always add more. Didn't know if it'll matter for this
Bx has vermiculite and perlite and holds water longer it's good if you need to hold water longer. If you want good drainage I would use Hp. Some of the old school use hp in Winter and bx in Summer. Both have to be fed.
 

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