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Getting plants out of nutrient lockout?
- Thread starter cruzzfish
- Start date
They've been repotted and cleaned three weeks ago, so I'm not seeing that.
Pics are kinda hard for me to get right now, but they're in pots indoors with good lighting and enough room. The leaves are pale green to yellow on some, which suggests nitrogen or sulfur deficiencies, as well as some burned leaf tips and chlorosis, meaning they're missing potassium also. I'm gonna give them a foliar spray right now, and see what changes over the next few weeks.
Pics are kinda hard for me to get right now, but they're in pots indoors with good lighting and enough room. The leaves are pale green to yellow on some, which suggests nitrogen or sulfur deficiencies, as well as some burned leaf tips and chlorosis, meaning they're missing potassium also. I'm gonna give them a foliar spray right now, and see what changes over the next few weeks.
i would say, 90% of the time people assume nutrient lockout when this is not the case.
if you have an ec meter, add distilled water, just enough to get a suitable volume of runoff. Is this runoff 2.5+, or 3+ ec? if no then measure the Ph of same.
if the above two are not insanely out of whack, put the lockout idea away for a bit.
you are not a new grower, so ill spare you the condonsending grow advice, but what are you feeding these plants atm?
if you have an ec meter, add distilled water, just enough to get a suitable volume of runoff. Is this runoff 2.5+, or 3+ ec? if no then measure the Ph of same.
if the above two are not insanely out of whack, put the lockout idea away for a bit.
you are not a new grower, so ill spare you the condonsending grow advice, but what are you feeding these plants atm?
This is why I try and educate people to going organic in their growing.
Nutrient lockout? pH? PPM? All irrelevant if you have a healthy soil food web.
Something to think about.
Nutrient lockout? pH? PPM? All irrelevant if you have a healthy soil food web.
Something to think about.
It's not that complex. Would you rather grow where the soil does all the work or the hard way where you have to figure out what the soil needs because it is basically dead and only thrives on what you feed it inorganically? Even an apartment dweller can grow organically they just have to do a little research. Stop making excuses and just do it!hogleg said:
Proud Marine Dad said:It's not that complex. Would you rather grow where the soil does all the work or the hard way where you have to figure out what the soil needs because it is basically dead and only thrives on what you feed it inorganically? Even an apartment dweller can grow organically they just have to do a little research. Stop making excuses and just do it!
Relax, have a brew, and try to contemplate the existence of colors and shades other than black and white.
(No personal offense intended, but you're starting to sound a little like a newly converted Jesus Freak, breathlessly preaching the Good News to the world.)
Very short season, high altitude, low humidity. Doesn't get cured "organically".
1/2 of my season is indoors.
Ever tried composting in low humidity, high and low temps?
Yes, I have some piles going.
In their own room outside, heated in the cold, cooled in the heat, and closed off to retain moisture.
I have 11 plants in 1 and 3 gallon containers that some are going on 3rd season----and living in "hydro in dirt" as the actual soil was used up long ago.
Tried organic in the house.
Not going to happen again--------smell and bugs.
My little outside plot gets a good dose of organic material----including chicken and horse, cow and leaf roughage, coffee grounds and old shells every year, and does just fine where a whole ecosystem can regulate itself.
But to the OP.
Yah, I got a bad bit of soil that no amount of rinsing or ferts fixed.
Re-potted all of them in (gasp!) Miracle Grow, and 30 days later, all pots root bound.
But fungus gnats from the first soil are harder to get rid of.
Now that they are tall and strong instead of yellow and weak, gnats are not much problem----to the plants.
A house full of them however, is a PITA.
1/2 of my season is indoors.
Ever tried composting in low humidity, high and low temps?
Yes, I have some piles going.
In their own room outside, heated in the cold, cooled in the heat, and closed off to retain moisture.
I have 11 plants in 1 and 3 gallon containers that some are going on 3rd season----and living in "hydro in dirt" as the actual soil was used up long ago.
Tried organic in the house.
Not going to happen again--------smell and bugs.
My little outside plot gets a good dose of organic material----including chicken and horse, cow and leaf roughage, coffee grounds and old shells every year, and does just fine where a whole ecosystem can regulate itself.
But to the OP.
Yah, I got a bad bit of soil that no amount of rinsing or ferts fixed.
Re-potted all of them in (gasp!) Miracle Grow, and 30 days later, all pots root bound.
But fungus gnats from the first soil are harder to get rid of.
Now that they are tall and strong instead of yellow and weak, gnats are not much problem----to the plants.
A house full of them however, is a PITA.
Another example of why I spend very little time here anymore.Geonerd said:
Relax, have a brew, and try to contemplate the existence of colors and shades other than black and white.
(No personal offense intended, but you're starting to sound a little like a newly converted Jesus Freak, breathlessly preaching the Good News to the world.)
Back to the organic thing, I try to do what I can but the soil around here has fungus spores like nowhere else. Not the good kind either, and I've seen bacterial leaf spot also.
Thanks for the advice guys, I'm gonna try flushing them out then using a foliar spray. I'm gonna try a home test on pH, if it doesn't work then I'll take it in.
Thanks for the advice guys, I'm gonna try flushing them out then using a foliar spray. I'm gonna try a home test on pH, if it doesn't work then I'll take it in.
Proud Marine Dad said:
A healthy "soil food web" will not happen until the nutrients and pH needed for good growth are present.
Healthy soil food web is a result of good growing conditions, not a cause. In fact hydro growers with amazing results may have no "healthy soil food web" at all.
cruzzfish said:
Spray a 1:10 ratio solution of OTC hydrogen peroxide to water on plants and soil surface. If there is excessive rain, dig a trench around the grow area to divert water away. When watering by hand, water less often and more/deeper, trying to let the soil surface dry out between watering.
The best results for soil pH testing I have gotten are from slurry tests, as opposed to the wildly inaccurate run-off method.
Hey Jesus Freak (), you'll get a lot more converts by example than with a mallet. The enthusiasm is spot on and well placed, organic growing is king, but can be daunting to some people, especially when among the movement there is a surplus of fanatics. The no-tillers are the worst, and asking advice from any of those paragons of wisdom will result in one answer: (Stop tilling, you're destroying the balance of the universe). If it is inaccessible and elitist, a lot of people are going to fall to the margin.
Hydro produces yield at the cost of everything else. If that is your goal, great, it's been mine in the past and will be again. Flavour, sustainability, a healthy environment for growth, all drop off the map. It produces a weak system that easily falls prey to pests and disease. Requiring a sterilized controlled environment, which has to be maintained with increasingly stronger chemicals, as parasitic/detrimental pests and diseases will colonize before beneficials. Bit of a vicious cycle to maintain unless the pay is there.
Proud Marine Dad said:
Hey Jesus Freak (
), you'll get a lot more converts by example than with a mallet. The enthusiasm is spot on and well placed, organic growing is king, but can be daunting to some people, especially when among the movement there is a surplus of fanatics. The no-tillers are the worst, and asking advice from any of those paragons of wisdom will result in one answer: (Stop tilling, you're destroying the balance of the universe). If it is inaccessible and elitist, a lot of people are going to fall to the margin.Dave2000 said:
Hydro produces yield at the cost of everything else. If that is your goal, great, it's been mine in the past and will be again. Flavour, sustainability, a healthy environment for growth, all drop off the map. It produces a weak system that easily falls prey to pests and disease. Requiring a sterilized controlled environment, which has to be maintained with increasingly stronger chemicals, as parasitic/detrimental pests and diseases will colonize before beneficials. Bit of a vicious cycle to maintain unless the pay is there.
slurry test is the only way to test soil ph imho. that being said, it is still not terribly accurate.miguelovic said:The best results for soil pH testing I have gotten are from slurry tests, as opposed to the wildly inaccurate run-off method.
Hey Jesus Freak (
re: tilling
wow, what do you do instead of tilling then? just hammer some seeds into the dirt? hope for the best?
is there some sort of plant you co produce that aerates the ground?
regarding your hydro assertions:
they are imo without merit.
both organic and hydroponic methods of production can be entirely 'sustainable', and both can be miss managed and terribly destructive. See weed growers in state parks, and see nitrogen,copper and fecal runoff from organic farms.
contrary to what most think, organic farming is not ONLY done with botanical extract pesticides. even those that are, are not necessarily less toxic than modern synthetic pesticides.
hydro, atleast my form of hydro, fertigation via drip irrigation equipment, DOES indeed require sterile conditions, but not because of the synthetic ferts i use. I need a clean sanitary system because algae and bacterial flora will clog my drippers, filters, and pump.
I used to use those silly little bluemat drippers. i could let that system run wild with algae it didn't matter much, as i could just pinch out the clogs, and it would run just fine once again.
increasingly strong chemicals? no. bleach works just fine,and will forever give its mechanism of action. not sure what you mean here tho, but perhaps you are referring to pesticides.
FYI, pesticide resistant insets are just a fact of biology. every insect that feeds on the tobacco is a pesticide resistant pest.
true poor farming technique has caused a number of problems here that could have been avoided with more foresight. but yea, its just the human condition, react rather than prevent. i dont think organic farming and all its supposed altruism is any different in this respect.
BT corn, farmers are now planting sacrificial corn, corn thats unmodified, so as to allow a breeding population of non resistant insects to thirive. this should at least control the problem as the non resistant pests can interbreed with the resistant once, and therefor diminish the populations of resistant pests. (caveat, this is from vague memory of an article i read a while back, i could be way off here lol.)
but yea, i love pesticides. one drench with imidicloprid when i transplant keeps off the aphids for around 2 months. thereafter i spray permethrun for knockdown of caterpillars if/when i find them. for mites i spray abamectin, probably twice a year. mites are the biggest pest issue i have, as i have a pine tree close by my home, ive been told that they often account for spider mite problems, but IDK.