first organic grow-a few minor problems

Hey Guys,
Could use a little sage wisdom! I'm on my first organic-ish grow in soil.

I used a home-brew mix which is about 50% peat, probably 25% of local "landscaping humus" (nice, black fine grained stuff), and the rest made up of perlite and very coarse vermiculite. I added the recomended amount of lime, blood meal, and bone meal, and used mollasses for K.

The soil has been pH tested at ~6.6 (a tiny bit too high--but I'm uncomfortable trying to lower it).

So here's my problems. I started with seed, and vegged for 6 weeks (topped and LSTed). The plan was to switch to 12/12, then upgrade the females to 5 gallon pots.

The switch got delayed because I ended up with a fairly serious N deficiency, which I was able to correct with a blood meal tea. In the mean time, the roots of the plants grew out to the pot. It's not completely root bound or anything--but it's going to be if I don't do something quick!

So here I am--3 days in to flower with plants that are teetering on the verge of an N deficiency, in pots that are just barely large enough for them.

Not an ideal situation, but due to my work life, I'm having to do this grow from a distance and can't be there on a daily basis.

So here's what I was thinking. Since I will only be 1 week in to flower, I shouldn't cause TOO much trouble by transplanting during the weekend. I'm thinking adding a tbsp of blood meal to each pot (they will need at least 2 gallons to fill up), and 1 or 2 tbsp of high P guano, and continue watering with mollasses for K (and carbs).

Do you think a little boost in N is a bad idea early in flower? I figure it would be easier to correct now than 2 or 3 weeks from now when the leaves begin to drop.

Also, how much can I expect the roots to grow out during "the stretch"--really during week 2 and 3 of flower. After that, I'm pretty sure you're stuck with whatever you have.

Thanks for the help--I'm still trying to get this thing figured out.

I would think it would depend on how long you are going to flower for. If its a long flowering strain i would give it some N to over come the deficiency and the no more after.

IMO once you put them in bigger pots the plants will be working on there roots not leave growth for 1st couple days. so you might see a delay in any action to overcome the N deficiency.

Thanks for the help guys. I hope all turns out well with this one--I think that by the weekend the plants should still be in decent shape (my fiance waters them mid-week, and said they look ok). It would be fine with me if they slowed down for a few days and put energy into root-growth instead of flower growth. In the end, that is going to turn out a heck of a lot better than root bound, stunted, and deficient plants.

Live and learn I guess--I really needed to sex these things week ago and avoid this whole situation.

JohninWI said:

Thanks for the help guys. I hope all turns out well with this one--I think that by the weekend the plants should still be in decent shape (my fiance waters them mid-week, and said they look ok)

Click to expand...

Well now I have a question for you. How do I get my fiancee to water my plants?

SensiStarFan said:

Well now I have a question for you. How do I get my fiancee to water my plants?

Click to expand...

that's an easy one! I had to move~80 miles from home for the next year or two. We ran out about 6 months back, and resorted to buying some at some incredibly high price (HUNDREDS of dollars for mediocre goods).

The next thing she said "Show me how to do this."

What can I say? She's frugal, and she appreciates quality.

If I could just get her to weed my tomatoes, I would be in all kinds of luck.

Blood meal wont help you in the short term. It needs to be broken down. Your best bet us to use some liquid nutes to finish this harvest. Next time you want to run full organic using meals. You need a measured amount per cf of diff ingredients. All the above you put in at a much higher ratio. Plus many mpre you missed adding in to run a MJ plabt full cycle on water and sugars. I will also say this. The K in mollases will most def not sustain the amount of K it sucls down for a entire 17 weeks or so. Kelp meal is your answer there. But like I said. If your crossing the bridge of full organic diet, the mix needs to be well thought out and cooked, before being used. An innoculant is also critical. I can get into more detail tomorrow if you need more help.

nouvellechef said:

Blood meal wont help you in the short term. It needs to be broken down. Your best bet us to use some liquid nutes to finish this harvest. Next time you want to run full organic using meals. You need a measured amount per cf of diff ingredients. All the above you put in at a much higher ratio. Plus many mpre you missed adding in to run a MJ plabt full cycle on water and sugars. I will also say this. The K in mollases will most def not sustain the amount of K it sucls down for a entire 17 weeks or so. Kelp meal is your answer there. But like I said. If your crossing the bridge of full organic diet, the mix needs to be well thought out and cooked, before being used. An innoculant is also critical. I can get into more detail tomorrow if you need more help.

Click to expand...

:yeahthat: :goodposting:

NC beat me to it. LOL The molasses will nowhere supply enough K for flowering.

Kelp meal is great, but you may need some liquid kelp at this stage. The meal does need some time to break down. For sure, get some for the future.

Something like Pro-Tekt from Dyna-Gro or Meta-K from Earth Juice could be a fast source of K. I prefer the Pro-Tekt since it is a silica supplement AND a source of K.

NC is totally correct in that the soil mix needs to be well thought out and cooked. Trying to mix it while you are growing, or if you need it soon, doesn't work so well. Getting it all together a couple months before you actually need it works best.

But, you can do that for the next go round.

Wet

dont forget you can always top dress!!! i personally like to put a tbsp of high P bat guano and a tbsp of kelp meal evry week per gallon of soil during weeks 2-4. just for a little boost and food for the microlife

How long would bottles of Earth juice be good for?
i bought the main 3 last year and they have been closed shut and stored in a dark cool room till now, are they still good?

yeah they should still be good. just shake em up real good!!! i love the earth juice line. the 5 parts make it easy to dial in exactly what you need. but yeah look into guano, either bird or bat. thats what i always use to cover my N and my P. for K i use green sand and a little molasses every time i water. about a tsp per gallon. and a little kelp meal will cover my trace elements pretty well.

and a well thought out plan is definately needed for a soil mix