Need Help With My Roots Organic Soil

im a 2 year rookie and ive been using straight RO soil with no mixs and no ph testing. no problems. now RO is having problems with low ph soil and gnats. and so am i. i have SLH in 4 weeks flowering which one hasent even finished forming the first flowers. and some blue widow,fruit auto, black widow, kush ryder vegging and there in the same soil. i need to fix this problem now before the flowering takes place. what can i mix in my soil to fix the problem. also im using house and garden nutes.

dass said:

im a 2 year rookie and ive been using straight RO soil with no mixs and no ph testing. no problems. now RO is having problems with low ph soil and gnats. and so am i. i have SLH in 4 weeks flowering which one hasent even finished forming the first flowers. and some blue widow,fruit auto, black widow, kush ryder vegging and there in the same soil. i need to fix this problem now before the flowering takes place. what can i mix in my soil to fix the problem. also im using house and garden nutes.

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When I used to be a soil grower I used Roots Organic soil. I'll tell ya I've never battled with so many insects! Fungus gnats, spider mites, thrips. I mean every fucking enemy you could think of came included in the soil. At this point I wouldn't try to fix the soil I'd fix what I was feeding with. What nutrients are you using? If the ph is high feed with a lower ph...? What are you basing your soils ph? One those ph probe things with a needle? Whats SLH

im just starting to balance the ph didnt have to before the RO problem. still learning. using house and garden line...root excelarator, comp 1, bud xl, top booster, shooting powder. shouild i give it higher ph to try and raise the soils ph? even three days after transplanting a seedling the ph runoff was low.

Ehh not my dept, I'd ask a soil vet. I believe the soil runoff is a complete waste of information and inaccurate, but been in forum battles over this topic and flushing, lol.. I'd just read your plants, if they look good then grow on. You never stated if they looked unhealthy or not, if not don't fix something that isn't broken. As long as your feeding within the 6.2-6.8 ph range and they're healthy your ok.

thanks man

Pretty much, runoff isnt a total waste but it only a ballpark figure.
Like if it reads 4-5 ya theres an issue, if its reading above 5 or under 8 I woudnt worry much.

Fuck Roots Organic. I grew w/ MT Cold Smoke soil for a year (made by the local Hutterites, $14 a bag) w/ no problems (sealed room)...I saw Roots on sale @ a local store for $10 a bag on sale...So I bought 6 bags, thought I'd give it a try...

DON'T DO IT!

Spider mites, Thrips & Root Gnats! Never before in my sealed room. The battle w/ the spider Mites was fucking epic & a royal pain in the ass. Finally after Spinosad, rosemary oil & no pest strips I am rid of them (and the other bugs, also). Looking @ some leaves under my dissecting microscope when checking to makes sure the spider mites were all dead, I found Thrips (also dead). The root gnats were knocked out in 2 days by the NPS.

Still got NPS hanging just in case.

Never again will I buy their product. Trash.
They ought to be ashamed for selling this SHIT due to all the pests that are included.

As per Ed Rosenthal, Roots organics soil has a very low ph of around 4.5
I had what sounds like many of the same problems as you with this stuff, as have many on these forums. I further tested the roots soil first in a water/soil slurry, then with a bluelab soil ph meter. And seems as if Rosenthal was indeed correct, the ph of this soil right out of the bag is in the mid 4's, and yes it's also full of gnats when you get it!
I did however make up a batch of super soil with roots, and after 30 days it now tests out to 6.5, and has fixed most of the probs I was having with straight roots soil.
Any recommendations on what soil to try next? Looking for something readily available at the grow shops.

use happy frog it worth every penny

Mixing FFOF and FFHF at 50/50 gives great results right away.
Straight OF is hot, stright HF is a little light, together...gold.