Uncle Ben's Gardening Tweeks and Pointers

badness said:

yeah i was surprised when i went back and looked at the pearlite bag and saw in small writing that it was enriched. i thought that at least pearlite would be nute free like you said.
i just went ahead and fed some of them (it was time) @ 1100ppm and the runoff came out the same. so that's a good sign right?
speaking of ub, are you around? thoughts.

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badness said:

thanks hardroc, i appreciate anyone's info. it said on the bag of pearlite that it is 'enriched with mg nutes'. they are growing about 1in a day. i broke my camera, that would help alot. i just transplanted one of my larger ones to some new dirt and now it's all droopy like it's thirsty. the transplant when very well, shouldn't have shocked it. i really don't know what to do. since the dirt is new everytime i transplant could that cause lockout since the dirt mix is not completely devoid of any sort of nute? i have been using pro-mix hp for a long time and it doesn't anything in it.

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hardroc said:

I also have a question for you as well UB, would you consider this a good medium?
Premier's Bio Max contains 100% natural peat and shrimp manure compost
Contains a composted blend of Canadian sphagnum peat moss, shrimp shells, cow and poultry manure and limestone
Improves water holding capacity and soil texture, is an organic source of calcium and nutrients for growing plants and adjusts pH level
35 L bag
and it's only $4.49 at Canadian Tire

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doc111 said:

Hey UB, I've ordered the Jack's classic orchid special and bloom booster. I noticed the orchid food has no mag in it. I use r/o water and grow in FF soils, currently using FF nutes and Cal-mag plus. I seem to have recurring issues with cal/mag deficiencies. Any advice?

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hardroc said:

it's called Bio Max
it says the N-P-K of it is 1.6-1.1-1.1, is that good for soil?

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doc111 said:

Hey UB, I've ordered the Jack's classic orchid special and bloom booster. I noticed the orchid food has no mag in it. I use r/o water and grow in FF soils, currently using FF nutes and Cal-mag plus. I seem to have recurring issues with cal/mag deficiencies. Any advice?

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Uncle Ben said:

That should work. Try it and see.



And what would those recurring issues be? IOW, what symptoms are you going by which will confirm you're having problems?

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Uncle Ben said:

That should work. Try it and see.



And what would those recurring issues be? IOW, what symptoms are you going by which will confirm you're having problems?

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hardroc said:

it's called Bio Max
it says the N-P-K of it is 1.6-1.1-1.1, is that good for soil?

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SIRE said:

Hello UNCLE BEN how r u? First let me start off by saying ur research and experience is so valued here(NO duh huh?) Well i noticed its hard to find information u write on the veeeery begining stages. i havent been able to even get to the intricate parts other people have seen its frusrating. i would like to b ur PETER PARKER UNCLE BEN lol. hopefully i can start fresh with u and go day to day with u. well lemme tell u bout what has happened and im sure you'll agree i need help.

a friend gave me some seeds and i took them and soaked em for 24hrs and then placed them in the paper towel. i then proceeded to make a vegatative box. i bought a rubbermaid tub and top. i cut 2 holes under each handle across from each other one slightly higher than the other and mounted 2 80 mm pc fans over the holes one for intake one for exhaust then i lined the tub with milar (i later changed to black and white paper) and mounted a 24'' t5's under the top. i purchased a hot house and promix bx with mycourse soil. once the tap root was visible i placed em in a party cup full of the soil and 15% perlite. but unfortunately the holes i cut was too small and the temp in the tub was 93 to 97 degrees. well in an attempt to cool it down i over watered and i ruined em. so i scratched that and planned to start over. so i cut bigger holes (which til this day the box b anywhere from 78-85 degrees now) and ordered some feminized seeds from DR GREENTHUMB called ENDLESS SKY. when i was at the nursery the guy told me i shouldnt use the promix bx cause its too strong to start seeds in. so he showed me these rooting plugs called RAPID ROOTS and some root hormones called THRIVE ALIVE. according to the label it said soak the plugs i did in distilled water. then it says leave water under them in the tray well i did that and BAM!fungus. i germed 4 and 3 was hit by fungus the other one had oval leaves and very miniture true leaves. so i first called the nursery and once he read the lable on the RAPID ROOTS he said thats probably for tomatoes or something not cannibas (gee thanks!) then i called DR GREENTHUMB and asked him why the leaves havent grown he said i needed to feed it 1\4 strength fertilizer and i shouldve been doin that from the beginning (germination). so i went again to the nursery and bought some biobizz bio grow, alg-a-mic and fishmix. the chart that came with the stuff said dont feed bio grow until after a week and the alga-a-mic 2 weeks so i didnt use it. eventually the one died sooooo once again for the 3rd time i started over. this time i germed 4 seeds. i squeezed out most of the water til it was 1 or 2 drops of distilled water coming out then i put 3 that was showin their tap root in the hot house one was(and still is) idle two were growing strong so once they sprouted i placed them under the t5's and the next morning they were slumped over they were kinda dry i added water to them and the one that dropped the seed shell grew back up the other didnt for whatever reason. i'm going to order other seeds but i first want to kinda get directions day to day with u how bout it? i'm too frustrated to keep doing this.

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hardroc said:

it's called Bio Max
it says the N-P-K of it is 1.6-1.1-1.1, is that good for soil?

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SIRE said:

Hello UNCLE BEN how r u? First let me start off by saying ur research and experience is so valued here(NO duh huh?) Well i noticed its hard to find information u write on the veeeery begining stages. i havent been able to even get to the intricate parts other people have seen its frusrating. i would like to b ur PETER PARKER UNCLE BEN lol. hopefully i can start fresh with u and go day to day with u. well lemme tell u bout what has happened and im sure you'll agree i need help.

a friend gave me some seeds and i took them and soaked em for 24hrs and then placed them in the paper towel. i then proceeded to make a vegatative box. i bought a rubbermaid tub and top. i cut 2 holes under each handle across from each other one slightly higher than the other and mounted 2 80 mm pc fans over the holes one for intake one for exhaust then i lined the tub with milar (i later changed to black and white paper) and mounted a 24'' t5's under the top. i purchased a hot house and promix bx with mycourse soil. once the tap root was visible i placed em in a party cup full of the soil and 15% perlite. but unfortunately the holes i cut was too small and the temp in the tub was 93 to 97 degrees. well in an attempt to cool it down i over watered and i ruined em. so i scratched that and planned to start over. so i cut bigger holes (which til this day the box b anywhere from 78-85 degrees now) and ordered some feminized seeds from DR GREENTHUMB called ENDLESS SKY. when i was at the nursery the guy told me i shouldnt use the promix bx cause its too strong to start seeds in. so he showed me these rooting plugs called RAPID ROOTS and some root hormones called THRIVE ALIVE. according to the label it said soak the plugs i did in distilled water. then it says leave water under them in the tray well i did that and BAM!fungus. i germed 4 and 3 was hit by fungus the other one had oval leaves and very miniture true leaves. so i first called the nursery and once he read the lable on the RAPID ROOTS he said thats probably for tomatoes or something not cannibas (gee thanks!) then i called DR GREENTHUMB and asked him why the leaves havent grown he said i needed to feed it 1\4 strength fertilizer and i shouldve been doin that from the beginning (germination). so i went again to the nursery and bought some biobizz bio grow, alg-a-mic and fishmix. the chart that came with the stuff said dont feed bio grow until after a week and the alga-a-mic 2 weeks so i didnt use it. eventually the one died sooooo once again for the 3rd time i started over. this time i germed 4 seeds. i squeezed out most of the water til it was 1 or 2 drops of distilled water coming out then i put 3 that was showin their tap root in the hot house one was(and still is) idle two were growing strong so once they sprouted i placed them under the t5's and the next morning they were slumped over they were kinda dry i added water to them and the one that dropped the seed shell grew back up the other didnt for whatever reason. i'm going to order other seeds but i first want to kinda get directions day to day with u how bout it? i'm too frustrated to keep doing this.

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DaveCoulier said:

You can grow in straight compost, but Id cut it with something to increase drainage and aeration. Perlite, and or aged pine bark. Id be loathe to use straight compost as its going to become compacted after awhile and it wont drain as well, and less air to the roots. Sphagnum Peat Moss will increase aeration and drainage temporarily until it becomes compacted too just like the compost.




Thats a long ass post. The guy at the nursery lied to you. Promix Bx wont burn seedlings. Promix barely has any nutrients in their products to start with. The guy just wanted to sell you extra shit you didn't need.

Are you sure its not called Rapid Rooters though. People commonly use them for starting seeds.

How far away are you keeping the T-5? Flourescents are usually 1-2 inches away I believe.

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SIRE said:

im keeping them bout 3-4 inches away and the other one just fell down again shit! i dont get it

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DaveCoulier said:

You can grow in straight compost, but Id cut it with something to increase drainage and aeration. Perlite, and or aged pine bark. Id be loathe to use straight compost as its going to become compacted after awhile and it wont drain as well, and less air to the roots. Sphagnum Peat Moss will increase aeration and drainage temporarily until it becomes compacted too just like the compost.

Yea I always use around 20-30% perlite, I like to actually do layers with it instead of just mixing it in, cause the perlite usually ends up at the top cause it's alot lighter.
I just wanna find a decent medium that don't cost much, and I think I found it, gonna give it a try soon, after I use up the rest of the bag of the dredded MG.

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