What's going on with my GG#4

Jumpin Jimmy

Well-Known Member
yes but his issue is ph. more often that is the reason.
I disagree. I believe that people too often blame ph. Ocean forest holds up for me in ph department. You could be right though but my ph is always on and I will definitely see mg deficiency in ocean forest eventually without added feed. In good soil..ph is usually not the issue. Obsessing on ph holds back a lot of growers when they could be focused on things that can make a difference. Often ph is good and it is worried about and blamed for everything
 

kovidkough

Well-Known Member
I disagree. I believe that people too often blame ph. Ocean forest holds up for me in ph department. You could be right though but my ph is always on and I will definitely see mg deficiency in ocean forest eventually without added feed. In good soil..ph is usually not the issue. Obsessing on ph holds back a lot of growers when they could be focused on things that can make a difference. Often ph is good and it is worried about and blamed for everything
that's terrible advice but ok. pH is #1 , #2 is over fertilization/ amending. ocean forest buffers only last so long, after that your dealing with a very acidic medium , the drop in ph will cause those lock outs you keep getting. reammending with dolomite lime with not only add your calmag source but will also serve to raise the ph back to an acceptable range. your always going to need nitrogen if your expecting larger plants , that will mostly be depleted and should be expected.
 

getogrow

Well-Known Member
I disagree. I believe that people too often blame ph. Ocean forest holds up for me in ph department. You could be right though but my ph is always on and I will definitely see mg deficiency in ocean forest eventually without added feed. In good soil..ph is usually not the issue. Obsessing on ph holds back a lot of growers when they could be focused on things that can make a difference. Often ph is good and it is worried about and blamed for everything
this is great advice. its spot on too. The lime in FFOF is by far from the only buffer. I do agree that after a long run you should ammend with lime for calmag and ph reasons.
Overwatering is always going to be the biggest issue for most in soil. (you can argue that the overwatering causes ph issues but ph is never the main problem)
 

kovidkough

Well-Known Member
this is great advice. its spot on too. The lime in FFOF is by far from the only buffer. I do agree that after a long run you should ammend with lime for calmag and ph reasons.
Overwatering is always going to be the biggest issue for most in soil. (you can argue that the overwatering causes ph issues but ph is never the main problem)
where do you see lime listed on the ingredient list, they use oyster shell
 

getogrow

Well-Known Member
where do you see lime listed on the ingredient list, they use oyster shell
i seen oyster shell on the bag just yesterday and already forgot.... ah....my old ass counts them as the same even though they are not.
I just have a different opinion on ph in most soils/coco/peat... I think your starting medium should be something backed by others but i do not think ph'ing the liquid food going in can help even a tiny bit. Living soils are a buffer....coco is a buffer.....peat is a buffer. (some peat is too low of a ph for us but it is a buffer in itself. i do agree that some of the buffers can wear out over time thus needing to reammend , but again , i do not believe you can fix anything with just ph'ing the food going in.
 

kovidkough

Well-Known Member
coco doesn't buffer nor does peat unless amended those are considered mediums not soils. true live soil uses microbes to feed the roots so soil ph becomes only relevant as to not kill the microbes or create a soil where they have a hard time living
 

pulpoinspace

Well-Known Member
fox farms and the like promote this hybrid soil/hydro methodology that confuses the shit out of 99% of new growers. If you grow with soil, you shouldn't need hydroponic nutrients. As someone else mentioned. top dressing with more of the soil is ALL you need.

the fact that they sell you overpriced soil, and then sell you bottled nutrients, and then say oh but you don't need fertilizers cause the soil is good for the first few weeks, then give you a feed chart that says to feed 10 different things in week 1.

It's borderline a scam. But if you insist on using Fox farms products the soil is all you need. Start with 3 gallons of soil in a 5 gallon pot with the sides folded down and then top dress a few handfuls each time you water.

New growers: choose soil or hydro. one or the other. they don't mix well.
 

503budman

Member
Agreed but depends man. Those are decent sized plants and who knows how long they’ve been in same soil..in same pots. I use ocean forest with tap water as well and magnesium and nitrogen deficiency are usually first to pop up. I grow large plants often and they can chew right through ocean forest food supply faster than you’d think
@Jumpin Jimmy they have been in these pots w/ffof as of today 5weeks. She is going to finish in the 3gal pot.
 

Renfro

Well-Known Member
How can I bring my root zone pH up. Should I raise the pH of my feeding/water.
 

503budman

Member
When are you gonna flip her ? ...

Asking only because you can LST / train / cleanup that girl now , Top Dress FFOF , water in and leave it alone .
Stop leaching , let plant pull what it wants from the same medium ( food source ) it has been growing in from the start.
Use jack’s bloom again after stretch from flip , around week 2 flower.
For FFOF , you can add some EWC to it to really have plant turn up the volume.


Sometimes less is better .
I plan on flipping Sunday the 27. I like the thought of top dressing with ffof. She will then be fed epsom salt (1tsp./gal) for deficiency of Mg.
 

Jumpin Jimmy

Well-Known Member
that's terrible advice but ok. pH is #1 , #2 is over fertilization/ amending. ocean forest buffers only last so long, after that your dealing with a very acidic medium , the drop in ph will cause those lock outs you keep getting. reammending with dolomite lime with not only add your calmag source but will also serve to raise the ph back to an acceptable range. your always going to need nitrogen if your expecting larger plants , that will mostly be depleted and should be expected.
No..ph is most often not the issue with soil grows. Now.,I’ve been using ocean forest for over ten years. Takes a long time for the ph to drop and it’s not gonna be “very acidic” like you claim. I make it the last month of veg and entire flower cycle in same pot while feeding liquid and top dressing. I don’t ph anything ever. Not the soil and not the water/solution mix. Quit doing that many years ago as it’s a huge distraction and a major waste of time. There’s more important and impactful things for me to pay attention to. Dude has only been in that soil for a month which isn’t anywhere near long enough makes it very acidic but sure as hell long enough for deficiency To show. You’re talking out of your ass and should stay out of this one because you’re just repeating a preloaded response about ph that’s been drilled in your head by ignorant folks in forums. Same people that swear that defoliating indoors is bad. “The fans are solar panels..blah blah blah”, but clearly Have never done it the right amount on healthy plants to see for themselves.
 
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Jumpin Jimmy

Well-Known Member
fox farms and the like promote this hybrid soil/hydro methodology that confuses the shit out of 99% of new growers. If you grow with soil, you shouldn't need hydroponic nutrients. As someone else mentioned. top dressing with more of the soil is ALL you need.

the fact that they sell you overpriced soil, and then sell you bottled nutrients, and then say oh but you don't need fertilizers cause the soil is good for the first few weeks, then give you a feed chart that says to feed 10 different things in week 1.

It's borderline a scam. But if you insist on using Fox farms products the soil is all you need. Start with 3 gallons of soil in a 5 gallon pot with the sides folded down and then top dress a few handfuls each time you water.

New growers: choose soil or hydro. one or the other. they don't mix well.
Fox farms is great. Ignore their schedule for feed. Ignore any companies feed schedule. They are all horrible schedules and will get you in trouble. I thought everyone knew that. May I ask which company you use?
 

Jumpin Jimmy

Well-Known Member
I plan on flipping Sunday the 27. I like the thought of top dressing with ffof. She will then be fed epsom salt (1tsp./gal) for deficiency of Mg.
Top dressing with ocean forest isn’t going to fix that deficiency. Transplanting into several more gallons of it will help though. You want to use liquid fert or top dress with something like roots organic dry fert or epsoma dry fert mixed into some ocean forest or scratched into the existing soil. Just adding top dress of ocean forest isn’t now going to be enough to catch up to the deficiency...even with healthy plants just adding ocean forest as top dressing often isn’t going to do the job unless you have very small plant in a deep pot with lots of room for a thick layer of top dress. What are you checking ph with? I highly doubt you are getting a true reading with the run off.
 
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