yo rusty help me out

[OaklandCA420]

i still have that shitty mg soil because i have been broke but i just came up on some money so i was thinking about getting some new soil. i also plan on flowering soon so i have a few questions.
if i am going to transplant should i wait till the day i flower?

i heard fox farm soil is great for cannabis, is this true? if so, does it have good drainage? or do i have to buy more perlite?

i am still having problems with the tips of leaves turning yellow and eventually brown. is this because of the ph being low?

i have ph solution up. how much should i add to make ph stable again?

OaklandCA420 Reviewed by OaklandCA420 on 10-08-2010. yo rusty help me out i still have that shitty mg soil because i have been broke but i just came up on some money so i was thinking about getting some new soil. i also plan on flowering soon so i have a few questions. if i am going to transplant should i wait till the day i flower? i heard fox farm soil is great for cannabis, is this true? if so, does it have good drainage? or do i have to buy more perlite? i am still having problems with the tips of leaves turning yellow and eventually brown. is this because Rating: 5

[canniwhatsis]

Ok, I'm not Rusty, but here's my take, Make sure your PH is right,...(How are you testing? before you go and adjust anything) the tips could be burning because the MG nutes might be too strong?

FoxFarm Ocean Forest is the soil I use, All of my strains seem to LOVE it! Right out of the bag it works well for me. I've tried MG, and prefer FFOF hands down.

For Up Potting,... None of those plants look big enough to be root bound at all, which will result in a stressful up pot,... It could be done, but I wouldn't if you're planning on kicking the lights in the next week to month. If your planning on waiting about a month, then probably up pot around week 2 of flower. (I try and up pot when I'm watering every other day, she's nicely bound but not too tight, then just as the soil is about 50% wet from watering so, 1/2day to day after watering I'll tip her up, slap her bottom and slide her out! I always up pot before "Night" cycle of the lights to reduce the stresses put on the roots. )

Pic 1: Durban Poison at up potting time 1.5 months vege in a 1 gallon square container. You can see the texture of the bottom of the pot.
Pic 2: Same plant, this shot I'm actually supporting it by just holding the stem! I don't recommend doing this, but it is a good demonstration of how the root mass will hold the soil together when transplanting is done correctly.

[OaklandCA420]

Ok, I'm not Rusty, but here's my take, Make sure your PH is right,...(How are you testing? before you go and adjust anything) the tips could be burning because the MG nutes might be too strong?

FoxFarm Ocean Forest is the soil I use, All of my strains seem to LOVE it! Right out of the bag it works well for me. I've tried MG, and prefer FFOF hands down.

For Up Potting,... None of those plants look big enough to be root bound at all, which will result in a stressful up pot,... It could be done, but I wouldn't if you're planning on kicking the lights in the next week to month. If your planning on waiting about a month, then probably up pot around week 2 of flower. (I try and up pot when I'm watering every other day, she's nicely bound but not too tight, then just as the soil is about 50% wet from watering so, 1/2day to day after watering I'll tip her up, slap her bottom and slide her out! I always up pot before "Night" cycle of the lights to reduce the stresses put on the roots. )

Pic 1: Durban Poison at up potting time 1.5 months vege in a 1 gallon square container. You can see the texture of the bottom of the pot.
Pic 2: Same plant, this shot I'm actually supporting it by just holding the stem! I don't recommend doing this, but it is a good demonstration of how the root mass will hold the soil together when transplanting is done correctly.

i think your right about the nutes being too strong in the mg soil. i have been feeding a small amount of nutes on top of it.
i really have no way of testing my soil ph. but i always make sure my water ph is just right. i have the color test kit for the water. plus i leave my water out a day or two.

i probably plan on flowering in about a month, so what would you recommend i do?

[canniwhatsis]

Adding a little nutes on top? That's probably the reason for the burn,... could be wrong tho.

Leaving the water out (I'm assuming tap water here) allows chlorine to evaporate off of it, but by my experience doesn't much effect the PH.

As for the "Drop" color test, it's not very accurate over 6.8-7.0 nor is it accurate below 5.3. (I invested in a Pen, and tested the same water with both,... the drops said 8.5+ where the pen said 7.0, but both agreed on 6.5, On the low side, drops said 4.0- where the pen said 5.5?) If your using the paper test strips I'd kinda expect the same margin for error, tho I've never used them.


If your planning on flowering in about a month,... what do you plan on doing about lighting? I see CFL's in the pics,...... those girls are going to need a LOT of CFL's to flower them in a month!

[OaklandCA420]

Adding a little nutes on top? That's probably the reason for the burn,... could be wrong tho.

Leaving the water out (I'm assuming tap water here) allows chlorine to evaporate off of it, but by my experience doesn't much effect the PH.

As for the "Drop" color test, it's not very accurate over 6.8-7.0 nor is it accurate below 5.3. (I invested in a Pen, and tested the same water with both,... the drops said 8.5+ where the pen said 7.0, but both agreed on 6.5, On the low side, drops said 4.0- where the pen said 5.5?) If your using the paper test strips I'd kinda expect the same margin for error, tho I've never used them.


If your planning on flowering in about a month,... what do you plan on doing about lighting? I see CFL's in the pics,...... those girls are going to need a LOT of CFL's to flower them in a month!

im going to lay off the nutrients a little.
do you know a good ph test kit i can buy that is cheap and works for water and soil?
i currently have 2 cfls hanging over each plant. (3 plants) and i am going to add 6 cfls when i flower. each new cfl will be hanging on the side of the plants with the two remaining on the top. this way all the buds will get an ample amount of light.

[canniwhatsis]

Personally I've never tested the PH of my soil? :wtf: Just now tested runoff for the first time I'm reading 5.9-6.1 inbound after adding nutes, (if added, this last was just PH'd water 6.2) Runoff is 6.9-7.1. My girls are happy as clams!


Color testing AFTER nutes or on the Runoff will be skewed due to dies in the nutes, and the natural coloration of the soil that will be pulled into the runoff. So no, I don't know of a good kit that you can get (other than electronic pens) sorry bro.

When I was using the drops,... I'd PH the water to 6.5 before adding nutes, and everything worked out fine. Turns out once testing this with the pen that the nutes dropped PH to 6.0which was perfect for the blend I was using! (Technifora "Recipe for Success" as per the chart(tested once with the drops,... said 4.0-! )) *your mileage may vary*

Hopefully the activity on the thread will draw in an actual Guru who will put me in line and give you better answers, I'm hacking away at this as I grow,... er go! and posting mainly observations from my own grows and 2nd hand info from things I've read on this forum and others.

[WashougalWonder]

If you are in MG I would not give ANY nutes at all.

FFOF, does not need more perlite even in my moist environment.

The burning tips could be over fert or root bound.