Calcium for Blumat Reservoir

sourgummy said:

Thanks for the idea. I should probably be able to get some litmus paper somewhere from a shop and do that.

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ShLUbY said:

i don't know what the difference is but you can get a test kit for soil... just provides a little more instruction on doing the slurry test, but i'm sure there is plenty of instruction online

ok so from your pics it's pretty evident that you don't have any Ca def. whatsoever. You also have what seems like an N def. going on (which you noticed) and correlated to your amendment mix, and extremely purple petioles that extend into the veins of the leaf, indicative of P def. So if you take a look at a pH availability chart for nutrients in soil, you'll notice that slightly alkaline soils inhibit the uptake of phosphorus, and I'm curious if your soil is slightly alkaline because of the high amount of dolomite lime and the sweetening affect it has on the soil to make pH more alkaline. You should also notice that the newer growth towards the colas/meristems on the plants have a yellowish appearance which i would contribute to too high of pH, and prevents the solubility of metallic ions responsible for photosynthesis reactions (Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn), and I believe that is what is causing that slight rusting on your leaves, not a Ca def... and also may be part of the reasoning for your yellowing leaves, and you may not have a N def at all, just a lack of efficiency in photosynthesis from not having the proper ions/cofactors to do the reactions.

get that soil pH figured out and we'll go from there. adding more dolo to your mix is def. not the answer IMO from what I've seen so far.

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sourgummy said:

you talking about the Home Depot soil test kits? I could snag one later today for sure and test it tomorrow.

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sourgummy said:

Ok, I will see if I can pick one of these up. But just to make sure we are on the same page, the ones that are deficient on the right tray did not have the large dolomite lime dose. Only a normal 1 tbsp per gallon on those for dolomite. Then they also had very little potassium in their soil, definitely not enough of that. Was like maybe 1tbsp in their pot of 1.5 gallons. So for those smaller ones in the smaller pots on the right side I would definitely not think there is a problem with pH. I am totally onboard that the P I top dressed in around week 3 was not enough for them and one does have total characteristic P symptoms you read about on the leaves. If I have a pH issue I would expect it on the soil I made after those ones, the 7 gallon containers located in the middle tray and then the really nutrient dense recipe soil in the far left tray. My problem I had before was nowhere near enough P so I could see that still being the issue on those pheno hunting ones in the right. The big ones I could see being deficient due to blumats periodically getting clogged and also just being big and not enough P and N for them to feed. If the pH was an issue on those big ones I have, I would have seen that sooner than after the plants had been in there for 8 weeks right? Or no?

The newest plants I put in there on the far left I would expect to have the pH issue the most if any. The ones in the middle tray were on the 2 tbsp per gallon of dolomite lime and they looked super great until like around week 5ish, then slowly faded until now. I am a little surprised at a few strains that the coalas are still pretty good sized. Let me know any questions, I know this is complicated since I make the coco soil from scratch and all the trays have different recipes going lol. Thanks for the help Shluby, its appreciated. I will check into getting a soil ph testing kit locally.

any more feedback/ideas always appreciated too everyone. Thanks.

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ShLUbY said:

I'm in class and have a bunch of homework to work on tonight, probably get back with you on this tomorrow. i have some ideas about what is going on, and it will do me some good to reread this and ponder a few things.

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ShLUbY said:

any kind of soil test kit should be fine, just follow the instructions properly and should be fairly accurate. personally, i have a pH meter from Bluelabs and I think is a worthwhile investment for an organic grower.

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sourgummy said:

Ok so I tested the pH today. All of them are at 7-7.5 pH so that is most likely the cause of a lot of the problems like you were saying. I am surprised that didn't show from the start. Interesting how even the super limed ones I just made and put in flower were pretty same pH too. I am guessing the top dressing of fish bone meal didnt get in there since I put a touch of dolomite with it. Then it stayed in the top few inches layer of soil and just never was able to be used. hmmm. Interesting, but good to know I most likely actually need less nutes now.

Now just need to acidify the soil a bit and lower the dolomite next go

I got some fulvic and some teas I can make I think those are acidic somewhat, but probably not going to get rid of the lime.

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