I run chemical not sure about organic build up . I do know just on appearance plants that get a decent amount of run off each watering cause less problems then ones that don’t. I used to run 25 gal pots with issues I now run 2/3 gal pots watering twice a day with better results other than the ball and chain that’s got me tied to the hose
No sneaking away for the weekend running small containers.
I’m not a soil grower but do have some soil experience, though not organic - when I watered my soil plants I never really paid much attention to how much I was watering them, I’d water till run off every time, and then just control moisture by changing how frequently I water.
That’s where I’m heading. Run off does ensure 100% saturation and does seem to be a solid general rule- only paired with the caveat you let them dry fully, even if it’s a week of suffering for you, lol. I have some drippers on the way, if I’m told correctly, for my birthday. That should help; although I worry about fungus gnats. Considering a layer of pearlite or coco over the top of the pot.
5 gal is as big as I can fit currently, probably ever. I’m getting close to my settling point.
From personal experience 
I run a continuing recycle of soil I’ve found if you give it time to break the roots down 120 days on average mixing with older recycled soil keeping in moist in a sealed tub .
If flushed the last couple weeks before harvest and mixing it adding perlite with previous used rested soil works for me .
Alright, today was a thing. I took three clones; two from plant Astrid, and one from plant Cathrine. I really wanted 8 clones but the bud sites are really starting to develop, and I didn’t want to take anything but the little branches in the shadows of the canopy.
I decided, fuck it, I’m not going to know how to do it until I do it. If the clones die I do not care at all, and I don’t think the plants will especially care (even if they do, the other two won’t). I’m not sure entirely what to do at this point aside from watering and they will be up potted with a bit of compost. I think… I just wait? Weird. I’ll get some pictures this week of the clones and donors.
LITFA time.
If you feel you have to do something, drop more beans haha. That’s what I do.
me like the styrofoam pieces on the bottom of growpot. It’s protection for f#kup.
It’s been 3 days since you cut the clones?
I haven’t seen roots before a week. Usually between 7 - 14 days. Some strains I’ve cloned took up to 21 days to root. I don’t clone those anymore.
I keep expecting something magical to happen over night, but no luck yet.
All three ladies are doing well, I wish I could say the same for the male. He’s alive, but the only way I could save it really was a lot of pruning. Currently hanging out in the veg tent, up airstream from the flower tent. So theoretically? It might lightly seed it but not too bad? That would be ideal, I’d rather err on the side of no seed if I can.
The three cuttings are still alive, no signs of roots.
I guess I forgot to grab a picture, but I have 2/3 seedlings coming up now. It’s been a tragedy already; one seed is MIA, don’t know which one because I didn’t label them (doh). It fell out with the soil when the pots tipped over and hasn’t been seen. It all landed in the saucer, so you’d think I could find it, but oh well. Then I knocked one of the seedlings over, right on its head. I swear, they do a lot better when I don’t even go down there…
That’s it, I confirmed it! They prefer I don’t bother them at all, since putting a camera on the plants I’ve stopped checking them daily; checked on them after two days and not only was everything fine, the clones have all started rooting! I’m revising my visits to when I know they’ll need water or other maintenance. Not concerned about hermaphroditism at this point? I think, barring shock, after sex is established there is minimal likelihood? Just a mildly educated guess. I’d say I spend way more time reading about gardening than I do gardening at this point.
Ok. Day 30 of flower, yesterday added some compost, no effect noticed yet.
Two of the clones are suffering from the dry winter air, I could put domes on them… I don’t know that I want to mess with it though. The other cutting I took drooped a day or two and recovered. All my seeds have thrived without much use of domes. This is a very dry period, I have a humidifier on the way, and so I’m just never going to be this dry again as far as I see it. I’d rather it was dry than too wet, a problem I had with domes constantly.
In preparation for switching to LED sometime here I took some temp readings- 80* air temp, 75* leaf temp, 25% RH.
The seedlings are doing well; I have no idea which CBD seed is which yet, but the ABC is already making itself known.
I decided to check the pH on my plant lady with chlorosis. It’s 9. So that doesn’t seem quite right… my tap water is also 9… either I’m reading this wrong or I really should treat my tap water.
Any suggestions on ph balancing in organics? Or even getting a measurement? I mixed water 1:1 with my soil, mixed well and tested that, then waited a minute or two.
If your tap water is that high, your plants will definitely get lockout and not be able to use nutrients no matter how much is available.
Buy some pH down and adjust your tap water to 6.0. Then water with that until you get a decent amount of runoff, say 10-20% of the pot volume. Then test that pH. That should give you an idea of the soil pH.
So with my water confirmed reading ph over 9 I used citric acid to lower it in my Tropf Blumat reservoir but it’s not stable, it raises from 6 to 7-8 daily. It’s working but I defiantly need some ph up, just no cash for a few days.
Found the same problem with the citric acid, had to treat 2 or 3 times to stabilize the pH.
I switched to phosphoric acid (measurably better). Sulfuric acid is the old school solution, but it is getting harder to find in my area.
Cheers
G
I’ve moved to bottled water for the time being, haven’t seen it locally, but I also haven’t tried to hydro store in town. At $1 a gallon Ive got a window of time to save up for R/O but not a lot, granted I’m only using 3-5 gal a week right now, but I plan to start germinating some food stock plants to plant outside this spring. I myself can’t drink our tap water because of the chlorine so it’s honestly probably 1000% smarter to have already bought R/O, but such is life.
I have some sulfuric acid, I’ve just been hesitating to use it. I’m not sure how I’d get a small amount out- I have some plastic syringes with steel tips so ok I guess I can technically… but I don’t know that I trust them that much, they’re off Amazon rated for "veterinary“ use but it’s label technical use… I use them for tinctures, I guess in reflection it’s not as stupid as I first thought, did the sulphuric acid hold ph better? Plan on never using my water unfiltered again now but shit happens, and often it happens to me.
