Nine weeks in and still having issues

The numbers are different because you did a test where there was new soil with more nutrients than there was with the older soil. Keep an eye on your pH, and shoot for 6.5. If you are watering and you pH is higher in the runoff or slurry, you will need to lower it a little more before watering. Hopefully your plants are improving. Good luck, peace…

@patchman I was referring to the difference between slurry and runoff. I expected the two different soils to be slightly different I just needed to see how much.

Calmag should be 3-5 ml per gallon for large plants and 1-2 ml for seedlings/cutting. If using ro water use it everytime.

If you’re using living soil you shouldn’t be flushing. With organic/living soils the microbes give the plant what they need. So if you were to water to runoff you would see some crazy numbers( mine was 9000) It will not hurt your plant as it only gets what it needs when it needs it. When you flush out living soil your washing out good and bad microbes alike. Calmag is applied with every watering using RO water at 3-5 ml a gallon for large plants and 1-2 ml for seedlings and cuttings.

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Hi @anon89489555 I’m not familiar with using calmag I’ve been lucky with my tap water I guess. My question is with living soil are there brands of calmag that you would deem harmful or brands that you would recommend using? I hear that ph up n down, and calmag are harmful to living soil then I hear people are using both in living soil and claim there’s no problem. There’s so many controversial things when it comes to growing SMH

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MeEasy-
There are pH up and pH down products that are harmful to your microbes. If you go to any good retailer they can tell you what to use and what not to use. As far as Cal-Mag goes, I haven’t heard its a problem for organic gardening, but I am usually the last to hear about a lot of important things. @Covertgrower, MeEasy had heard that Cal-Mag is harmful in organic gardening. I have never heard this. Can you clarify this? Thank you sir.

I wouldn’t think it’s harmful to organic gardening, but I could be wrong too. I defer to the organic growers for clarification.

Thank you sir. I value your opinion.

There are soil amendments to recharge the soil organically. Go to local hydro shop and ask. I use salt ferts and have very little knowledge of living soils and amendments.

You can add cal ciuk with oyster shells in living soil but it takes months to break down.

The slurry is a more accurate test, your ppm’s are to low. Hence your living soil isn’t working right so you cna battle with it or just feed nutrients and try again next time.
Your PH is a bit high I would just feed 6.3ph for a while and feed nutrients. According to the feed chart. Your plants starving and on the edge of lockout due to PH.

I know how to do it with different nutrients for the most part anyway I’m learning. I’m wanting to know the effects of doing it imo the wrong way for living soil. It’s not that I want to do it but I keep running into this question when I’m trying to help someone out. Right away everyone suggests ph up n down and calmag, and or flushing even to the ones using living soil. I don’t want to tell them that they are doing wrong if it’s ok to use it. Imo why go as far as to buy everything to be clean and organic then pour chemicals in it. I saw @anon89489555 answer an organic question and thought I would ask

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Grr. This is probably what I’ve been dealing with the whole time. I’ll make compost tea and try to water with that and see. And keep my ph down. I’ll def not be using this stuff again especially since when things got rough the guy just bailed and stopped replying. My capacity to grow is huge so this loss. I’ll be purging my room too with fresh air to see if that helps some.

There are organic ph up and down as well as calmag in dolomite lime. What those are exactly I am all ears and eyes.

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I second everything @Nicky said, PH is most critical, and your VPD needs to stay within parameters! C02 will be used by the plant at the plants desire, and having such high levels(if they are that high) would probably be more detrimental to your health than the plants! Plants use c02 when lights are on and take in 02 when lights are off, so if c02 is an issue it would be during lights off!

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The roots calmag I’m using says 1-3t for veg and 2-4 for flower. I’m using 2. Since it’s not completely depleted o should show severe deficiency but I am so that leads me to believe it is a ph problem. Either way i switched to my tap water so we’ll see what new issues I come up with. I’m about to just scrap it and start over.

I’ve read co2 higher than 2000 can have adverse affects on plants too but especially me that why I’m getting some intermittent ventilation going in tonight. According to your vpd chart I’m way in the red. Roughly 82° and 55 rh. I’ve bumped it up to 60 now but that doesn’t make it much better. So either the room has to be cooler and lower humidity or super high humidity to keep my temps where they are. Do you guys really fall within these parameters? I know most battle heat but keeping rooms at 66° to keep humidity at 45 in flower seems really cold and next to impossible for some. Anything above 60 rh I am nervous about mold growth. Adding some ventilation I’ll see how that affects the temps. I have another vpd chart I was looking at and I’m in the clear just not for the right stage. Then my leaf temp is 82-84 so that makes thinns a little different. The higher co2 also affects the vpd too.

This is why we all (or a lot of us) use heaters, AC, and at least 1 exhaust fan, humidifiers and dehumidifiers to maintain environment, depending on space it can be difficult or pretty easy with the right equipment. Most everything you read is going to be a little different than what you have, you just need to figure out what works for you! How committed are you to NLS and organics? I still believe good ventilation is going to help! If your C02 levels are that high in grow area, are they that high in other areas of house?

@Holmes Holmes I guess the more I think about it I’d rather have a fast growing crop and maybe keep a plant or two for myself that stays organic. Def not committed to NLS ita just what I started with. I’m going to get some ventilation going and turn on the ac. I just thought for sure I’d have issues with cold where I am but that won’t be the case especially when the room is full and all lights are on. I have a mini split connected to two rooms and I can’t run heat in one and ac in the other and rn I have clones in the other without anything else so heat needs to be on. I’m going to start watering with a lower ph and add a compost tea. With that and some ventilation I’m hoping things will turn around.

If I did want to do some traditional methods for growing what is the fastest easiest and best way to go with keeping it a little more natural? I dont want to do hydro tho.

Just out of curiosity where do you fall on that chart you posted?

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Oh and the room that this room sits in is at normal co2 levels.

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Where is that much extra coming from?

AS close to the green as possible, and with basically 4 seasons , it is a constant issue. Never too far from green! You must remember almost everything you here about growing is “optimal” if you get close you are usually OK

I would say coco coir, then you can use organic nutes. I know it is a form of hydro and I water twice a day but the growth rate is phenomenal the more you feed. If you are interested give me a yell!