highchome

Not quite with you on that one, no Do you mean I need to flush before each feed, or flush with the nutrients in the water? lol. But are you putting water with a lower pH than the target pH to drop the soil. E.g. in my case soil is 8, so I put pH ~6 water in?

What is your preferred way of correcting soil pH? My water's pH is over 8.1 , that is easy enough to correct to ~6.5-6.8 with pH down. My soil is currently around 8.0. I've seen two bits of advice given online which no clear indication of which is better, or both? Use a soil additive to drop the pH (but which one?) Flowers of sulphur Something less harsh like coffee grounds Just water with a lower pH (but how low?) Water with the pH I'm after, e.g. water at 6.5 Water with an lower pH (e.g. 6) to bring it down faster I'd imagine that the advice for raising pH would correspond to this. Thanks for any advice.

Welcome

Thanks @Green Leaf Organics that is an interesting point! I think that together with finding out that there is easily available food grade ethanol around changes my mind completely.

Right, that makes sense. Thank you. (I'll start the timer now to see how long it takes for my first post saying "is this nutrient burn?" )

FWIW I just saw a company that sells food grade ethanol here: http://www.ethanolsa.co.za/food-grade-alcohol-ethanol-cannabis-oil-extraction.html.

Thanks @Jimmy-z, that helps a lot. So as far as I understand then, I'll use the calcs from the spreadsheet at https://hydroponic.co.za/detailed-dosage-breakdown-element-ppm-npk-ratio-hortimix-andor-ehg/. Aim for ~1000ppm at pre flower and work out the weekly dosage to build up to that. But does that mean for flowering I should be aiming for ~2000ppm?

@SkunkPharm are you saying, also make sure to calibrate the pH meter weekly etc?

Resurrecting this thread... What dosage & schedule should I be following for using hortimix for soil? @RedEye you say don't follow their guide, what do you recommend then? So far what I've been told/seen is this, let me know if any of this is wrong? Mix as per https://hydroponic.co.za/hortimix-nutrient-preparation-and-usage-table/ Do flush with water every 3 weeks - 1 month Weekly dosing, roughly following the guide above, but back off if there is any burning (checking Ph of mix before watering) What do you think, does that sound reasonable?

Hi @Stoukie, in addition to what @greenkush said. As far as I understand, our bodies (liver) will process cannabinoids better if they are dissolved in fat (they are fat soluble luckily ). So using an fat/oil means you should in theory get more of the THC & CBD absorbed. I've got no idea how much difference it actually makes, but personally I'd rather go that route

FWIW this is what I ended up doing with the cannabutter for dosing I used different size blister packs and filled with the butter and stored in the fridge. It is then easy to work out what dosage you want. Taken under the tongue to get effects faster, though we tend to use it like this with a low dosage for overall effect. I think you may be after something a bit different, but just maybe this helps?

@CG420za is cannabutter an option for you? It is very easy to make and requires no solvents at all.

@CreX a few more questions if you have the time How often do you change the water? What daily checks and adjustments do you do? Are your three buckets connected or fully separated? Do you heat the water or is the ambient temp in the grow room enough to control this? Thanks

Interesting, I'm glad someone is testing these ideas . Like you say though it is still a big win even if there are no other advantages. Less plastic, cheaper and I can make whatever size I want (without having to go to the shops). I'm sold

I would imagine that the landscape fabric would not be strong enough for a 300L pot. The shade netting seems like a way better idea for that

Yeah, I got mine at a nursery. I suspect builders will have it too. Hopefully you can get it for R60 like @Zaskar09 said, thats way cheaper

Indeed, my wife is an expert. I can only imagine what it would look like had I tried . It would still work though even without any actual sewing skills (i..e my level), and I'm pretty sure its going to work out cheaper than even using the plastic pots. I'm thrilled with the results, now to see if my plants share my enthusiasm

I've been eyeing out fabric grow bags but the prices at the local nurseries are insane. Turns out they are really easy and cheap to make yourself I'm using landscaping fabric / weed shield. The smallest roll I could get was 20m for ~R220. I'll be able to make many pots from that. Here are some detailed instructions, if you want to try it https://northernhomestead.com/sew-grow-bag/. My wife is doing the sewing so I've got very professional looking bags now The fabric bags are great for drainage, aeration and "air pruning". I'm going to move a few clones out of the kak plastic bags and into these to see how it goes.

Thanks for the help! (It comes with calibration mixes but that is only for the first time. I've got calibration solutions arriving this week.)

And run-off water... how is that tested?

Is it possible to test soil & run off pH with an electronic pH meter? I'm assuming they test conductivity and get pH from that. If so the cloudiness of run off water should not matter. But I wanted to double check... If for some reason this would not work, what is the recommended way to test soil & run off pH. Thanks

Is humidity a problem with DWC and other hydro setups? I.e. you have bubbling water in your grow room, does that not hugely increase the humidity and mean you are more likely to get powdery mildew etc?

Hi @CreX, welcome

I randomly (*) came across https://www.periodiceffects.com, while I've not listened to any of them yet they are apparently really good. Especially the science of cannabis episodes (episode numbers: 6, 12, 19, 24, 26, 34, 39, 45, 50, 51, 61, 75, 82, 83). Are there other podcasts / videos that you like that are worth sharing? (I'm assuming we all know about 420TUBE...). Thanks * from https://forum.grasscity.com/threads/cannabis-and-anxiety.1540863/

Partly because I was just interested in the technique and wanted to try it out, and partly because I did not have a good place for a dry cure. This was my first ever grow so I was nervous to dry cure without having a better place to dry cure and ensure I did not get mold etc. But yeah, mainly just "because" (it was just a fun thing to try). No worries at all. I'm here to learn as much as possible, the more questions the better! I saw an article say that too, after I had already started. However I have not seen any real detail on that so I'm not sure how definitive that is. I'll need to read up so more. I think it worked out well enough for the cannabutter. I suspect I'll be dry curing from now on despite that. Overall I'm glad I tried something different/odd this stuff is fun :), but yes my next cure will be traditional. I've never looked into that. I'll read up. Thanks!