Hey All. I have been using Metanaturals for my last three grows. I use Fox farms Ocean Forest with pulverized dolomite lime mixed in. The Metas have been working well for vegging, but each time I switched to the Flower fert (after about 2 weeks into flowering), I encountered overfert situations. The flower ferts were always used at half the recommended dosage. I realize there a few members here who have had great success using the Metas for veg & flower. So it must be me doing something wrong. I am assuming that there is a buildup of Veg ferts which I will need to flush prior to using the Flower fert. I'm not sure what else I can do. However, these are two entirely new strains for me: Sagarmatha Matunuska Mint & Dutch Passion Delta Nine. There is a learning curve for me with new strains, so I have been going light on the fert dosages and so far the plants look great. I will probably start 12/12 in about 1-2 weeks, so I will report back with my results. Any suggestions/comments will be welcome.
I think that I know what the problem is man... check you fert's after you mix everything up and tell me what the pH is.. I can almost garuntee it's about 4.5-5 .. Metanaturals' must be bubbled to bring up that pH. It looks like over fert, but in reality is just the drastic pH changes fucking with you and your plant. I would suggest adding a little extra lime to your soil, and like I said bubble them for a few hours before they go onto your plants... Another thing I noticed with the Meta's is that if I take the reccomended dosage and divide it by four the plants love it more and can handle it better. So instead of fertilizing one good shot every other week or once a month, the plants get a diluted 1/4 strength shot every friday or once a week. Another thing that may be the problem is if you are only using the grow an bloom formula's then you are missing Calcium in your grow cause that 's the only micronutrient that Metanaturals' doesn't have.. Anyways, I hope I helped with this... if I am way out in left field then tell me but I def had problems with pH and over fert issues when I used it the wrong way... And get the Calcium product they offer! It will save your harvest in the end!
OK. Thanks Mr. W. Interesting points. First: PH problems. I have the calcium and the second time I ever used the veg fert, I added a little calcium WITH the veg fert. This created a huge PH problem, somewhere around 4.5-5 as you mentioned. This created stunted and slooooow griowth. I was able to flush and salvage the grow as it was during veg cycle. I use the dolomite lime which is supposed to help balance the PH AND provide sufficient calcium. I think I remeber checking the PH of the soil during what I believe was the 'overfert' situation. It was around 6.5-7, IF I remember correctly (Stoners ). That's why I believe it was an overfert and not a PH issue. The end product was still unbelievably good even though I lost a good number of leaves before harvest. You mentioned to 'bubble' the fert mix. I've heard this before. Please explain. Also, when you water with the calcium, do you do it separately from the veg/flower ferts? In other words, do you do a calcium watering and then a bloom fert watering at separate times? Right now, the clones are about 1 1/2 weeks into veg and they look great. Fingers crossed. Thanks again for the input, Mr.W.
Alot of people don't realize that before you add your nutrient solution to the plants you need to first check the PH and the best way to bring it up when it's low, (with meta's it's always low) is to go and get a cheap aquariam bubbler and some air stones/wands and bubble the shit out of it. The natural micro-herd in the tea after bubbling will naturally raise the pH just after a few hours of bubbling.No need for ph up with organic's as the bubbler act's as the pH up... Check the pH every hour and you'll see it rise pretty quickly to your desired pH level for feeding. On the calcium, I would only use it once or twice a month like every other feeding. In veg Ca isnt' as important as in flower and the plants use less during veg time.. By flower I would be adding a calcium supplement every feeding @ the strength reccomended on the bottle.. Bubble it up to the right pH and then water/feed with it.. I bet you will be much happier. No problem man... stick with the meta's man, it just takes a while to dial it in.
I have to agree, When I add Fox Farm nutes to the water I get the same problem. The ph drops. I use ph up to raise it before I water. Later
Tiny bubbles... Great points W&B. MetaNaturals worked better for me in coco coir fiber-based soil mixes. It seemed to be a bit too strong with peat moss mixes.
Again mr. Green I want to reiterate man that you can bubble to bring up the pH and really is the best method for organic grower's. Use what the nutrients already have in them and make the nutrients work for you! Another thought for you there jersey.. some Microchyzia ("MIKE") would be beneficial to you. More food for thought would be to ditch the peat based soil, and make your own mix using some quality coco coir and humus/sand/and perlite.. Mike is in there naturally and the pH will buffer itself. Oh with dolomite added of course! I have noticed that soils that depend on heavy use of peat , tend to go majorly acidic during flowering phase no matter how long you flush them. COCO based soils won't ever do that on you, ever... Anyways just some more food for thought... good call Indi! There are a few products that I wouldn't waste my money on in organic pre bottle fertilizer lines as there are much easily available and cost efficient ways of raising and lowering your pH abound. I won't buyh up or down, additives that make ridiculous claims, and anything called Sweet by ANY COMPANY! Ph Up - if it's the soil with a low pH then Mix up a foliar spray of dolomite lime and water, or add in some lime with you waterings until the pH adjusts itself again. Ph Up for Organic Nutrients- bubble them with a cheap aquarium bubbler! Ph down for soil- Burnt wood ash from the burn pile, or by watering with nutrients adjusted lower in pH with Apple Cider vinegar. Sweet - This is just Unsulphured Black Strap Molasses in a big jug! I can get it for 5$ at the super market and they want like 20-100$ a bottle for this shit. I know I got off track there.... anyways on with it Over fert issues with the meta's is caused by the peat in the soil sucking up nutrient before the plant can and then releasing it at the wrong time. I know that peat based soils work well for seedlings/clones/ and veg state but I don't flower in it because it's harder to get "right"... Again just throwing something out there that might help ya... If you want my soil mixture man I don't mind sharing... I bet you would have better luck with it during the flowering phase.
good info man! Still..very interesting indeed mikey my friend!!!:angel8: Hope to purchase some coco for my "NEW" SWAZZI grow , (i have my 2 seeds germinating in kitchen towel, inside a ziplock bag to keep in moisture too!), and have been for 2 full days now... lil sprouting showing already ! One of the seeds have popped and the other just cracked and nothing more, although the two are looking and germinating FINE!!! (yeefuckinha!!!) Peace Out, UrBigBuddie........... :qbluewacko:
I'd repot every time ...just for piece of mind JD.. JD,my preference is to repot into a bigger 5g pot prior to flowering using fresh medium/perlite,etc cos i believe that no matter how ya flush the grow nutes will always be present,if you re pot then you have peace of mind that your flowring plants will now only be geting the right nutes,etc. From experience when i never used to do this i noticed that the grow that wasnt removed mixed with the flowring nutes caused a sodium type build up and the bottom of my pot was kinda concrete and when i flushed hardly any water came out,i find it far easier to re pot from a 3 g pot to a 5g pot using all fresh stuff,its like a treat for the plant and also it gives your roots more room to expand than the previous pot,this is just IMO,i havent read this in any books,etc but it works for me so does sterilizing the soil in the oven.Peace JD and y'all
those meta's is what's causing the problems with it.. jersey will get it right.. peat based mediums just plain suck ... if you want a forgiving medium that pH balances naturally then go with coco and humus... I won't ever buy pre prepared soil again
OK, Guys. Thanks for all the input. One last question from the Polock. When I'm 'bubbling' my ferts, are they bubbled as is right from the container or are they bubbled with the water added in, "in solution"?
Bubble them in solution.. after you mix up your fert's then bubble them until they reach your desired pH level.. simple as that.. Mix, bubble, feed..simple as that
