Its time for a long over due update. I have been so busy i didnt have time to do one, and i always forgot to take pics. I moved in 210 tons of top soil and fill sand to raise the soil so they arent growing in clay. I had to put the fill sand in just so i could get the top soil in the greenhouses with the back hoe, that thing just sinks if its wet. I also added a bit of the sand and all the promix from spring harvest to the top soil in the houses for loosening up the dirt And extended the wide greenhouse by 46 ft. I am also having a problem with a couple plants i will show in the last 2 pics. Well here is the only pic i took when i planted out of the 5 gal pots, guess i only got one house. here are some pics i took today, they have been in the ground for 3 or 4 weeks. same house other end the big house and these are pics of the problem plants, the leaves are droopy but they are not sleeping and not wilting, it is a bit of a stiff droop. I was adding 18 tbs of epsom salt for 250 gal water and the last 2 waterings i was to full strength useless formula. I watered plain water today and will again the next (i use water out of an old cement pool that is full of seaweed and a few dead fish cause the winter was so bad they died). I will also be cutting out the epsom salts and go back to 3/4 strength useless formula for a while. same plant the second plant, different strain. it dosnt look like much but i have had ones in the past that got real bad and all the tips grow out fine, nice and perk and then when the leaves get bigger they drooped. Anyway, besides those two everything is looking great, it was worth all the work.
:flipando: Your plan for the troubled plants sounds spot on to me. Maybe some cal/mag with the GH stuff too tho? Holy flippin shit mayan! That looks amazing. I have tractor envy.
In my dreams...... How's the droopy plant do with water uptake? Is it a little slow for it's size and the soil always stay moist?
FF, im gonna do just the basic 3 parts until i see a mg deficiancy, between the water and being in ground im thinkin they dont need the mg. RR, the ground dries just as fast as the rest. I dug down 3 or 4 in before watering yesterday and there was barely any moisture. I also started not watering 8 to 10 in. from the stem yesterday also since those roots are so big now they probly dont take up water they are just a highway for the farther out roots.
That takes out the number one cause for leaf loss then. You were running a backhoe....any chance it sat idling near the affected plants?
Nope. Never had it in there after the plants were in, i now have a few more plants not looking right. I put some of the fertalizer i use on the flowers on one plant today. If it looks better in a day or two then i know it is a deficiancy. I just dont get how i could have a deficiancy when im useing the useless formula.
Dunno...past my knowledge. Sudden droop and leaf loss, without obvious pests, is almost always root zone related. Fungus, rots and such things. Next is environmental, air quality, temp, pollution, bad water type stuff. That covers damn near 90% of the possible causes I'm aware of. You need one of the gurus for this one.
I just reread your water source. Is that water your using OK? I guess dead fish and seaweed should be good for the plants but perhaps that in combo with the GH stuff is causing probems? But I guess if that were true all the plants would have this issue. So nevermind.
Well i am thinking the same thing, because of the cement i am thinking it is low on oxygen, it was just after i started useing it that this started. I am going to start using the well water. The well water is 800 ppm out the hose but its probly better then no oxygen. I will pump whatever water i can out of my 15 ft whole i dug ( hardly any water goes in because it is clay all the way down.) anyway i will mix a bit of that water with the well water to lower the ppms. Also the water sitting in the ressy has ben getting quite warm so ising the water out the tap will cool it down.
Sounds like a big change from the planters with pro-mix and soil. If the well water is 800 ppm that seems like a lot of minerals dissolved in there. Not knowing where you live it'd be hard for me to guess, and a guess is what it'd be. Here, with limestone being the bedrock, there's a shitload of calcium in all the ground water. Could there possibly be bacteria from the decaying fish being above ground and exposed to the open air. I duno, but I hope you get it figured out and things get turned around cause that's an damn nice setup. It's a bitch not knowing what to do and feeling helpless but this change will be a big learning event. GOOD LUCK!!!!!!! Be Cool, CG
Thaks guys, i have decided to go with the well water, after all everything was growing great until i switched from rain water to pool water and there is no rain water left. Just a few hundred gal in the bottom of a hole that i will mix with the hose water. I have done two waterings without fert and i can tell they are not happy so my guess is that the heat of the water and or the water being stagnant or contaminated caused some kind of lockout, the part that sucks is i used the possibly bad water for those two fert free waterings. I am going to go ahead and mix 3/4 useless formula with the water from the hose with no epsom salts for the next watering and see if they improve. I wont be doing so for two days though so any input or suggestions is greatly appreciated.
Thinking you guys are on the right track. If that pond is loaded with anaerobic bacteria it could carry pathogens, fungus and nematodes and do a number on your plant's roots. Good part is if the pond water is the cause, you could fix it up with a cheap pond/fountain pump from Homie DePot to aerate. Some Hygrozyme will help clean up the roots if it turns out to be the water. One of the few mystery juices I actually trust and use.
Thaks for the reminder of hygrozyme RR. Since i was reminded of that i went and got a quart of it thismorning and mixed up 125 gal of half strength useless formula and added in the quart. Watered with it even though they were still moist, i figured it will penetrate the soil farther then if i waighted till tomorrow when they are dry. I will have to get another quart tomorrow, i still have 15 that didnt get watered. I am hoping that i will notice a difference by tomorrow. What do you guys think on the magnesium (epsom salts), my ppms out the well water tap are 800 and i use just the 3 part formula no additives. it is clay at least 15 ft down and not sure under that so im not exactly sure what the water is high on in ppms.
I'd say no way jose'. From Wiki: "Clay minerals are hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, sometimes with variable amounts of iron, magnesium, alkali metals, alkaline earths, and other cations found on or near some planetary surfaces." Sounds loaded to me.
Yeah, I'd hold off on adding anything else (Mg) until you get a handle on what's happening. Adding more variables only gets more confusing. Plus, close as I can figure, Hygrozyme looks to be a molasses and hydrogen peroxide solution with a few extra things thrown in. The molasses will add some Mg.
All I know is if the clay is red it has iron oxide (rust) that makes it red. And should contain still more iron. The other elements ? hard to tell without testing or consulting a geologist. But at 800 ppm it's damn sure got something. Trying to filter as much water as you use would probably be a pretty big undertaking. But good luck figuring it out. Be Cool, CG
Ya i would love to be able to filter it, i would need a giant RO system and the regular 5 micron filters i dont think lower ppms. But on the other had they get dirty so they must take something out. I have my old house filter, you guys think it would be worth it to hook that up? Its just one of those clear ones that are in line with a foot long couple inch thick filters. I could also hook up that filter with my RO filter after that but bypass the RO membrane and DI filter so it just goes through a 5 micron filter then 2 more carbon filters that are either 5 or 2 micron, dont remember witch. Again, would you guys think that would make enough a difference to make it worth the work, with the well water.
I'd shock the living shit outta the pond with chlorine then put in a $50 aerator pump and filter basket. In a couple weeks after the chlorine is dissipated and a decent pond culture started you'll be good to go. Of course, that's if it ends up being the water.
Kinda afraid of using that water now. I have to set up a 3 or 400 ft hose on the sump pump and fill my 1500 gal ressy with it and it is getting warm in the ressy, im thinking that is just one more thing that could be wrong. Ive also heard that the cement can leach in calcium also but dont know if it would be to much though.
Well its a little soon to say but i think they looked better today, not perked up all the wat but i bit. I also saw 3 dead ribbits in the old pool today, dont know if they were there when i pumped from it but that water is definitely out of the question for this year. I am goin to stick to the well water and go ahead and hook up both those filters and throw in some rain water when i can. I will be back to 3/4 strength formula next watering, we will see then if they are recovering for sure. Just one thing ide like thoughts on, would you guys suggest using hygrozyme again in a week or so even if they seem to have recovered?
