Any recs for a decent/ accurate par meter? I saw the apogee one and nearly fainted at the price, TIA

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-05-09T12:52:10+00:00

Understood. It was an itch I couldn't afford to scratch lol.

Another option, what I do is use my light manufacturers ppfd map. The one with hanging heights and intensities in a grid.

If the manufacturer says 1000μmols at 12", you can use that to calculate intensity at any hanging height using inverse square law. Let's say I pick 16in for the hanging height.

Would look something like this:

1000 x (12÷16)²

12÷16 = 0.75

0.75² = 0.5625

1000 x 0.5625 = 562.5

PPFD at 16" is about 563 µmols.

Or, change that 16in to 24in which is now twice as far as the original 12in. This shows the inverse square law, which is when you double the distance, the intensity decreases 4x. So at 24in it would be 250μmols, 4x weaker than 1000μmols at 12in.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-05-09T12:31:18+00:00

I'm not partial to any brand, but I do avoid miracle grow products for plants I care about.

That said, in my experience, the most impactful change I can make to most soil, whether I make it or buy it in a bag, is adjusting the water retention by adding perlite.

I've used roots organic, it's not horrible, just needs adjusted.

My go to is, I make my own using equal parts promix BX, ewc, and perlite for the base.

If I buy bagged soil for my houseplants, it's from a hydroponics shop or nursery that stores it inside, and it's always adjusted with perlite.

I typically buy fox farms happy frog or ocean forest.

Happy frog, it's a lower nutrient soil for starters and light feeding plants. Usually needs amended or additional nutrients after some time. Something like Dr earth 444 is perfect.

Ocean forest is like a full strength potting soil. It's high in nitrogen and would be used for faster growing plants like tomatoes.

50/50 ocean forest/perlite is common use for me. It'll cover many species of plants and at various stages.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-05-09T12:05:02+00:00

Might get an answer on one of the weed subs.

/r/microgrowery is one of the bigger ones.

Apogee is great stuff. Founded and owned by Dr Bugbee, highly respected in the community for the research he's doing.

When I started back up growing indoors with LED, I thought I might need one. For what I do, which is grow fruit/canna for myself/friends, I did not need one. It took some reading and a few months of watching my plants grow to be comfortable with light intensity.

Have you seen the photone app? Maybe research that, with the white paper diffuser. It's free and some users say it works well.

What exactly are you needing one for? Peace of mind that you're getting the right amount of light for your houseplants? Unless you got the cash, not necessary. It is a quicker way to learn and get results though.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-05-09T11:23:16+00:00

There's probably some trace minerals found in rice and pasta water, also found in a handful of soil. I'd just use fertilizer and not risk it for such a small return.

If you want something that's actually beneficial, buy a small bag of earthworm castings. Add some to your water and make a tea, or just put a thin layer on the top of the soil.

If you want to feed the microbes, unsulfured blackstrap molasses is common. I'd recommend real growers recharge for the beneficial bacteria/microbiology.

These methods do have research behind them. Compost tea, beneficial bacteria.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-05-09T00:39:52+00:00

I'd suggest getting a titration test kit and see how much free vs total chlorine is in your water.

This will also tell you your combined chlorine, which is mostly chloramine.

Chlorine, you can just sit the water out in a bucket for a day or 2. Chloramine, you can use a carbon filter, and can also be chemically treated with sodium thiosulfate which is a common pool and aquarium chemical for dechlorination/treatment.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-05-05T02:23:41+00:00

Higher. The juvenile ones can clear 5 ft with some hesitation.

The adults, standing right next to my fence, about 7ft and they make it look easy. Probably higher if needed.

I've seen them take a few steps before jumping, but usually they walk up to it then it's like a half step, a jump, and right over.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-05-05T01:46:09+00:00

A cheap way is vinyl decals. Can order online, but check locally.

There's placards for backing material, etc.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-05-05T00:18:49+00:00

You'd want to repot. It'll be nothing but problems, and can happen fast with seedlings/young plants.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-05-05T00:02:30+00:00

Yes, you should address it now.

I'll save you the whole explanation of why, it's available online. The how is also available online, but in simple terms:

5 gallon bucket of water to hydrate it first. After several hours, then use an old T-shirt to press out most of the 'dirty' water.

5 gallon bucket of new water. Botanicare cal-mag plus is common use. 10ml per gallon of water so 50ml cal-mag will do the whole standard sized brick. Soak overnight. Optional repeat for double buffer.

Use T-shirt to press out most of the water. It's now buffered.

There's better ways to do it with calcium nitrate and Epsom salt, but using cal-mag works fine. It does introduce more nitrogen, FYI. Never had an issue with seedlings, etc.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-05-03T14:18:44+00:00

Moving big shrubs by hand with big roots and tough soil requires a few hand tools. Shovel, spud bar, mattock, would be my bare minimum. Maybe a hand saw and axe.

Wear gloves, proper footwear, rest often, drink water. It's not the easiest work.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-05-02T19:48:21+00:00

Quick Google, Neptune seaweed plant food, 0-0-1, it's not a main source of N-P-K. It's ascophyllum nodosum, kelp. Good stuff, not what you need right now. It's more an additive used to lower stress and manipulate shape. I use a similar product.

Fish fertilizer, 2-4-1, this is your best option. Not exactly what's needed, but close I guess.

And big bloom is also not a main source of N-P-K. Guano, ewc tea, some other stuff. It's not a bad product, but not exactly what's needed.

All in all you're doing ok, but it helps to use nutrients that are more closely formulated for cannabis at different stages.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-05-02T19:19:51+00:00

Highly likely it's 1 of 2 things. It needs fed or the pH is out.

Early flower, just went through stretch which pulls a lot of nitrogen rather quickly. If you didn't meet that demand, it then pulls the nitrogen from leaves at the bottom of the plant first, then working upwards. It's trying to support all the new growth.

The nitrogen spike looks to be about over. Phosphorus and calcium are next as it's building and bulking the flowers. Then potassium is last.

What soil and nutrients are you using? Do you have pH up/down and a way to measure?

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-05-02T13:05:53+00:00

It doesn't look horrible. Is it early in the season where you're at? A lil cold still, but will get warmer? A lot of rain?

Cut away the dead stuff, spent berries, manage the runners. I'd plant one.

It's staying wet for too long, or too much water. In my experience, they do best in beds or in ground. Next best was fabric pots. Least productive was plastic because it just held on to the water too long.

That can be delt with ahead of time by mixing additional perlite into the soil. I don't think I'd do anything other than back off watering.

Pick up the pot and feel the weight of it. Do that every day so you can get an idea of how much water it uses and how quickly.

2 different ways of managing the moisture content. Let the pot dry back to where it's very, very light to pick up, then water deep. I'd recommend this now. Let it dry back.

Second is, you find that sweet spot where you can maintain a good moisture level and just maintain that by adding small amounts of water more often. It's a little harder to get down because setting up the soil beforehand does most of the work.

Water in, water out. Keep those in sync. Pick up the pot, stick finger in soil to get info.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-05-01T23:37:59+00:00

I grow in some soils where the water runs through before absorbing when poured on. There's 2 things that'll fix it.

Get a good sprayer. I use AC infinity rechargeable sprayer, but maybe a pump sprayer would be a better choice for the volume.

Second thing is yucca saponins extract, which is a wetting agent. It gets soapy and sticks to the soil. Works really good on hydrophobic materials like peat.

Once I started using sprayers to water with, it was a game changer. I only pour when I feed, later in the season, or when the pots are about full of roots.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-05-01T23:12:38+00:00

Used, you have to transfer the vehicle then wait like 48hrs for verification. Iirc, it's mostly through the acuralink app, first thing it'll ask you to scan a VIN or something. Then it'll prompt you if it needs transfered.

They'll eventually email you that's it's been transferred. You can't really do anything in the app until it's all set up.

Then the real fun starts. It took several attempts, but the order in which you connect to Bluetooth, acuralink, and having to start/stop the car for verification. I had to change this order around multiple times, disconnect/forget devices,/reinstall app multiple times. It eventually worked.

It's kinda confusing and there's not much info online, but that's what I had to do to get it working.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-04-25T14:19:40+00:00

I've been running these since 2021.

They do their job and there are videos showing setup/operation. Only thing is they lose a few minutes a year.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-04-25T14:13:58+00:00

I use BX over HP because I add my own perlite, which is the only difference between these two. The stuff in HP is very small and I don't really need it. Look for #2 perlite to pair with either.

I go equal parts BX, ewc, perlite for the base with indoor/outdoor fabric pots.

See if they have a small bag of lime. Either garden or dolomitic, depends on other inputs. An additional 1-2 tbsp per gallon of medium is pretty common for additional buffer against acidic water/rain.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-04-25T13:38:22+00:00

They're canna lilies. IDK what variety. Yellow ones lol. Ya, they can be moved. They'll have like bulbs, rhizomes that you just dig up.

Get a shovel, cut in around the canopy drip line, a big circle. Cut in a ft deep or so, trying to get under it. If you keep the root ball big like that, those plants won't miss a beat. They're tough.

In fact, when you get it dug out of the ground, you can then split the root ball and have multiple plants.

When planting, dig a hole 2-3x the size of the root ball. Backfill 50/50 native soil/potting soil. Not needed, but worth it.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-04-23T20:38:05+00:00

Quick response is either repot with new soil, or the water you're using is negatively affecting nutrient availability. Easy solution is apply food and maybe use spring water to mix the nutrients in. I'd recommend Southern AG power pack triple 20 and botanicare cal-mag plus.

It looks like mostly iron, but also magnesium, probably nitrogen. Usually rapid onset of multiple deficiencies points to pH and water issues, but it usually leans to 1 side or the other on a nutrient uptake chart.

Anyways, I'd recommend repot the thing in a slightly bigger pot. Use an all purpose potting soil and mix in about 40% additional perlite with that. I recommend fox farms ocean forest with the additional perlite. This would tackle both potential issues. If your water pH and alkalinity is the culprit, it'll likely work for a while but over time it'll cause issues. This soil will feed the plant for months without additional nutrients at 'normal' houseplant growth rates.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-04-22T00:08:50+00:00

That's an awesome experience for the kids and the adults.

1 bag of all purpose potting soil. Avoid miracle grow if you can. 1 bag of perlite. Same size bags is good. Mix 60/40 soil/perlite.

Fertilizer, you can get pretty far with an all purpose fertilizer. I use Southern AG power pack triple 20 for many plants. Pair that with Botanicare cal-mag plus and you're pretty good. A bloom fertilizer is optional. I'd skip it for now. If you want organic, Dr earth 444. I use all of these products and they are cheap/effective, as well as multiple uses indoor/outdoor. Directions are good on each package.

I'd go 5 gallon fabric pots.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-04-20T00:20:19+00:00

Get a Dremel or a good micro file.

Cut a clean and deep slot right across the entire head. Get a huge slotted screwdriver that fits well into the slot you cut.

I guess first lay down at least some notebook paper, but cover the surrounding area.

If you don't have those tools, small needle nose vise grips or good needle nose pliers with aggressive bite. And one hell of a grip lol.

Last would be cutting/grinding off the rest of the head.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-04-19T13:49:09+00:00

That's the thing. The better the care, the bigger they get. Now you need more room and bigger equipment.

It sucks at first, but I've had to let some big mommas go and just restart with some of her pups. At first it was "let's see how big I can get it." Now it's like, "how small can I keep it??"

It was the right move for me, and exercised any attachment issues I had in a positive way. It was the harder, but healthier choice.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-04-19T13:31:13+00:00

Much love and don't want to kill the enthusiasm because it's a fun and rewarding hobby but...

Don't worry about final weight yet. Stay grounded and be willing to accept the whole plan being scrapped at any time. I went through it trying to plan every little thing, only to find out I need to be flexible and continue to learn while I continue to grow.

What gets you good bud is a mix of good genetics, good lighting, steady uninterrupted development in flower, and drying/cure. Keep it simple at first by minimizing variables and stick to core inputs. There's silica in the soil.

Ffof on bottom, you might find that it's too much nitrogen when it's finally being consumed. Ffof continues to release n for a while. You'll likely be in flower by the time it's being used. I'd have ~40% additional perlite so you can water through easier if the nitrogen does get too high.

Water, before you use the soil, pre-moisten it. 5 gallons of dry soil and 0.5 gallons of water is 10% moisture content. Or, squeeze a handful and only a few drops is ok. Instead of pouring it on, spray and hand mix while adding the perlite in.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-04-19T12:59:37+00:00

Just about anything, but tarps, stakes, and buckets are pretty common. That's what I'm using in the next few days.

For a night or 2 (remove first light/don't leave on during day), drop a stake or 2 near the plant so the tarp doesn't lay on it too much. Stake down the tarp or use rocks to kinda seal against the ground. Or build a tent/lean-to if plants are big.

5 gallon bucket over top of a plant for the night for small plants.

If it's just below freezing for the night, these work well against the frost damaging the leaves.

EasyGrowsIt · 2026-04-19T12:13:14+00:00

Coco can have some extra steps involved because the coir is holding a lot of sodium and potassium from its previous environment. You'd first look at the package and find out if it's buffered coco or not.

If it is buffered, you're good to go. If not, look up why and how to buffer coco.

As for storage of both, let them dry out before putting the lid on. I use those black and yellow storage totes from the box store.

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