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Nievesgirl
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« on: July 16, 2009, 03:07:38 PM » |
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Could I use seaweed extract , growth enhancer and the bio grow fertilzer all at once ? I kind of feel stupid because I just bought the HVH booster and HVH fertilizer ! I did not think before I bought it. I did have the same salt burn problems back in the day. I switched to organics because of it. I was just using a old seaweed fertilizer that HVH used to sell it had a mermaid on it  So what should I do ? |
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~Kerry~
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Charlie
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« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2009, 06:56:17 PM » |
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Hi Kerry,
My suggestion would be to water the hibiscus once using plain water but enough of it so that at least 10 percent of it (more is even better) comes out the drainage holes. The excess water should be disposed of and not allowed to be drawn back into the pot (assuming you have saucers under the plants). This will leach excess salts out of the pots.
Then do not use the booster again anytime soon. The HVH Specialblend is used by more people than I can count including daily on all the plants we ship. It does not cause salt burn if used according to directions. Use it once per week by mixing 1 teaspoon of it into 1 gallon of water. Never use either the booster or the specialblend without dissolving them in water.
The HVH Specialblend gives the hibiscus all the essential nutrients they need. You can then supplement with co-factors found in the organic products. Both the seaweed and the growth enhancer have beneficial ingredients that support the overall health of the hibiscus, as well as gentle growth hormones to give them something extra. The Bio-Gro organic fertilizer is no longer being imported into the US by either of the 2 distributors we know. The price was raised and they think it is now too high so they don't import it. We are looking for a replacement but have not settled on one yet.
Question - don't aquarium people use total dissolved salt meters to check the levels in the aquariums? If you have such a thing you can test the salts in the soil of your pots by making a slurry that is half soil and half distilled water. Strain the liquid out of the slurry and test it for tds. Until your pots are leached of any excess the problem with leaf burn will continue. This is very common when using Potassium Nitrate (Booster) which is why I am reluctant to see it used other than as a spray. Very cautious use is OK but it is always tempting to go a little higher.
Good luck and let us know how it goes!
Charlie
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Nievesgirl
Posts: 938
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« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2009, 07:38:16 PM » |
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Hi Kerry,
My suggestion would be to water the hibiscus once using plain water but enough of it so that at least 10 percent of it (more is even better) comes out the drainage holes. The excess water should be disposed of and not allowed to be drawn back into the pot (assuming you have saucers under the plants). This will leach excess salts out of the pots.
Then do not use the booster again anytime soon. The HVH Specialblend is used by more people than I can count including daily on all the plants we ship. It does not cause salt burn if used according to directions. Use it once per week by mixing 1 teaspoon of it into 1 gallon of water. Never use either the booster or the specialblend without dissolving them in water.
The HVH Specialblend gives the hibiscus all the essential nutrients they need. You can then supplement with co-factors found in the organic products. Both the seaweed and the growth enhancer have beneficial ingredients that support the overall health of the hibiscus, as well as gentle growth hormones to give them something extra. The Bio-Gro organic fertilizer is no longer being imported into the US by either of the 2 distributors we know. The price was raised and they think it is now too high so they don't import it. We are looking for a replacement but have not settled on one yet.
Question - don't aquarium people use total dissolved salt meters to check the levels in the aquariums? If you have such a thing you can test the salts in the soil of your pots by making a slurry that is half soil and half distilled water. Strain the liquid out of the slurry and test it for tds. Until your pots are leached of any excess the problem with leaf burn will continue. This is very common when using Potassium Nitrate (Booster) which is why I am reluctant to see it used other than as a spray. Very cautious use is OK but it is always tempting to go a little higher.
Good luck and let us know how it goes!
Charlie
I been using the Ro water to water them , I just watered my Heartbreak hotel this is the one and the voodoo magic showing signs of salt burn. I only used the booster one time in the beginning of last month , this is why I can't believe its still getting salt burn. I have not used the fertilizer on the voodoo or heartbreak hotel. only the other plants that I did not give a booster to I gave them some fertilizer last week. As for the bio grow I did find it online but I think I will just take your advice and use only the specialblend after I get all of the TDS out. I have not used my DI water since it takes a long time to make and I use that water for my aquarium. Reef hobbist only use the TDS meter to check the filter water other wise they do not work in salt water ( too many organic and man made TDS in the salt water ) I will do the soil test in a few minutes and post results |
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~Kerry~
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Nievesgirl
Posts: 938
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« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2009, 08:01:01 PM » |
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ok The results
Gator pride soil @ 112 TDS
Heart break Hotel @ 180
My regular Tap is 270
And the filter Ro water was 209
I am shocked that my tap is 270 last time I check it was @ 435 months ago maybe LA is cleaning their water better.
So is my soil ok ? Seeing that my tap and filter water is higher than 112 and 180 do you think I got most of the fertilizer out ? Should the soil always have a TDS at the same rate as my water I am using ?
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~Kerry~
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Nievesgirl
Posts: 938
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« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2009, 08:08:39 PM » |
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ok I just tested the soil of wild dream ( which I got yesterday) It was at 610 TDS
So I am going to assume my soil is fine now. I wish I would have tested it before I rinsed out the booster I bet it was close to 1000 TDS
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~Kerry~
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Charlie
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« Reply #5 on: July 20, 2009, 05:50:39 AM » |
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Hi Kerry,
That's great. Getting real numbers is sure helpful at times. Clearly your soil is just fine, with no dangerous salt buildup. I'd say you are now at risk of not having enough fertility in the soil.
That being the case, I am wondering what the problem is that you have been seeing. Did you ever post or take photos of the leaves that are problematic? I'd like to see what you see, and might have another idea once I see the plant and leaves.
Charlie
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Charlie
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« Reply #6 on: July 20, 2009, 06:05:18 AM » |
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Hi Kerry,
I see I did not answer some of the other questions you posed. No, your tds in the pot does not need to be at the same level as the water you use. Pro growers decide on the ppm (parts per million) of nitrogen that they want to provide to the plants, and then calculate how much fertilizer to add to the water using graphs and tables provided by the fertilizer manufacturer. To test it is correct the TDS of the tap water is added to the theoretical TDS of the fertilizer mixed with pure water and a measurement is taken to see if the measured tds matches the theoretical tds.
The bottom line is that your tds in the pot should match or be only slightly higher than the tds of the fertilizer water. BUT, that is true only if the plants are watered with the same fertilizer mixture every time they are watered. That is how most commercial plants are grown - a light dose of fertilizer with every watering. It keeps everything very even in the growing environment and most plants seem to like this way better than being flooded with large doses of fertilizer followed by no fertilizer. OTOH it is not very convenient for most people to always fertilize when they water so don't worry if that is not what you do. If you fertilize only every 2nd or 3rd watering the tds in the pot will vary according to how long it has been since you did fertilizer.
Another way to look at it is that if you leach some of the salts out by overwatering regularly there will not be a dangerous salt build-up if using any reasonable amount of fertilizer.
Hope this helps. I realize we are coming on the subject from different experiences - but hopefully there is a meeting of the minds.
Charlie
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Nievesgirl
Posts: 938
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« Reply #7 on: July 20, 2009, 12:32:13 PM » |
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"Use it once per week by mixing 1 teaspoon of it into 1 gallon of water"
I was using as directed but the container says mix 1 tsp per gallon for each watering or as needed ? So I should only use weekly ? I water some of my plants only weekly I just want to make sure I am doing this right. I used the fertilizer only one time on gator pride and rockets' red glare and the plant is fine so I believe you that the special blend does not cause salt burn. It was probably the booster that made them get salt burn.
should are start using the fertilizer now ? I will keep a chart so I can remember when I fertilized. I will just water all at the same time so that I can not go crazy trying to remember who had what lol.
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~Kerry~
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Charlie
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« Reply #8 on: July 21, 2009, 06:47:12 AM » |
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When I wrote the "once per week" recommendation I was still concerned that you might have salt buildup in the pots. Now that we know this is not the case, I would remove the once per week and say you can fertilizer every time you water or however often you want. We fertilize every time we water because it is automatically mixed into the irrigation water and because the plants like it. They do best with steady, regular water and feeding rather than going back and forth between drowning and drought or heavy fertilizer and no fertilizer. For those who don't have the time or inclination to mix fertilizer we suggest using the time release type or increase the dose of fertilizer used up to 1 tablespoon per gallon for those who only do once per month feedings. It's far better to fertilize lightly and often.
Are you still seeing any leaf problems on some of the varieties?
Charlie
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Nievesgirl
Posts: 938
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« Reply #9 on: July 21, 2009, 02:49:29 PM » |
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Thanks for the info Charlie. I will water them all tonigt with some fertilizer.
The burnt leaves on heart break hotel I took off they started turn yellow. so far no more new burnt looking leaves same goes for the voodoo magic it still has burnt looking leaves but new ones are not appearing
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~Kerry~
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Charlie
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« Reply #10 on: July 23, 2009, 07:13:27 AM » |
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That's good. Whatever happened is past now and the damage was not serious enough to threaten the survival of the plants. Could have even been heat damage during shipping. I've noticed that leaf damage to hibiscus can take several days to show up fully which makes it harder to know what caused the damage.
Charlie
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Nievesgirl
Posts: 938
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« Reply #11 on: July 23, 2009, 04:35:15 PM » |
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That's good. Whatever happened is past now and the damage was not serious enough to threaten the survival of the plants. Could have even been heat damage during shipping. I've noticed that leaf damage to hibiscus can take several days to show up fully which makes it harder to know what caused the damage.
Charlie
That is true ! my blue ballerina looks like it has salt burn and I have never given it fertilizer until this week. |
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~Kerry~
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