With humidity adjusted and VPD back in range the plants appear to be recovering nicely. They got watered today with epsom salted water ph'd to 6.4 (aimed for 6.5, missed by .1 but should be alright.)
Will be hitting with another watering in a couple days and if roots are not showing yet will end up having to top dress (worm shit, gaia 4-4-4) and will water it in with a tea of worm shit, kelp meal, 444, molasses, probably throw a small chunk of a mosquito dunk (between the last dunk water and sticky traps seems like the problem has been eliminated, haven't seen any new gnats in a while, figure one more bti watering and I'll call it dealt with)
If I do end up having roots poke through the nursery bag will be transplant time.
Since plants seemed to be doing better I lowered the lights a few inches, they are still at lowest power setting (1/10)
The new container of molasses I bought has mold growing in it. For baking that would be a throw away, but I am curious if that is still usable for making teas. I have seen some soils that add tricoderma and others, just curious? Also can a tea be stored for a week after brewing?
Gnats????? Put sand over the top of soil. You can also use perlite to cover soil....you can even use broken glass.. Let pots dry a bit to keep from attracting them. I always see people in pots water till it starts draining out the bottom that is over watering and just flushing soil of precious nutrients. Water tiny bits but more often....check out "crop steering" if you want to get your irrigation down to a science :) Hope you get stuff sorted out :)
@Ketamine,
Thank-you for the info.
I was tracking topping with perlite to prevent gnats, but i'm running low, and nursery here charges more than I'd like to pay I'll keep sand in mind if this fails.
I needed mosquito dunks for next year anyways (they are fucked out here where I live, like swarms come spring time through to late summer) thought I'd try an experiment using BTI as a larvicide for the gnats, see how effective it is, and if it would be worth trying again.
Experimenting is an issue I have, lol, curiosity always gets the best of me. I tend to move along to something new once I figure something out. That's why i'm running soil instead of DWC (man I miss hydro and the nearly instant response from the plants, might move back that direction soon I dunno though I liked the idea of just having to water make it hard for the wife to kill the plants if I have to leave for work, with the irrigation set up even easier, she just has to make sure there is water in the res. As I have a timer ready to be hooked up if I need to leave) After I dial in and get decent at this amended soil growing style I may move on to something else, I'm not sure what yet. I like to build and play with things, and already have enough weed to last a little while.
Sorry, side tracked, lol, back on topic.
I almost never water till draining. Usually just water enough plants drink it up in two days. (Right now thats about 3 gallons between 17 plants or .66L ea. Give or take)
I think the issue started with the bubblegum plant that stunted after transplant, it decided it did not want any water.
Was lifting the bags to check weight/water content, all were dry day 3 except that bubblegum, closed the nozzle for it and watered everything else. Checked again day 6, was still wet and thats when I noticed fungus gnats.. Threw down the sticky traps and just hit them today with water and a busted up mosquito dunk. Gonna let them dry out for a few days now and see if that helped, next water will also hit them with a mosquito dunk, probably make a tea with it, some molasses, worm castings, and maybe some kelp, was reading about BTI creating spores and reproducing in glucose water solution at around 30g/L so thinking it will pair well with molasses in a tea.
Will take a look at crop steering tomorrow. I hope I get it sorted out too. They already seem to be recovering, but who knows.
Thanks again for info, and encouragement.
@Godesskat,
Thanks, trying a few new things here (Organic nutes, plastic pots and highish plant count. Usually run chem nutes in 5 gallon bags, or dwc with 4 plants) so I will need it.