Author Topic: Aaaargh!  (Read 2044 times)

KarenRei

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Aaaargh!
« on: May 02, 2018, 08:39:38 AM »
So, I recently had a number of plants showing signs of potassium deficiency and struggling.  A soil potassium test revealed that it was low (nitrogen was high, phosphate normal).  So, I gave them a nice helping of potassium sulfate from a bag I got on ebay long ago and but had only recently started slowly using up (not in formal product packaging, just a labeled ziplock).  They all got worse, and a few that I'd had for years died. I was baffled, but something had been eating at me.  When I bought a big bag of potassium sulfate at a store here (since I was running low on the ebay stuff), the compound didn't look like the contents of my old ebay potassium sulfate.  So I set up a potassium test and sprinkled some into the test liquid.  No colour change.  Then I set up a nitrogen test and sprinkled some in.  Rapid bright purple, off the charts.  It's some bloody ammonium compound.  Ammonium, a compound that  makes potassium deficiency worse, and when over applied is toxic.  Aaaargh!

Well, this also probably explains the calcium deficiency in one of my bananas too that doesn't seem to want to go away.  I'd been giving it the "potassium sulfate", and yes, excess ammonia causes calcium deficiency too  :Þ
« Last Edit: May 02, 2018, 08:42:31 AM by KarenRei »
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roblack

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Re: Aaaargh!
« Reply #1 on: May 02, 2018, 09:30:45 AM »
That really bites! Sorry for your losses.

We place a lot of trust in the sellers and manufacturers of the products we buy.

KarenRei

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Re: Aaaargh!
« Reply #2 on: May 02, 2018, 09:54:34 AM »
My fault for trusting Ebay.  On anything at all having to do with plants, ever.
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Kevin Jones

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Re: Aaaargh!
« Reply #3 on: May 02, 2018, 01:53:26 PM »
Trust your plants...

gozp

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Re: Aaaargh!
« Reply #4 on: May 02, 2018, 02:52:11 PM »
Hi Karen, i have been using Alpha  Chemicals potassium sulfate for a year now & no problems.


fruitlovers

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Re: Aaaargh!
« Reply #5 on: May 02, 2018, 04:57:50 PM »
I've heard that there is little or no regulation on fertilizers in USA, so they can pretty much put anything in that bag and get away with it.
Oscar

gnappi

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Re: Aaaargh!
« Reply #6 on: May 02, 2018, 07:06:12 PM »
I buy a lot of stuff on EBAY even plant supplies but ALWAYS buy a marked bag from the manufacturer. It is a good idea to not buy bulk in unmarked packages. So sorry for your loss I know it must be distressing with what must be a shortened growing season tbere.
Regards,

   Gary

KarenRei

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Re: Aaaargh!
« Reply #7 on: May 02, 2018, 07:46:38 PM »
I buy a lot of stuff on EBAY even plant supplies but ALWAYS buy a marked bag from the manufacturer. It is a good idea to not buy bulk in unmarked packages. So sorry for your loss I know it must be distressing with what must be a shortened growing season tbere.

Growing season isn't a problem, it's all under lights.  But since this is a hobby, not commercial, and I have to pay the power bills all by myself, light levels are not sun-comparable, so growth is slower.  :Þ  But I'm in the middle of adding more fixtures and swapping out older ones for more efficient modern ones, and the changes last winter were  well received by the plants.  I was supposed to be either moved into my new house or have my greenhouse built on my land by now, but both those projects have been taking ages.  Then there's the huge commercial BioDome project,  which would be awesome, but that's a couple years away from opening.

Just so bloody frustrated by how one seller screwup can do so much damage.  It's been ages since I purchased any chemicals on ebay (these days it's all from horticultural wholesalers), but I still had the old stock onhand, and so of course I wanted to use up the old stuff first...  I should have just thrown it away when I saw that it didn't look like the newly purchased K2SO4. The latter was bright white and formed chunks, while the other was offwhite and a very fine, non-clumping powder.  I just attributed it to impurities or anti-clumping agents.  :Þ

On the upside, I see some big seed / plant purchases in my relatively near future  ;)  And it didn't get any of my most favourite plants, like my dwarf coconut that was sent all the way from Fiji (if anyone here remembers me posting about it showing signs of potassium deficiency that just wouldn't get better... yeah.... suddenly that's very explainable ).  Also really glad that I didn't hurt my annona reticulata, as it's nearly to fruiting size.  But lost a miracle fruit, an inca peanut, a couple garcinias, and I think one small eugenia. And there's a sugar apple and a couple guavas that aren't happy but will probably be fine.
« Last Edit: May 02, 2018, 07:49:14 PM by KarenRei »
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greenman62

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Re: Aaaargh!
« Reply #8 on: May 03, 2018, 07:59:13 AM »
Reykjavík ?
I would imagine fish would be abundant there.
you could find a place to get scraps and start making either a slurry, or a compost.
Fish might be high in nitrogen, you you might want to research it first, maybe drying it out
would lower the N content ?
i pour fish emulsion  over my compost pile.

i stay away from chemicals, even just minerals as  much as possible.
i have used iron and magnesium at times, but did some reading on them first,
 and use them in low amounts.

KarenRei

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Re: Aaaargh!
« Reply #9 on: May 03, 2018, 08:44:08 AM »
1. I'm a vegetarian
2. I can't imagine the smell. My grow room is part of my house!
3. Yes, fish are very rich in nitrogen.

But for an amusing anecdote related to this: there's some places that buy a waste fish slurry to use as fertilizer in fields, even some sporting fields in town.  But one year someone came up with the brilliant idea of applying it as granules instead.

Fast forward to just hours after application, and the start of a massive seagull plague that terrorized town for weeks on end....  ;)
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