Changing my grow medium and nutes. Any tips?

[C42ody]

So my last grow I was doing a living soil method but this time I'm going to switch it up because it is kind of hard carrying in and mixing everything in an upstairs apartment.

My idea is that im going to run Pro Mix HP and bottled nutes in 3 Gal tall fabric pots. I'm really wanting to try Cronk but I can never grab their stuff when it's available online. So I'll probably go with Advanced Nutrients with the upside being it's available at my local hydro store where as Cronk isn't.

My question is how is the difference in watering/feeding in Pro Mix HP vs a living soil? Do I water until runoff every time? Will I need to water every day? Do I feed every watering and how strong do I feed them when I do?

Any advice/tips are super welcome!

 

[Death The Cultivator]

@tronN00dles

 

[tronN00dles]

I'm a big fan of Pro-Mix HP and bottled nutes.

I've only ever treated it as a soilless medium, so I do water to 10% run-off or so every time. I've played around with various feeding/watering patterns, i.e., feed-water-water; feed-feed-water, feed-water repeat, etc. It really depends on the strain and some other factors but I would say to start with providing nutes every other watering (so a plain watering in between each feed). In terms of frequency, the manufacturer recommends watering every time the top starts to look a little dry -- this is what I do, and I typically end up watering every ~72 hours for younger plants and every ~48 hours for flowering plants.

I would not treat it like soil and wait for it to dry out a knuckle deep or anything. I do think Pro-Mix HP works best when it stays moist; besides the mychorrizae will appreciate the moisture, and there's low risk of starving roots of oxygen as the mix is so airy. This means that coming from soil, you'll probably be skeptical your plants need water at some points and you may be inclined to wait an extra day or so to water. Careful with this. Plants in Pro-Mix HP really seem to appreciate consistent moisture. There's a local flower nursery in my town that uses Pro-Mix HP exclusively, and they water every flower they have every 48 hours regardless of the maturity of the flowers, and they all do great.

Having said that, I've come across folks who treat Pro-Mix HP closer to soil and let it dry out, and it does fine. There are other who don't bother watering to run-off, and again, it does fine.

Man O Green's tutorial on liquid nutes for autos is a great resource: https://www.autoflower.org/threads/a-word-on-nutrients.82004/

I've had good success with his ppm targets for autos (~550-650ppm or 1.1-1.3ec), as well as his pH targets for peat-based mediums (6.3-6.4). When it comes to liquid nutrients, ppm/EC and pH are important for ensuring your nutrients are mixed appropriately. The main thing is to stick to the ratios provided by your chose feedchart, and adjust ppm/EC and pH accordingly.

One warning: avoid cal-mag water with Pro-Mix HP! There's dolomite lime in there anyway, so any cal-mag you provide should be as per your feedchart, and in conjunction with other nutrients. The main thing is to provide plain water regularly, and that means plain pH'ed water with nothing else.

Good luck!

tron

 

[chuckeye]

My experience with ProMix HP is a little different.

I use 3 gallon fabric bags and Mega Crop one part. My well water has a ppm of 450-500, ph is 7.5

Both medium and nutrients are buffered, I do Not ph down or use Cal/Mag.

I start feeding immediately with a light solution, there are no nutrients in ProMix HP and I feed with every watering.

Solo cups for seedlings, maybe 1/2 cup of water when they feel light.

Once transplanted maybe 1 L Around the plant, not close to the stem. You want to grow roots at this stage.

I do not give my girls any more than they can use in three to four days.

Wet/dry cycle, pick up the pot to judge. It can take up to a month before a full watering to some run off.

This grow I'm pushing the wet/dry cycle. When they kinda feel like they could be watered, I wait till the next day.

I haven't found the point when they start to droop so I'm not pushing that hard !

Currently @ day 67, 17 of 12/12 and I'm stretching watering to at least 2 1/2 days.

I roughly follow the feeding schedule on Green Leafs web site, now @ 4.5g/MC and .75g of Bud Explosion (which I just started today).

Gorilla Glue #4 Auto, 11g short of a pound, my personal best.....

Good luck with your grow !

Cheers

PS > a former Advanced Nutrient M/G/B user

 

[chuckeye]

My Current grow.

Cheers

 

[C42ody]

Thank you both for the really useful knowledge! I'm so sorry for the late reply, I've been stuck in trim jail on top of working. So again I apologize for not replying in a timely manner.

I'm definitely going to take the information you've given me all the way through my grow. I'm going to be ordering a good pH/EC meter soon so I can keep better track of what I'm feeding.

I do have a couple questions still involving the Advanced Nutrients line more so than Pro Mix. I've noticed some people online use all three part G/M/B all the way through with autos and some don't even use grow. In what combination do you use the nutrients when feeding autos? G/M for the first few weeks and then gradually move to M/B? I've also seen people using all other parts of their nutrient line throughout the begining of the grow, which to me seems like overkill. I've always heard less is best but, in this case should I use all three with autos? This will only be my second auto run and I really want to get them down to where I'm growing big tasty buds. I already have all three bottles of G/M/B.

My seeds started germin today! I might start a grow journal on here so show the progress.

I'm a big fan of Pro-Mix HP and bottled nutes.

I've only ever treated it as a soilless medium, so I do water to 10% run-off or so every time. I've played around with various feeding/watering patterns, i.e., feed-water-water; feed-feed-water, feed-water repeat, etc. It really depends on the strain and some other factors but I would say to start with providing nutes every other watering (so a plain watering in between each feed). In terms of frequency, the manufacturer recommends watering every time the top starts to look a little dry -- this is what I do, and I typically end up watering every ~72 hours for younger plants and every ~48 hours for flowering plants.

I would not treat it like soil and wait for it to dry out a knuckle deep or anything. I do think Pro-Mix HP works best when it stays moist; besides the mychorrizae will appreciate the moisture, and there's low risk of starving roots of oxygen as the mix is so airy. This means that coming from soil, you'll probably be skeptical your plants need water at some points and you may be inclined to wait an extra day or so to water. Careful with this. Plants in Pro-Mix HP really seem to appreciate consistent moisture. There's a local flower nursery in my town that uses Pro-Mix HP exclusively, and they water every flower they have every 48 hours regardless of the maturity of the flowers, and they all do great.

Having said that, I've come across folks who treat Pro-Mix HP closer to soil and let it dry out, and it does fine. There are other who don't bother watering to run-off, and again, it does fine.

Man O Green's tutorial on liquid nutes for autos is a great resource: https://www.autoflower.org/threads/a-word-on-nutrients.82004/

I've had good success with his ppm targets for autos (~550-650ppm or 1.1-1.3ec), as well as his pH targets for peat-based mediums (6.3-6.4). When it comes to liquid nutrients, ppm/EC and pH are important for ensuring your nutrients are mixed appropriately. The main thing is to stick to the ratios provided by your chose feedchart, and adjust ppm/EC and pH accordingly.

One warning: avoid cal-mag water with Pro-Mix HP! There's dolomite lime in there anyway, so any cal-mag you provide should be as per your feedchart, and in conjunction with other nutrients. The main thing is to provide plain water regularly, and that means plain pH'ed water with nothing else.

Good luck!

tron

My experience with ProMix HP is a little different.

I use 3 gallon fabric bags and Mega Crop one part. My well water has a ppm of 450-500, ph is 7.5

Both medium and nutrients are buffered, I do Not ph down or use Cal/Mag.

I start feeding immediately with a light solution, there are no nutrients in ProMix HP and I feed with every watering.

Solo cups for seedlings, maybe 1/2 cup of water when they feel light.

Once transplanted maybe 1 L Around the plant, not close to the stem. You want to grow roots at this stage.

I do not give my girls any more than they can use in three to four days.

Wet/dry cycle, pick up the pot to judge. It can take up to a month before a full watering to some run off.

This grow I'm pushing the wet/dry cycle. When they kinda feel like they could be watered, I wait till the next day.

I haven't found the point when they start to droop so I'm not pushing that hard !

Currently @ day 67, 17 of 12/12 and I'm stretching watering to at least 2 1/2 days.

I roughly follow the feeding schedule on Green Leafs web site, now @ 4.5g/MC and .75g of Bud Explosion (which I just started today).

Gorilla Glue #4 Auto, 11g short of a pound, my personal best.....

View attachment 1512737

Good luck with your grow !

Cheers

PS > a former Advanced Nutrient M/G/B user

 

[tronN00dles]

Thank you both for the really useful knowledge! I'm so sorry for the late reply, I've been stuck in trim jail on top of working. So again I apologize for not replying in a timely manner.

I'm definitely going to take the information you've given me all the way through my grow. I'm going to be ordering a good pH/EC meter soon so I can keep better track of what I'm feeding.

I do have a couple questions still involving the Advanced Nutrients line more so than Pro Mix. I've noticed some people online use all three part G/M/B all the way through with autos and some don't even use grow. In what combination do you use the nutrients when feeding autos? G/M for the first few weeks and then gradually move to M/B? I've also seen people using all other parts of their nutrient line throughout the begining of the grow, which to me seems like overkill. I've always heard less is best but, in this case should I use all three with autos? This will only be my second auto run and I really want to get them down to where I'm growing big tasty buds. I already have all three bottles of G/M/B.

My seeds started germin today! I might start a grow journal on here so show the progress.

Stick with the ratios provided by the manufacturer's feedcharts, just dilute according to your ppm target (see article below). I don't use Advanced Nutrients myself, but I assume you're talking about one of these: https://www.advancednutrients.com/feeding/

It looks like they offer 2-part, 3-part, and beyond, which is pretty standard practice for bottle nutes. Just because something is called Grow doesn't mean it should be skipped during bloom phase. The names of the products are just names; it's the NPK and other elements that matter. More bottles means more control in what you can feed your plants. Looking at the M/G/B feedchart above, it's clear all 3 are used throughout the grow. If you just drop one willy-nilly, you mess with the NPK ratios AN has established with their feedcharts. Not to say it can’t be done, but just be careful with deviating from the ratios suggested by the feedchart.

I use General Hydroponics, and they offer 3-part, 6-part, and 10-part nutes. The main 3 are also called Micro, Grow, and Bloom, and I most certainly use all 3 throughout the grow stages as per the manufacturer's feedchart.

This article is a must-read: https://www.autoflower.org/threads/a-word-on-nutrients.82004/

Good luck!

 

[chuckeye]

Thank you both for the really useful knowledge! I'm so sorry for the late reply, I've been stuck in trim jail on top of working. So again I apologize for not replying in a timely manner.

I'm definitely going to take the information you've given me all the way through my grow. I'm going to be ordering a good pH/EC meter soon so I can keep better track of what I'm feeding.

When I grew with AN ph Perfect M/G/B I found anything over a ppm of 1000 was too much !

I do have a couple questions still involving the Advanced Nutrients line more so than Pro Mix. I've noticed some people online use all three part G/M/B all the way through with autos and some don't even use grow. In what combination do you use the nutrients when feeding autos? G/M for the first few weeks and then gradually move to M/B? I've also seen people using all other parts of their nutrient line throughout the begining of the grow, which to me seems like overkill. I've always heard less is best but, in this case should I use all three with autos? This will only be my second auto run and I really want to get them down to where I'm growing big tasty buds. I already have all three bottles of G/M/B.

My seeds started germin today! I might start a grow journal on here so show the progress.

I tried both their advanced feed schedule where you varied the amounts of the three and their beginners which is equal amounts of the three all through the grow

Not sure if they still offer these schedules ?

What I found worked best for me was equal amounts of M/G/B slowly increasing amounts/L through the grow....

I also used Bid Bud, Sensizym and B-52 although they are not really necessary.

Good luck with your grow !

Cheers