Hey folks, I use 4-5 gallon pots of Sunshine adv #4 (which I like and will continue to use) with 25% perlite and 15% earthworm castings. I provide all the food which is cool with me. I also add 1 tablespoon/gallon of dolomite lime. Last run I still had ph issues around week 5 from sprout Of the 4 babies 2 had problems and coincidentity (or not) theg were the sativa pheno. My question is: are sativas more cal/mag hungry? Am I using too much or too little dolomite? For those who use soiless do you usually find yourself top dressing with more lime and if so on average when? Thanks in advance good people.
Indoor Need some soiless advice.
- Thread starter biggie
- Start date
A4
11th Year Anniversary
Hey bro, I use Promix, basically the same thing. I love the mix but have noticed that I get much better results after making a run with a batch and then reusing it the second and third times. The problem isn't from too little lime, the problem is too much. Especially with sativas! I have tried everything known to try and keep my mix below 6.3 out of the bag and it always ends up shooting up around 6.8 - 7.0. For some strains, that isn't too bad but with sativas you really want it around 5.8, even in organics. They hate a high pH in the soil. I grow probably 80% sativa dom plants and have yet to find one that will really do well over 6.3.
If you have it, mix about 75% used sunshine and 25% new until you can get some cycled through. If you don't, I really don't know what to tell you. I have tried sulfur, aluminum sulfate, precharging with nutrients, going N heavy, and nothing really keeps the soilless products low enough for sativas out of the bag.
If you have it, mix about 75% used sunshine and 25% new until you can get some cycled through. If you don't, I really don't know what to tell you. I have tried sulfur, aluminum sulfate, precharging with nutrients, going N heavy, and nothing really keeps the soilless products low enough for sativas out of the bag.
Thanks for the reply. I see what you mean. I've only used it twice and after reading a lot of posts about how the peat breaks down and acidifies the soil I took precautions by adding lime. But from what I gather from you is that process takes longer than the average auto will be in the pot? And on subsequent runs the peat break down will start to lower ph. I try to ph my water to 6.0 to 6.1 should I go lower. Fyi my next run will be hybrids. Also, I'm using tap...will chloromine kill beneficial bacteria even though I've let the chlorline evaporate?
A4
11th Year Anniversary
No worries man, we are all here to help. Yeah, it takes a lot longer to break down than most people think or realize. I have been using it for about 10 years now and it is one of the best products on the market in my opinion, it just takes a little time to get used to growing in it. I use Promix because Sunshine is not available in our area but from talking with other growers that use Sunshine, they both seem identical.
The lime is absolutely not needed, I use lime when making my TLO with promix but when you are feeding nutrients you won't need it. Lime takes a long time to break down, especially garden lime(dolomite). Even when I add lime, it is always hydrated or calcitic, which still takes about 60 days to begin working. The only time it is needed is if you make TLO and are cooking the soil with amendments because the soil will be quite hot then and it will have time to work in.
As for your pH, that is really a debatable topic. Myself, if I am using bottled nutrients, I normally start out with a pH of 5.5 and measure regularly. Generally, I don't vary from that too much because 5.5 in keeps my soil around 5.8 to 6.0 which is the sweet spot for soilless. If you are growing 100% organic you may want to keep it up a little higher, around 6.3 but I still like mine much lower than most people tend to grow at. I notice a lot less problems in the 6 range.
Your last question about the chlorine and chloramine. That is a tricky one because a lot of municipalities have went to chloramine which can't be evaporated from the water no matter how long it sits. That is why they started using it. The chlorine, you can let evap out overnight with no problems, the chloramine won't. Yes, both will kill beneficial bacteria. Here is the thing though, if you are using bottled nutrients, even organic, it isn't that big of a deal. Beneficial bacteria will help you some but honestly, the bottled organic nutrients are already broken down to it's nutrient form so beneficial bacteria aren't absolutely needed. If you are growing using things like blood meal, bone meal, rock phosphates, molasses, etc, then you really need those beneficial bacteria to break the amendments down into nutrients that the plant is able to use. The best suggestion I can make in both cases is to go to lowes and get you several 5 gallon buckets or a 55 gallon plastic barrel and collect rain water for use. Even then you may have some contaminants depending on if you live near a coal plant or a location that has high amounts of pollutants in the air but I would bet the rain water is still better than most municipal water sources.
Best of luck bro! Hopefully that answered your questions and if not, always feel free to shoot me a pm or tag me in a post.
How would we break down the promix/sunshine after the grow and reuse it with it full of roots? I almost threw my soil away. ..
A4
11th Year Anniversary
Don't throw your soil away! lol There are several products you can use like hygrozyme, cannazyme, sensizyme. They are all suppose to help break down the roots. I have never used any of them so I can't really say if one works better than the other. I am sure if you ask 10 different people each person will swear the stuff they use is the best. It is human nature, lol.
I don't use anything to rid the soil of roots except for my hands. When I harvest, I cut the stem at the base of the soil and hang dry the entire plant. I will give the container a good dose of water and set it in the corner. After a week or two, depending on the temperature, I can go back and a gentle pull will bring the main stem out and then the only thing left is the thin hair roots. I don't worry about those at all. I don't know that this is fact and honestly I wouldn't even know where to begin looking but I think the extra roots in the medium helps with the future grows. My reasoning is, we know for certain that plant roots put out exudants when they are growing. Those exudants are what feeds the microbes in the soil. Microbes live all around that root zone and are very beneficial. My opinion is I try to leave a lot of the fine root system in there in order to keep those microbes in tact. It may not help a thing in all honesty, like I said it is just guess work but I am absolutely positive it doesn't hurt anything either.
Like I said in one of the earlier posts, growing with chem nutrients, the microbes aren't essential but there are still going to be some there. In organics, they are absolutely essential and the more, the better.
Lastly, we are already flushing the soil the last week or two of the grow of any excess nutrients so you really shouldn't have much, if anything to concern yourself with reusing the soil, other than getting the bulk of the root mass and stem out of the way. I don't replant in the same pot, after the week is up I have a large container I dump my excess soil in and just keep it moist with a lid on it. When I need it, it is there.
It doesn't get moldy contained and watered regularly? Lol I got enough for my next run brands new but I'm a cheap basted so I'm loving this reusing thing. Can I mix all my soul from this grow with some fresh promix, some added perilite and anything else recommended? I need to get my but in great and decide if I want to run 
again and go but the trio and the three powder solutions or if I want to try something different like tangs simple schedule which seems to b more precise and useful of the amount of nutrients given. ..or try something new lol
again and go but the trio and the three powder solutions or if I want to try something different like tangs simple schedule which seems to b more precise and useful of the amount of nutrients given. ..or try something new lol
@A4, sorry to sidetrack but since you mentioned the ProMixHP and it's lime level..
I had stopped at the local hydro shop and ordered the HP, trying something different than Hydroton/Coco Hempy's. They ordered it in and it showed up in the HP-CC variety. Have you any experience with the CC? Know of a thread on it's particulars? (search doesn't show much)
I had stopped at the local hydro shop and ordered the HP, trying something different than Hydroton/Coco Hempy's. They ordered it in and it showed up in the HP-CC variety. Have you any experience with the CC? Know of a thread on it's particulars? (search doesn't show much)
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