Indoor pH runoff of Pro-Mix

[The Medicine Man]

Hey there,

So, I've got a few plants in straight Promix BX. They seem to have had better days, and Im trying to decipher the pH code.

I just tested the runoff and going in the water was 6.4, coming out it was 6.6.

What does this tell you about the mix? I honestly have no idea, 'cause I've never grown in soil(less) besides my garden outside.

Thanks all

 

[JM]

in 6.4 out 6.6... tells me soil is closer to 6.8-7.0 buffer down...

In promix... run a solution at 6.00 if you're showin those reults... that should swing it down through...

kinda like the watering sine wave for growing... only in promix its kinda like a ph sine wave with your watering sine wave...

 

[The Medicine Man]

What's my ideal runoff in promix?

 

[JM]

6.3-6.5.... :smoke:

treat as soil... just needs a little extra "drop" to stay in range... thats why the 6.00 in... obviously keep an eye on your runoffs...

usually promix is 6.8=7.0 out of the bag.... i find as it drys out it swings back up to that....

 

[The Medicine Man]

So just root pruned one plant, put in some new promix and hydroton and ran a 6.0, 425ppm feed, came out at 6.0, 1560ppm. yowzers. This was even after a mega flush on the plant a week ago. As in... 3 gallon container, 5 gallons of flush solution (my DIY clearex).

 

[Muddy]

I find the same as JM, 7.0 or just under right out of the bag. One tablespoon of the split pea type sulfur per gallon of mix brings it right to about 6.4. The AN nutes take it from there.

 

[The Medicine Man]

I wonder if part of the issue could be the promix getting compacted. Its been in there for maybe 4-5 months in a 3 gallon container, and is pretty thick. That runoff was super high EC, too.

 

[JM]

yes i find promix compacts a lot... lately my new mix for starting is 50/50 promix perlite to lighten it up... plus perlite is cheaper... lol


and when it gets compacted its very slow to dry if its wet...

 

[The Medicine Man]

Yea. I'm seriously wondering if that's part of my problem with these plants.

 

[Hugo]

You guys ever tried LightMix by biobizz? It's the same spaghnum peat base added with some garden peat and perlite. Stable pH at 6.2. Perlite is 30% I think it's a good number as per drainage capability, otherwise in my hot weather I'd need to have a drip system (I'm going to get one for my vacations).

I'm using all-mix, basically the same but heavely fertilized and I find it compacted a bit after 3 months, not a lot. about 1 to 2 centimeters. It still has that spongy feel, but not as much.

TMM if your in full veg it could be nitrification process elevating pH? I'd try to get rid of excessive salts in one go by flushing strong with some more of that DIY wetting agent. That's just my newb opinion that it's better to fix things in one clear moment than to be fixing it for a month or so. Off course there must be exceptions

Cheers