New Grower Simply Soil and Nutes

[SandDog]

Good morning SandDog, any mix that is peat based is going to have that issue. Peat Moss is naturally acid (some more than others) so they add limestone to it to bring the pH up. Most liquid nutes are acid as well so the combination slowly uses up the limestone. As EOF said if you watch the pH of your water and feeds you can extend how long the limestone will last in the mix. It is not a big deal you just need to watch the pH of what is going in and also check the pH of the runoff regularly and adjust to keep things in the sweet spot

If you can spring for an Accurate 8 pH probe it allows you to check the pH of the soil directly which is more accurate than using the runoff method. Also works great as a moisture tester so you can check soil all the way down to the bottom of the pot to help you manage when to water.

If your cal/mag contains some type of carbonate that will also help extend the life of the limestone in the mix as will using tap water instead of RO or distilled water

Good Morning.

I have this Cal/mag plus

http://www.botanicare.com/Cal-Mag-2-0-0-P48.aspx

I didn't see anything on the label about carbonate.

I'll be using tap water, and from what I understand I won't need cal mag very feeding? Is that correct?

 

[oldster]

If your tap water is relatively hard and you are not growing under LEDs you may be fine.

I am a big believer in providing high levels of calcium in general. We have a farm and we apply about 2 tons of high calcium lime (calcium carbonate) per acre every 3 years or so. I use cal/mag with every watering for my canna grows since it is hard to overdo if you follow the directions as I believe preventing deficiencies is much better then fixing them after the fact and cal/mag deficiencies are probably the most common deficiency with canna grows.

Your cal/mag is made from nitrates and sulfates which is fine but they don't provide as much pH buffering. Just keep your eye on your pH as it can drop quickly after 4-6 weeks

 

[SandDog]

Hi Oldster,

My plan is still developing but at this point, it's to grow under hps and water the plants bottom up using a wicking fabric pot system. The fabric pots sit on top of perlite with the water / nutes sitting 1" below the perlite. The Perlite absorbs the water, the fabric pot absorbs water from the Perlite. The Pro-mix HP should absorb what it needs from the fabric pot. It's the Noobwannb's Self Wicking Smartpot ghetto setup.



[h=1][/h]

 

[oldster]

I have never used self watering systems, you will have to make sure it does not cause the soil to get too wet. I will be interested to see how it works for you. If you go HID I would get a ballast that would allow you to start plants under a MH lamp and then switch to HPS for bloom. Seems to work better that way for a lot of folks