Medium that would not need ANY ph adjustments?? Pro-MIX? Just water and walk away.

TurboTokes

TurboTokes

Well-Known Member
Im kinda sick of chasing issues that came with going hydro and having to ph the water, add a tons of nutes, ro water etc, chasing problems after problem. Im thinking of literally going bare bones easy because I dont seem to have the nack for the experienced growing and having to spend a little more time with the plants.

Im looking for a medium that I can fill a 2-5 gallon fabric pot with, and literally just add water / nutes, no worrying about ph. I run well water, fairly high ppm, but I would like to make waterring a whole lot easier, and stop counting on the cheap PH pens or calibrating them etc, even if I get slightly less growth than I was getting with coco, I dont smoke near as much as the 600hps can produce, so Im willing to lose some quantity for easability.

Do you guys think promix fits that bill? It says it has some bh buffers in there but Im unsure of how much and if it would suit a set it and forget it type waterring.
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
Stay with coco and look into Blumats for watering. They're a gravity fed drip system with clay sensors that control the amount of dripping based on moisture content. They're a real time saver since you won't have to water everyday.

You can use a tote for a reservoir. I used an 18 gallon. You still have to mix and adjust the nutrient solution but once you do that there is nothing to do until you need to refill the reservoir. Depending on how many plants you're growing it will be at least a week to ten days before you need to mix more nutes. I wouldn't grow in coco any other way. Daily hand watering isn't something I'll ever do again.




 
TurboTokes

TurboTokes

Well-Known Member
Im not looking to build an army either, looking to make growing fun again, fill the bag, plant the seed, water
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
TurboTokes said:
Miss the part about not wanting to check and care about PH?
Click to expand...
No I didn't. Just an option that makes it easy. I thought mixing 15 gallons of solution every couple of weeks wouldn't be a deal breaker. Since it's not recirculating the solution once you get the pH set you won't have to do it again. Well at least the nutes I used stayed stable. Just tossing out options. Have a good day.
 
pulpoinspace

pulpoinspace

Well-Known Member
i think you would want a potting mix with dolomite lime or oystershell lime or something like that. i've read that they buffer the pH in the soil.
 
TurboTokes

TurboTokes

Well-Known Member
xtsho said:
No I didn't. Just an option that makes it easy. I thought mixing 15 gallons of solution every couple of weeks wouldn't be a deal breaker. Since it's not recirculating the solution once you get the pH set you won't have to do it again. Well at least the nutes I used stayed stable. Just tossing out options. Have a good day.
Click to expand...
I already utilize a resevoir I guess is what you didnt know, I believe mine is a 10 gallon. My current 5 girls in my 3x3 take 2 gallons total per waterring, every day, so 14 gallons in one week, last run I was waterring them giving hydro type feeds 4x per day in flower, probably using twice as much water, but just not having fun.

Im probably going to have fun going full lazy on this next run, setup a garbage pail reservoir 40 gallon or whatever the smaller ones are, setup a pump inside it with a water line run to a waterring "wand" with a valve to turn it off where my hands are, I would like to do NOTHING to the water, and try either going with a soil that will feed the plants or adding powder / pellet style nutrients to each plant depending on there stage of growth and literally just water the plants.

Valves, piping, and the hands on work I love, testing PH with chinese meters that read completely different from eachother..... not so much

Lets try full lazy. Just need a medium to do it in
 
pulpoinspace

pulpoinspace

Well-Known Member
TurboTokes said:
testing PH with chinese meters that read completely different from eachother..... not so much

Lets try full lazy. Just need a medium to do it in
Click to expand...
i agree that cheap pH meters are incredibly frustrating. i threw mine in the garbage after fussing with it for about half an hour. i use the drops. don't really use them anymore because my tap water is fairly consistent so 2 ml of my pH down per gallon of tap water gets me in the right range every time i've ever checked it. of course i don't have to worry about reservoir fluctuation though. i personally enjoy hand watering.

you could build a sweet DIY pH automation system for your reservoir.
you could buy a better pH meter.
you could use drops.

or try the pro-mix. it has dolomite lime so i think thats what youre looking for.

good luck.
 
Last edited:
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
TurboTokes said:
I already utilize a resevoir I guess is what you didnt know, I believe mine is a 10 gallon. My current 5 girls in my 3x3 take 2 gallons total per waterring, every day, so 14 gallons in one week, last run I was waterring them giving hydro type feeds 4x per day in flower, probably using twice as much water, but just not having fun.

Im probably going to have fun going full lazy on this next run, setup a garbage pail reservoir 40 gallon or whatever the smaller ones are, setup a pump inside it with a water line run to a waterring "wand" with a valve to turn it off where my hands are, I would like to do NOTHING to the water, and try either going with a soil that will feed the plants or adding powder / pellet style nutrients to each plant depending on there stage of growth and literally just water the plants.

Valves, piping, and the hands on work I love, testing PH with chinese meters that read completely different from eachother..... not so much

Lets try full lazy. Just need a medium to do it in
Click to expand...
I hear you with the lazy. But that "water" only solution can actually be more work. I'm in the middle of trying to do just that by making my own super soil. Sounded easy enough. Buy some amendments, a medium, mix it up, let it set for awhile, and grow. Fast forward to 50 lb bags of alfalfa, crab meal, kelp, etc... A new wheel barrel to mix everything in, garbage cans to hold it, etc... I look back and say "What was I thinking?". There are guys out there just killing it with their own soil. I'm not one of them. I made every mistake possible. I'm getting everything under control now but I dream of the simplicity of coco, chemical salts, and automated watering. Sounds like if you get a bigger reservoir you'll be okay. Good luck with whatever you choose to do.
 
InTheValley

InTheValley

Well-Known Member
man, KindSoil, and FFOF, just add water, Most RO water is 6.5.. Poland spring i know is. but most RO water can be 6.5-7.3 i think it was. KindSoil is awesome stuff. Its as easy as it gets.
 
Dryxi

Dryxi

Well-Known Member
I run a no till self amended soil in a 4x4 planter bed (fabric), on top of a 4x4 tray filled with grow stones and about 16gal of water.

I water the plants (microbe tea maybe twice a month) with just plain tap water. I fill the res under the plants maybe 1x every week and a half. Easiest setup ever.
 

Attachments

70's natureboy

70's natureboy

Well-Known Member
PH pens? lol, those don't work. You have to use drops to be consistent. RO water is hard to keep stable too. I use Lucas formula (mostly) in hydro or Pro Mix so they are both the same amount of work for me. The hydro is just faster all around.
 
hotrodharley

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
TurboTokes said:
Im kinda sick of chasing issues that came with going hydro and having to ph the water, add a tons of nutes, ro water etc, chasing problems after problem. Im thinking of literally going bare bones easy because I dont seem to have the nack for the experienced growing and having to spend a little more time with the plants.

Im looking for a medium that I can fill a 2-5 gallon fabric pot with, and literally just add water / nutes, no worrying about ph. I run well water, fairly high ppm, but I would like to make waterring a whole lot easier, and stop counting on the cheap PH pens or calibrating them etc, even if I get slightly less growth than I was getting with coco, I dont smoke near as much as the 600hps can produce, so Im willing to lose some quantity for easability.

Do you guys think promix fits that bill? It says it has some bh buffers in there but Im unsure of how much and if it would suit a set it and forget it type waterring.
Click to expand...
Soil. Dirt. No pH bullshit.
 
dubekoms

dubekoms

Well-Known Member
I run promix bx and some extra perlite. Haven't checked or tested ph in years, the soil will do it for you.

I use a rez with a pump and watering wand, definitely faster and cleaner than watering with a jug. All I do is add nutes and water, no phing. Change out water every week. I use mega crop but I've heard dyna gro is killer. A wetting agent works great if you accidentally let the peat dry out too much.

Only thing I recommend is buying promix that was stored indoors, much more consistent quality vs stored outdoors in the rain and heat.
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
TurboTokes said:
Im kinda sick of chasing issues that came with going hydro and having to ph the water, add a tons of nutes, ro water etc, chasing problems after problem. Im thinking of literally going bare bones easy because I dont seem to have the nack for the experienced growing and having to spend a little more time with the plants.

Im looking for a medium that I can fill a 2-5 gallon fabric pot with, and literally just add water / nutes, no worrying about ph. I run well water, fairly high ppm, but I would like to make waterring a whole lot easier, and stop counting on the cheap PH pens or calibrating them etc, even if I get slightly less growth than I was getting with coco, I dont smoke near as much as the 600hps can produce, so Im willing to lose some quantity for easability.

Do you guys think promix fits that bill? It says it has some bh buffers in there but Im unsure of how much and if it would suit a set it and forget it type waterring.
Click to expand...
I use ProMix HP with AN pH Perfect nutes, (3-part base, Big Bud, Rhino Skin), and RO water. Some other CalMag and maybe some Epsom Salts later in flower for the S. Fire and forget.

The final size pots I use are #5 nursery pots/4gal and usually only have to water every 4 days depending on the size of plant and they are usually 4-5ft when done. I know they'll take 3-3.5L to soak them good so mix up a batch of nutes every 2nd watering in a big jug then water them all measured amounts at once. I have 4L milk jugs marked off for easy measuring.

Most of the time I use no more than 2ml/L of each nute every 2nd watering but during strong veg like using a 3-2-1 ratio of GMB then some 1-1-1 ratio with a half dose of Big Bud a week before flipping. I'll add extra light at that time and usually feed them the same the next watering as I flip.

It's pretty simple. Just how I like it. :)
 
Budley Doright

Budley Doright

Well-Known Member
I haven’t done it in a long time but I started growing using straight soil and 5 gallon pails. All I ever added was a small amount of powdered nutes. We didn’t check anything other than watch the plants, if they needed more nutrients they got. It was simple and produced well. Just could get past the gnats. I’m now a slave to my pumps lol. As far as chasing PH, that can usually be overcome by nutrient adjustment, well it worked for me. I check when I refill and leave it.
Edit: my outdoor soil grows get nothing but nutrients in the form of compost ..... mostly lol. Never test them.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top