Sooo do you PH water with Pro Mix or not?

Jjgrow420 said:

... It's really alot easier than he's making it out to be ...

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I've read articles about amending with extra lime and perlite in Pro Mix. In PT Horticulture's response, they said that there was no need to amend any of the Pro Mix offerings. With these conflicting opinions, I decided the best way to find out definitively to test one grow with those amendment suggestions against another grow with PTH's recommendations of leaving it alone.

I didn't see any difference between the amended grow and the non-amended grow. So now it's Pro Mix right out of the bag.

StareCase said:

I've read articles about amending with extra lime and perlite in Pro Mix. In PT Horticulture's response, they said that there was no need to amend any of the Pro Mix offerings. With these conflicting opinions, I decided the best way to find out definitively to test one grow with those amendment suggestions against another grow with PTH's recommendations of leaving it alone.

I didn't see any difference between the amended grow and the non-amended grow. So now it's Pro Mix right out of the bag.

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Ya, there's no need to add anything. Lime takes a looong time to break down. If you had the plant in a pot for a year maybe then I'd add some more lime, if I thought I needed it. Never have though. We used to add lime into the outdoor holes filled with promix and tilled back with native soil. There, I see a reason to add lime. In a container with pure promix, no.
Why would you add extra perlite into promix? Just buy hp instead of bx. Hp- high porosity extra perlite.
BX - general purpose.
The even have a hp-cc which is mixed with coco coir, but I've never tried it.
If you're going as far as adding in your own ingredients, why wouldn't you just buy Canadian sphagnum peat, then add lime, and perlite. You'd be far better off than using the steam treated shit, then adding stuff that's already in it....? Redundant....?

Yep, straight Pro Mix is all I use to start seeds and plant clones.

StareCase said:

I've read articles about amending with extra lime and perlite in Pro Mix. In PT Horticulture's response, they said that there was no need to amend any of the Pro Mix offerings. With these conflicting opinions, I decided the best way to find out definitively to test one grow with those amendment suggestions against another grow with PTH's recommendations of leaving it alone.

I didn't see any difference between the amended grow and the non-amended grow. So now it's Pro Mix right out of the bag.

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I think my last question for now is whether to feed every time or plain water in between? Also how wet should the pro mix be ideally? Is peat moss drying out worse than soil? I have a soil moisture meter if that's easier. I'm hoping all of the extra oxygen porosity in the medium means more moisture can be maintained all the time. I also slow water to prevent channeling.

RuggedWombat said:

I think my last question for now is whether to feed every time or plain water in between? Also how wet should the pro mix be ideally? Is peat moss drying out worse than soil? I have a soil moisture meter if that's easier. I'm hoping all of the extra oxygen porosity in the medium means more moisture can be maintained all the time. I also slow water to prevent channeling.

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Depends on the plants. Some plants I've done every other. The ones I have right now are Feed/Feed/Water. I feed and water at a rate of 2g per 5g bag and get about 1.5 to 1L of run off.

RuggedWombat said:

... I think my last question for now is whether to feed every time or plain water in between? Also how wet should the pro mix be ideally? Is peat moss drying out worse than soil? I have a soil moisture meter if that's easier. I'm hoping all of the extra oxygen porosity in the medium means more moisture can be maintained all the time. I also slow water to prevent channeling. ...

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My ladies get fed each time - but each time is at 1/2 the recommended weekly dose. So if it calls for 10 ml/wk. of bloom nutes. - they get 5 ml. then 4 days later get another 5 ml. And Cal/Mag is a further 1/2 of that dosage because there is already some Ca & Mg in our well water.

You can let the Pro Mix dry completely. I use those moisture meters too and will only water when it's showing in the DRY range.

RuggedWombat said:

I think my last question for now is whether to feed every time or plain water in between? Also how wet should the pro mix be ideally? Is peat moss drying out worse than soil? I have a soil moisture meter if that's easier. I'm hoping all of the extra oxygen porosity in the medium means more moisture can be maintained all the time. I also slow water to prevent channeling.

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A digital meter that reads in millibars?

FWIW > I use ProMix HP in 3 gallon fabric pots with Mega Crop one part.

I feed with every watering right up to harvest.

After the fourth or fifth week I water to just a bit of run off, 1 gallon.

During the most vigorous growth it's every two days.

I'm nearing the end of flower in my current grow and I'm getting almost three days before watering...

I judge when to water by lifting the pots. My goal is light, not quite bone dry but close.

Well water with a ppm of 450-500 depending on the season and ph of 7.5

No PH down !

This is day 97, 47 of flower...



Current grow journal

Cheers

Jjgrow420 said:

A digital meter that reads in millibars?

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Not gonna lie it's like a $20 basic meter with a gauge. Are these not worth using?

RuggedWombat said:

... Not gonna lie it's like a $20 basic meter with a gauge. Are these not worth using? ...

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They are fine for checking moisture levels. I bought 2 of these - $20 each - a few years ago:



I was not expecting longevity - and it's now 4 years later and still showing when the medium is dry. The other one is still in the package.

It also claims to show both LUX and pH - but I don't use those. I just use the moisture meter.

RuggedWombat said:

Not gonna lie it's like a $20 basic meter with a gauge. Are these not worth using?

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Ya garbage

I use the Pro-Mix from Walmart in the yellow or red bag, and was having pH issues, especially on long flowering sativas, by the time they finished they looked pretty rough, and now I just add in a little lime each time I plant or up pot, along with the other amendments I use, and it has helped a lot

chuckeye said:

FWIW > I use ProMix HP in 3 gallon fabric pots with Mega Crop one part.

I feed with every watering right up to harvest.

After the fourth or fifth week I water to just a bit of run off, 1 gallon.

During the most vigorous growth it's every two days.

I'm nearing the end of flower in my current grow and I'm getting almost three days before watering...

I judge when to water by lifting the pots. My goal is light, not quite bone dry but close.

Well water with a ppm of 450-500 depending on the season and ph of 7.5

No PH down !

This is day 97, 47 of flower...

View attachment 5219668

Current grow journal

Cheers

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Hey man. First off that grow journal looks great.

I started my pro mix BX grow on 10/29 and so far the only issue is the seedling light wasn't close enough and they got stretchy stems.

However, I'm more perplexed by what kind of looks like a type of nutrient burn on the leaves already. I've never seen this on seedlings this young, but literally all they have received is 80-100ml every 2-3 days with 6.0 PHed water with GH PH down. Could they be needing a feeding already? Since the cotyledon leaves are still healthy green, I'm a bit worried what might be happening to the leaves. 2/3 plants are showing the brown splotching on the tips of their leaves.

RuggedWombat said:

Hey man. First off that grow journal looks great.

I started my pro mix BX grow on 10/29 and so far the only issue is the seedling light wasn't close enough and they got stretchy stems.

However, I'm more perplexed by what kind of looks like a type of nutrient burn on the leaves already. I've never seen this on seedlings this young, but literally all they have received is 80-100ml every 2-3 days with 6.0 PHed water with GH PH down. Could they be needing a feeding already? Since the cotyledon leaves are still healthy green, I'm a bit worried what might be happening to the leaves. 2/3 plants are showing the brown splotching on the tips of their leaves.

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Thank you !

You could start feeding lightly but that looks like a watering problem to me.

Are you waiting until the cups feel dry before watering ?

They are big enough now you should be able to go to a wet/dry watering...

Water to a slight run off, empty the saucer and don't water again until the cup feels dry.

This likely won't happen by sticking to a schedule ! Wait for dry, whenever that is....

Cheers

chuckeye said:

Thank you !

You could start feeding lightly but that looks like a watering problem to me.

Are you waiting until the cups feel dry before watering ?

They are big enough now you should be able to go to a wet/dry watering...

Water to a slight run off, empty the saucer and don't water again until the cup feels dry.

This likely won't happen by sticking to a schedule ! Wait for dry, whenever that is....

Cheers

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Watering problem as in they are staying wet too long? I find 100ml will have them just barely drip out of the bottom. Maybe they need to be like bone dry before the next watering. I'll add updates.

RuggedWombat said:

Watering problem as in they are staying wet too long? I find 100ml will have them just barely drip out of the bottom. Maybe they need to be like bone dry before the next watering. I'll add updates.

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Yeah, pretty well "feels" bone dry.

Two to three days is good cycle, they will soon outgrow this finicky stage !

Cheers

chuckeye said:

Yeah, pretty well "feels" bone dry.

Two to three days is good cycle, they will soon outgrow this finicky stage !

Cheers

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Here's an update. I gave the plants 100ml back on 11/5 and I think today they finally might be ready for water. Still trying to strengthen the stems before a transplant. I'll bury the stems when I transplant to help the lankiness.100ml gave them a small drip out of the bottom, so I may try 80ml this time. The leaf issues on the tips don't appear to be expanding so it may well have been watering too soon last time (every 3 days) versus now with a longer dry out period.

RuggedWombat said:

Here's an update. I gave the plants 100ml back on 11/5 and I think today they finally might be ready for water. Still trying to strengthen the stems before a transplant. I'll bury the stems when I transplant to help the lankiness.100ml gave them a small drip out of the bottom, so I may try 80ml this time. The leaf issues on the tips don't appear to be expanding so it may well have been watering too soon last time (every 3 days) versus now with a longer dry out period.

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Don't cut back. Even in smaller containers I water to runoff (and more than a small drip). When there are watering problems, it's usually less about giving too much at one time and more about frequency of your watering cycle. The exception to that would be if you're germinating directly into full sized pots or you've got small seedlings in big pots.

LeastExpectedGrower said:

Don't cut back. Even in smaller containers I water to runoff (and more than a small drip). When there are watering problems, it's usually less about giving too much at one time and more about frequency of your watering cycle. The exception to that would be if you're germinating directly into full sized pots or you've got small seedlings in big pots.

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Yeah I'm definitely understanding the relationship between moisture and the soil better the longer I do it. I want to push it a bit more this grow and torture test the drying cycles. I'm running a 4th seedling in happy frog with non phed water that I can do whatever I want to for experiments.

RuggedWombat said:

Yeah I'm definitely understanding the relationship between moisture and the soil better the longer I do it. I want to push it a bit more this grow and torture test the drying cycles. I'm running a 4th seedling in happy frog with non phed water that I can do whatever I want to for experiments.

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Remember, once your plants get a little bigger, there's more mechanism behind watering technique than just providing needed water to the plant...The reason you water to reasonable or substantial run-off is that it helps remove unused nutrients from the medium so you're not getting salt buildup and putting your plants in a situation where there's potential risk of lock-out.

I generally don't want to do anything that 'torture tests' my plants. I want to zero in on the best 'comfy zone' for them; in the water/feed, in the tent environment & light, etc.