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Pro Mix, Optimal pH, Chem ferts?

R

Row

Member
Hey guys

Awesome info here,

just a quick post as im dam tired, been working for days.....

Seems to me that the answer we are getting close to is there is no answer!! :D and the line between soil less and hydro is blurry, testing seems the only way to go and thats easier said than done,

I my self am sticking with the 5.8 - 6.2 theory at the moment, the plants i just grew for the first run in this loc did well with a 6.0 pH, but that could be from other factors. I will be running some plants at a lower ph and some at the 6.0 pH in a room iv run before so if i again see good results ill be fairly sure its better to go with 6.0 than 6.0 - 6.5.

It would be really great to here from any promix users running a ph bellow 6.0, i have a friend of a friend that says he uses 5.9 all through flowering and he does dam well, but he could be doing dam well for other reasons too.

Row
 
G

guest 77721

Hey! We have a damn fine thread going here!!!

I've helped out a number of growers with pH problems over the years. You really have to know your source water before you can really dial your grow in. If you're using tap water, it has enough dissolved minerals in it to make low pH Hydro growing difficult. IMO, Hydro growing in the ranges 5-6 that 10K recommends needs RO or demineralized water.
 
Oldmac

Oldmac

Member
redgreenry said:
Hey! We have a damn fine thread going here!!!

I've helped out a number of growers with pH problems over the years. You really have to know your source water before you can really dial your grow in. If you're using tap water, it has enough dissolved minerals in it to make low pH Hydro growing difficult. IMO, Hydro growing in the ranges 5-6 that 10K recommends needs RO or demineralized water.
Click to expand...


Hi there Redgreenry,

I agree, fine thread and very thought provoking.

Kudos to Row for having started it.

Your point about the need for RO water is spot on, there is no way I could run the low PH I do with my RW unless I used it. In the Pro-mix grow I'm involved in, we are working off well water with a good amount of minerals in it. I saw it as no problem w/ P-mix (plus no money for RO filtering) but would never ever consider it for a true hydo set, like rw, nft, e&b etc.

I have always considered Pro-Mix, "dirt"; it's just as messy, dusty and dirty. It's only advantage over RW, easier to remove the roots and dump it somewhare like a garden.

So how do we go about getting some of the folks who use pro-mix to chime in with what they are doing? Do we need a new thread? (calling all pro-mixers?)
 
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Sleepy

Sleepy

Active member
Veteran
i like pro~mix...

i like pro~mix...

i used to use RO water, but now pretty much just from the tap.

my water is pH 8.0-8.2 from the tap....:wallbash:

i try to hit 6.0-6.5, but even that is tough.

after mixing nutes/additives, i still use a good bit of pH down.

i am pretty smale-scale compared to you guys...just a few plants.

after trying soil, DWC, waterfarm, and a couple more methods, this is the one i do best with. for that reason alone, i am sticking with the pro~mix.

here's another question for you guys:

do you re-use your pro~mix?

do you do anything to it to eliminate any "hot spots"?

i re-use mine. after a grow, i dump all the used medium into a wheel barrow, mix it all nice...add some worm castings and some fresh pro~mix...mix it all up again, and store in rubbermaisd containers until i need it again.

peace.
 
Oldmac

Oldmac

Member
Hello there Sleepy,

Nice to see another Pro-Mix user around.

I don't reccomend the reuse of any grow media.
P-mix has a lot of advantages, such as it being forgiving and most important inexpensive. I believe the best use for old p-mix is to dump it in your outdoor garden or something like that. At abt $25/bale (3.6cuft) I can't see going thru the trouble to reuse it.

BTW if you most reuse it, you should sterilize it (either bake it in an oven or steam it) then add any live amendments (stuff w/live microbes) after that. Oh almost forgot, you need to add back some dolomite lime to replace what's been depleted. The potential to bring bugs and pests and fungus from oustide into your indoor grow is very real. Many of the plant problems and grow room problems you see people ask about on these boards, in many cases would not exist with good hygiene.

I'm not sure what a "hot spot" is in relation to p-mix, you'll have to tell me.
woah, 7:00 am here, lights coming on, got work to do.
Later.
 
Sleepy

Sleepy

Active member
Veteran
Oldmac...thanks for the tips!!

by 'hot spot' i meant: if the medium is not flushed properly, it can burn the young plants/seedlings in the next round(if being re-used).

thanks again, i will get a bale.
 
Oldmac

Oldmac

Member
Ohhh, I see what a hot spot is.

Probably another reason not to reuse, but also comes under the heading of proper hygiene.
If re-useing you would first flush the hell out of your old stuff then sterilize, then amend it.

Hey Red, What are your thoughts on reuse?
 
G

guest 77721

I reuse the soil by revegging the plant. I trim roots and repot into fresh soil once the new leaves come out. Promix is pretty cheap and it all goes into the composting box in the end for use on the outdoor flower beds. I prefer using fresh soil mix so you can have good control of your mix.

Sleepy is right on pointing out problems with nute retention and bugs. Vermiculite holds nutes a long time in the soil. I've had enough problems with seedlings, they get started in fresh seedling starter soil.
 
H

Hydropimp

Active member
Veteran
Whats going on my pot friends hope am not to late on this one.

I use pro mix HP with gh 3 step after switching from bio bizz. I still have the bio bizz products
but will leave that alone for right now. So back to the ph thing I did start a ph closer to soil like mixing food and phing to 6.5 that gave me all kind of problems but also had many envir. problems as well and that was with tap and organics.

But since i switched over to chem I have lower the ph and notice all the twisted leaves getting straight also I fixed some of the atmosphere problems as well.

But still need to fined tune things.

last person to post was almost 4mn ago any updates?
 
G

guest 77721

There was a chart on OG that had all the soiless mixes with the pH that was needed to for each medium. This explained why the pH is different for each medium type.
 
J

Jonnysact

Member
it's been more than 5 years since there was activity in this thread but I thought I'd revive it as I'm still going through various questions about PH and pro mix. Have the last 5 years shown us anything? Do we finally have a definitive answer as to best PH for pro mix?
 
E

Ezroller

New member
I've been battling nute lock out issues for years with this stuff..I've tried so many things to to fix the situation and to no avail. I once had a beautiful (over 2 pound a light run) but can't seem to get back there. I'm currently and still running AN's line with a couple other's products. In looking back at a my logs book, I now seeing that back then I was running an average of 5.7-6.0 and I was yielding much better. Still had some mg deficiences, but not what I've been experiencing lately. Lately, I've been have a very hard time avoiding K and MG deficiences early in veg ( week 3-6) I'm fucking stumped.
 
G.O.T.

G.O.T.

Member
ive had recent issues in pro mix as well... made me switch up my base nutes too, lol

i find 6.0 -6.3 is all the same for me... comes down to watering frequency and EC amount... trying to not over feed them in pro mix is key I feel...

runoff is a debated subject.... I usually water till runoff but have stopped this run, to see what will change...

I have gotten 1.5lb a light or more... but have gotten way less too... can be a finicky medium if u fuck it up, overwater, or get a low Ph in the root zone
 
M

moonymonkey

Active member
here u go..if thoses lower ph 6-6.5 dont work hit ph at 6.7 chemical for pro-mix nothong added,last time ull ever look back....moon/uptown heyyyyyyy
 
P

pariah420

New member
Ezroller said:
I've been battling nute lock out issues for years with this stuff..I've tried so many things to to fix the situation and to no avail. I once had a beautiful (over 2 pound a light run) but can't seem to get back there. I'm currently and still running AN's line with a couple other's products. In looking back at a my logs book, I now seeing that back then I was running an average of 5.7-6.0 and I was yielding much better. Still had some mg deficiences, but not what I've been experiencing lately. Lately, I've been have a very hard time avoiding K and MG deficiences early in veg ( week 3-6) I'm fucking stumped.
Click to expand...


Mg defeciences may actually be too much or a micro nute. Humidity can affect nute uptake as well. I'm running promix woth technaflora at 6.0ph and have excellent results. I also have an EC of 2.5-3 in flower and ppm around 2500+ plants look great but I run vertical bare bulbs so, 3k watts of light per plant. More light = more nute uptake = higher ppm/EC
 
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