*The K.I.S.S. Method*

[sidewing]

here was my last 'super soil' mix i ran, and it worked AMAZING: mix and put in a clean black garbage can (plastic) with a lid on it, add like 4 gallons of water and let it sit there for at least a month (although ive gone as little as 1 week in a pinch)... this is the floweirng mix by the way. use plain roots organic in veg as stated. if the plant looks hungry up the pot size. in flower use a #7 (9 gallon) pot and fill it with the soil mix and transplant on top. also with my adjusted values here (as compared to subcool's which i felt left residual in the final product that hurt my throat) the plants have a nice fade at the last 2 weeks of flower on a 9-10 week strain.

1 large bag - roots natural and organic soil large bag (1.5)
half of 1.5 cu - EB Earth Worm Castings
8 red cups – organic rice hulls
200g fish bone meal (down to earth 3-16-0)
200g bat guano (happy frog 0-5-0)
200g blood meal (down to earth 12-0-0)
50g neem seed meal (down to earth)
40g potassium sulfate (0-0-50)
100g azomite

 

[RetroGrow]

i also think people using tap water for the cal/mag benefit is incorrect info. the molecule size is too large and the plant cant use tap water cal/mag.. which is why its better to use a supplement.

Actually, it depends on your water source, location, etc. Some calcium in tap water is available to plants, some, ie., calcium carbonate, isn't.

 

[bikhomes]

alright so i go to mix up my first batch last night, 15 gallons, using RO

i use 15ml of gh "armor si" silicate, carefully mix that in first. then mix in 15ml of drip clean (i'm using blumats), then slowly mix in the mb. (105g)

final ec was like 2.1, ppm 1800 or so. what gives? i'm using a blue barrel from sunlightsupply as a res, the gallons are marked on there and seem like they should be accurate.

i mixed in another 4gal or so tap to get the ec down to 1.6.

 

[sidewing]

silica will raise your ec some. i only use a level scoop that comes in the bag. most people say that scoop is like 5 to 6 grams. the level scoop puts me about 1.7 ec per gallon. of course staying the same all the way up. so it would make sense to me that using 7 grams per gallon would give you a higher EC. for me personally in DWC ive gone up to 1.9ec and it proved to be too high for my plants. after a couple days the water dropped and the ec had raised to about 2.1. so 1.7 ec seems like the best level for my setup.

 

[RetroGrow]

alright so i go to mix up my first batch last night, 15 gallons, using RO

i use 15ml of gh "armor si" silicate, carefully mix that in first. then mix in 15ml of drip clean (i'm using blumats), then slowly mix in the mb. (105g)

final ec was like 2.1, ppm 1800 or so. what gives? i'm using a blue barrel from sunlightsupply as a res, the gallons are marked on there and seem like they should be accurate.

i mixed in another 4gal or so tap to get the ec down to 1.6.

I've never weighed it. Only used the scoop. Never had issues.

 

[xxxstr8edgexxx]

i mix it and its like 3-4 grams per gallon to make it 1.2 ec for me but it could be more because i dont necessarily weight it either. i put it in to what i think it should be by volume or weight and then fill rez til it hits 1.2 e.c. in flower. ph usually hits close to perfect around 5.8 ph. its pretty simple. plants love it.
7 grams is too strong for my plants in my set up.

 

[bikhomes]

the big red text in the first post makes it seem like 7g/gal is the baseline but i can't imagine 2+ ec being baseline for anyone. dialing that back quite a bit for the next res.

is it time for another argument about grams per teaspoon?

 

[Oti$]

alright so i go to mix up my first batch last night, 15 gallons, using RO

i use 15ml of gh "armor si" silicate, carefully mix that in first. then mix in 15ml of drip clean (i'm using blumats), then slowly mix in the mb. (105g)

final ec was like 2.1, ppm 1800 or so. what
gives? i'm using a blue barrel from sunlightsupply as a res, the gallons are marked on there and seem like they should be accurate.

i mixed in another 4gal or so tap to get the ec down to 1.6.

yoou must have added too much of something or your ec meter is not reading right. I run a res almost identical to the one you describe and it reads 1.0-1.2 ec...

 

[sourpuss]

i mix it and its like 3-4 grams per gallon to make it 1.2 ec for me but it could be more because i dont necessarily weight it either. i put it in to what i think it should be by volume or weight and then fill rez til it hits 1.2 e.c. in flower. ph usually hits close to perfect around 5.8 ph. its pretty simple. plants love it.
7 grams is too strong for my plants in my set up.

Yes... just started with maxi and 7g is too high... since the switch to 1 g per litre aprox things r looking amazing! Maxi is great stuff....

 

[sourpuss]

Anyone use carbs? I know its movin away from kiss.... asuch as 99 percent of advice is carbs r useless unless organic I find the most knowledgeable peeps as in the breeders advise me to add carbs....

 

[audiohi]

I use carbs towards the very end of flowering to help stimulate the continued uptake of iron through finishing.

 

[sourpuss]

How close to the end do you use carbs??? Some say it makes a blacker ash too close to chopp...???

 

[audiohi]

I use plain molasses the last week or so. I personally wouldn't attribute blacker ash to the sugars, as much as I would an over abundance of stored or built up fertizer prior to adding it. But, that's just my opinion there. Feeding the microorganism very late in flower does signal the plant to continue mobilizing nutrients right up to the very end, so it would make sense to me.

 

[sourpuss]

Just to clarify... my thoughts r that the sugars will feed the microorganisms if you gotsome kind of organic food in there.... in essence a low feew of chems will acomplish the exact same thing.... but thats a whole other story.... so In your experience you use carbs till the end and it burns clean?... what form? Molasses? Carboload....

 

[bikhomes]

could the silicate raise the ec much? i used armor si, which is 0-0-4, at the "mild" strength which is slightly over 1ml/gal.

i also use a newly purchased hanna combo meter that was nearly 200 and the calibration fluids it came with shows it's spot on.

 

[audiohi]

Silica hardly raises my EC. 7g per gallon just gives you very high EC readings. 3g in tap water gives me a 1.0 EC. That's what I find to be the case


*Correction* That EC was for 3g of maxigro, not bloom! I forgot that the last thing I mixed was not maxibloom. I'll check what I get later, but I'm sure it'll be relatively similar

 

[audiohi]

Ok, so... Here is my understanding of carbohydrates in flowering. First, I'll just state that it's possible that I may not communicate the specifics 100% accurately, and maybe RetroGrow can jump in and help tighten up any confusion I may leave out there. He seems to have a pretty good grasp on the technicals. I personally still have plenty to learn!

As you seem to know, Carbohydrates are larger molecules which can't be directly taken up by the plant. They must first be digested by microorganisms. They in turn produce citric acid and other organic acids which improve the uptake of iron and other trace elements.

Iron regulates the production of chlorophyl, and thus increases your plants ability to use light energy more efficiently to make sugars and such. Once the plant has stored enough sugars towards the end of it's life cycle, it stops making them. So at this point, if you supplement your sugars for the microorganisms such as B. Subtilis GB03 for example, the plant will sense the volatile organic compounds that the GB03 are making. The plant will now turn off it's sugar sensing capability, thus allowing it to create sugars up until the day of harvest.

Get yourself a refractometer to check your plants sugar levels. They are cheap, and if you know where your sugars are at, you can take steps to get your brix up. High brix is what it's all about.

I hope that helps a little. Feel free to correct or expand upon any of that if need be! By the way, I use a molasses powder sourpuss. It's much easier than the jar stuff.

 

[superjet]

damn audiohi, and I thought I was passionate about growing/feeding my plants, lol.

 

[sourpuss]

Thx so much audiohi! I can understand the way you break it down which is nice. Tough sometimes reading and learning slowly.... always searching for higher quality... funny how I can grow a strain ive grown for over a year to perfection blindfolded.. and throw a new strain in there and its a whole new story... lol

 

[sourpuss]

So end goel of that complex chain of events is sugars being taken up or produced. Inside the plant.... higher suger levels will reflect this with refractometer.....

From research in a hydro chem setup... sugars r as you say unable to pass thru the root membrane.... although my research points to yes sugars do pass thru only in tiny amounts tho.... in essence mimicing the natural chain or events that would lead to a rise in sugars.... which also leads me to believe its better to pay a few bucks for a wide range of sugars in a carbo product from a nutrient manufacturer leading to better chance of absorbtion.... imo.... thx for the info! Love how things always have a symbiosis...

BIG THX TO ALL CAUSE MY PLANTS R LOOKING BETTER THAN IVE EVER SEEN THEM!!!!!