I am now finding that Organic nutes are not working for me in my micro setup, whereas my old 2-part Advanced Nutrients sensi nutes worked wonderfully. I have been trying BMO's Grow It Green, Flower Power, Super Plant Tonic, and Foliar Harmony. I have actually liked what I have seen from the SPT and the Foliar Harmony... but I was able to grow better buds with the old system. I can't take those pH swings in my little setup.

So, now I think I may be on my way back to chem nutes. The yield was huge, the pH was stable, and the herb tasted wonderful. My first BMO grow tasted no better, yielded less, and was in general a more difficult experience.

I am not saying that Organics don't kick ass. I have a feeling I would think differently if I had more space for a bigger system. I just don't think it is working for me or my system.

That brings me to my question:
Has anyone ever used Super Plant Tonic in hydro with chemical nutes instead of organic? Is this possible, or will the chem salts kill off the micro-beasties?

any advice or comments on this matter?

I use SPT with Ionic Grow 3-1-5 Chem nutes for my mothers growing in rockwool loose cubes. Much better growth than just Ionic alone. Ionic though is seeming to not be enough to support a large plant any longer and I'm going to switch to Sensi 2-Part for my hydro mothers. I have no experience using SPT w/ AN's stuff. I would think that since their micro beasties are un-affected by their chem's that SPT should have similar luck.

I hope so... because I just don't think the all-organic program will work for me. I need that chem base to keep things stable, i am afraid.

Anybody else have any experience in mixing organics and chems?

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Billdo.... Reservoir size is a big issue in organic hydro growing. If plants don't have at least 2.5 gallons each (min) of water/nutes, their pH will drift more frequently - causing nute lockout issues - from pH that is too low or too high. I personally never liked having to make adjustments more that once every 4 or 5 days.
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Why not consider soil - soil is a great buffer of pH, nutes, etc.... Unlike hydro, where a single bad day or two can crash your whole crop, soil is safe & stable. Now if yield is your main concern - chem / hydro would be the way to go.
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Since, I wasn't using SPT back when I was doing the chem / hydro only growing - I don't really have an anwser for you.
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Hey OhSo...
I have considered the soil option, as well... however my main concern with going down that route is twofold
1) mess
2) height restrictions

I only have 31" of space from the floor of the cabinet to the glass of my 400w HPS reflector. The current not-so-deep water culture/drip setup is only 7" tall, which leaves me with 2 feet to play with.
Won't soil cause even more height issues?

Also, if we are talking non-hydro soilless mediums... what about using rockwool slabs with a daily feeding drip system? Do those work well? Would it save me space?

What about using a pot filled with coco fiber?

I am really interested in figuring out the best height-restricted method of growing. any suggestions or input would be very very helpful.

When it comes to soil, its actually much easier to control height. If you used a 1 Gallon container, your plants will not break 18" and stay at 12" mostly. If you use 2 Gal pots, you probably wont break 32", but 24" is the average. That is of course, if your soil is perfect and your growing skill is good.

you would be best exploring a SCRoG grow. You can easily keep plants at a certain level, get great and over kill yields per plant, while still using organics and soil goodness for some real flavor and color.

thanks for the reply, ugm.... looks like i am going old-school.

i just went to the store... gonna put together a soil setup with an automatic watering system for when i go out of town. Putting the grow on autopilot is very appealing to me from time to time.

I will be posting step-by-step in a new thread in the next day or two.


So here is a question for you: since i just transplanted my plants into the flowering dwc/drip setup and the roots have not come out of the larger rockwool cubes, do you think i could transplant the plants into soil at this point on day 3 of flowering? It would be much easier on my mind as i leave for a week on wednesday.

thanks,
BILLDO

Going old school >>>
changing from hydro to organic soil... first time! help appreciated!