Losing the battle with first grow in promix HP, help!

a mongo frog

Well-Known Member
6 days since I did this at transplant into the 3 gal pots and my medium still is not dry.
This might be a problem. 6 days in-between waterings seems lime a super long time with the amount of roots that are described. How much water is going into each plant to try to get this run off you are talking about?
 

MJCanada

Well-Known Member
Ok, if you want to correct this, you can do this trick right now, then stop over-doing your plants... you are killing them with love.

Take them out of the 3 gallon pot, lightly shake and tap them until the 2gallon worth of soil that you put in there(and subsequently fucked up all to hell with your bro-science flushing, epsom salts etc) is off the root ball.

Properly repot them. DO NOT ADD ANY FANCY BULLSHIT to the new pot... just soil and the plant.

Once it's in there, water it with PH'ed water (test it before you put it in), anything between 6.5 - 7.5 is absolutely fine. Water it with about .5-.75g of water, water mostly in the root ball from the previous pot, sprinkle the last 25% or so around the outer edge where the new soil is(and no roots are yet)

Your soil has some buffer in it to keep it around 7 or less.

Btw this buffer is why your run off comes out super low... "run off" testing is for soiless growing, stop it.

Now, while you are waiting to make love to your plant again, take the same type of 3 gallon pot and put some soil in it and leave it outside in the sun away from anywhere it can get wet for about 2 days. After that, pick that pot up and feel how heavy it is(or light).... remember that feeling.

Now, 2-3 days later, maybe even 5 or 6, depending on how badly you raped your girl... lift the pot, try to support the plant stem with your hand to take the load of the plant foliage off the pot. (one hand on base of plant stem, 1 hand on bottom of pot) Pick it up and lift it up and down a few inches, slowly... figure out how heavy the pot is.

Is it lighter than the tester pot I told you to set up? Then water. If not, LET IT BE.

I've grown in promix a fair bit, my general rule of thumb with promix without any other amendments is approximately 1/4 the pot size of water.

So, in 1g, I'd only water 1/4 gallon. In a 3 gallon, I'd only water .75g

Pale color plants, many first time growers think it's nutrient deficiency... and technically it is, but it's because of lockout from overwatering.

Water your plants and look at them, in the first hour or so of lights on, after a watering you'll see the leaves kinda droop... but then they'll pray to the sun gods ... if they don't, you probably overwatered them...

Good luck, do less.
 

Fortygrit

Active Member
Ok, if you want to correct this, you can do this trick right now, then stop over-doing your plants... you are killing them with love.

Take them out of the 3 gallon pot, lightly shake and tap them until the 2gallon worth of soil that you put in there(and subsequently fucked up all to hell with your bro-science flushing, epsom salts etc) is off the root ball.

Properly repot them. DO NOT ADD ANY FANCY BULLSHIT to the new pot... just soil and the plant.

Once it's in there, water it with PH'ed water (test it before you put it in), anything between 6.5 - 7.5 is absolutely fine. Water it with about .5-.75g of water, water mostly in the root ball from the previous pot, sprinkle the last 25% or so around the outer edge where the new soil is(and no roots are yet)

Your soil has some buffer in it to keep it around 7 or less.

Btw this buffer is why your run off comes out super low... "run off" testing is for soiless growing, stop it.

Now, while you are waiting to make love to your plant again, take the same type of 3 gallon pot and put some soil in it and leave it outside in the sun away from anywhere it can get wet for about 2 days. After that, pick that pot up and feel how heavy it is(or light).... remember that feeling.

Now, 2-3 days later, maybe even 5 or 6, depending on how badly you raped your girl... lift the pot, try to support the plant stem with your hand to take the load of the plant foliage off the pot. (one hand on base of plant stem, 1 hand on bottom of pot) Pick it up and lift it up and down a few inches, slowly... figure out how heavy the pot is.

Is it lighter than the tester pot I told you to set up? Then water. If not, LET IT BE.

I've grown in promix a fair bit, my general rule of thumb with promix without any other amendments is approximately 1/4 the pot size of water.

So, in 1g, I'd only water 1/4 gallon. In a 3 gallon, I'd only water .75g

Pale color plants, many first time growers think it's nutrient deficiency... and technically it is, but it's because of lockout from overwatering.

Water your plants and look at them, in the first hour or so of lights on, after a watering you'll see the leaves kinda droop... but then they'll pray to the sun gods ... if they don't, you probably overwatered them...

Good luck, do less.
Thanks MJ

Yes killing them with love when things started to go sideways :(. I like your watering measures and will adopt and adapt as the plants tell me.

A couple of things:
1) I am in Pro mix HP is this not a soil less medium? Why is there so much conflicting info. Many say PM is a soiless medium and to treat like hydro others say like soil. Do I stick with the PM for this replant or do you suggest I switch to a soil like fox farm or similar when I replant the 1gal root ball 2) When I replanted I added nothing to the new promix in the 3 gal pots except 1ml/l of cal mag in the water. (The stupidity of the epsom salt flush was in the 1 gal pots before I transplanted into the 3’s). The big watering with PH 7.0 water when I transplanted was to flush the excess nutrients and epsom salts from the original 1 gal root ball and to try and balance the PH of the new soil and the soil surrounding the roots. 3) As I am in pro mix if I fill a 3gal pot with dry PM and check the weight should this not give me the correct or very close to correct lightnes feel i am looking for pre watering.
 

MJCanada

Well-Known Member
Thanks MJ

Yes killing them with love when things started to go sideways :(. I like your watering measures and will adopt and adapt as the plants tell me.

A couple of things:
1) I am in Pro mix HP is this not a soil less medium? Why is there so much conflicting info. Many say PM is a soiless medium and to treat like hydro others say like soil. Do I stick with the PM for this replant or do you suggest I switch to a soil like fox farm or similar when I replant the 1gal root ball 2) When I replanted I added nothing to the new promix in the 3 gal pots except 1ml/l of cal mag in the water. (The stupidity of the epsom salt flush was in the 1 gal pots before I transplanted into the 3’s). The big watering with PH 7.0 water when I transplanted was to flush the excess nutrients and epsom salts from the original 1 gal root ball and to try and balance the PH of the new soil and the soil surrounding the roots. 3) As I am in pro mix if I fill a 3gal pot with dry PM and check the weight should this not give me the correct or very close to correct lightnes feel i am looking for pre watering.
The only pro-mix HP that I could find on the net is a peat moss mix/perlite mix(with buffer, in this case lime). Most soiless growers don't use straight peat if I recall... typical soiless is coco core.

Honestly, IMO, just go grab some promix veggy potting soil. I've done full runs with that in a 2x3x7 ft grow room netting 3/4lbs dried per plant (can fit 2).

Know that the promix veggy potting soil has water retention additives (coco)... so even more so... let it dry before you water.
 

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Next run switch to Berger BM6. Way better pH quality control. And it's cheaper. I love the stuff. Used to do Promix HP then started getting bags of bugs, switched to Sunshine 4 then their pH went way up after they changed suppliers of their peat, then on to Berger BM6 and I am very happy. The 6 stands for the pH. It's always between 5.8 and 6.1 out of the bag with my digital soil tester.
 

Renfro

Well-Known Member
What is the best way to add microbes into the medium?
Put them in your nutes / water.

BTW when I had trouble with the sunshine I started feeding at a pH thats "opposite" to compensate and the plants responded better. It's a bandaid. I had a pH in the high 8's on the plants. I started feeding at 4.5 and it helped a lot.
 

Carolina Dream'n

Well-Known Member
With peat you should wait until the medium is actually fairly dry. The weight system is absolutely the best way to accomplish this. Then water sufficiently so that it reaches the bottom of the container. That’s where the roots are most responsible for water uptake. Peat compacts well. Remember when you bought it?

I recommend aerating and cultivating the medium regularly. Meaning before each feeding or watering. Use skewers or long screwdrivers that reach all the way to the bottom. If not you’ll end up with a hockey puck on the bottom of the container that water will go around before it can go into and through. Do this especially directly under the plant in the main hardened root mass. The first time you stick something through that mass you’ll understand.

Don’t flush anymore and toss the magnesium totally for a while. Don’t flush anything at all. Just my opinion.
Did you really just recommend him to stab his root zone....
 

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Did you really just recommend him to stab his root zone....
Whew I missed that one. Yeah I'd pass on that idea. If they are root bound then transplant them, don't stab the fuck out of them. Also an enzyme like Cannazyme will heal break down dead tissue and thats helpful.
 

CanadianJim

Well-Known Member
The only pro-mix HP that I could find on the net is a peat moss mix/perlite mix(with buffer, in this case lime). Most soiless growers don't use straight peat if I recall... typical soiless is coco core.

Honestly, IMO, just go grab some promix veggy potting soil. I've done full runs with that in a 2x3x7 ft grow room netting 3/4lbs dried per plant (can fit 2).

Know that the promix veggy potting soil has water retention additives (coco)... so even more so... let it dry before you water.
I always use the promix herb & vegetable soil for my pots. I used another cheaper soil for my first grow, first and last time I cheap out on that.
Using the promix veggie means you won't need to feed your plant for at least a month, more if she's a light feeder or an auto. And when she runs through the nutrients in the pot she's in it's pretty much time to up pot her anyway.
If you're worried about sow release nutrients, the promix veggie is organic, so they're naturally that way.
I tried stabbing the soil of a rootbound plant I had until I harvested just a week ago, and she was happier within a day or two.
 

dandyrandy

Well-Known Member
I've been using promix around 7 years with no issues. Not only for cannabis but for lettuce etc. in my greenhouse. I even reuse it a few times before it ends up in my acre vegetable garden. Watering and nutes are usually way over used in the beginning. I had a hard time learning to lift and feel the weight of a container to determine if water is needed. After practice it's not a problem. You will find that after the plant gets three feet tall or so it will feel quite top heavy when dry. I do add a cup or so of dolomite now to a 3 gal container. I used none before this year and can't tell much difference with my feeding. Maybe a bit less calmag. I use very light nutes and let the plant tell me what it needs. I run an ec of around 1.5 and some epsom every watering now at 6 weeks bloom. I'll taper in a week or so and usually run water only the last week to 10 days before chop. Easy does it!
 

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Showing pics of plants means nothing, we have no way of knowing that those were stabbed repeatedly as you put it.
 

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
Showing pics of plants means nothing, we have no way of knowing that those were stabbed repeatedly as you put it.
Whatever. You sound inexperienced to be honest. Like you don’t ever try much. Just what you know and are comfortable with. I have better shit to do than argue.
 

DCcan

Well-Known Member
You betcha. I do it regularly. People on here have done it. Stab it repeatedly especially under the plant.
Most people seem to be envisioning a Bates Motel attack, Harley.
The people you tell already have root issues, either compacted over fert soil or a sodden mess with dead roots. The ones saying "don't do it" are envisioning their roots, perhaps.

Getting some air in there is just what the surviving roots need. Repotting or sticking a couple hundred holes down in there, drying it out and getting fresh water thru that is exactly the cure. Whats usually in there is not a solid mass of fiberous hairs, its the tap root and main branches with everything else rotted off from water or nute burn, and excess co2 trapped in the soil from rot
 
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