PRO-MIX HP or PRO-MIX BX???

i have purchased the HP, called the info line after reading a thread that it was the BX i was suppose to get, the info line said that the HP drys up quicker, has more pearlite in it instead of fermaculite (or however u say/spell that) so again, it drys up quick becuz there is more air space or "high porosity"

what does/is fermaculite do? and should i take back the HP for the BX? i feel dumb but i WAS suppose to get the BX as recommended before and im a newb on the fermaculite, that person hasnt gotten back to me yet, im trying to get rid of all this miraclegro soil ive bin using to start my little ones and ive bin using the potting mix in my recycle bin for my mother plant im going to start cloneing soon finally (my first grow, thot id make it a mother, or atleast clone a couple)

another question: whats the cheapest thing to fill with soil/soiless mix, grow in, i say free recycling bins, any other suggestions??? ive bin to rona n all those places but the huge pots are like $30 its redic. i need something big but not garbage can big.

another question: i purchased "Wilson ROOTS" cloneing gel, it was $7.29 so not bad, apparently its hard to find one under $10, but i havent used it yet, so mayb this isnt recommended for marijuana cloneing??? and should i go out and get some "Clonex" or use some of the nutrients i have in small amounts and soak it?

another question: ive bin feeding my plants just plane water for the past week or so because i ran out of PH DOWN! will this be a huge shock to my plant or good idea on my part instead of still using the nutrients aswell???

ONE MORE question: is a seed born already determined as a male or female (regular seeds obviously)??? or can certain stresses at a young age make it a male???

i went and grabbed the BX and took back the HP because the HP has more pearlite in it which causes this mix to dry up faster, which u dont want to be watering ur plant like every day/every other day so under finding that out i went with the BX (the bx has pearlite in it too, just not as much as the HP, and the bx has more fermaculite in it)

Lemon Juice for pH down. Sodium Bicarbonate for pH Up.

Using nutes lowers water pH to begin with. So using the plain water if your pH is too high is worse than using fertilized.

Clonex is great but Olivia's is cheaper and works just as well. I have both and the clones that DO NOT root after about 2 weeks with olivia, if I care, will get a coat of clonex and be re-rockwooled.
Hell, plain water and some light veg juice will root a plant but I am sure you need more consistant results. Always let your cuttings sit in your cloning solution for a few hours prior to putting them in your medium of choice (I suggest rockwool) it gives a higher percentage of success (From 80%-99.1%).

Go to a nursery and buy the cheap planter pots or ask a landscaper for used ones. Either way they are pennies on the dollar in quantity.

Vermiculite retains water. Perlite let's it run off. The more vermiculite the worse your plant will do. Marijuana roots do best if they dry out daily. The roots push out looking for more water increasing the root ball and thereby increasing growth. I would go back to the HP. More watering is a pain but w.e. You want results or not?

Hope this helps.

Sunshine mix is the best but is really heavy compared to the Promix. I used HP so thats what you should use.
Give them water the first couple waterings. Then start on the food lightly. When you plant in the promix always make sure you water first.
Sunshine is the lighter mix but comes wet. Promix is strong to start hence why they only get water.

GibbsIt89 said:

i went and grabbed the BX and took back the HP because the HP has more pearlite in it which causes this mix to dry up faster, which u dont want to be watering ur plant like every day/every other day so under finding that out i went with the BX (the bx has pearlite in it too, just not as much as the HP, and the bx has more fermaculite in it)

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You really want the HP. VERMICULITE is really not your friend, it retains too much water and screws the pH up. Get the HP.

Get some powdered dolomite lime to add to either one. ~$5/40LB bag at Lowes, HD.

5 gallon buckets from HD, Lowes or the like. ~$2.50 each. Drill 8-12 1/4" holes in the bottom/lower sides for drainage. Cheap pots.

Wet

First time growing I got pro mix hp what should I mix with it

I use the HP and love it. I repot to larger pots once they need watering more often than every 48 hours. Used to use the BX and had to add lots of perlite to it but the HP is great right out of the bale and doesn't need any added lime unless you are recycling it for a 2nd use.

Check garden centers/nurseries for used pots. After the plants are a few nodes or around 6" tall in small pots I'll put them in the #2 pots then up them to the #5 pots that hold around 4gal for their final homes. Generally need watering around every 5 - 7 days at the start then around every 3 - 4 days at the end.

Jorge187 said:

First time growing I got pro mix hp what should I mix with it

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How do you plan to grow your plants? Hydro nutes or using organics? With the hydro nutes you can use it right out of the bag/bale. I water the plants in with 1ml/L of each of the 3-part AN nutes I use. Lately I've been adding some myco to the mix and a bit of fritted trace elements. Experimenting with adding some composted steer and sheep manures and earth worm castings too. Burned the crap out of some plants I have growing now just with those amendments and zero hydro nutes. Surprised the hell out of me.

Soilless mixes like HP or the BX can be used as a base for organic growers to add their goodies too as it's certified organic or as a media for feeding hydro nutes to your plants which is how I've been doing it for years. I like the pot I get doing that but want to blend both worlds and incorporate organics to see if it enhances tastes and smells in the finished product. Very limited to what is available here but everyone seems to have ProMix for sale these days. One big, 107L bale is good for about 7 - #5 pots or 5 - 6 5gal pails. I plan to recycle it with half used to half fresh adding a bit of dolomitic lime and trace elements to the batch.

Real dirt is dense and I'm not a fan for indoor grows.

Jorge187 said:

First time growing I got pro mix hp what should I mix with it

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Perlite. Mix in some lime if you can get it. Otherwise just pH adjust water and don’t worry about it. You’re good.

mr.smileyface said:

Sunshine mix is the best but is really heavy compared to the Promix. I used HP so thats what you should use.
Give them water the first couple waterings. Then start on the food lightly. When you plant in the promix always make sure you water first.
Sunshine is the lighter mix but comes wet. Promix is strong to start hence why they only get water.

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ProMix HP has zero nutes in it so when putting plants in you should use a light feed to water them in. I pre-moisten it before putting into pots with 1ml/L of 3-part nutes. A gallon milk jug with holes in the cap make a great, free watering can. I'll mix up my batch in a Rubbermaid tub for smaller pots or toss a tarp on the floor and fold the tarp back and forth to blend everything in if adding goodies. I like it moist enough that it holds together like a snowball when squeezed then once the plant is in it's new pot soak it good with the nute mix until saturated. Let it sit in the runoff for an hour to make sure it's wet all the way through. If tossed in the pot bone dry it may have dry spots in the pot and that's not good.

Transplant tip: Saw the bottom of the rootball off with a bread knife to get rid of long roots wound around the bottom. If long ones around the sides shave them off too and the new pot will be filled with fine feeder roots from top to bottom in a week.

Osmocote for fertilizer.

hotrodharley said:

Perlite. Mix in some lime if you can get it. Otherwise just pH adjust water and don’t worry about it. You’re good.

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HP has more than enough perlite and lime in it at the start. It has both dolomitic and calcitic lime so I don't even add CalMag at the start and I use RO water only. The BX or most Sunshine mixes need about 25% coarse perlite added to get close to the amount in HP.

This is HP all by itself.

Don_Sequitor said:

Osmocote for fertilizer.

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Really? Scotts time release crapola fertilizers? I have never used Scotts/Monsanto/Bayer products ever and have read so many horror stories in many forums about their crap.

Great for your granny's flower beds but not for serious pot growers.

OldMedUser said:

Really? Scotts time release crapola fertilizers? I have never used Scotts/Monsanto/Bayer products ever and have read so many horror stories in many forums about their crap.

Great for your granny's flower beds but not for serious pot growers.

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Yes, that stuff. Mix it in so your plants aren't a little behind your neighbors.

GibbsIt89 said:

another question: i purchased "Wilson ROOTS" cloneing gel, it was $7.29 so not bad, apparently its hard to find one under $10, but i havent used it yet, so mayb this isnt recommended for marijuana cloneing??? and should i go out and get some "Clonex" or use some of the nutrients i have in small amounts and soak it?

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Any rooting product will work. I like to dip in gel then powder and plant into those 9-hole seed starter pots filled with ProMix HP that I've run through a 1mm screen. Same mesh as window screen. Powder alone works fine and I've tried using nothing and get 80% rooted. Make sure you have at least one node spot in the soil and I like to split the bottom of the stem too. Lower light levels for the first week so stand off to the side of the grow light and maybe even put a paper towel over the dome to cut the light down. Very low RH here so I always start in the dome and spray inside the dome but not on the cuttings to keep the RH high.

I have the Wilsons gel and recently got some ProMix powder I used on one cutting alone and it rooted fine even tho it sat in a glass of water for 3 weeks before using the powder and planting in the screened ProMix.

This is an old pic.

Don_Sequitor said:

Yes, that stuff. Mix it in so your plants aren't a little behind your neighbors.

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No way in hell thanks. I feed mine 3-part nutes from the start that are designed to grow great pot.

Maybe do some reading about how to grow pot properly.

I found a great spot to download FREE POT BOOKS . I downloaded a grow bible first and got lots more. Books look great and complete like the real ones I have here. No web site but just a page of links. Just right click on what you want and then "Save Link As" to download so they don't open first as many are 50+ megs. They got lots. Enjoy.

OP party said they are feeding plane water.

Asked the ole gal to grab me some soil while she was out... I was kidding...she brought this home.. I don’t see hp or bx

Hempire828 said:

Asked the ole gal to grab me some soil while she was out... I was kidding...she brought this home.. I don’t see hp or bxView attachment 4341856View attachment 4341857

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what a nice wife you have.

thats neither hp or bx thats a potting soil for roses. most people will recommend against time release ferts for cannabis cause you can't control what you're feeding the plants or when.

my guess is it would work fine tho.

Figures man... all we got is roses.. she wins again

Hempire828 said:

Asked the ole gal to grab me some soil while she was out... I was kidding...she brought this home.. I don’t see hp or bxView attachment 4341856View attachment 4341857

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That's what I used for my last two grows because it's all I could find in my small town.
But it works great. I still fed with my nutes and never noticed an issue with the time released ferts in the ProMix. I did use less of my own nutes tho...just in case. Worked great for me and will be chopping down some of the plants grown in the ProMix potting mix in a few days.
I will be getting the ProMix HP next time I'm in the city tho. It's cheaper for a bale of HP than these smaller bags of potting mix.
**Edit to add**
I also added some Perlite to the potting mix for extra drainage but didn't add any dolomite. Just tried to keep my feed water ph'd around 6.2 through the run and seemed to work fine