Promix hp users, I'd appreciate your input and advice.

Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member
I went to the hydro store this afternoon. Picked up some some jacks. I am familiar and comfortable with salt based hydro so I went that direction. Also going to be using Si and calmag obviously.
What sort of ppm/ec did you run in PM HP for the different stages of growth? I typically did half recommended strength with gh trio in dwc as a starting point, but not familiar enough with this medium to feel confident. Thanks again!
You do know that you won't need cal mag with jacks? Unless you just got the base.
 

Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member
I went to the hydro store this afternoon. Picked up some some jacks. I am familiar and comfortable with salt based hydro so I went that direction. Also going to be using Si and calmag obviously.
What sort of ppm/ec did you run in PM HP for the different stages of growth? I typically did half recommended strength with gh trio in dwc as a starting point, but not familiar enough with this medium to feel confident. Thanks again!
Should be about the same as dwc. There's no nutritional value to the hp pm. With jacks you should be able to run full strength unless you're feeding seedlings.
 

pulpoinspace

Well-Known Member
Hello all. This is gonna be long, but I need to pick your wonderful brains so stick with me.

Going to be doing an indoor winter run in my 2x2 (partially to help heat my room. True story.) and I want to hear from folks who currently or previously had success with promix.

I've only used it twice. Once years ago I ran it as a base medium for a half assed 'organic' run. The second was recently when I transplanted to it to save a crashing plant in bad soil. Fed that some floranova and calmag i had laying around and that plant recovered beautifully. So yeah, limited experience with the medium.

On to my questions.. I will not be amending the promix. Maybe a future grow.
My options for this grow are
1.) sterile, chelated nutrients (think GH trio or equivalent dry nutrient)

2.) 'organic' bottled nutrients intended to work better with active biology in the root zone.

Again, not going to be amending the promix this run, I want fairly precise control over my inputs for this poject. So I'm torn between those options and I'd like to know what has worked better for you all.

Second question.. I have been a firm advocate of the addition Si to nearly all hydroponic feed programs and I'm just wondering about your experience on its use in this medium in terms of need, efficacy, feed strength and frequency etc etc.

Lastly I'd add that I'm open to any tips and recommendations on getting the most out the medium. Watering frequency, feed strengths at various growth stages, optimal pH.... its all welcome. I've done a lot of reading but experience is invaluable.

For anyone who is made it this far i have 1 more question to pose..
as stated this is a 2x2 space (used to be a mother plant tent) with anywhere from 135 to 260 watts of HLG QBs as needed, and I'm trying to decide between doing 2 plants in 3 gallon pots or 1 plant in a 5 to 7 gallon pot? I've got to get this project rolling and my brain is too tired for more decisions.

This is what fucking happens when I post at 5am..
Thanks in advance for any input and sorry it took me 15 pages to get to the end.
First question: I wouldn't use either I'd use chemical hydroponic nutrients but If i had to choose i guess i would just organic hydroponic nutrients, whether dry or bottled doesnt matter.

Second question: i don't use silica, ive used h&g amino treatment with silica in the past and the only difference i noticed was stronger branches, not a concern to me

3 gal pots of promix i grow 5-6 foot tall trees and water them every 48 hours, they will wilt after 72 hours. I feed 1.6EC, 800ppm every feeding, pH between 6.1 and 6.4. In a 2x2 in promix i would do 1 plant in a 3 gallon pot honestly. 3 fills out my 4x4 pretty nicely. pics in sig.

Good luck to ya!

edit: I should add I love pro-mix, also sunshine mix#4 which i view as interchangable and i'll probably never change to another medium. you're gonna like it.
 
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Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member
Just got the base. They didn't have the kit in stocks and I have tons of micros, calmag, Si laying around. So just picked up what they had and I'll fill in the gaps.
Kinda sucks cuz you can customize the calcium and magnesium with the storage salts. Also if you need more nitrogen, calnit is the best. But we make do with what we got! :bigjoint:
 

NanoGadget

Well-Known Member
First question: I wouldn't use either I'd use chemical hydroponic nutrients but If i had to choose i guess i would just organic hydroponic nutrients, whether dry or bottled doesnt matter.

Second question: i don't use silica, ive used h&g amino treatment with silica in the past and the only difference i noticed was stronger branches, not a concern to me

3 gal pots of promix i grow 5-6 foot tall trees and water them every 48 hours, they will wilt after 72 hours. I feed 1.6EC, 800ppm every feeding, pH between 6.1 and 6.4. In a 2x2 in promix i would do 1 plant in a 3 gallon pot honestly. 3 fills out my 4x4 pretty nicely. pics in sig.

Good luck to ya!

edit: I should add I love pro-mix, also sunshine mix#4 which i view as interchangable and i'll probably never change to another medium. you're gonna like it.
I like Si in hydro because some of the genetics I run tend towards weak branches (especially with lots of topping and training) and the Si saves me a ton of headaches. 800ppm sounds reasonable, about what i ran in rdwc. What is the sweet spot for seedlings? I always started super low in coco, like 150 ppm or less, but in rdwc my very young plants seem to be able to take up to 300 or more. What do shoot for for a first feeding??
Unfortunately I don't have the space on this run to grow 5-6 ft tall trees, but I'm definitely looking to fill this 2x2. For 1 plant in a 2x2 what pot size would suggest? I'd do 3 or 5 if it were coco, same apply to PM HP?
 

pulpoinspace

Well-Known Member
I like Si in hydro because some of the genetics I run tend towards weak branches (especially with lots of topping and training) and the Si saves me a ton of headaches. 800ppm sounds reasonable, about what i ran in rdwc. What is the sweet spot for seedlings? I always started super low in coco, like 150 ppm or less, but in rdwc my very young plants seem to be able to take up to 300 or more. What do shoot for for a first feeding??
Unfortunately I don't have the space on this run to grow 5-6 ft tall trees, but I'm definitely looking to fill this 2x2. For 1 plant in a 2x2 what pot size would suggest? I'd do 3 or 5 if it were coco, same apply to PM HP?
Yeah personally I'd do 3gal. And feed/water every 48 hours. 800ppm 20% runoff every time. Seedlings I just give them water for the first couple weeks at least until the cotyledons fall off and any sign of deficiency on the first true leaves, then immediately to the 800ppm. My rooted clones get 800ppm at transplant too. You could taper up though.

It's gonna be pretty similar to coco, just want pH a little higher. 6.3 is the sweet spot.
 

NanoGadget

Well-Known Member
I meant separate salts... lol
I knew what you meant.. lol. My hydro store actually sells a line of salts where you can buy each macro and quite a few micros separately. Its a bit pricey but I have used it in the past because I don't like running standard calmag heavy during flower. Allows me to input only what I need. But for the most part I have good luck with a pretty basic nutrient regimen when it comes to hydro. Hell, I used a modified Lucas formula for most of the time that I ran rDWC with great success, so I'm good at doing more with less.
 

Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member
I knew what you meant.. lol. My hydro store actually sells a line of salts where you can buy each macro and quite a few micros separately. Its a bit pricey but I have used it in the past because I don't like running standard calmag heavy during flower. Allows me to input only what I need. But for the most part I have good luck with a pretty basic nutrient regimen when it comes to hydro. Hell, I used a modified Lucas formula for most of the time that I ran rDWC with great success, so I'm good at doing more with less.
Yea I ran Lucas in hydro. I'm using it now in soil.lol....I got jacks 321 but I'm waiting til I get some pm hp then I'll run it.
 

NanoGadget

Well-Known Member
Yea I ran Lucas in hydro. I'm using it now in soil.lol....I got jacks 321 but I'm waiting til I get some pm hp then I'll run it.
I am partial to fully organic living soil when it comes to non hydro grows. I've used salt nutes in soil before, but was never able to get the hang of it. The soil bacteria just never seemed to get along with salt based nutrients. I guess I like the extremes.. soil filled with bugs, poops, fungus and bacteria, and sterile hydro with a grow room that looks like lab station. :D
 

Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member
I am partial to fully organic living soil when it comes to non hydro grows. I've used salt nutes in soil before, but was never able to get the hang of it. The soil bacteria just never seemed to get along with salt based nutrients. I guess I like the extremes.. soil filled with bugs, poops, fungus and bacteria, and sterile hydro with a grow room that looks like lab station. :D
Yea I'm having a lil difficulty but I believe the key is in the ph. I'm just keep a couple mom's alive to get clones off of. Then I'll put them in the promix. I kinda prefer the hydro thing but with the promix I believe it is kinda hydro. Just can't view the variables like in dwc.
 

pulpoinspace

Well-Known Member
Yea I'm having a lil difficulty but I believe the key is in the ph. I'm just keep a couple mom's alive to get clones off of. Then I'll put them in the promix. I kinda prefer the hydro thing but with the promix I believe it is kinda hydro. Just can't view the variables like in dwc.
promix is not kind of hydro, it is hydro! think of a smart pot of promix like a big sponge, or a rockwool cube if you prefer...

it's called drain to waste hydroponics and its kind of a misnomer because it's actually the least wasteful method of hydroponics. 20% runoff from a 3gal pot < dumping and changing whole reservoirs. The change you'll be making from a recirculating system is that your plants are only being fed when you water them. So you want to have regular feedings, some people do multiple per day but I think once per 48 hours is plenty. I think you will much prefer it to DWC or RDWC which are cool hobbies, and just that imo.
 

thumper60

Well-Known Member
promix is not kind of hydro, it is hydro! think of a smart pot of promix like a big sponge, or a rockwool cube if you prefer...

it's called drain to waste hydroponics and its kind of a misnomer because it's actually the least wasteful method of hydroponics. 20% runoff from a 3gal pot < dumping and changing whole reservoirs. The change you'll be making from a recirculating system is that your plants are only being fed when you water them. So you want to have regular feedings, some people do multiple per day but I think once per 48 hours is plenty. I think you will much prefer it to DWC or RDWC which are cool hobbies, and just that imo.
Holy sheeeet someone with the right answer on promix thank you sir, Pisses me off people here calling it soil.
 

Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member
promix is not kind of hydro, it is hydro! think of a smart pot of promix like a big sponge, or a rockwool cube if you prefer...

it's called drain to waste hydroponics and its kind of a misnomer because it's actually the least wasteful method of hydroponics. 20% runoff from a 3gal pot < dumping and changing whole reservoirs. The change you'll be making from a recirculating system is that your plants are only being fed when you water them. So you want to have regular feedings, some people do multiple per day but I think once per 48 hours is plenty. I think you will much prefer it to DWC or RDWC which are cool hobbies, and just that imo.
I really like dwc/rdwc. All the air pumps and water pumps, and having to worry about the power going out are the cons. Other than that it's great! I know promix is essentially hydro, I just meant you can't control the ph and ec parameters as easily as you can in water. If they only made ph and ec probes for soil! :p Lol
 

SnoopyDoo

Well-Known Member
I've had luck with ~tbsp of lime per gal and GH trio using the Lucas Formula. That's what I do with Sunshine as well, which is very similar to promix.
 
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