Soiless medium considered hydro or soil?

selfmedicator462

selfmedicator462

Well-Known Member
Here is a question ive been asking for some time and havent really gotten a straight answer. Ive been growing soiless from day one using Promix HP and shit tons of perilite. Ive mostly done trial and error and have had good results with one strain (pennywise) but have had issues with others. With pennywise i was PHing at around 6.8 to 7 and could feed HEAVY every time i watered. With the last couple strains ive gotten nute burn and deficiencies. Now with my current grow of Alien OG its starting to yellow at week 2 of flower. Im feeding at 450ppm of Veg&bloom with another 100ppm of PK booster. Also add calmag. PHing at 6.5 since it germed. I have a gut feeling its all related to PH. This chart has me thinking i should be using a hydro PH of around 5.5. http://www.cannaversity.com/cannaversity/article.php?id=057 Havent seen too many people using my medium otherwise id ask them directly.
 
selfmedicator462

selfmedicator462

Well-Known Member
do you think im locking out N at 6.5? Im going to double check my meter just to make sure its still correct. Just to rule it out.
 
selfmedicator462

selfmedicator462

Well-Known Member
Enigmatic Ways said:
I use ProMix and I ph to 6.5 works well for me...That definitely a low ppm for the second week of flowering I would bring the base up to 600+ ppm.
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I was just playing it safe since this is the first run of this strain. Pennywise i was pushing 800+ppm and it showed no signs of burn. For some reason it liked 7.0ph. Do you feed every time you water? just curious what other soiless growers are doing.
 
Enigmatic Ways

Enigmatic Ways

Well-Known Member
selfmedicator462 said:
I was just playing it safe since this is the first run of this strain. Pennywise i was pushing 800+ppm and it showed no signs of burn. For some reason it liked 7.0ph. Do you feed every time you water? just curious what other soiless growers are doing.
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Yup I feed every watering about 1300ppm day one of flowering...But I only water about once a week {10 gallon smart pots} with about 15-20% runoff.
 
researching

researching

Well-Known Member
FYI I think you should lower your ph to around 6.0 You have nothing to lose. As you can always change it, but I think as you suspect, that your ph is too high.

I run coco chips and feed twice a day and feed everytime I water. Even back when I hand watered coco I fed everytime. You can lower your ppm to facilitate if need be. If you have good aeration and drainage then your plants will love you for it.
 
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T

T.H.Cammo

Well-Known Member
Soiless medium considered hydro or soil?

Whether a medium is considered to be hydro or soil isn't a matter of if it contains actual soil or not. It's a matter of how much nutrients all of the soilmix ingredients contain collectively.

If the medium is relatively nutrient free, it is considered hydro. If the medium has some (useful) nutrient content, it is considered to be "Soil": even if it's soiless.
 
Kingrow1

Kingrow1

Well-Known Member
Peat has a caution exchange capacity and my promix has lime, i treat like soil and dont ph it anymore. With a medium that holds nutrients i cant reason using ph up or down and especially if its already ph balanced with lime.
 
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GrowUrOwnDank

Well-Known Member
"Passive hydro". That is how hempy bucket is described. Basically a hempy bucket does have a small reservoir at the bottom. Now coco I don't know. It may be different because the medium may absorb the water and nutrients. Still. The plant gets the nutrient from the water tho. Not like soil. I did hempy bucket for years using the Lucas formula and it's an easy way to grow. I'm back to soil now tho. I basically just got tired having to use ph meters and adjust ph. Using happy frog is a bit hot but less maintenance. I will use the simple Lucas formula with Maxibloom powder when I have to add nutes.
 
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