Sungro Sunshine Mix #1 what to add to it?

I have a half a bale of this stuff left from my first grow. I also have the Miracle Gro for seedlings. I tested the Sunshine mix with some ph 7.2 water and it dropped it down to 5.9. I have a few white widows and a couple of mystery seeds in shot glasses waiting to be put in party cups.

Tonight if the tap roots are showing I might just go ahead and use the MG seedling mix to start.

I would like to get the Sunshine mix ready to go for transplant. I was going to add some extra perlite and pulverized dolomite lime to the mix. Does anyone recommend adding anything else to get the ph up to about 6.5? I plan to use the Fox Farm trio for my nutes. So any recommendations would be appreciated. Please take into consideration that I will be using my Fox Farm nutes. Once I have more experience and use up the Fox Farm nutes I will try organic.

Dolomite lime acts as a pH buffer, the more you add the more it will buff.

Lime has a pH of exactly neutral (7.0), when the soil moves farther away from 7 the dolomite kicks in and starts pulling it back. One cup per cubic foot of soil will keep you around 6.8-7.2 for at least 3 months. Make sure you mix that stuff in really well.

I usually use perlite and vermiculite/peat to counteract environmental conditions. Adding perlite won't make your soil any "better" per se, it will just drain more. If your environment stays wetter, I'd add more perlite, if it can dry out easily - I'd skip it.

I figured the extra perlite would help with drainage and flushing. I have read on the forum that mix #4 is recommended for its better drainage characteristics. I bought a 40 or 50 pound bag of pulverized lime yesterday. What does the vermiculite do? I am afraid to add any more peat in fear of it dropping the ph even lower. My goal is to get the ph around 6.5 before transplanting into it.

I am really trying to get it right the second time around. I ran into nute burn, and lockout my first time around. I also didn't have a digital ph meter until late in the grow. My plants are just about ready for harvest. Had a few small samples so far.

Do you have pulverized agricultural lime or fine dolomite lime?

Pulverized agricultural lime. Picked it up at a nursery yesterday. Have yet to find the fine dolomite lime.

I will have to check the bag when I get home. I am pretty sure it said pulverized dolomite lime on the bag. I will update in a couple of hours...

I also have a bag of epsoma garden lime. I thought that would not work very good since it is pelletized.

Okay here is what it says on the bag...



ECOphRST Pulverized Dolomitic Limestone

Elemental Calcium (Ca) 21%
Elemental Magnesium (Mg) 12%
Calcium Carbonate Equivalent 105%

Carbonates
Calcium Carobnate (CaCo3) 52.4%
Magnesium Carbonate (MgCo3) 41.6%

Oxides
Calcium Oxide (Ca0) 29.4%
Magnesium Oxide (Mg0) 19.9%

Total Oxides 51.1%

Moisture (Maximum) 0.4%



It appears to be the right stuff with both the Mg and Ca.

The dolomitic limestone is what you want, thats sweet lime. You're good to roll dude.