The Bruce Bugbee Method

laddyd

laddyd

Well-Known Member
I did a couple of grows with the Bugbee mix. Sourcing all the ingredients was difficult, I had to go to 3 different stores and buy large quantities of lime and gypsum. The grows were good excepting the gnat problem I had but I digress. Then I did one that wasn't. I ended up repotting in Pro-mix to save my seedlings and all was well. I'm not sure where I went wrong in my mix but something was off. Pro-mix was a revelation, so much easier. I still have almost 25 lbs of powdered dolomitic lime and pelletized gypsum by the way. I'm using the jacks 20-10-20 I have left over in pro-mix and it works ok. I also add a little gypsum for sulfur and extra perlite for better drainage and my results have been acceptable. I am still searching for "the one " fertilizer that will get me to harvest with minimal fading, it may not exist. Different strains have different nutrient needs. There certainly is no consensus opinion about it on these message boards. I was and am looking for the easiest, cheapest, fail-safe method to grow some good pot. Pro-mix in self wicking buckets is the easiest so far for me. I can get all the ingredients at walmart for cheap and it's low maintenance.
 
BongerChonger

BongerChonger

Well-Known Member
Bruce nugbee said:
This is true I could make it easy on myself but I want to experience it.
Yano get into it, be the bug. . . Bee
Click to expand...
I forgot to mention how important the process of Composting is for outdoor soil too. Really great idea, would be to start a compost bin and or worm farm. And remember to always add lots of "brown" carbon rich material, like dry wood, brown mulches and cardboard.
Starting off it's really easy to give plants and soil too much Nitrogen rich or "green" materials like guano. This slows the Aerobic breakdown process and the reaction starts to turn "cold". Favouring Anaerobic activity and environment.
To give you an idea the ideal Carbon to Nitrogen ratio for composting is roughly 30/1. And it's pretty close to that for soil too.
In nature, soil and organic matter is composting all the time.

I'll scoop up some information that helps illustrate what I'm trying to say and post them to you via pm, to avoid choking up the thread.

I won't criticize your methods, or Bugbee, I've never paid attention to him.
What I will say though, is again to always go back to the basics when trying to learn something new in this hobby.
That's what's always helped me.
Because it gives the right cohesive view, instead of being specific. It's applicable to all gardening.

Indoors keep it simple. And well aerated. Indoor mixes need to be much lighter and have lots of drainage.
Leave the heavy, rich soils for outdoors and the ground, where it belongs.
That's my own belief.

If I feel the need to post any further, I'll just msg you if that's ok.

Good luck!
 
Bruce nugbee

Bruce nugbee

Member
BongerChonger said:
I forgot to mention how important the process of Composting is for outdoor soil too. Really great idea, would be to start a compost bin and or worm farm. And remember to always add lots of "brown" carbon rich material, like dry wood, brown mulches and cardboard.
Starting off it's really easy to give plants and soil too much Nitrogen rich or "green" materials like guano. This slows the Aerobic breakdown process and the reaction starts to turn "cold". Favouring Anaerobic activity and environment.
To give you an idea the ideal Carbon to Nitrogen ratio for composting is roughly 30/1. And it's pretty close to that for soil too.
In nature, soil and organic matter is composting all the time.

I'll scoop up some information that helps illustrate what I'm trying to say and post them to you via pm, to avoid choking up the thread.

I won't criticize your methods, or Bugbee, I've never paid attention to him.
What I will say though, is again to always go back to the basics when trying to learn something new in this hobby.
That's what's always helped me.
Because it gives the right cohesive view, instead of being specific. It's applicable to all gardening.

Indoors keep it simple. And well aerated. Indoor mixes need to be much lighter and have lots of drainage.
Leave the heavy, rich soils for outdoors and the ground, where it belongs.
That's my own belief.

If I feel the need to post any further, I'll just msg you if that's ok.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
That's awesome thank you !
 
PopAndSonGrows

PopAndSonGrows

Well-Known Member
Wow, I'm kinda surprised. I've never really looked into how Dr. Bugbee grows his plants, but i was fairly convinced he used bottled/synthetic nutrients based on the things he's said about nutrients.

That all just seems so. . .. .complicated. It doesn't need to be.
 
Bruce nugbee

Bruce nugbee

Member
I know what you mean.
Here in south Thailand the problem is never will it grow its how big and fast everything grows.
It's like the garden looks around l, sees its surroundings and decides it wants to be a jungle too.
The bugs outside and the chance of them being pollinated made me want to grow inside.
Bruce's charm did the rest.
I am struggling to upload any pictures but I almost accidentally grew a few plants bigger than our house. I had to bend them over because they were poking out above the roof.
The first yielding about 3 ounces, the second has more on it but it's full of bugs. So it's all going to be wasted. I am focusing on another soil grow I brought in under the little Mars hydro ts1000.

Going to get the bugbee mix completed today and try and get some pictures up again.

Nugbee out.
 
Bruce nugbee

Bruce nugbee

Member
Johnny Lawrence said:
^ This.

So much this.

I don't understand why so many feel the need to overcomplicate things.
Click to expand...
you've convinced me, I will buy some pro mix, what regiment of feeding would you recommend?

20-10-20 until 10% run off everytime ? .

well.. the bugbee way the nute solution is always used and doesn't change. unless there's an issue.

and one more TING!
I just gotta say ...

"There's lots of pots in my yaaaaAAAAArd"

room enough for pro mix ,
so bro mix, this grow mix,
grow thick sticks, with high brix.
cos only a fool sticks to one mix.

DJ play me out.

MC BUGBEE

#BUGlife/ThugLife
 
Bruce nugbee

Bruce nugbee

Member
PopAndSonGrows said:
Wow, I'm kinda surprised. I've never really looked into how Dr. Bugbee grows his plants, but i was fairly convinced he used bottled/synthetic nutrients based on the things he's said about nutrients.

That all just seems so. . .. .complicated. It doesn't need to be.
Click to expand...
it's the science and the idea of trying it a different way that interests me. And how can you not love the bugbee,
the man is inspiration personified if I have $1500 I'd sign up for his course.
organics are awesome, I love the natural way, ....... Im growing both in and out door too.
I love to smoke Thai stick that just grows here naturally, there called "hang gor rot" translates to squirrel tail
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
I'd go with the promix hp which is what I've been using for 15 years or so.

I've never read the bugbee stuff but I can tell you from reading what you've done that you did it wrong. Trying to flush it after adding all the goodies has just washed out all the easily soluble stuff so those ratios are shot now.

With the HP you can use it straight out of the bale and water with hydro nutes and add plants. Easy-peasy and I've always had good grows doing just that. The last couple years I've been mixing organics into HP to see if I can get that to work but it's not been easy or productive so far. A similar mix out in the garden right in the ground works great but doesn't seem to translate to indoor pots worth a shit but It'd getting better and I got a lot of money invested in stuff to feed them so I'll soldier on but tempted to go back to DWC and crank out some pot. :)

I need experiments to keep up my interest in growing or I'll just pack it all in. I've got enough stashed away in the freezer and jars all over the house so really don't need any more for a few years but with 3 or 4 dozen strains still waiting to be sprouted I can't stop now. That very best med strain is hiding in there somewhere so I gotta keep looking! :D

:peace:
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Johnny Lawrence said:
^ This.

So much this.

I don't understand why so many feel the need to overcomplicate things.
Click to expand...
What's not to understand. So many of us grow and use pot because we need to slow down the 8-track tape always rolling upstairs. At least that's been my problem all my life. I'm 68 and still plagued by ADHD thinking. Recently got the doc to prescribe me adderall to see what that does but it's no help and costs me $80/mth so goodbye to that.

Complicated stuff helps to focus or at least it helps for me a bit. So easily distracted. Oh look! A squirrel! lol

:peace:
 
7CardBud

7CardBud

Well-Known Member
I have followed a lot of Nugbee's work and find it very solid and informative. After trying his 50/50 peat mix, I didn't find it well suited for general growing. It stays way too soggy for too long with all the vermiculite and no perlite.

You can also mix up your own Promix/soilless mix if you want. I wouldn't recommend it unless you can't source Promix or it's prohibitively expensive.

The first year I decided to grow in containers the bales of Promix were up at around $60 in my area so doing a dozen 30-gallon/115-liter containers would have been pricey using Promix. After a little research at the UC Berkeley School of agriculture I found they recommended a 5% use of pulverized dolamite by weight to buffer peat moss for agricultural use.

I did the math to get the 1300 liters of mix. Peat bails where about 32kg.

5-100 liter compressed bales of peat @$13 each
3-100 liter bags perlite @$18 each
1-100 liter bag vermiculite @$25 each
8kg dolamite - $4

I can't say it was fun mixing all that shit up on a large tarp, but it was somewhat rewarding knowing the price point I was hitting for this mix.
The mix performed fine using Jack's that year.

Now that I found an agricultural distributer, that sells Berger BM6 for $23 a bale I'm never breaking my back again to save a few bucks.
 
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