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Doc Bud's High Brix Q&A With Pictures
- Thread starter Doc Bud
- Start date
anyone notice a difference with shape of pot and quality of grow? Same volume of pot...i think I notice my square pots grow nicer plants. just curious...maybe its my Golden Tiger stimulating questions. 
just curious...maybe its my Golden Tiger stimulating questions. - Thread starter
- #9,263
anyone notice a difference with shape of pot and quality of grow? Same volume of pot...i think I notice my square pots grow nicer plants.
The growth up top will mirror the shape of the roots. Tall, thin container=tall plant without much side branching. Short, shallow and wide container=short, bushy plant.
I've not noticed much difference between round and rectangular, but the overall shape of the soil has a big influence.
Doc, what don't you like about Cal-Mag?
I was thinking about this earlier this morning and it made me want to grow a menorah shaped plant in a long trough. The symmetry of that idea appealed to my artistic mind. Two fans (roots and menorah buds) separating from a central trunk like a reverse capillary bed. Several of them could be stacked next to one another creating a corn row like grow. iT was a beautiful daydream.
Maybe someday I will try that but I am stoked that my 10 gallon fabric pots are coming and my soil is cooking. I have four Rubbermaid full and stacked with kit soil. There is a foam pad on the floor. Do I need to unstack them so the lid is less tight? Or will the air already inside be sufficient.
justabluez
New Member
anyone notice a difference with shape of pot and quality of grow? Same volume of pot...i think I notice my square pots grow nicer plants.
Golden Tiger !!
Cant wait !!!I seem to notice that the fabric round pots grow much better than the plastic round ones.
Golden Tiger !!
I seem to notice that the fabric round pots grow much better than the plastic round ones.
yes i do too..
Thebreeder
New Member
I've switched to coco coir pots. I get the best results using them with my high brix grows. Anyone else use these?
- Thread starter
- #9,269
In order to best answer you, I need to take some pictures of an experiment I'm doing right now.
Instead of top dressing with epsom salt I cooked some into the soil. Guess what? I've now got a Mg deficiency on a strain (Lemon Paki) that NEVER gets a Mg deficiency in High Brix soil. That's right, adding Mg to the soil didn't come close to increasing Mg in the plant tissue. It didn't help. It created a problem.
Why? This seems counter-intuitive, doesn't it?
Well, it turns out that decreasing the Ca/Mg ratio lowers brix, decreases plant metabolism and generally weakens the plants.
The reason they're Mg deficient is because the microbial action in the soil has been decreased and altered. That happened because the ratio was tampered with.
Enter Cal/Mag. When you use a product like this as a means to getting calcium and/or magnesium into plant tissue it will help if there is a true deficiency. However, there are no elements or minerals lacking in High Brix soil. They're all measured and they're all there. The soil is not in any way deficient!
So, when you take a soil that is balanced and you add Cal/Mag, which is often in a 3/1 or 5/1 ratio a couple things are happening:
1. the plant will take in the salts of Ca and Mg as best they can, "hydro style." Again, this is fine if there's a deficiency! But the last thing our soil is deficient in is calcium, and since the magnesium is about 1/7 as much as calcium, High Brix soil has more Mg than 99% of all potting soils out there. Adding more and more will at some point create an imbalance in the soil, making high brix impossible to achieve.
2. When the plants start taking in calcium and magnesium salts, almost immediately the root exudates no longer call for these elements and the microbial action drops off in this area.......and viola! Deficiency!
That's right, by adding elements to such a degree that we take the soil out of balance, we'll not see more of these elements in the plant tissue, but less!
The reason is because the soil residents feed the plant best. When you impede that process via too much salt feedings, you get less of the desired thing into the plant, not more!
So that's why I don't like CalMag! It simply doesn't help.
The "mg deficiency" people talk about isn't because we didn't think to add Mg to the soil or that more is needed, etc. It has to do with 2 things:
1. The peculiarities and draw backs to small container gardening. Outdoor plants almost never have Mg deficiencies if they have room for their roots to spread out.
2. Many strains we grow have been bred to thrive in a high salt environment. Or, to put it another way, since everyone was using massive salts----like hydro----the plants that came out best in that medium became super popular. These same strains don't grow the same way in good soil.
But many of the old, pure strains that don't shine in salt take on a whole new character in high brix soil.
This Colombian is a lot like that. Around here, everyone is saying how it's the best Sativa they've ever had, blah, blah, blah. Usual stuff.
When I tell them it's a strain that was popular in the late '70's, back when weed was supposedly not very potent compared to today and all that nonsense, it really surprises them. The reason it all seems so new and wonderful is simply because while Colombian Red won't grow very well in hydro, or in a high salt soil grow.....it does freakishly awesome in a biological grow, with living soil.
We'd all be much better off if we sought out strains that thrive in High Brix soil, instead of trying to adapt the soil to grow strains that don't really produce the desired result until salts are off the chart.
Even so, I've now proved to myself that adding Epsom Salt to cooking soil is a bad idea. It's much better to top dress on those strains that need it, or better yet, foliar feed it.
I'm working on a new spray for just this reason! It's got Manganese, zinc, copper, Calcium and magnesium, all in the proper ratio, designed by the lab for High Brix soil.
A few folks have gotten samples here and there to test and I'm waiting back to hear how it all works for them.
- Thread starter
- #9,270
Take those totes and trade places every couple days and I think they'll be just about perfect.
Thank you Doc, great Cal-Mag explanation.
Thank you Doc, great Cal-Mag explanation.
I concur, Doc. If you don't mind me asking, do your plants ever show potassium deficiencies?
I ask because K is almost nowhere to be found in your foliar sprays and drenches (except maybe the "humic acid" in the Tea). I know we want a high Calcium-Potassium ratio, but potassium in the gardening books I've read is right up there with N and P, hence the NPK labels. Why not have N-P-Ca labels instead?
GoldenEagle
Well-Known Member
Just getting this out in the open.
1. How much of the amendment should we use for a 2.8 cubic foot/79 liter uncompressed bag of ProMix HP?
I started my soil cooking process on the 7th of October using:
A) 214 grams of the provided 610 grams of amendment.
B) 19.5 pounds of earthworm castings
C) about 4 gallons of water.
1. How much of the amendment should we use for a 2.8 cubic foot/79 liter uncompressed bag of ProMix HP?
I started my soil cooking process on the 7th of October using:
A) 214 grams of the provided 610 grams of amendment.
B) 19.5 pounds of earthworm castings
C) about 4 gallons of water.
Since 2.8 cu-ft is 74% of the 3.8 cu-ft standard bale, I would have used 3/4 (75%, or 458g) of the amendment. Same for the EWC and water.
- Thread starter
- #9,275
K is to be found in the DeStress foliar....about 2%. Quite a bit, actually. The soil Promix is also quite high in K and the amendment also has some kelp meal in it, so there's quite a bit.
RE books that talk about NPK and the like: remember that NPK is a political term! It's required by law to be listed on all ferts of a certain size or for resale. (my labels need some updating). The law does not require anything about calcium or magnesium, manganese, or anything else...just NPK.
Several of my products have Ca included in the NPK listing.
The folks who use salts must substitutute K for Ca in the cell wall. They need lots of K to do this.
We do NOT want that. We want Calcium in the cell wall. In order to do that, we need to keep K levels down in the proper ratio and keep the soil living and active.
Conradino23
Well-Known Member
Also potassium competes in soil with calcium through the same cation channels, and is uptaken quicker by the plant, so you'll never see big improvement in Brix department if potassium levels are high. Calcium improves taste big time, checked 
Thanks for that explanation Doc. That was very valuable info. I'm sure if seen enough it should clear up alot of grower's minds on the subject of Cal. Mg. . Cheers.
- Thread starter
- #9,278
Also potassium competes in soil with calcium through the same cation channels, and is uptaken quicker by the plant, so you'll never see big improvement in Brix department if potassium levels are high. Calcium improves taste big time, checked
Absolutely true! Potassium levels are critical to achieving high brix and getting the "shine" on the leaves and the terps, etc. And generally speaking that means keeping them lower than they are.
One of the reasons the 3rd run soil is kinda special is because the prior two grows helped drop K levels a bit.
Ditto on Calcium and taste. It really has to be experienced to properly appreciate, as you know!
GoldenEagle
Well-Known Member
Drench Calculator:
The quoted picture above is well worth being reposted, for anyone just that is starting out and hasn't, yet, read the entire thread.
For anyone seeking to recreate the spreadsheet calculator above. When entering the formulas shown use "B1*B2/50" instead of what is shown. Using b1*b2/50 allows for one table rather than two. The second table in the picture is to show the duplicated formula for rows b11 and b12.
The original posting of the Drench Calculator originally developed by Major PITA
Worthy of a repost,, thanks Golden and Major!!