High Brix

[Hash Hound]

Doc,

fantastic looking plants.

Question about the Promix

So far all I can find locally are bales of Primix BX. The only thing I see different in the Promix HP ingredients on the web site is that it has vermiculite in it. Is that a deal breaker? Would the vermiculite have an affect on the soil analysis?

 

[Doc Bud]

Doc,

fantastic looking plants.

Question about the Promix

So far all I can find locally are bales of Primix BX. The only thing I see different in the Promix HP ingredients on the web site is that it has vermiculite in it. Is that a deal breaker? Would the vermiculite have an affect on the soil analysis?

I don't think it would be too different. Probably much closer than using another brand of soil. I'd go for it if I didn't have the HP to choose from. See if the local guy would order some HP next time. No reason they couldn't.

 

[VapedOutJoe]

Everything looks pretty great in here!!! Doc... amazing

 

[Doc Bud]

Everything looks pretty great in here!!! Doc... amazing

Thanks brutha!

I think I turned on the "produce as much resin as possible" gene with the High Brix approach. I've NEVER seen resin formation like this before, and on every plant in the new soil, not just one or two. I've never seen this kind of frosting at this stage on Jack Herer before, and this is the fifth time I've grown it.

There is truly some amazing stuff happening in my garden right now, and the only credit I can take for it is that I am following directions as given to me by someone else, namely the lab that tested the soil and recommended a feeding schedule based on the soil test.

This is insane, each day more resin....and we're on day 28 since flipping. NOrmally, I'd have lost a set of fan leaves at this point. Not this time, although the middle leaves are looking a bit hungry for Mg. So, there is definitely some unusual happenings! The friend that gave me he Cherry Pie cuts came over yesterday and couldn't recognize the plants. They look so much different than his, which are in Promix HP and the entire House and Garden line. The High Brix plants have far more resin and much larger buds.....shocking difference.

If this continues and nothing bad happens, I think I'm going to hire a professional photographer to take some pics. My pics don't do justice.

 

[Curso]

I think I turned on the "produce as much resin as possible" gene with the High Brix approach. I've NEVER seen resin formation like this before, and on every plant in the new soil, not just one or two. I've never seen this kind of frosting at this stage on Jack Herer before, and this is the fifth time I've grown it.

There is truly some amazing stuff happening in my garden right now, and the only credit I can take for it is that I am following directions as given to me by someone else, namely the lab that tested the soil and recommended a feeding schedule based on the soil test.

Sometimes its not to bad to be a sheep
Just using the stuff from your last journal is amazing...Sometimes if we just follow the instructions...and listen to the plants...
Side note: Hash...good job on MotM nom for doc, he is the man!! Good luck doc!!!

 

[Icemud]

Hey Doc!!

Man your doing an excellent job!! I just mixed my soil for my next grow, letting it cook for about a week. Still haven't decided on the strains but went with a very high mineralized soil...this is what i did..

4 parts Promix HP
1 Part happy frog
1 part perlite
1 part worm casings (with volcanic rock, kelp powder)
1 part alaskan forest humus

additives:
2.5 cups calcium carbonate 97%
2 cups SRP
1.5 cups garden gypsum
1 cup powdered humic acid
1/2 cup dry molasses
1 cup mycos maximum
1 cup lava sand
1 cup greensand
1 cup azomite
1/2 cup epsom salt

I know I didn't get the kit or do a soil test, but based it off what I did last time which seemed to get my brix numbers up pretty high, and also decided to go with promix being a major component of my base soil. I will let ya know when I get a few weeks of veg in and I will test my brix numbers to see where I'm at just wanted to share my new mix and see what you think.. I know that its not true high brix, but more high brix focused

 

[Doc Bud]

Hey Doc!!

Man your doing an excellent job!! I just mixed my soil for my next grow, letting it cook for about a week. Still haven't decided on the strains but went with a very high mineralized soil...this is what i did..

4 parts Promix HP
1 Part happy frog
1 part perlite
1 part worm casings (with volcanic rock, kelp powder)
1 part alaskan forest humus

additives:
2.5 cups calcium carbonate 97%
2 cups SRP
1.5 cups garden gypsum
1 cup powdered humic acid
1/2 cup dry molasses
1 cup mycos maximum
1 cup lava sand
1 cup greensand
1 cup azomite
1/2 cup epsom salt

I know I didn't get the kit or do a soil test, but based it off what I did last time which seemed to get my brix numbers up pretty high, and also decided to go with promix being a major component of my base soil. I will let ya know when I get a few weeks of veg in and I will test my brix numbers to see where I'm at just wanted to share my new mix and see what you think.. I know that its not true high brix, but more high brix focused

Well, we'll see how it works! I'm sure you'll grow some really nice plants in that mix, but next time realize that the ProMix is already borderline excessive in K right out of the bale.....and you added K in the form of greensand. Slow release for sure...but we'll see how it turns out!

 

[Doc Bud]

Well, we're at day 30 of bloom and finally seeing some of the secondary fan leaves show signs of being dropped by the main plant. This usually happens at day 23 for 2 of these strains and they're still very green. On the indica's, which finish a couple weeks faster, the leaves are getting ready to drop, probably in less than a week.

I used to try to keep those leaves green for as long as possible, mainly using OC+ back then. But having grown a couple strains from Perlite/vermiculite Hempy to the current High Brix and in every medium between I can say that I've learned something:

The healthiest plants defoliated themselves at about week 3 to 4 of bloom, and then again 2 weeks later. The large sun leave, not leaves on the buds. When the plants did this they had much better flowers than those that stayed green.

Pics in a few days. Crazy, insane resin formation and I'm not using snowstorm or anything like that. I think these plants would look silly if I used snowstorm.....way too much frosting to be taken seriously.

 

[UrbanGrower]

hey man I've been reading your journal for a bit now and am just blown away by your knowledge of plant science. I haven't grown much before and want to get the gist of things first, brix is in the future though. Mind if I ask you a quick q? i have a bunch of promix hp and some bpn 3 part, would you/could you add anything else to that mix or no? i really want to get the hang of everything before giving brix a shot but would still like to add some minerals/trace elements if i could. Your pictures, plants and knowledge blow me away bro, mad props

 

[Doc Bud]

hey man I've been reading your journal for a bit now and am just blown away by your knowledge of plant science. I haven't grown much before and want to get the gist of things first, brix is in the future though. Mind if I ask you a quick q? i have a bunch of promix hp and some bpn 3 part, would you/could you add anything else to that mix or no? i really want to get the hang of everything before giving brix a shot but would still like to add some minerals/trace elements if i could. Your pictures, plants and knowledge blow me away bro, mad props

Well, if you're gonna grow with the BPN and Promix, the only thing I might add is a product like Sweet and a ripening formula that has P,K, Mg and sulfur.

That would be a fairly easy first grow. OC+ would also be very easy.

HOwever, if this is your first grow, let's get first things first:

1.)The environment is more important than the medium or the nutrients. Your success will be limited by your ability to control the weather, IE day and night temps, air circulation, and humidity.

2.)Water. Depending on your tap water, you might use it, or you might need RO water and CalMag. So add CalMag to the shopping list unless you're going to try the tap water. If your water tasted good and it's not soft water, you can probably do very well with the tap water as long as you're in 5 gallons or more.

3.)Light. 1000 watts is the bare minimum for a beginning/intermediate grower. ONly advanced growers should try things like SCROG's/Vertical SCROG with 600 watt bulbs, etc. With 1000 watts, you can just let 4 or 5 plants grow and not worry about managing the canopy, LST, etc. Learn what makes the girls happy before you try all that kinky shit.

Now, you're probably not going to use 1000 watts and you probably won't assemble a grow room right off the bat.....that's what I did, but not everyone is in my situation. Certainly were I back in my 20's I would not have had the means to have a grow room.

So....if you can't use 1000 watts, the next best is 600, and then an 8 bulb T5 fixture.

ProMix is pH stabilized with dolomite and/or limestone, so you don't have to worry too much about pH. The liquid test kit with the drops is perfectly adequate. Shoot for 6.4 to 6.8 but don't bother testing it if you're using RO. The soil will buffer the pH.

Anyways, this isn't really that hard to do. Easier than cooking a meal, more fun than doing the dishes, and more rewarding than just about any other passion I've had in my life so far! Growing is good for you, good for your friends, and good for the community (assuming you're responsible and legal).

 

[my whey]

Hey doc!
I was going through your old strawberry thread and was looking for a specific quote I remember reading about the reason for using larger containers vs smaller .I recall you had a problem with feeding your plants the nutes, something about in smaller containers your bacteria gobbling up your plant food , but cannot locate the exact quote. It might have even been in another thread of yours. I've read so much it's hard to keep track!!

I have some superoots airpots containers 1Liter, 5Liter, 7.5liter and 20 liter.

I see you start from scratch in the 7 gals. Could you provide some insight in the best way to approach this with my current inventory?

 

[Doc Bud]

Hey doc!
I was going through your old strawberry thread and was looking for a specific quote I remember reading about the reason for using larger containers vs smaller .I recall you had a problem with feeding your plants the nutes, something about in smaller containers your bacteria gobbling up your plant food , but cannot locate the exact quote. It might have even been in another thread of yours. I've read so much it's hard to keep track!!

I have some superoots airpots containers 1Liter, 5Liter, 7.5liter and 20 liter.

I see you start from scratch in the 7 gals. Could you provide some insight in the best way to approach this with my current inventory?

Hey bro! In organic soil grows of all types, things go better when the medium is large enough to support growth of roots and a large volume of soil. Smaller pots work OK in a sterile medium, but when you've got critters living in there, they like more space.

I start plants in small containers, anywhere from 1 to 4 litres and then transplant into the 7 gallon pots. It's important to develop roots, and starting in large pots doesn't help the roots, neither does finishing in small pots. They really need a transplant when almost rootbound.

 

[BigIrishDoode]

the ladies are looking sooooooooo frosty doc daaayyuuummmm!

 

[Doc Bud]

the ladies are looking sooooooooo frosty doc daaayyuuummmm!

BID.....it's really freaking me out. You should see them now! This soil, these ferts and sprays.....they work! You should smell them!

Also, I've got mites crawling all over the Lemon Paki in the new soil... when you look at them under a scope you find about 4 dead mites to every live one, very few eggs and no visible damage to the leaves. Of course, I'm not spraying for bugs at all, just letting the plant's own defenses deal with it all.

Today they get sprayed with Brixblaster, which is a ready mixed product similar to Amaze and PGR but mixed up in a way that promotes reproductive growth. It's not as skewed to the reproductive side as Bloomit and doesn't bulk up like Amaze, so I spray it once a week and Amaze/PGR once a week. It seems to be working!

 

[BigIrishDoode]

BID.....it's really freaking me out. You should see them now! This soil, these ferts and sprays.....they work! You should smell them!

Also, I've got mites crawling all over the Lemon Paki in the new soil... when you look at them under a scope you find about 4 dead mites to every live one, very few eggs and no visible damage to the leaves. Of course, I'm not spraying for bugs at all, just letting the plant's own defenses deal with it all.

Today they get sprayed with Brixblaster, which is a ready mixed product similar to Amaze and PGR but mixed up in a way that promotes reproductive growth. It's not as skewed to the reproductive side as Bloomit and doesn't bulk up like Amaze, so I spray it once a week and Amaze/PGR once a week. It seems to be working!

well its definatly working no doubt about it curiously im brewing my nutrients into a tea something corey recomended with mykos and so forth lots of minerals in the soil/coco mix im wondering if you think it would be of any benifit to try the amaze,bloomit,brixblaster sprays or just screw up my plants?]

 

[Doc Bud]

well its definatly working no doubt about it curiously im brewing my nutrients into a tea something corey recomended with mykos and so forth lots of minerals in the soil/coco mix im wondering if you think it would be of any benifit to try the amaze,bloomit,brixblaster sprays or just screw up my plants?]

I don't think the sprays would do much, with the exception of the PGR. The sprays are not for the plant (exception PGR) but for the soil residents.

 

[BigIrishDoode]

i figured, i have some blossom set spray has the cytokinnins (spelling) horomome stuff, i used it on a couple plants it did seem to give a noticable boost to production and speed i didnt use it as often as indicated but still saw the effect, horomones are interesting lil scary what do you think?

 

[UrbanGrower]

thanks for the speedy reply bro. your talking about botanicare sweet right? and ill just look for something with P,K,Mg and Sulfur. Even though I have been legal for about two months now, I'm putting all my effort into a great environment first. I have an a/c, dehumidifer, environmental conttroller (day/night, co2, humidity), inline fans and a couple of carbon filters etc. Our tap water is pretty good here (around 300ppm but soft) but I still went ahead and purchased a reverse osmosis unit(and a gal of calmag for that exact reason).

I have a 4x8x7 dr240 grow tent used for veg, a 14x11x6 room that is being built/put together and another 10x5x8 room that I'll dig into once I have everything down. I really did want to go with a couple of 1k's but with my height restrictions I decided to go with four 600's w/radiant hoods for now, I also have a 1000w lumatek that I will toss in there to see if it could be managed. Great tips on the ph for hp cause it's kind of hard to find around here lol. Even if it's not organic you don't have to check ph? I always thought the reason for no phing in brix/organics was because of the soil energy and microorganisms doing all the work, but that would apply to bpn 3part and promix as well? I would 100% prefer to take that step out of my day lol

 

[Doc Bud]

i figured, i have some blossom set spray has the cytokinnins (spelling) horomome stuff, i used it on a couple plants it did seem to give a noticable boost to production and speed i didnt use it as often as indicated but still saw the effect, horomones are interesting lil scary what do you think?

I have no problem with natural hormones, like those in kelp and alfalfa. I am avoiding some of the other pgr products right now until I learn more about their effects on humans, etc.

thanks for the speedy reply bro. your talking about botanicare sweet right? and ill just look for something with P,K,Mg and Sulfur. Even though I have been legal for about two months now, I'm putting all my effort into a great environment first. I have an a/c, dehumidifer, environmental conttroller (day/night, co2, humidity), inline fans and a couple of carbon filters etc. Our tap water is pretty good here (around 300ppm but soft) but I still went ahead and purchased a reverse osmosis unit(and a gal of calmag for that exact reason).

I have a 4x8x7 dr240 grow tent used for veg, a 14x11x6 room that is being built/put together and another 10x5x8 room that I'll dig into once I have everything down. I really did want to go with a couple of 1k's but with my height restrictions I decided to go with four 600's w/radiant hoods for now, I also have a 1000w lumatek that I will toss in there to see if it could be managed. Great tips on the ph for hp cause it's kind of hard to find around here lol. Even if it's not organic you don't have to check ph? I always thought the reason for no phing in brix/organics was because of the soil energy and microorganisms doing all the work, but that would apply to bpn 3part and promix as well? I would 100% prefer to take that step out of my day lol

Alrighty then, here comes another spiel on pHing.......

In a hydroponic environment with no buffers other than the nutrient solution, getting pH right is critical. But every comment made below this sentence does not apply to hydroponics!

Soil is a powerful buffer all by itself. Especially soil that has been pH buffered on purpose at the factory, like Promix, FFOF, Vermisoil, Roots....just about any quality soil is going to have pH buffers, not to mention the actual soil itself is a buffer.

Once you start adding rock powders you've now got so much buffer you could probably water with pH 2 all day long and not change a thing. When you start adding phosphoric acid or potassium hydroxide (ph down and up respectively) you're totally messing the balance of important nutrients. There's no need for that, as the soil itself is a buffer.

On top of that, the Biota (microherd and friends) also adjust pH on the fly, whenever needed as instructed by the plant. (that's those foliar sprays I use).

Lastly, I'd be willing to wager that BPN, like GH and Advanced and others already have buffers built in to the mix as well.

So, for a soil grow, I wouldn't waste my time checking or adjusting pH as long as I'm using decent soil and the total alkalinity of the water wasn't much higher than 200 or so.

If your ppm's are 300 on your water, and it doesn't create massive scale around fixtures and the coffee pot, just use your tap water and be done with it.

 

[UrbanGrower]

oops I meant to say 30 ppm! but a guy at the hydro store said to use RO cause our waters real soft and some other reaosn I can't remeber lol. I was under the impression that promix is hydro? that's what everyone has been telling me, because it's very inert and doesn't have anything in it besides spagnum peat. I trust you over any other average joe feeding me stories though, so I'll take your advice. So just some SRP, azomite, gypsum, bpn 3 part, sweet, ripening formula, ro water and i'm good to go without pHing?
thank you a lot for the detailed response brother