A Botanicare question for MrGreenjeans...

After seeing your garden, I thought I'd try Botanicare also. But something doesn't seem right.

Could I trouble you a bit to look over my numbers?

I mixed up some week 3 veg nutes and the resulting ppm and pH were not what I would have expected.

I started with 7 gallons of RO, added 21 cc of silica, 56 cc Calmag, 112 cc of Grow, and 35 cc of Karma.

My ending pH was 4.0 with 1770 ppm. I drained about half into a container, then diluted it with more RO to get to 1000 ppm and a pH of 5.1. The pH seems pretty stable. I've never had to add pH up before, so I figured I'd ask before i do.

Thanks,
OS

 

Well, after adding yet more RO to get down to 800 ppm, the pH increased to 5.8. So, no need to mess with the pH.

This stuff sure does have an odor to it, after being used to GH 3-part.

 

The Botanicare will cause big PH drop. My ph drops to 4.5 You'll need some PH up. My tap water test at 45 ppm very low for city water. I adjust PH to about 5.8 I find it will drop to about 5.3 by the end of a week. There mix is part organic. That's the smell. I've run it up to 1700 myself with no negative effects. Plants seem to love it. I normally run it around 1100 for veg. Sometimes a little higher depending on strain. The last four weeks I'll run the nutes at around 1500 ppm. Because the botanicare nutes are part organic the plants won't burn at the higher ppm like they will with synthetics.

 

Thanks, Mrgreenjeans. I'll give 1100 a try. I didn't realize that there was so much difference between the organics and synthetics.

How much Cal-Mag do you use?

Get well soon,
OS

 

I'm healing up thanks.
I use 2 mill per gallon in veg and 4 to 5 mill in flower.

 

Watch your PH I would raise it to 5.8 and keep an eye on it. Let me know if it drops.

 

I think I better mix up a new batch, I used 8 ml per gallon.

Thanks,
OS

 

Go to Botanicares website and you can download their feeding chart depending what you use. I always use less with great results.
I use no more than 20 mil per gallon of the veg pro formula but you can run up to 25 mil.
I use from 3 to 5 mill les than reccomend with great results.

 

Here's the link below.

http://www.botanicare.com/m/calculator.html

 

I mixed up a new batch after fertilizing the lawn with yesterday's batch. With 2 ml/gal of Calmag, the new batch was 1410 ppm. I diluted it down to 1100 ppm at 4.2 pH, then added 2 ml of pH up to the tank to get 5.8. Looks like I need to mix for 5 gallons to get 7 gallons at the right concentration.

The guy at the hydro store gave me a bottle of Cyco's Zyme for free. He said I needed it. So I added 4 ml/gal of it to the mix.

I checked out the calculator link. Very cool, but they sure seem overly generous with the ppm through most of flower and then put up a disclaimer about going too high. Looks like I'll need to mix a little lighter for flower too. After over-ferting last time around, conservative is the new word around here.

The plants got fed a dose of yesterday's 800 ppm concoction this morning, and didn't seem unhappy. Let's see how they like 1100 ppm, with a bunch less Calmag...

I sure appreciate your help, Mr. G.

OS

 

Anytime brother. :smileys-passing-joint:

 

What PPM does your water test at out of the tap?

 

The water is 280 out of the tap, but the RO is 0 ppm.

 

You have any pictures from this grow?

 

No pics, as I haven't started a new one yet. At this point I'm just maintaining several bonsai moms.

I've been dragging my feet a bit since I really need to upgrade the AC. While the 5k BTU wall unit's capacity is up to the job, it's thermostat is starting to have intermittent problems. During the last grow, it's thermostat couldn't be set to any lower than 75-76F. This leaves the cabinet temp at 83-84F.

I was thinking about a 9K mini-split and leaving the wall unit as a backup.

OS

 

Been watching the pH, after 36 hours in the tank, it's risen from 5.8 to 6.0. Weird thing though, the bottom of the tank has some pretty dirty looking spots and the airstones have taken on a brown fuzzy look, like stuff is growing. Compared to the GH, which required only one tank cleaning, mid-flower, this stuff looks like it's going to be a lot more work.

I had been using H2O2 at all times with the GH, can I use it with the organic nutes? Or are they "alive"? Are organics nutes more temperature-sensitive than the inorganic variety?

The plants seem happy.

 

I run a 125 gal per hr pump in the sump to circulate the mix all the time and still get the black looking film build up. I scrub the sump about every 4th watering. From what I've read online this is normal. It's not a live mix just more organic than chemical. I think you should be fine with the H2O2 you can email them the question and they will get back in touch. I'm seeing strong root growth since switching over to Botanicares line.

 

I emailed Botanicare and they responded pretty quickly. They say H2O2 is fine as long as "Hydroguard" is not part of the mix. That additive is alive.

The other day, I got pissy and drained the tank into half-gallon milk bottles, so that I could clean the goo out. I noticed that the solution that was once coffee-colored is now a whole lot lighter in color. Looks like some of the reddish-brown "goodness" in the solution settled to the bottom of the tank, in spite of lots of air bubbles churning the mix. This "goodness' is not visible in the bottom of the milk bottles now, though it was in the bottles that I pumped out when I first mixed it up. I wonder what part is settling out and how badly it's needed by the plants... Maybe another email to Botanicare is in order.

I'm hesitant to drop a circulating pump into the tank until I can get the ambient temp around the tank a little lower.

The plants still look pretty happy.

 

I used their full dose once and was over 1700 ppm and they were feeding for a week in it with no burnt tips. If I mixed canna at maximum feeding reccomended amount I'll burn the leaf tips up.
The next mix I'll add some H2O2 in the resovour and see if I notice any difference in the coating from the nutes.

 

Are you using the kind grow formula or the pro grow formula?