Do we need to pH adjust our nutrient solutions?

[CaptainLucky]

Diatomacious earth is nothing more than the shells of microscopic diatoms. There should be no contaminates in them unless the ocean they were taken from was contaminated. They are part of the phytoplankton family which despite only being 1% of the plant mass on the planet generate 50% of the O2 from CO2 we breath. Statistics taken from Wikipedia.

That's the real reason we should not dump fertilizer or waste water sewage into the rivers. It kills marine life and phytoplankton are part of that ecosystem. We are causing our own global warming crisis!

It’s causing Red Tides in the Gulf of Mexico also and there’s a dead zone now because of it and fertilizing lawns. CL

 

[bluter]

I was under the impression that HP was just All-purpose with added perlite.

hp promix is supposed to be formulated as a neutral.

Is there any reason in particular why?

banned substances or won't pay / don't qualify for certification. a lot of nutes available in the US are strictly barred here. the US still allows edta except in california. most likely that is the reason.

 

[InTheShed]

Ok..
I was under the impression that HP was just All-purpose with added perlite.
Obviously wrong on that.
I don't seem to have pH issues. I water to run off but don't leach the soil during the grow. Must be the added humus helping me along or just dumb luck.

The humus probably helps, but even the HP buffering will last a while, and you're not often vegging for 100 days as I recall!

Yeah , had to buy
the other HP with more coco because they were out of the regular HP, definitely has thrown me a little curve ball. Course my folks at hydro don't conversate with customers. Like the military up in there..lol

LOL! Adding a lot of coco to soil makes everything more confusing.

Is there any reason in particular why? CL

And sometimes companies don't have the funds to jump through the regulatory hoops that countries require for export licenses even if they would get approval.

hp promix is supposed to be formulated as a neutral.

ProMix HP is formulated at 5.6-5.8 pH

 

[CaptainLucky]

The humus probably helps, but even the HP buffering will last a while, and you're not often vegging for 100 days as I recall!

LOL! Adding a lot of coco to soil makes everything more confusing.

And sometimes companies don't have the funds to jump through the regulatory hoops that countries require for export licenses even if they would get approval.

That makes more sense seeing that they’re a small company. CL

 

[bluter]

ProMix HP is formulated at 5.6-5.8 pH

was referring to nutrients available in the mix

 

[Virgin Ground]

Diatomacious earth is nothing more than the shells of microscopic diatoms. There should be no contaminates in them unless the ocean they were taken from was contaminated.

I though DE was mined from extinct freshwater lakes.

 

[Diatomacious]

Do you have any info to back this up with?

Thanks

Just personal experience.

it is considered "vegan" not organic, the bulk of the nute is amino-acid chelated setting it apart from most salt-based liquid bottle nutes.

Don't kid yourself. Whether you chelate your micros with aminos, EDTA, or sulfate they are still chemical nutrients.

 

[InTheShed]

was referring to nutrients available in the mix

True, neutral as in none!

 

[bluter]

That makes more sense seeing that they’re a small company.

that doesn't square with the availability of remo and gaia green and emerald forest and a host of others who are also tiny or even smaller than PB and all US based.

 

[Virgin Ground]

Just personal experience.

You should state it as such then?

I look at their lab results and go by that. They have them on their site.

 

[bluter]

Don't kid yourself. Whether you chelate your micros with aminos, EDTA, or sulfate they are still chemical nutrients.

i don't. i also understand that all substances we feed are a chemical structure. even organic derived.

 

[Diatomacious]

I though DE was mined from extinct freshwater lakes.

Anywhere there is a deposit of the microscopic fossils. Sometimes it can be dug up from the ground. This presents the same problem as chemical nutrients as the deposit could become contaminated with ground minerals (arsenic, lead, mercury...) depending on their presence in the soil. Laboratory testing is the only way to know for sure.

 

[InTheShed]

that doesn't square with the availability of remo and gaia green and emerald forest and a host of others who are also tiny or even smaller than PB and all US based.

PB is about as tiny as they come. Two person operation that obviously didn't even work with just one! Not saying they'd get approval if they went for it but I doubt the paperwork was something they had time for.

 

[Diatomacious]

You should state it as such then?

I look at their lab results and go by that. They have them on their site.

One of the perks of freedom. You may choose what you want to grow your own plants with. I still grow with chemicals in an indoor environment. Out in the yard I use oyster shell, blood meal and other organic nutrient (safer for the insects that eat from my yard as well as the birds and bees). I'm growing out some nice organic tobacco at the moment.

 

[bluter]

PB is about as tiny as they come. Two person operation that obviously didn't even work with just one! Not saying they'd get approval if they went for it but I doubt the paperwork was something they had time for.

i would assume if the others could do it they could as well. gaia, remo, and emerald were all started and ran with a half dozen or so folk.

could be the expense. it's just submitting the ingredient list, and how it is chelated. there isn't much for testing really.

 

[Diatomacious]

It’s causing Red Tides in the Gulf of Mexico also and there’s a dead zone now because of it and fertilizing lawns. CL

That dead zone is the result of dumping sewage into the river. Even though it is treated first it is still destroying the ocean environment. Septic systems will dump into the soil where fertilizer should be. Just a turd tax if you ask me, local government is usually responsible for oversight of sewage.

 

[Virgin Ground]

The humus probably helps, but even the HP buffering will last a while, and you're not often vegging for 100 days as I recall!

No. I generally don't get to 100 days in veg. You are correct.

Anywhere there is a deposit of the microscopic fossils. Sometimes it can be dug up from the ground. This presents the same problem as chemical nutrients as the deposit could become contaminated with ground minerals (arsenic, lead, mercury...) depending on their presence in the soil. Laboratory testing is the only way to know for sure.

My bad. I thought we were talking about the DE we use in our gardens. You must be referring to all DE.

The garden and human safe types are from freshwater mining.

The saltwater DE is used for abrasives and filtering pools etc.

Always taken from the ground. They don't mine DE straight from an active body of water.

One of the perks of freedom. You may choose what you want to grow your own plants with. I still grow with chemicals in an indoor environment. Out in the yard I use oyster shell, blood meal and other organic nutrient (safer for the insects that eat from my yard as well as the birds and bees). I'm growing out some nice organic tobacco at the moment.

It's not about freedom. It's about misinformation.
This is a teaching/ learning forum.

It's fine to have your opinion but you should state it as such.
Otherwise you should be able to back up a statement like that.

It keeps the newbs from getting confused.

 

[Diatomacious]

It's fine to have your opinion but you should state it as such.
Otherwise you should be able to back up a statement like that.

I'll start typing up my thesis now. I tried it a while back and have not used it since. I think they reformulated a couple times since then so maybe the new stuff is better. I only got bad results from it. I mix my own nutrients now and hand pick each ingredient. 3 part I laugh... my mix is about 13 or 14 parts.

 

[Virgin Ground]

I'll start typing up my thesis now. I tried it a while back and have not used it since. I think they reformulated a couple times since then so maybe the new stuff is better. I only got bad results from it. I mix my own nutrients now and hand pick each ingredient. 3 part I laugh... my mix is about 13 or 14 parts.

They did have a bad batch a few years back.

New stuff works great.

We should probably get off the MC talk though. Enough has been said and I don't want to piss off Shed.

 

[Diatomacious]

i don't. i also understand that all substances we feed are a chemical structure. even organic derived.

Just for the record I've had bad experiences with OMRI listed products too. Even lime can have contaminants in it that can cause your plants to yellow and burn.