Hey OGers… gonna make the switch from Bio-Bizz to Floraflex! Just looking for suggestions and tips on the changeover! Mostly switching so i can keep ph stable rezzies for a week at a time, instead of hand mixing nutes every single morning, and actually be able to measure in and out EC! Ive done some research and found many people seem to run Epsom salts and silica along with the flex…? Thanks a bunch all!!
What is the medium you will be working with? Salts are salts, just different amounts of water in the bottles.
1 Like
Drain to waste coco in 3 gal radical bags. The biobizz is bottled organics… but the floraflex is different… its 4 water soluble powders, that you dissolve yourself. So you dont have to pay crazy prices for water with a few grams of whatever concentrations are in each bottle.
I use floraflex with drain to waste Coco. I run a modified Jack’s 321 schedule that uses magnesium nitrate in veg and calcium edta to reduce calcium nitrate in flower. Silica added all the way through.
Check out my thread: Peter's Perfect - Reengineering 321 Formula to the Ultimate Coco Experience
2 Likes
I do not know much about the flora flex line. 99% of the time in Coco adding cal-mag is pretty essential, unless you have some super hard tap water that can supplement calcium, in which case Epsom covers the mag then. Silica, in my opinion, is essential in anything. It increases plant wall strength and helps with IPM in general. Maybe add once a week. I am a little concerned about the 4 part salts. Seems like it may be a bit unstable when mixed, hence 4 parts. So pH drift may occur, keep an eye on it.
Bio-bizz IMO is no good for coco. It shines in soil, or a peat based medium.
-GH
1 Like
Good advice. I agree with everything you said. In my experience, Coco needs a lower K:Ca ratio than most other mediums. I think in other media, 2:1 is good and even 3:1 can be acceptable, but in Coco it’s more like 1.8:1. Ca:Mg ratio I think is good at 2:1. K is antagonist to calcium, so be careful using bloom boosters with Coco. You might see calcium deficiency from them. It’s important to maintain a good ratio.
Coco uptakes the cations, more strongly Ca and Mg (2+ charge) than K and Na (1+). But it’s usually saturated mostly with K and Na. So it takes your calcium and magnesium and gives more K, Na. This is why you need to supplement more than other media.
For me, silica always seems to cause drift. I think you don’t need to use much to get the benefit, so using less is more.
1 Like
You should check it out. Seems like they are starting to take over the market. Because they are so cheap and stable. I misspoke when i said 4 parts… its really 2 and 2 for flower and veg. Seems like rezzies of it dont even drift more than .1 over a weeks time… pretty dang neat!
Thats the next step for me is i would like to get away from bottled calmag products… and learn about using the raw calcium nitrate and epsom salt instead… but it seems like a huge amount of trial and error.
I checked it out. Seems like the standard mix, nothing stands out other than a reasonable price. It’s nice to see people drifting away from the “cannabis specific” brands and to actual plant food.
Left hand hit it on the head with salts. Jack’s is the way to go for for dry salts. I use Dyna-Gro at home if I’m in coco (just is easier). But for legit production, plain salts from customhydro. For silica, I use pro-tekt at 1ml per gal, 1 time per week with just water.
-GH
2 Likes
You can’t mix epsom and calcium nitrate together in a concentrated stock solution, but you can add them separately in a more diluted feed solution. Mostly the calmag comes as calcium nitrate and magnesium nitrate, which mix together. You can buy those salts and easily replicate a typical 1-0-0 calmag.
But it’s better to go full bulk salts and factor that extra nitrogen into your mix. The most difficult part about coco is keeping the nitrogen down in flower, while maintaining adequate calcium levels. Especially difficult when you consider that your calcium ppm should be tied to your potassium, and potassium tends to increase after veg. I’ve been using calcium edta to resolve that.
2 Likes
This is a great reply man! Thanks a bunch! That thread was pretty informative as well! Def gonna have to give it a closer look! I would rather not mess with the npk on the Floraflex… so which 2 do i need to give me the basic 1-0-0? Also by full bulk salts, you mean straight up making your own npk with the raw powders? That seems pretty intimidating…