@HolyAngel. Are you in coco or pro mix?
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I’m in coco/perlite, sometimes straight perlite. I run 2ish grams of gypsum and 5ish grams of maxibloom give or take veg/flower. Flavor has been really good with the gypsum imo. I’m getting better flowers now than I ever did running canna or h&g.
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Might have to give it a try on a few plants. I have like 3 bags of maxi left over still.
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Couple things. . … and this is just my 2 cents. . .
Dunno who this Lucas person is, but i doubt they know better than General Hydroponics, how to use General Hydroponics products. I’ll stick with the GH chart.
That said, the 3-part has been one of my favorite nutrient lines I’ve used so far. You can use, some, all, or none of the “extras” like Floralicious, Diamond Nectar, etc.
Another thing, and this is per my dad; he claims he gets better aroma and overall flower mass by continuing to use the Gro part all the way til harvest, at which point he says it’s only like 1.5ml but keeping it in the mix has been better for him than cutting it, or even tapering it off. The Gro has lower nitrogen than the Micro, AND higher potassium which flowering plants need.
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I do get a bit of slime and stuff in the big rez that i imagine i could clean up with pool shock or something like that but not sure its much of a issue really… I just give them a good clean every couple weeks
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I ran 6ml micro and 9ml bloom in ro (at 1.2ec/5.9ph) for a long time. You can get extreme quality from it. I’m not sure its enough for high ppf led with low radiant heat if thats what you’re doing. For led grows, I turned my friends onto using 2ml cali magic with it and told him to up the ratio to 8/12 if they looked deficient. Ive ran gh 6/9 for years in the hps, mh, and cmh rooms. All with coir. Works extremely well.
I also ran jacks classic and cal nit at 1.2ec with great success. I havent ran their formula with leds, but have friends doing well at the same ratio just increased to 1.8ec.
Im personally running front row ag currently and its very similar to jacks imo. Im pushing 2.4ec with the bloom addition around .3 to .4 ec of that. So base nutrients at around 2ec.
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You mentioned using Armor Si. I’ve that too. Used Protekt before and likely it better. The Armor Si won’t mix well if there’s any residual nutes in my mixing jug.
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Lucas is a guy that was on the boards who came up with the idea of just using the micro and bloom in an 8/16 ratio. Its been around for a long time and many people use it with good results. There are a couple other formulas as well that don’t use the gro. I’ve had great results in coco grows not using the gro part of the trio.
Ive never gone by the GH charts. But to each his own.
I use Jacks now.
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There shouldn’t be anything in solution when you mix K Silicate, doesn’t matter the brand Silica first, ph it down, then mix fertilizer.
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Don’t think gypsum is an option in dwc, but I’ve got calmag and Epsom salts are easy enough. Gypsum’s good stuff in peat, probably coco too, don’t know about rockwool but I’d bet against it there.
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Solution-grade gypsum from down to earth
or
diamondk from buildasoil
I use it with flood and drain, dwc, aerocloner, all with no issues whatsoever. Plus just lazy bottom feeding too. ^^
Calmag isn’t really a good option with maxibloom. that’s usually too much magnesium and you’ll get lockout sooner than you’ll use all the extra calcium. Some plants do just fine but heavy feeders can be an issue. I’ve had MUCH better results using this gypsum, calcium sulfate, with maxibloom, than I ever did with calmag and maxibloom.
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Always put it in 1st. Might be my water too, pretty hard. Might affect the Armor Si more than the Protek? Now I add the Si to just a gallon of water, let it sit a bit, then add that to 4 more gallons. Sort of a pain. Anything that ever doesn’t look right, or is left over just goes in the yard.
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I’m phing down last. Is that a mistake?
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Think you’re more likely to see ph swings if you don’t buffer down your silica solution before adding your other fertilizers. The chemistry is a bit over my head though
I do the same thing with Silica add it first then ph down
Below 7ph it’s going to go down more with the other nutrients. What I think happens is too high pH causes things to fall out of solution and u end up with what looks like un -Dissolved powders At the bottom of the reservoir
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In my, uh, continuing role as weed internet public librarian, here’s the original “Ask Lucas” thread from CannabisWorld, which is preserved at the Internet Archive. This is where the “Lucas Formula” was first discussed by its creator at length AFAIK, or at least the oldest reference I could find:
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I’ve used Maxi in the past with Promix, but always had cal and mag issues in mid flower. Epsom didn’t fix it. Calmag didn’t fix it. I’ve heard good things about gypsum as a Ca supplement. How water soluble is it? Any wisdom you can share from experience? Do’s and don’ts?
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Yep I had the same issues, going with gypsum and using more maxibloom instead of using calmag/epsom solved all those issues!
Solution grade is the one to get. The DownToEarth brand dissolves really easily and is really clean, the diamondk takes a bit longer to dissolve and usually have some stuff at the bottom of my buckets when its all said and done but it’s still good stuff for it being significantly cheaper than DTE.
If you use silica, dose that first and wait 5-10 min. Then add the solution grade gypsum, should only need to stir for a minute or two. wait 5-10min after that and add in the maxibloom. Wait another 5min or so and adjust PH.
The golden ratio is 2grams gypsum(~1TBSP) to 5grams maxibloom(~1TBSP) per 5 gallon bucket. Less for early veg, more for late flower.
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Thanks for those details! I had all but sworn off Maxi, but still have a big bag that I may break out again and give the gypsum a try.
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Ended up just getting the maxibloom, after adding and removing shit from my cart a hundred times. Got the armor si too. I have calmag and Epsom salts on hand should anything come up. My waters out the tap <50ppm no calcium, no iron, no magnesium per local water report so I’ll probably have to use the calmag.
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