Can attest! I do this. On a larger scale, used to take care of the moms for the facility… they used 15gal bags coco/perlite#3 and mineral salts. Fed at 5.5-5.8, 2.4 EC. They lasted 6 months in those fabric pots. Not sure what size you’re planning…
I’ve had fritter and Skittles both in 1 gal or less for…10 weeks or so now. Straight promixhp and I just keep them wet. Probably watered/fed twice a week. 6.4 for me though
I do use the bricks, usually whatever is cheapest, but I do like the Canna brand the best for plants. I buy whatever cheapest because i use the coco bricks for myco stuff too. I’ve tried buffering the coco with CalMag and I’ve honestly not really seen any difference in the results, but I haven’t really experimented that much. I do use a 5 gallon bucket with hundreds of tiny holes drilled in the bottom to flush my coco, so I’ll put the brick in the bucket, and run warm water through it to hydrate/expand and then run a ton of water through to flush out any remaining salt. YMMV.
I just use straight coco, no perlite, though I’ve tried with perlite before… it just requires more frequent watering, which is fine if you’re on auto-drippers, but I’m hand-watering, and i like low maintenance. I only have to water my mother plants every other, or every third day, under low wattage LED. Slows the growth, as i do not need cuttings that often, I’m just trying to keep them alive.
I used to have a BlueLab PH pen, and i did use that initially to figure out what PH the plants preferred, but i started using the PH drops too, to compare to my pen. I stopped using my pen all together, once I got the drops dialed in. I personally find them easier to work with, you don’t have to calibrate, don’t have to wait for the readings to stabilize, etc… plus my expensive bluelab died after about 2 or 3 years… sad times. I think maybe a cheap one initially may be a good investment though.
Jacks is cheap and works for me, but i think just about any cheap salts will do, especially if only for veg.
I also use straight tap water, mine comes out around 7.5-8.5 pH, usually once i add the Jacks, the PHs comes out almost perfect at 5.5-6.0. I’ll top off the res (five gallon bucket) with pH down every few days, as the pH likes to rise if it’s just sitting there, exposed to air.
Every situation is gonna be different, but trying to keep mothers in organics was too much work for me… I was constantly transplanting mother plants, and then running out of soil, having to mix up new stuff.
The drops are great if your water isn’t discolored from the nutrients. The maxibloom tints the water pink and the jacks 10-30-20 tints the water blue, so it makes the drops really hard to read 
Depending on what you’re using it for, I just usually wet the bag to deal with the powder, either misting it liberally with a spray bottle or just dumping some water through it. Obviously it gets a little clumpy and doesn’t “pour” out of the bag as easily, but that’s always how I work with perlite for the sake of my lungs
yeah that’s definitely a safe way to go about it right there ^^
I’d say if you’re top feeding, could probably get away with not amending the 70/30 bag at all. I bottom feed though and to be sure everything can breathe I like having more in there. Basically impossible to over water at that point.
Awesome, thanks for typing all that out. I’ll use the bagged Canna stuff to start with as a reference point and then may shift to the bricks in the future.
Sounds similar to how I’m going to use it. Hand watering and sparingly. I may try with minimal or 25%~ max perlite on some of them.
Yeah, same. For me if I don’t up pot or trim the roots and repot they never really seem as happy. I’ve tried liquid feeding and topdressing and I’m just not happy with the results when compared to the high-maintenance route.
Ahh, OK. I know when I’ve used bags of fine in the past they’ve resembled the Extra Fine in your picture. Maybe it was extra and I’m just mis-remembering. I know we used it for seed starting mix when filling plug trays and even then it seemed kind of useless.
Good advice! I try to wet peat/perlite mixes for the same reason prior to mixing and so that amendments will stick to the soil better rather than end up in the air.
Yes. I got some drops today so I’ll test it again after the dog walk - maybe the PH pen that I used last wasn’t calibrated properly. I guess it’s also possible that tap water PH fluctuates a bit. Either way, I know my tap water is always above 7-7.5.
That’s not that bad. May look into something like that as a solution as long as it can remain “portable”.
Yeah, I use a cheap 25w strip light in one of the tents that works pretty well. Good advice.
Yep. Very portable. I hesitate to post a link because I can’t seem to find who I purchased my last one from but, for what it’s worth, here’s an example from an apparently reputable vendor (link updated to avoid confusion):
It literally just screws onto a spigot. They’re great.
Awesome, appreciate the link!
I see on that one it says
“4th stage inline pH neutral filter 2 x 10” remineralizer + Carbon (Dual Stage, Single Filter)"
Is that something we want and can it be taken out? I’m assuming it’s adding sodium and calcium back to the water to “remineralize”.
That’s exactly why I shouldn’t have hastily posted a link. 
I didn’t notice that, and I have no idea what a “remineralizer” is. So, probably not what you’re after. I get zero ppm from the one I use.
Good catch. THIS is what you’re after:
Nice, thanks. Will probably order this one soon after I go through in my mind how and where I’m going to set it up and how often I’m going to have to use it to fill up jugs. I tested my tap water PH today with the drops and the color is somewhere in between 7 and 8 – got a Vivosun ~10$ ph meter with the drops and it’s reading 8.6. Guessing it needs to be calibrated or isn’t accounting for some other variable like temperature.
Maybe the PH pen is just really inaccurate. Will try to get it calibrated with the powder that came w/ it and see if that helps. Water company is listing 7.4 ph (average?) at the plant tap last year.
2021
2023
PH will probably fluctuate like a whole point depending on what time of year it is. Same with TDS.
And did I hear you say calibrate with a powder!? Ugh. That’s one of the reasons I like the Apera’s. No distilled water and powder mix necessary, they have premade calibration solution.
Yeah, I’ll look at getting a better ph pen as I get deeper into this for sure. How often do you have to calibrate your Apera meter?
i like the General Hydroponics ph fluid solution. just put the water in a vial and drop some drops and check the color. pretty easy to check ph and its reliable. i was always second guessing if my digital pen was working or whatever and just dropped that whole idea for the strips/fluid.
but, then again i also dropped all of that and went the rain water & organic amendments route… haha
Yeah def an issue i ran into with MegaCrop. Mixing Jacks 5-12-26 and 15-0-0 + Epsom my water is crystal clear, with a little bit of sediment at the bottom.
Yeah def calibrate.
This has been my experience too. In NC, my water went from 7.5 up to 9.0, depending on time of year. It fluctuates in Portland too, but not as much.
Yeah, these are what i use too. Get the color between Orange and Yellow and you’re good to go.
Once a month if you wanna be sure. I’ve gone a whole run and not had it been off more than 0.5 ever. Same with their EC meter.
Ah I lived in NC from 00-05 or so, but definitely same experience I had there and here in Illinois. Seems universal 
Is that Comfrey you’re growing?
It’s Russian comfrey (bocking-14).
https://garden.org/plants/view/180848/Russian-Comfrey-Symphytum-x-uplandicum-Bocking-14/
Got it back around 2009 and somehow managed to keep it alive moving it around every few years. Finally decided to just put it in a pot a few years ago… Gave some to a nursery and now they have lots of it available so I can always get it back if I need to without having to order it.
Chem 91 & Irene thoughts :
Chem 91 - Hits me like I expected Bubba to. Effects for me are similar to IRENE but feels a bit stronger, longer lasting , and more “complete”. I like how I’m able to think clearly on it and that it doesn’t impair my focus. Starts out calming with a clear headspace and about 30 minutes later the relaxation gets fairly strong. Relaxing clean “stoned” feeling for me. No uneasiness or anything like that for me. Not what I was expecting at all. Would value it more if I didn’t have such demanding dogs, but I think I prefer the more energy neutral herb so long as I have to be active with them.
Both the Irene & the Chem 91 smell nice to me. Not sure which smell I prefer. Probably the IRENE, but C91 does smell like good herb from the late 90s to me. I have so many seeds with relaxing effects that I don’t feel immense pressure to keep either, but I would like to see both of them grown closer to their potential before dropping them.
All the plants I was gifted seem nice to me from last run. I’ve been surprised and my expectations were proven wrong a few times. I expected my preferences to be the opposite of what they were pretty much. I’d say right now the bags that I’d want to reach for when I consume (how things were grown last round) are in this order : TK >> Chem 91/ Irene > Lav Jack > Pinesoul > Bubba Kush
