Florakleen on chalk upgraded soil?

Hi all!

I have started my new grow a few days ago.
18L pots with 75% lightmix soil + 25% coco coir.

I added 1 gram BAC (http://www.baconline.co.uk/organic-substrates) chalk to every 1L of medium because i want to do a grow without lowering my PH with -PH this time.

I will be using the GHE Flores 3 part nutes.

According to the GHE scheme every 2-3 weeks i have to run a Florakleen trough my substrate to eliminate build up salts as GHE nutes tends to really make salt-build-ups.

Now my question is.. If i run florakleen, will that also eliminate my chalk buffer?

eekje said:

I will be using the GHE Flores 3 part nutes.

According to the GHE scheme every 2-3 weeks i have to run a Florakleen trough my substrate to eliminate build up salts as GHE nutes tends to really make salt-build-ups.

Click to expand...

Do you have a link for that? I ran GH 3-part in Pro-Mix HP and none of the GH feeding schedules said to use Florakleen except in the last week of flower. I didn't really have a problem with salts either, but I watered for 20% runoff each feeding.

I used the so-called "useless" schedule found here. (<<link). It worked *really* well. I added Botanicare Liquid Karma throughout the grow. Used liquid Koolbloom throughout flower, and powder Koolbloom 2 weeks before harvest, fed water only for last 10 days. I worked out the NPK ratios of the weekly mixtures here. (<<link). That might be of interest to you.

I got tired of mixing different liquids, the expense of liquid nutrients, etc. I switched to Grow More Sea Grow, a dry fertilizer with some amount of organic content. I notice a smoother/richer taste. I like the simplicity and also the cost (comes out to about $1 US per plant, per grow).

But, GH 3-part worked really well. The big difference I noticed between them (aside from taste) is that the 3-part gave me immediate feedback concerning strength. If 900ppm was the range the plants could handle, and I went to 1000pppm, I'd get burnt tips. Very immediate cause and effect. That messed me up when I switched to Sea Grow. I fed at 900, no burnt tips, thought I was ok. I could up it to 1100 and no burnt tips. I thought everything was perfect until the soil went to ph 4.6 after 6-8 weeks (salt buildup). Took me a long time to figure out that I needed to only feed 400-500ppm, and I could no longer count on burnt tips to tell me what was too much. I guess that's a difference between synthetic and organic.

heres the schedual



See after week 3 ,5 ,7 they say florakleen 1,5 to 3ml per Liter.

PS. i have no clue about ppm's .. i work with a EC meter.

eekje said:

heres the schedual

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The parent company (US GH) doesn't call for flushes like that in the schedules I've seen. It sounds like the euro company is trying to sell products. (But, the US parent's schedule pushes a plethora of "boutique" products too. Just not that one.).

Monitor your runoff ph and ppms/ec and if you don't see a trend toward salt build up (acidity, high ppm), I wouldn't use Florakleen on a schedule like that.

Relly weird that they've got 2 different schedules for the same product.
A friend told me you can also water them 6 days with nutes and every sunday (for example) you water them with just water it should slower the salt buildups if there are any. Is this wise?

eekje said:

A friend told me you can also water them 6 days with nutes and every sunday (for example) you water them with just water it should slower the salt buildups if there are any. Is this wise?

Click to expand...

I've never understood the thought behind feed-water-feed interval. Some say it's to allow beneficial microbes to recover and consume built-up nutrients. But, it seems like it would be the same to just feed less all the time. (And, if soil biology is important, don't use synthetic nutrients.).

Either way, I didn't seem to have a problem with salt accumulation when I used 3-part. Just monitor your runoff ph and ppm. Let that trend tell you whether you should flush, or do a water-only, or feed less. If you see a trend toward lower ph and higher ppm, it won't be until you're into flower.

I wrote a email to GHE support yesterday.
Today i've got a reply. They say Florakleen only targets the GHE salts and leaves the chalk buffer untouched as it is not a strong acid.

Just letting the people know if anyone else is using GHE in EU.