Perlite vermiculite soiless

Jimee

Member
Please help!!
I'm growing White Widow indoors in a 1-2 perlite vermiculite mix and using Peter's 20-20-20 and epsom salt with RO water with ok results.
Should I add lime? What should my nute pH be?
I'm trying 5.3- 5.5 pH now.
What should my nute and epsom concentrations be?
ANY help would be greatly appriciated!!!!
 

ArcadiaAbsent

Active Member
I may be wrong, but I think epsom salts provide magnesium only, so adding lime for calcium is a good idea, as both are needed when using RO water. Lime will up your PH, so that will need to be tested and corrected. Personally I prefer using a liquid CalMag supplement instead of dry epsom and lime, its more convenient and easier to measure dosing. The pH range seems workable, I generally shoot for 5.8-6.5 in soiless medium. A 20-20-20 nute is fairly concentrated, and I prefer using nutes that are more tailored for the grow and bloom cycles rather than a generalized 20-20-20 mix. What are your current dosing/concentrations right now? any signs of nute burn?
 

Grumpy Old Dreamer

Well-Known Member
Unless you are using bore or well water that is high in dissolved salts, there is no reason to put it through a RO filter.
Tap water contains plenty of calcium and tap water is plenty good enough for growing cannabis - filtering tapwater through a RO filter is a waste of time and money and it removes the calcium that your plants need.

Your mix should generally have more perlite than vermiculite - 3 to 1 is the usual mix. Too much vermiculite will hold too much water.
 

ArcadiaAbsent

Active Member
Unless you are using bore or well water that is high in dissolved salts, there is no reason to put it through a RO filter.
Tap water contains plenty of calcium and tap water is plenty good enough for growing cannabis - filtering tapwater through a RO filter is a waste of time and money and it removes the calcium that your plants need.

Your mix should generally have more perlite than vermiculite - 3 to 1 is the usual mix. Too much vermiculite will hold too much water.
Good info on the ratio of perlite and vermiculite, I've only ever used perlite. I think filtering tap water through an RO system is mainly beneficial to remove the chlorine or even worse chloramines. However, you do lose beneficial minerals. With that said, I've never seen a controlled study on how harmful chlorine actually is to plants, its just what I've heard during my learning process.
 

Jimee

Member
I use 20-20-20 for seedlings @ 150ppm + epsom @100ppm for a 250ppm total.
I raise the total to 300- 500ppm for veg
I then change to Peters 10 30 20 for flower@600ppm + epsom@200ppm for a total of 800ppm.
I get red stems from clones to seedlings to early veg and yellowing between veins on mid and lower leaves.
Only nute burn is during flower when I go above 800ppm.
I keep my pH at 5.3-5.5 except for clones @5.8pH.
My tap water is 240ppm and since I started with RO I've seen slower growth and some tips browning.
I will post pictures tomorrow.

I'm soooooooooooooo grateful for any and all advice.
 

phyzix

Well-Known Member
That's a lot of vermiculite. It compresses and hardens together with age, so I'm not a huge fan.
 

Jimee

Member
Should I add lime to my soiless or just use my 240ppm tap water for Ca?
I know my problem is lack of Ca but I've heard that Vermiculite provides Ca.
Anyone know????
Thanks to all for the advice!!
 
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