October 31, 2008 by anonymous
Here are summaries from my initial use of a BlueLab Truncheon showing the different dilutions.
I followed Peat's mixture for normal vegetative growth in three steps and let it set for 30 minutes or so between steps then measured the EC and PH. Here are my results, very close to what Peat said. I'd trust his measurements any day, just tweak them a bit for your particular crop, truncheon or not. I'm going to try this in my herb garden diluted about 10%, making a full gallon out of it.
Peat's formula, per 3.2 liter capacity is 6.3ml Flora Micro, 10.6ml Flora Grow and 2.1ml Flora Bloom and shows an EC of 2.16.
Starting point, fresh tap water, room temperature - 0.4 EC 7.6 PH
1/3 of his mix - 1.2 EC 6.8 PH
2/3 of his mix - 1.8 EC 6.8 PH
Full strength - 2.5 EC 6.6 PH
Diluted ~10% - 2.3 EC 6.7 PH
I have since diluted this another 10% to get the EC level down to 1.8 and all is looking and growing great.
I mixed up two batches of Peat's Bloom mix for the tomatoes and peppers and the results were surprising. I found a pitcher that holds a full gallon without being filled to the brim so added one other result. Also, I'm using the normal Micro for two reasons - 1. Our water changes and will be changing more as the city slowly integrates Rio Grande water with the current well water. 2. That's all my hydro shop had. :)
Note: This is strictly for my water as it is today, yours will probably be different but there is considerable leeway in the mixes as you can see. The PH buffers in the GH nutrients try to keep a PH around 6.3 but they can only go so far and my 7.5 PH seems to be the limit. You may not know the EC level of your water but a simple tube & drops PH test kit is cheap and available many places. Another note, I don't know how my plants are going to react to this mix so this is all experimental but based on solid data.
Peat's Bloom mix, per 3.2 liter, a full AG bowl - 8.5ml Flora Micro, 4.2ml Flora Grow and 12.7ml Flora Bloom (this is GH's 1-2-3 tsp per gallon mix put in blending order and scaled down to fit)
Starting water - 0.4 EC, 7.5 PH
1/3 Peat's mix - 1.2 EC 6.5 PH
2/3 Peat's mix - 2.0 EC 6.4 PH
Full mixture ---- 2.7 EC 6.3 PH
+ 10% water - 2.5 EC 6.3 PH
Full Gallon .... 2.3 EC 6.3 PH - YES!!!!!
This was so nice I removed the tomato deck, did a thorough cleaning - roots were 3" past the pump filter and replaced the mix. One note - I met some resistance lifting off the deck and saw it was roots growing around the the crossmembers so I removed them before completely lifting the deck.
I have been waiting about 30 minutes between mixtures, giving the PH buffers time to work before measuring but found they are immediate and don't change so I sped up the last two measurements.
Then I mixed another gallon with the same measures all at once, stirring in between ingredients and got exactly the same readings. Nice!
Later - My tomatoes are thriving but I noted my peppers yellowing just a bit. Feeling lazy, I added one ml of Micro to the bowl, bringing the EC level to 2.5 and they are greening up nicely. My next pepper brew will be the full, undiluted 2.7 EC mix.
Mon, 11/24/2008 - 16:02
#2
Thanks Peat, to think I could
Thanks Peat, to think I could return a small bit for all you've done is fantastic. It was such a surprise, I had gisette in mind when I posted it. We have similar water (PH wise anyway) and use the same mix but get different results. Maybe this explains it. I may blow $20 to get a real nutrient kit so I know exactly how much NPK the mix really has, knowing the TDS is great but I'd like to know more.
Mon, 11/24/2008 - 16:24
#3
I'm going to take a wild
I'm going to take a wild guess here, do you mean this one? www.gardeners.com/NPK-Soil-Test-Kit/FlowerGardening_Accessories,34-972,default,cp.html
I'm wondering how many tests you can get out of it, the amount of pills doesn't look that many. It's very interesting though, seeing what you are actually mixing.
Mon, 11/24/2008 - 16:29
#4
Heh, I have that exact one.
Heh, I have that exact one. 
I haven't used it much, though. As Peat said, it doesn't come with very many pills.
Mon, 11/24/2008 - 01:00
#5
Yesterday the nutrient lamps
Yesterday the nutrient lamps started to flash, signalling a full month since I went to the GH Flora series and it was time to mix up more bloom mix. The city is evidently starting to add river water to the well water we've always had, the tap water EC level dropped from 0.4 to 0.3 and the PH dropped from 7.5 to 7.3. I mixed up a couple batches of bloom mix with surprising results, given the minor differences in tap water. I'm using the standard, not hard water Micro, BTW.
In the past I've mixed Peat's formulas for 3.2 liters then made a full gallon to get the numbers right. Not this time! Adding the nutrients to ~3.2 liters came up differently, not enough for concern but was surprised to see the bloom mix at 2.2 EC and 6.0 PH. The last few times, I had to add water to make a full gallon to get 2.3 and 6.3. A little difference in water can make a big difference in results!
Mon, 11/24/2008 - 13:49
#6
That's quite a difference, I
That's quite a difference, I can identify with that. I always seem to get changes in my EC levels, sometimes I need to add a good quantity of water to drop them down, and other times hardly anything, spot on 3.2 litres.
I have not checked my tap water for some time, I will next time I get these changes. It's something I did not consider, good on ya Bruce for your diligent checking. 
Mon, 11/24/2008 - 12:04
#7
Interesting, Bruce, thanks.
Interesting, Bruce, thanks. I've been using half&half distilled & Brita tap water... And it's not at all clear I'm getting the right levels using the same formulas as you do. 
Oh, well...
Fri, 10/31/2008 - 13:27
#8
Congratulations!!!
Ah, good!
Congratulations!!!
Ah, good! < relief > Thank you, no, none of them are turning brown and crispy. 
Fri, 10/31/2008 - 13:32
#9
Good work Bruce.
If you
Good work Bruce.
If you overfeed, dump the whole mixture and throw in plain water to flush the nutrients out of the plant...
Fri, 10/31/2008 - 14:48
#10
Peat, a generic question -
Peat, a generic question - how long does it take a plant to replace the juices - A day? A week? The reason I ask is that when my truncheon arrived I found my tomatoes pegged the meter as you might remember. The bottom leaves turned brown then crispy and I cut them off. All the while, the tops with tomatoes growing looked great. Now with a proper mix I've got new growth on the bottom and the tops look even better. These are unknown full size tomatoes that are almost 2 ft. tall so I guess the answer would be it depends on how big your plants are...?
Fri, 10/31/2008 - 15:31
#11
Hmm, awkward one to answer.
Hmm, awkward one to answer. I'm going to guess at 3-4 days for well grown plants, it's going to depend on the plant of course, so, it's a little difficult to call.
When you flush with water, I forgot to say pH adjusted to 6, you usually do this for 3-4 days. That's the 'normal' period so, one assumes, that this amount of time has cleared the plant of it's nutrients. It would then follow that the plants take these amount of days to replace their nutrients, but, I'm only guessing here.
You can see how important having a truncheon is (sorry gisette), you can now physically measure the damage that was caused by your Maxibloom - if I remember correctly.
Bruce, I'm loving all the questions, feel free to ask away. It's good to tax the old grey matter. 
Fri, 10/31/2008 - 17:11
#12
Thanks so much Peat, I'll try
Thanks so much Peat, I'll try to be as small a pain in the a** as possible. Funny how we forget to mention PH. I've had to add a little PHdown now and then but I'm impressed with GH's buffers. When our PH is up just a little I have to add some, when it's down around 7.5 I'm good to go. Odd how much 0.1 would make so much difference.
Fri, 10/31/2008 - 17:44
#13
Yep, the pH down is a very
Yep, the pH down is a very strong acid. It only takes about 6 drops to get my 3.2 litres of pH 7.8 down to 6.3
I tend not to faff around too much with the water once the plants are growing, I've become more lazy with my checking! I used to do it every day until I was happy the AG mix was stable. Now I know where I am with this I only check once per week, then take any remedial action necessary. Perhaps not the most diligent way of doing things but I've had no major extremes of pH, yet...
OK, my EC goes plummeting down, but this has not caused me any real grief. 
Fri, 10/31/2008 - 11:28
#14
Thank you for posting this,
Thank you for posting this, Bruce!
Only 1 ml Flora Micro on top of the above formula to get your peppers to green up, huh? I hope I didn't poison mine... I guessed 3 ml each bloom/micro/grow when I used the same mix and they started to yellow... They seem OK, and less yellow, and I think I did that 3 days ago.
Fri, 10/31/2008 - 13:26
#15
My (possibly flawed) thinking
My (possibly flawed) thinking was that the peppers have enough nutrients according to the EC level but needed a little more N to green them up. That's why I added the Micro, it has the highest N content of the three mixes. I learned the hard way to go slow - underfeeding can be fixed, overfeeding can kill almost overnight. If you way overfed your peppers, you would be seeing brown leaf edges, shriveled crispy leaves and almost sudden death.
The peppers look great today and I think I have baby peppers amongst the zillion leaves and buds! WooHoo!!
That's one I thought about but it doesn't tell the concentrations, it's more like the smiley/frowny faces on my Woot water tester without the numbers. I think it comes with ten capsules for NPK and PH, I know this one does and it's a little cheaper. One of these would be nice but......