Flushing Soilless Sunshine Mix before use?

[ballplayer 2]

Hey guys I have been having problems with Sunshine Mix. Straight from the bag with no additional fertilizer I have been getting an EC reading of over 2.5. The input water only had an EC value of 0.23. Can I pre flush the Sunshine Mix, let it dry out under my lights, then use it. I would hope to do this to reduce whatever the heck is in the pre made mix which is locking everything out.

 

[dan_kass]

Yes...they spray a "starter charge" of liquid nutrient at the factory but I too have found it to be kind of high (I use Fafard Growing Mix 2) so flushing it is fine...and you don't have to let it dry out before you use it, though it is less of a mess dry. Just keep checking your runoff till it drops down to an except acceptable range. Two gallons usually does it for a 1gal grow bag for me and make sure your PH is adjusted also. Also, unless you're using RO you might want to check and see if there's Chloramine in your tap water...if so try using a tap water conditioner for aquariums, you can find them in the fish section of a PetSmart or similar store.

Good Luck,
~DK

 

[ballplayer 2]

Excellent. Thank you for the response dan. I was looking for some reassurance from someone who has experienced the same problems I have. The starter charge makes it kind of difficult to get started with seedlings, considering it was strong enough to do some damage to a small-medium size tomato plant.

 

[dan_kass]

here's a good link for ya...

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=87594&highlight=soilless

...don't pay any attention to the troll in the thread...he obviously couldn't read the title