I have to ask a really dumb question.

So Im looking to slowly dip my toe in growing in coco along side, initially, my proven organic grow. Probably going with CES line but I cant find an answer to this really basic question. And I will be hand watering as needed.

If I mix and PH what I need formula wise for veg or flower how long can I store or keep unused food thats mixed? If I mix up a 2-3 gallons and only need to feed one plant for my learning curve in a 3 gallon pot Im sure I will have enough mixed for a week or so.

Can I just cap the water jug and shake and pour what I needed until its gone for a week or so ? Or will it go bad ? Keep it aerated with something like an air stone ? How do the pros here do it. Keeping in mind Im only wanting to mix a few gallons at a time?

Mix it ,and keep an air stone in a home depot bucket with a couple of air stones attached to an air pump.You could just mix up whatever gallons 2,3,

I did this with a 55 gal res,running The gh 6/9 and would change it out every 5 days,monitoring daily for a ph drift.

Not familiar with that nute line so I wouldn't want to give advice on that bro.
Mind you I dont consider myself a pro...hahaha

I mix up a bunch of gallon jugs at once, they don't sit that long but a week or so has seemed fine so far. Not sure if the nute line matters, some of those with organic elements might get funky or ph may swing, but straight salt based mixes seem fine. I just give them a good shake before use, no clue if its necessary or doing anything but my idea is to try and get some oxygen in there, that could be total bs stoner logic though.

I would go airstones if mixing up a big amount or running a reservoir, but it kind of seems like overkill for this situation.

Most people will tell you to use airstones. I fight upward ph drift no matter if its ro or tap with airstones so unless you are monitoring and adjusting just seal them in jugs.

Air stones make your pH go up very quickly. I use a small water pump to stir the solution in the barrel and the pH rises, but definitely not as fast.

Thanks for the information. So hypothetically in a bucket with say 5 gallons mixed with a say a single air stone then I could draw off enough to fill my watering can and check and then PH as needed just what I was going to need today? Then the remaining mix will be viable for how long on average?? Do growers mix up what they anticipate for several weeks of veg then mix up the feed needed for extended grow time for flower?
I need to ask the feed manufacturer I suppose but what’s the average max time you keep mixed up feeding solutions before discarding??

7-10 days at 72F, continuous movement, your choice.

You could also drop a sanitized blue ice pack in the solution to
prolong your mix viability.

Maintenance is a time/results slope, it follows the more you want,
the more you maintain.

I grow micro, salts, and use a gallon of mixed solution every couple days,
kept refrigerated and brought up to room temp as needed.

My food doesn't come in 'parts' it's just one bottle. For the hard water version, they add Nitric Acid. So, if I mix a tank using just them, then it surely won't be going bad very soon.

I looked after a room for about 20 days, that the owner had turned into a giant paddling pool. I'm not sure what feed he used, but I don't think I touched it. There was a barrel of more, and a hose available. But don't remember doing anything. It crept up, then the plants took off, and the feed stayed constant enough to leave it be.

I could never get a recirculating system to last 2 weeks. One week was lazy. Typical guidance is daily checks and corrections, with a full change weekly. But that's recirculating. Getting used.

All this aside. When your making your bucket to last 4 days, and have been doing so far a while, you will probably notice just how much they respond to the fresh bucket. And if that bucket was filled from a shower, all the better. So much better, that once your daily requirement has leveled out, you will make a bucket (almost) everyday. Old buckets harbour living stuff, that's now well fed, and eager to use up the oxygen. Things that the plant could expend energy fighting off. That could be latching to their food source and sinking it. Shit you basically don't want. But fresh from the tap, you could probably drink the stuff.

I run DWC reservoirs for 3 months, with roots from plants. I don't dump it till harvest, and I don't see why it wouldn't stay stable without plants.

About 3 watts of airpump for every 10 gallons of nutrient solution. More and you'll probably start raising the pH.

So it sounds like I will be mixing just a couple gallons at most and capping unused and whatever isn’t used in 8-10 days gets dumped. For just one or two 3 gallon pots that should work out about right but the learning curve will dictate. I will be gathering what I need. Thanks for all the information. This place is a great source.

Let us know how it works out, though it's pretty clear you should be just fine.

Glad to be able to help, the community has taken a beating over the years, and now everyone wants the info here. Just glad to share and get more flowers on the planet.
hehehehe