[Jbonez]

Originally Posted by YosemiteSam

Here comes one of those imo things that will go against pretty much everything you read on this site. The pH of your fert water has virtually nothing to do with the eventual pH of your coco. The alkalinity of your water will have a big effect and the exact cation/anion balance of your ferts will have some effect although not a huge one since coco does not have a big cec.

I would not use KSil with Jacks period.

Load the coco with some Red Lake Earth for silica if you think it is important. Switch to raw salts and account for the K in your formula.

Either way I guarantee you the excess K does more harm than any gain you get from the silica.

imo...take that for what it is worth to you.

Am I reading this correctly? Arent cations attracted to organic matter?

[dalilguy]

Originally Posted by YosemiteSam

Here comes one of those imo things that will go against pretty much everything you read on this site. The pH of your fert water has virtually nothing to do with the eventual pH of your coco. The alkalinity of your water will have a big effect and the exact cation/anion balance of your ferts will have some effect although not a huge one since coco does not have a big cec.

I would not use KSil with Jacks period.

Load the coco with some Red Lake Earth for silica if you think it is important. Switch to raw salts and account for the K in your formula.

Either way I guarantee you the excess K does more harm than any gain you get from the silica.

imo...take that for what it is worth to you.

How much K would you drop outta the 5-12-26?

Do you think a coco/perlite mix 75/25 or 50/50 would make it work better with the amount of K it has?

I have noticed issues when trying to use silica, and I will say. It's much much better without it

Originally Posted by Jbonez

Am I reading this correctly? Arent cations attracted to organic matter?

To the humus portion yes. cec sites are just open negative charges. Peat has at least 50% more cec than coco...then you add humus to it and it goes way higher.

Originally Posted by dalilguy

How much K would you drop outta the 5-12-26?

Do you think a coco/perlite mix 75/25 or 50/50 would make it work better with the amount of K it has?

I have noticed issues when trying to use silica, and I will say. It's much much better without it

First of all the Jacks is a good formula...better than bottled nutes for sure. The formula I run (in coco or peat...it don't matter) is 100-80-100-117-40 N-P-K-Ca-Mg. On top of that I add a cup per cubic ft of CaCO3 (to peat) or CaSO4 (to coco).

Per gallon of water I add...CaNO3, 2.44 grams...epsom 1.6, mkp 1.33, STEM 0.1 and Fe dpta 0.1

The problem with too much K shows up at the base cation exchange sites in soil and at the cellular level in plants. For maximum health you want 12% H (see Bruce Tainio's work). If you get too much K it will displace H (on cec sites or in the cell). When that happens the pH will go too high and your plant will become a bug magnet.

What I really shoot for is a base cation % of 68% Ca, 12% Mg, 12% H, 5% K and less than 2% Na. Get close to that and you got it made.

[black_thumb]

The jacks has 52 P to 215 K ppm + i was adding another 35 ppm k with the silica to up my ph back to 5.8 that's 250 k ppm now my buds are fucked at 50 days 12/12 they look like there at only 30 days 12/12.

Originally Posted by black_thumb

The jacks has 52 P to 215 K ppm + i was adding another 35 ppm k with the silica to up my ph back to 5.8 that's 250 k ppm now my buds are fucked at 50 days 12/12 they look like there at only 30 days 12/12.

Your water sounds like it has really high alkalinity. Maybe that's a part of the issues you're seeing. Jack's works very well in coco, even if the K level is higher than needed. I do use RO water, though.

[black_thumb]

My well water is cleaner then bottled water i tested bottled @ 60-85 ppm .5 and my well water is 20-25 ppm .5

So i have very low alkalinity if any at all. iv not had it tested yet by a lab.

In my conclusion if you have low ph tap the jacks will not work in flowering but seem to grow good in veg only with my tap water.

If you are at ph 2.8 after adding jacks, you have an alkalinity issue. With pure ro water, it would be around 5 or so.

[Jbonez]

Originally Posted by YosemiteSam

To the humus portion yes. cec sites are just open negative charges. Peat has at least 50% more cec than coco...then you add humus to it and it goes way higher.

after some research, I agree.. Never ran peat before, not once, so ive nothing other than soil to compare with coco, but Im with ya, coco doesnt seem too bad as far as retaining cations.. good stuff..

[black_thumb]

Originally Posted by dramamine

If you are at ph 2.8 after adding jacks, you have an alkalinity issue. With pure ro water, it would be around 5 or so.

1.0 to 6.9 PH is considered acidic.

7.0 is neutral.

7.1 to 14.0 is alkaline.