Dr. Bruce Bugbee method: NASA technique on Mars etc.

Vizzaro said:

Per gallon? Going to have to do some math here...~2.6g of Dolomite Lime per Gallon of Medium and ~1.3g of Gypsum per gallon of medium. I think that's right.....

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And yes you can change the vermiculite for perlite but then it wouldn't be the "Dr. Bugbee mix". Also you would need to buy silica since you wouldn't be getting it from the vermiculite anymore.

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kodak91 said:

thanks. I said per gallon, but im actually from europe



Wait.. But perlite is 72% Silicon dioxide, thats silica.

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Vizzaro said:

Also my math was wrong on the Dolomite Lime I was thing 20g when I did my math when its actually 40g so its 5.3g per gallon. Also you need to take into consideration that Peat is very acidic for a media and adding vermiculite brings the pH of the media up a bit to ~4.5pH and the 40g of Lime per cubic foot of medium brings the pH up to 5.5. I don't know if perlite would bring the pH of the medium up or not and if it doesn't then you would need to maybe add more Lime to bring pH up but I'm not sure how much more to be honest.

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kodak91 said:

So thats about 10g/L Dolomite Lime and 0,35g/L Gypsum, right?

I rather use perlite since it drains much better, less chance to overwater.

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kodak91 said:

I wanna try Dr. Bugbee mix. How much Dolomite Lime and Gypsum should i add per gallon?

Also can i change vermiculite for perlite?

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kodak91 said:

So thats about 10g/L Dolomite Lime and 0,35g/L Gypsum, right?

I rather use perlite since it drains much better, less chance to overwater.

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Overgrowtho said:

Hi, is anyone here working with Dr Bruce Bugbee's system/research from Uni of Utah? He specializes in Cannabis and advises NASA how to grow on Mars.

He advises to use 50% vermiculite and 50% peat moss for explosive growth (a bit of gypsum and dolomite added in only).

Of course this is a soil-less medium, so I thought that means we need to use chemical nutrients that you would normally use with hydro, right?

He suggests using 20-10-20 nutes with 1.2 EC.

Using his system and CO2, he says you can really "push" the plants with a lot of light.

I've tried it for a couple weeks (with some Earth Worm Castings mixed in (EWC is not his system!) as I couldn't find hydro nutes in time, where I am in Asia. I saw explosive growth and then they started to yellow, I guess due to lacking micro nutrients. So I moved them over to super soil and they are somewhat recovering but much slower. That first couple of weeks had explosive growth, so I'm excited about the idea of his research.

Finally, I've gotten some hydro nutes and I'm really keen to try this again.

I was hoping that some people on here might have tried his system (or are using it now) or could advise about soil-less medium questions along the way in case of any issue I encounter?

(Dr. Bugbee hasn't been responsive on email so far -- I'm sure he has a million other important things to do, like helping us colonize mars -- than answer my newb questions).

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F2GD said:

I am just starting out my own grow and getting everything ready. I have made up 2.83L (yeah, I got lucky) of the 50/50 vermiculite to peat. So my math should be pretty simple. I need 4 grams of the dolomite lime and 1 gram of gypsum. Should I grind the dolomite in a mortar/pestle? The only gypsum I can find is powdered not the pellets.

My mixtures PH is currently ~4.5 (only have a colour test), my tap water is quite basic at 8-8.5

Now I have the fun job of finding 20-10-20 in Ottawa. I managed to find some 10-5-10 by jiffy hydro which my hardware store says will take a week to get here (it is 0.10% ammonical nitrogen, 3.50% nitrate nitrogen and 6.40% urea Nitrogen, 5% calcium, 4% magnesium and 8.3% combined sulfur) I am wondering if that will work because this is soilless and this has urea. It's 6 Canadian rupees per 256g. Think this will work? If you have any ideas on where to get 20-10-20 I am all ears.

As for an ec meter I have found 2 on Amazon the more expensive one: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B008SOPO10/ref=ox_sc_act_image_4?smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&psc=1 and the cheaper one (same company): https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B01FXNNKJ6/ref=ox_sc_act_image_2?smid=A3QAPY9G9NB32H&psc=1

unfortunately I do not have the cash for the one Dr bugbee uses. From the reviews I think either of these is acceptable but I welcome feedback.

As for pH testing I found this one to use instead of the colour solution method, I believe I would need to buy some pH tester storage solution to keep it working long term? https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B071XFRLSN/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?smid=A278BXSS6J30Y9&psc=1

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BonnMac said:

I’m in Vancouver and had a hell of a time tracking down 20-10-20.
I found some “orchid fertilizer” that had that exact NPK on Amazon but I may have bought the last of it. At least, for that particular product.

Anyway, I just checked Amazon.ca again and found this:

J R Peters Inc 52524 Jacks Classic No.1.5 20-10-20 Citrus Food Fertilizer : Amazon.ca: Patio, Lawn & Garden

Find products from J R Peters Inc at low prices. Shop online for barbecues, mowers, garden tools, generators, snow blowers and more at Amazon.ca

www.amazon.ca

Seems a little pricey, though.

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F2GD said:

I found some!!! Https://www.Jonsplantfactory.com/product/20-10-20/ just ordered myself 2kg

Also I was thinking about that citrus one then I checked the label and it's using urea of the nitrogen and I don't want to deal with that

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F2GD said:

Yeah I ordered it delivered to Ottawa. Worth the price lol. I can't find any stuff here. Hopefully it will get here Monday so I can start germinating.

Been trying to find someone locally who I can get 40g of dolomitic lime off of , I'm literally going to use 4g, the gypsum I have no clue for, can't find any tiny bags available.

Currently my tap water has a EC of 0.16ms and a pH of 8, the runoff of the mix comes out at a pH of 4.5, need that lime to bring it up

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Chopshop697 said:

I was thinking I should just buy a few 50lb bags of the Peters Pro Peat-Lite 20-10-20 from Allentown, divide it up into 5lb packs, and do the ebay thing. Just have to watch shipping regs because it's an oxidizer and can't go via air. I'd offer an RIU discount, of course....

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