Rahz
Well-Known Member
Thought I would drop this tidbit of wisdom here. Until recently I always used Maxigro/Bloom for hydro. I had compared it with other brands years ago and didn't see much difference if any and Maxi series is cheaper. Only thing is, no PH buffers and in a 24 hour period the PH can go from 5.8 to 6.4-6.5 which isn't terrible but not great either.
I got tired of mixing/waiting on powder to dissolve and decided to spend a few more bucks on liquid. One of the parameters was that it had to be a single part. There are actually a few single part bloom formulas on the market today. I went with Pure Blend Pro Bloom because it had the NPK values I liked the best. I started using it and noticed the PH would swing down in bloom, going as low as 5.2 in a 24 hour period which is not good to my mind. I've read that below 5.4 there can be some precipitation and 5.2 is much worse in bloom for PK and micros than 6.4, so I had to find a fix. I wondered if mixing Maxibloom with PBP Bloom would neutralize the issue. It has! There's a day 2 adjustment but after that the PH is usually 5.7-5.8 after topping off. I adjust to 6 and it floats down just slightly over 24 hours to about 5.8. Some variation depending on strain but it's been fairly consistent so far.
I've been doing it for a couple months now and might tweak the formula a bit but this is a good starting point
Early bloom: 2.5g Maxibloom, 8ml PBP Bloom per gallon
Late bloom: 2.5g Maxibloom, 12ml PBP Bloom per gallon
Top off solution uses only PBP Bloom and water, no Maxibloom. That way, no need to mix powder for top offs. I fill a bunch of quart size squirt bottles and measure out in small beakers. No mess.
Early bloom: 20ml per gallon
Late bloom: 25ml per gallon
Hope this helps someone or encourages experimentation. I have a nutrient calc spreadsheet if anyone is interested. You just plug in the bottle values and grams/mls for each product and it spits out NPK ppm for each product and for the mixed solution.
I got tired of mixing/waiting on powder to dissolve and decided to spend a few more bucks on liquid. One of the parameters was that it had to be a single part. There are actually a few single part bloom formulas on the market today. I went with Pure Blend Pro Bloom because it had the NPK values I liked the best. I started using it and noticed the PH would swing down in bloom, going as low as 5.2 in a 24 hour period which is not good to my mind. I've read that below 5.4 there can be some precipitation and 5.2 is much worse in bloom for PK and micros than 6.4, so I had to find a fix. I wondered if mixing Maxibloom with PBP Bloom would neutralize the issue. It has! There's a day 2 adjustment but after that the PH is usually 5.7-5.8 after topping off. I adjust to 6 and it floats down just slightly over 24 hours to about 5.8. Some variation depending on strain but it's been fairly consistent so far.
I've been doing it for a couple months now and might tweak the formula a bit but this is a good starting point
Early bloom: 2.5g Maxibloom, 8ml PBP Bloom per gallon
Late bloom: 2.5g Maxibloom, 12ml PBP Bloom per gallon
Top off solution uses only PBP Bloom and water, no Maxibloom. That way, no need to mix powder for top offs. I fill a bunch of quart size squirt bottles and measure out in small beakers. No mess.
Early bloom: 20ml per gallon
Late bloom: 25ml per gallon
Hope this helps someone or encourages experimentation. I have a nutrient calc spreadsheet if anyone is interested. You just plug in the bottle values and grams/mls for each product and it spits out NPK ppm for each product and for the mixed solution.