Growers beware SUNSHINE MIX#4 is HORRIBLE

I would use peat every day. I'm not up on the coco-vs-peat debate since I don't use coco, but the dudes in my signature all use peat...

jonnynobody said:

It was a bad batch of their mix plain and simple. I didn't nute the youngin's at all prior to experiencing the ph burn. Since transplanting into 5 gallon containers of ocean forest, the plants have rebounded and are no longer showing signs of ph burn. Thanks for the info though.

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What you described is not a symptom of pH "burn", unless you examined the root ball and found the tiny roots and roothairs "singed".

pH burn results in an imbalance of element uptake and like I said, based on your symptoms, the "crispy leaves and brown spots" is a classic symptom of salts burn. Fess up, what plant foods were you using, at what rate, and at what frequency? Not trying to put you on the spot, just trying to help YOU understand what you did so you can avoid this issue with another garden.

As stated in my sig link:

1. Over-fertilizing - the most common cause of leaf cupping aka leaf margin rolling, leaf margin burn, and leaf tip curl/burn is the overzealous use of too much plant food in relationship to factors such as plant size, vigor and rate of growth. The first unit of a plant to show moisture stress is the leaf at its margins and/or tips, reflected by margin rolling (cupping) or burning. Sometimes copper colored necrotic spots show in the leaf also. A hard, crispy feel to the leaf frequently occurs as well, as opposed to a soft and cool feel of a happy leaf.

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Good luck,
UB

Uncle Ben said:

What you described is not a symptom of pH "burn", unless you examined the root ball and found the tiny roots and roothairs "singed".

pH burn results in an imbalance of element uptake and like I said, based on your symptoms, the "crispy leaves and brown spots" is a classic symptom of salts burn. Fess up, what plant foods were you using, at what rate, and at what frequency? Not trying to put you on the spot, just trying to help YOU understand what you did so you can avoid this issue with another garden.

As stated in my sig link:


Good luck,
UB

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I normally don't care for name calling but you should stop acting like a douche bag. If you think I'm a liar then simply don't post a response and move on with your life. I said I used no nutes and since I have no reason to lie to people on a forum that I don't know, you just might as well let this one rest.

And I am also very aware of how to raise a young sprout, but thanks for your expert advice on the subject, chief. The batch was bad, end of story. I've known many people who have gotten bad bags of ocean forest and the like over the years...shit happens. It just happened to happen to me on my first try of sunshine mix #4 and that's a bum deal but it's what I dealt with. If you search the forums, you'll see it is a known quality control issue amongst many growers. Shit happens...just don't call me out as a liar ya presumptuous dick.

Ya, shit happens.

Sunshine #4 is great and I like it way better then Promix HP. Promix HP contains food in it but then again it may not, the problem is that its totally dependent on how old the bail is. You just don't know how much food is available to the plant and it can throw off a feeding program. The representative at Premiere I spoke to also told me that it may contain food levels that can seriously burn starters. I found it to be a real hassle.

I find Sunshine #4 to be much more porous and I never have a problem with root rot from accidental over watering for strains that are really sensitive to those things. Ive used it for over 8 years without a problem but that's me and I hate these one time use blanket statements from individuals that are too quick to blame and judge a product without really understanding it.

#4 sounds alot like the soil I mix up myself, but I add lime like everyone else says copious amounts of lime. dolo is hard to over-do and I likes it. I like peat, breaks down and goes away but not before I'm done and ready to toss it back in and re-mix it for the next run adding more peat.

I worked for a large "garden store" operation in my state and pro-mix was used for everything successfully for over 30 years. I've personally been using it since 1988. Coco may be better, may be easier, and maybe more expensive too for large operations.....but pro-mix is readily available almost everywhere in the east and after adding enough lime and perlite, is trouble free for 3-4 months if you don't over fertilize and flush if necessary. I use enzymes and Great White too with very good success.

SSHZ said:

I worked for a large "garden store" operation in my state and pro-mix was used for everything successfully for over 30 years. I've personally been using it since 1988. Coco may be better, may be easier, and maybe more expensive too for large operations.....but pro-mix is readily available almost everywhere in the east and after adding enough lime and perlite, is trouble free for 3-4 months if you don't over fertilize and flush if necessary. I use enzymes and Great White too with very good success.

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Yeah, I noticed you have to add slot of perlite to promix for proper airation. Is there really enough food in the soil for three months of feeding? The rep told me any food in the soil is usually flushed out after a couple of waterings. I'll stick with Number four, where I have complete control without having to add perlite and guess the food levels in the existing medium.

I've been running advanced #4 on and off for a long time now. I made the switch from pro mix and will never look back. I'm looking forward now tho and I just did a batch in a hand mixed coco perlite mix and it performed better with less mess I think. I used to add alot of perlite to my advanced #4 anyway so it's the same work with better results IMO to mix your own coco.

Sunshine just came out with a new mix called sunshine HYDRO mix. Super drainage. I grabbed 2 bags to test it out and so far no complaints. It feels like sunshine advanced 4 that I lightened up. Idk about compared to coco yet but we will see.