5 gallon swc 3-2-1 mishap

[Imthechuck]

Greetings,

I had great success with just using Promix in 5 gallon swcs, decided to use the 3-2-1 ratio as described by Raybo to see if there was any difference

I added pine fines but I accidentally did 3 parts fine, 2 parts peat, and 1 part perlite per 5 gallon swc.


Should I redo the swcs and add more promix?

I have noticed the plants not looking quite as healthy as before, and they have only been going for about 2 weeks....

[JJJessee]

Interesting, but I'm not familiar with that system. What type of nutrients do you add to the 3-2-1?

[luigiwu]

what exactly is in the 3-2-1 recipe? peat is acidic. Are you adding any lime? epsom salt? I use Larry Hall's DIY potting mix recipe.

[elight]

Ray's 3-2-1 mix is 3 parts Pro-Mix BX (or similar), 2 parts pine bark fines, and 1 part perlite.

Pro-Mix BX is mostly peat. Here's the breakdown according to their website:

Peat: 79-87%

Perlite: 10-14%

Vermiculite: 3-7%

To make things easier, let's just treat the perlite and vermiculite as all perlite, and take the averages for the percentage ranges. That gives us 83% peat and 17% perlite.

Let's also say that you mixed a total of 6 gallons of ingredients, and ended up with about 5 gallons of combined mix (it works this way, since some of the finer ingredients fill in the gaps in the chunkier ingredients).

That means you started with 3 gallons of pine bark, 2 gallons peat, and 1 gallon perlite. But what you actually wanted was:

3 gallons Pro-Mix * 0.83 = 2.49 gallons peat

2 gallons pine bark fines

1 gallon perlite + (3 gallons Pro-Mix * 0.17) = 1.51 gallons perlite

In other words, the desired ratio of peat:pine:perlite in the 3-2-1 mix is 2.5:2:1.5. (This is confusing, but remember that one component of the 3-2-1 mix is Pro-Mix BX, which is comprised of other things.)

Here's what you could do. Dump out the current mix. To it, add 1 gallon of pine bark fines, 3 gallons peat, and 2 gallons of perlite. The result will be 5 gallons of peat, 4 gallons of pine bark, and 3 gallons of perlite - that's the desired 2.5:2:1.5 ratio from Ray's 3-2-1 mix.

By all means, check my math! Good luck!

[BigVanVader]

I made my own this year with vermiculite, DE, and peat. Its been working well so far.

[Imthechuck]

thanks that helped!! I redid the ratios a few weeks ago after your reply and the plants are thriving now!

trying to compare the difference with one that I have in just pro mix and perlite 5-1

Originally Posted by elight

Ray's 3-2-1 mix is 3 parts Pro-Mix BX (or similar), 2 parts pine bark fines, and 1 part perlite.

Pro-Mix BX is mostly peat. Here's the breakdown according to their website:

Peat: 79-87%

Perlite: 10-14%

Vermiculite: 3-7%

To make things easier, let's just treat the perlite and vermiculite as all perlite, and take the averages for the percentage ranges. That gives us 83% peat and 17% perlite.

Let's also say that you mixed a total of 6 gallons of ingredients, and ended up with about 5 gallons of combined mix (it works this way, since some of the finer ingredients fill in the gaps in the chunkier ingredients).

That means you started with 3 gallons of pine bark, 2 gallons peat, and 1 gallon perlite. But what you actually wanted was:

3 gallons Pro-Mix * 0.83 = 2.49 gallons peat

2 gallons pine bark fines

1 gallon perlite + (3 gallons Pro-Mix * 0.17) = 1.51 gallons perlite

In other words, the desired ratio of peat:pine:perlite in the 3-2-1 mix is 2.5:2:1.5. (This is confusing, but remember that one component of the 3-2-1 mix is Pro-Mix BX, which is comprised of other things.)

Here's what you could do. Dump out the current mix. To it, add 1 gallon of pine bark fines, 3 gallons peat, and 2 gallons of perlite. The result will be 5 gallons of peat, 4 gallons of pine bark, and 3 gallons of perlite - that's the desired 2.5:2:1.5 ratio from Ray's 3-2-1 mix.

By all means, check my math! Good luck!