Quick Q: When Mixing Nutes How Much Do You SHAKE?

[GreenArmadillo]

How much and how often do you shake your jug when mixing up a batch of feed for your babies?

Like is it a minimal shake 2 or 3 times?
Or a tip upside down and then back up?
Or is it a super aggressive shake where your whole body moves because of the force?
How long does the shaking movement last for?
How long does a shake last for? (Like if I shook up the nute feed, and then got busy for 5 minutes, then came back to distribute it to smaller bottles, would I have to shake again, or would the nutes still be well mixed up?)

I wanna know the liquid physics and dynamics of it, cause currently i'm pretty OCD with my mixing, and have to mix aggressively for many seconds, and more than once, to feel reassured.


And the second question is, do you have to shake after adding every individual nute? Or can you shake after adding 2 or 3 nutes, then adding the next 2 or 3, then shaking, then adding the next 2, etc.?
Or can you add all the nutes, one after the other, and then shake once at the end to mix it all up?


Cause the shaking is taking a lot of energy out of me as it is. I prepare a 3-4 gallon mixture on average in a single jug, and opening and closing and shaking so many times gets reaaaaaally iffy after a while.
The same goes for when I have to adjust pH. Sometimes I gotta open add some drops, close, shake, open, pour, test, and then repeat 2 or 3 more times till I get the perfect pH.

Would love some definitive answers in this field.

[GreenArmadillo]

As a current example, i'm adding BioThrive Bloom, BioBud, CalMag+ and unsulphered molasses to my 3 gallons of water. Can I add all of them one after the other, and then shake once to distribute or does it have to be shaken after each individual nute is added to the water mix?

[OzBud]

I stir, not shake. But I generally use a 10L (2.6Gal) bucket so can't really shake. Currently I'm using a clean 60L (15.8Gal) plastic garbage bin that I use to rehydrate my coco bricks as a normal bucket is no longer big enough and I can't be bothered mixing up in two buckets or buying a 5gal bucket.

I start off with my volume of tap water then add each of my nutrients & supplements one by one (currently using 9 bottles for this weeks nute mix) & stirring in between. It's a pretty long process but I don't mind.

So water
Armor Si
stir (50 circles)
CALiMAGic
stir
FloraMicro
stir
FloraGro
stir
FloraBloom
stir
RapidStart
stir
Floralicious Plus
stir
Diamond Nectar
stir
FloraBlend
stir
add roughly how much pH up/down I think I'll need
Stir (100 circles for final stir)

Let sit for 10-15 minutes
Come back and check pH

If good to go then I'll start watering, if not then
adjust pH
stir (100 circles)
wait another 10-15
check pH etc etc until pH is good.

[Sonnyhad]

Holy shit reading all this stoned will sure make you go "huh"!!lol

[BuddMarsh]

I know. I feel really lazy now about how I mix mine. I just fill the watering container with half the amount of water I am going to use add the nutes add the rest of the water (which pretty much mixes up things) check ph just in case and water.

[9fingerleafs]

In my opinion shaking the nutrient bottle before using is far more important. Just like oz I also just stir for about 10 seconds tops. My advice is forget all that trouble and get a bucket and a stick. About the nutrients order as long as you stir at the end all will be fine. The only thing I know is ph down can react with calcium creating a withe sediment when mixing the nutrients. But using RO water ph down is hardy needed. Anyway just dilute in a few ml of water before mixing

[OzBud]

Shaking bottles, good one. I forgot to mention that. I always shake bottle & pour into shot glass an then measure out from there with syringe/pipette so nothing contaminates the bottles. Any over pour gets discarded.
I've got a mate that uses his power drill with paint stirrer when he does his mix.

[Marley]

I shake the nutes first before adding to water. I mix everything into two 5 gallon "water cooler" jugs. I shake the hell out of them, which feels great on my back. Lol. Then I ph them, which usually means I have to shake them 3 or 4 more times each. I usually have it all mixed up a couple of days ahead of time, so before I actually use it I shake the hell out of them again.

Who knew growing weed was such a good workout?

[GreenArmadillo]

If i'm not mistaken GO says on their feeding chart as a side note not to use any nute mixtures that have been prepared for more than an hour, unless an air stone is added to the feed for constant o2 bubbling.
I'm using GO nutes, which is why I am following such notice.

Would you disagree with them, and how come?

(Genuinely curious bro. If I can mix up my nutes a few days in advance that would make life much easier. I just thought that option wasn't open to me.)

[Sonnyhad]

I usually smoke before I feed so I don't shake as much, then I stir the nutes a couple times is all, you can see it get mixed up. it's made to mix with water.

[gbauto]

I usually smoke before I feed so I don't shake as much, then I stir the nutes a couple times is all, you can see it get mixed up. it's made to mix with water.

Ha! I buy in the gallon sizes for my nutes and all I do before mixing is making sure that any solids that might have precipitated are dissolved again. I add each of the potion to a 5 gal bucket of water and allow them to mix when dumped in the rez-seems to be working pretty well for a few years now...

[GreenDragonRon]

I haven't started my first grow yet but I have a tonne of aquarium equipment so I plan on using an old powerhead in a 5 gallon pail to mix my reservoir fluid.

[CCisme]

I mix them up in a 5 g bucket also stirring between each product. I had read that to much movement will raise the ph and I wasnt sure how long to let it chill after so that ph drops down before watering. I think Ill just mix and let sit for around a half hour.

[Sonnyhad]

No need to complicate this stuff people. Mix in a 5 gallon pail as well. Measure to nutes dump in the bucket stir, check ph, adjust check ppm and stir a couple times check ph After stirring! Then feed! KISS = keep it simple smartypants!

[MommaBear]

I'm with the others, I mix in a 5 gal pail stir with wooden spoon and check ph after. Like CCisme I also heard that shaking can affect your ph. I do shake the nutes and calimagic before adding to water though, not a crazy work your biceps shake but enough to disrupt any settling/separation/sediment. I also tilt my ph up and down jugs back and forth slowly just in case lol

[Potted]

I fill containers with water, let tham sit for twenty four, than I add all nutes.turn upside down and back and than ph the water doing the same thing after each ajustment till ph is in range.but if using Mo.it has to be desolved in warm water to get the Most out of it so I add the Mo.before I fill my containers first a little warm water shake until desolved fill tha rest with cold and let them sit for the 24 hours and continue as before.lol

[GreenArmadillo]

wow, i'm amazed at the sheer number of people who use buckets and stirring.
It sounds so much easier, but the way i'm feeding I fill several 1.5 litre empty water bottles to ease my feeding process. I mix it all up in a 3-4 gallon jug first, the distribute to several 1.5L bottles.

Seems from the overall thoughts posted here that not too much shaking is required.
Shaking the nute bottles seems to be infinitely more important, and thankfully I do that every time. =)
As for the pH changing because of the shaking, i'm gonna pretend I didn't read that.