Growth Technology IONIC Soil Feed Chart – Doses and pH
Growth Technology's own published IONIC schedule for soil. By growth stage, in millilitres per litre of water.
- All dosesper litre
- pH and EC6.0 – 6.8 · 1.0 – 1.8 mS/cm
- Base feedSoil Grow 5ml, Soil Bloom 7ml
Every figure is millilitres per litre of water, except the cells written 5ml/10L. Those are per ten litres — 5ml in a full ten-litre can, which is half a millilitre in a single litre.
Getting it right
- Growth Technology publish this by stage, not by week. Their leaflet has three columns — Propagation, Grow and Bloom. The grid above sets those stages out across the weeks they cover, over a cutting week, four Grow weeks and eight Flower weeks, with Growth Technology's own dose repeated in each week of a stage. If your plants stay in Grow for six weeks rather than four, carry the Grow figures on — the dose does not change, only the number of columns.
- Liquid Silicon is ten times weaker than the rest of the chart. Its cells read 5ml/10L, so a ten-litre can takes 5ml in total. Putting 5ml in every litre is ten times the published rate. Add it to the water before the base feed and set pH afterwards.
- Soil carries its own reserve, so start gently. Most bagged composts are already fertilised for the first few weeks. Watch the plant rather than the calendar, and begin Ionic Soil Grow when new growth tells you the bag has run out.
- The EC window is the lowest of the three IONIC charts. Soil holds nutrient between waterings, so the target is 1.0 to 1.8 rather than the 1.5 to 2.0 used in coco. Feeding coco strength into soil stacks salt up in the pot.
- pH sits higher here — 6.0 to 6.8. That range keeps the microbes in the soil working as well as the roots. Correcting to a hydroponic 5.8 is a common mistake and it is too acidic for a pot of compost.
- Plain water between feeds is fine. Soil does not need a full feed at every watering the way coco does. Feed to the chart, water in between, and let the top of the pot dry a little before the next one.
- Formulex is the propagation feed. Cuttings and seedlings get 5ml per litre until they are rooted and growing — that is the Cutting 1 column. Ionic Soil Grow starts at Grow 1, after that.
- Keep Ionic Soil Grow running through Flower 1. Growth Technology carry the Grow feed one week past the switch to twelve hours, so it holds its 5ml at Flower 1. It then stops, and Soil Bloom runs on its own from Flower 2 to Flower 8.
- The Boost row is twice weekly, at Flower 5 to Flower 8. The chart's Ionic Boost is a flowering PK. The bottle we stock now is Ionic PK 14/15 Boost, a stronger concentration used once a week rather than at every feed — dose that one to its own label, not to the 1ml printed here.
- GreenMyst Humic also goes into the soil before you plant. As well as the 5ml per litre in the feed, Growth Technology use it at 5ml per litre to pre-treat the soil.
- The remaining rows are optional. Superdrive is a vitamin and hormone tonic at 1ml per litre throughout. Nitrozyme is a seaweed extract — 5ml per litre misted onto young plants, then 5ml per ten litres added to the feed weekly. GreenFuse Root, Grow and Bloom are stage-matched plant extracts at 1ml per litre — Root at Cutting 1, Grow across Grow 1 to Grow 4, Bloom from Flower 1 to Flower 8.
Everything on the chart
Formulex
From £5.49
5ml, Cutting 1
Ionic Soil Grow
From £9.92
5ml, Grow 1 to Flower 1
Ionic Soil Bloom
From £9.92
7ml, Flower 2 to Flower 8
Ionic PK 14/15 Boost
From £7.45
The bloom booster, weekly
Liquid Silicon
From £3.49
5ml per 10 litres, every stage
Nitrozyme
From £14.49
5ml as a mist, then 5ml per 10 litres
Common questions
Growth Technology publish by stage — where do the week numbers come from?
Their leaflet has three columns, Propagation, Grow and Bloom, and no weeks at all. The grid above lays those stages out across the weeks they cover, over a cutting week, four Grow weeks and eight Flower weeks, with Growth Technology's own dose repeated in each week of a stage. No figure has been invented, and if your run is longer or shorter you use the stage the plant is actually in.
What does 5ml/10L mean?
Five millilitres in ten litres of water. Most of this chart is per single litre, but Liquid Silicon is printed per ten litres, and so is Nitrozyme once the plant is past propagation. A ten-litre can takes 5ml of Liquid Silicon in total.
When do I start feeding a bag of compost?
When the plant asks for it. Bagged soils usually carry two to four weeks of their own fertiliser, so the Grow columns start once that is used up and growth slows. Feeding on top of a fresh bag is how pots get over-fed.
Do Soil Grow and Soil Bloom overlap?
For one week. Ionic Soil Grow holds its dose through Flower 1, the first week after the lights go to twelve hours. It then stops, and Ionic Soil Bloom runs on its own from Flower 2 to Flower 8.
Growing in coco or hydroponics instead?
Growth Technology publish a separate IONIC schedule for each, at different rates and a different pH range. See the IONIC coco feed chart and the IONIC hydroponics feed chart.
Shop the full Growth Technology range
Figures as published by Growth Technology on their own IONIC Schedule leaflet, grotec.co.uk. Always read the label on the bottle you own. Growth Technology is a trade mark of its owner.