About to start some Mephisto Autos, advice needed on first grow!

[Glizzy2x]

Hey there! Welcome to AFN Ive been growing for about a year and have recently switched over to organics so I might be able to help out with some of the questions you had on the specifics.

You're definitely on the right track and have done your research. One thing I noticed is you were going to layer your soil. I would recommend against that as it can cause a range of issues with your plants roots. It's better to just mix it all in together.
I pH my water each time to 6.3-6.5. I use RO water with about 100ppms of calimagic, some hydroguard and some yucca. I found that input water can cause a lot of issues and my local water is terrible which is why I do that. My plants get recharge once a week and then a dose of bud candy in the last 2 weeks of flower. Other than that just pH'd water.
As far as nutrients go the CoM should be good, I have never used it but I have heard of others using it and having good luck. I use Down to Earth personally but either should work great. My plants get a weekly top dress after my fox farm ocean forest runs out at about day 25.

If you're worried about any deficiencies you can pick up a few things to have just in case. Bone meal in particular is great for P deficiencies. I ran into that with nearly all of my original plants and was the one thing I wish I had gotten earlier. I also had issues later on with calcium deficiencies, some Dolomite lime or calmag will handle that. Blood meal for FAST doses of N, kelp meal for K, lime and Epsom salts or Cal/Mag for calcium and magnesium. It's not a bad idea to have some worm castings to mix in with your dry top dress. You can just use some extra soil as well.

Here is a link to my current grow if you wanted some more specific information. Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions

https://www.autoflower.org/threads/dankersons-grow-show.87720/page-52

Hey, thanks for the warm welcome! That’s quite a bit of information to digest right now, I will definitely be visiting you response later to take it all in thoroughly. As far as mixing the soil, that’s not a bad idea, I might opt for that option. I’ll also take a look at your grow & will reach out later if I have any questions!

 

[Dankerson]

Be careful with the dry amendments, they are stronger than you think and it’s easy to overdo it. They take about two weeks to take full effect and I would only use them at half strength, especially because the soil you are using has quite a bit in the tank.

I thought dry ammendments started to kick in after about 2-3 days? At least with my DTE ones that's what I thought, not sure about others. I've heard the two week rule with some pelletized stuff like dolomite lime and stuff that takes awhile to break down but for dry dust like stuff I thought it works quicker?

 

[Dankerson]

Hey, thanks for the warm welcome! That’s quite a bit of information to digest right now, I will definitely be visiting you response later to take it all in thoroughly. As far as mixing the soil, that’s not a bad idea, I might opt for that option. I’ll also take a look at your grow & will reach out later if I have any questions!

Yeah to be honest organics is one of the more complicated ways to grow from what I've realized. I started out with bottle nutes and I'm setup to run DWC hydro so I've looked into a lot of methods.

You could look into living soil and do something like a tea-lab compost tea brew and mainly go with that. I'm going to give that a try here soon as it seems like a simpler way to do organics rather than all the top dressing and soil mixing.

Most guys will either start with a super soil mix or make one of their own and then top dress when that runs out. I have a couple recipes for soil as well as admixes if you want them just let me know. Nice part about mixing up a big batch of admix is you can just use it to top dress on your schedule and not have to mix it up every time.

 

[MIAutomatic]

I thought dry ammendments started to kick in after about 2-3 days? At least with my DTE ones that's what I thought, not sure about others. I've heard the two week rule with some pelletized stuff like dolomite lime and stuff that takes awhile to break down but for dry dust like stuff I thought it works quicker?

Some things are water soluble, like langbeinite, but others need to break down in the soil. DtE tells you on every package what is water soluble, and in most mixes it’s only a small amount of the total nutrients. Most dry amendments will start to become available in 2-3 days but take much longer to fully breakdown and release all of the nutrients. I was suggesting always waiting at least two weeks between applications, which is pretty standard practice I think. DtE recommends every 2-4 weeks for most products I think?

 

[Dankerson]

Some things are water soluble, like langbeinite, but others need to break down in the soil. DtE tells you on every package what is water soluble, and in most mixes it’s only a small amount of the total nutrients. Most dry amendments will start to become available in 2-3 days but take much longer to fully breakdown and release all of the nutrients. I was suggesting always waiting at least two weeks between applications, which is pretty standard practice I think. DtE recommends every 2-4 weeks for most products I think?

Ah okay yeah that makes a lot more sense, thanks for the information. That's basically what I do without realizing. Just had to time that first top dress correctly and get a schedule down the plants happy with.

 

[Glizzy2x]

I would reconsider putting those CLDC and Mango Smile in the same grow, they are VERY different plants, about as different as two auto flower plants can be. I suppose you didn’t mention if you were growing these indoors or outdoors, but indoor having these two plants sharing the same space is going to present additional challenges, and for your first grow you really want to keep it simple and not add additional variables into the equation.

CLDC is a pretty short plant (2-3ft) and mango smile is a very tall plant, maybe the tallest in the Mephisto catalog (5ft+ If not topped or trained) CLDC does well with very little training and MS really needs significant training indoors to get the most out of her. CLDC being heavily indica tends to like a little more nitrogen. MS being heavily sativa may prefer less nitrogen and do best without getting any veg specific nutrients at all. Keeping the canopy even for good light placement will be more difficult. They have much different flowering times. It could be done of course, I am just trying to make the case that mixing these two strains is going to give you a lot of added complexity, something you don’t want on your first grow. I have been growing a long time and I wouldn’t put these two plants in the same space just because keeping the canopy even would be a huge pain.

I would do just the CLDC. It‘s a pretty fast plant, easy to grow, not too tall and she is hardy and has good yields. I think she is the perfect plant for your first grow.

Be careful with the dry amendments, they are stronger than you think and it’s easy to overdo it. They take about two weeks to take full effect and I would only use them at half strength, especially because the soil you are using has quite a bit in the tank.

Good luck!

You know it’s funny you mentioned that, because I was just thinking about growing the CDLC by itself this morning. I’ve done quite a bit of research on the strains as well, so I’m aware that they grow very differently from each other. When I picked the strains to grow, I wanted to do a Sativa dominant & an Indica dominant.

I know it’s late in the season, but I’m growing both strains in a greenhouse outside. Using the greenhouse will give me a bit more control over the environment, while giving both plants natural sunlight, & giving the MS room to get as tall as she wants. My biggest concerns with the MS is that it takes a bit longer to finish than the CDLC, probably late Oct/early Nov. While the CDLC should finish around early Oct. For the MS I’m concerned about pushing the grow out that late. I feel confident enough that I can pull off the CDLC, but with the MS, I feel other factors outside of my control could potentially lessen my yield etc. (changes in temp etc) As you suggested I might just run the CDLC & wait for next season to run the MS or run indoor.

Thanks for the other advice you mentioned. Having that knowledge from someone who has dealt with the strains first hand is useful!

 

[Glizzy2x]

I wouldn’t get this stuff, just stick with the dry amendments and silica you have already selected and you will be golden. Adding PK boosters gets new growers into all sorts of trouble. Overfeeding happens 10x more often than getting an actual deficiency and this is especially true for new growers.

Like others have said, keep it simple and less is more.

Ok, thanks for the advice! I’ll keep it simple lol

 

[MIAutomatic]

Yeah to be honest organics is one of the more complicated ways to grow from what I've realized. I started out with bottle nutes and I'm setup to run DWC hydro so I've looked into a lot of methods.

I totally agree with @Dankerson, organic growing looks simple on paper, but getting it really dialed can be tricky. I think the easiest way to start out is with mild soil or soil less mix and one of the standard bottled nutrient lines like GH, Fox Farm, FloraMax, Canna, they all work well when used properly and make understanding and controlling inputs easier. This is all just IMO of course.

 

[Glizzy2x]

Yeah to be honest organics is one of the more complicated ways to grow from what I've realized. I started out with bottle nutes and I'm setup to run DWC hydro so I've looked into a lot of methods.

You could look into living soil and do something like a tea-lab compost tea brew and mainly go with that. I'm going to give that a try here soon as it seems like a simpler way to do organics rather than all the top dressing and soil mixing.

Most guys will either start with a super soil mix or make one of their own and then top dress when that runs out. I have a couple recipes for soil as well as admixes if you want them just let me know. Nice part about mixing up a big batch of admix is you can just use it to top dress on your schedule and not have to mix it up every time.

I originally was going to run OF & their nutes but decided against it after doing more research. Mostly because I’ve read it tends to be too hot. Now the Great Lakes soil is a water only living soil & using that sounded a less lot complicated. I opted to use RO as well because I’ve heard some great things about it.

Yeah I definitely be interested in that. The more knowledge the better!

 

[Dankerson]

I originally was going to run OF & their nutes but decided against it after doing more research. Mostly because I’ve read it tends to be too hot. Now the Great Lakes soil is a water only living soil & using that sounded a less lot complicated. I opted to use RO as well because I’ve heard some great things about it.

Yeah I definitely be interested in that. The more knowledge the better!

I know youve already decided but just as a reference Ive ran OF and for my first two grows used their bottle nutes and I recommend them. They work great if used properly.

It's an excellent soil and their bottle nutes are pretty decent. I think because they are so popular a lot of new growers use them and end up blaming the soil for their mistakes. I've had great success with both planting all my autos straight into OF and using a 1/4 strength on their nutes. I averaged 3-6oz a plant, larger strains more.

Sounds like your set on the water front, have a gander at the tea lab stuff when you get a second. I wish I had before I started my grow as I would have likely gone that route.