Indoor Alan Smithee has a two part question: Happy Frog and Smart Pots

[GCase]

Howdy all:

I need to get a med. grow going asap. I have a new grow set-up and tent etc. However, I am not going to be able to attended to soilless needs like I intended. Will have three plants going could drop to two if germ is unsuccessful etc. My questions:

1. I want to use a forgiving and cooler soil. Happy Frog looks good. I will be using 2 part FloraNova and assoc. supplements (they sent me samples--plenty for small grower). Will use R/O water this time.

Any comments/suggestions on this. Appreciated.

2. Thought I might use Smart Pots or what are sometimes called dirt bags. probably 2 gallon. Don't want plants getting to unmanageable. And has anyone used 1 gallon successfully. Can stay with regular pots if recommended.

Any comments/suggestions on this. Once again Very much appreciated.

All---Take it nice and easy.

 

[adz]

cant help with soil man but good luck with your grow

 

[namvet25]

Happy Frog with a little perlite added should work fine.Smart pots will work good but I wouldn't go under 2 gal.You might want to add some mychorazae root stimulater with it to develope a better root system.:smokebuds:

 

[astronomy420a]

glad to hear your starting another grow! i would say, if you have the head room in your new tent, stick with the largest pot you can, small pots mean smaller plants!and smaller yeilds. dont start off limiting yourself, it's prolly better to lst the plants than give them small pots! cant wait to see some baby's!:buds: subbed!

 

[GCase]

Thanks adz, namvet25, and astro.

 

[GCase]

Another question for soil guys: Any Happy Frog users know how PH runs out of the bag and what you have used to balance before planting if anything. And amending with perlite is 20% about right.

Thanks again. Take it nice and easy.

 

[Hugo]

Happy frog already has oyster shell and dolomite lime, so I'd just monitor it as it should be ok. I wouldn't mind to add some humic acids in there.

Top soil :thumbs: wish I had it here to grow with too!

Great you're starting a grow!

 

[low_and_slow]

I was getting runoff in the 4's pouring pH 7 water through 10L of HF. I amended with about 1/4 cup of powdered dolomite lime layered throughout the pot every few inches and ended up getting right about neutral after my 3rd or 4th watering.

Personally, I'm not much of a fan of the bag I used...I have another bag mixed into some TLO Super Soil right now, haven't checked the pH yet but I also went heavy on the lime in that recipe.

As far as perlite is concerned, yeah 20-25% sounds right...HF is very very dense, barky, humusy and benefits from amendment.

On the other hand, the Sunshine Mix #4 Advanced I have was absolutely perfect pH from the very first watering and I think is a much better soil. If you were planning on going organics only, it's probably not the right choice, but if you are using the Flora Duo I would absolutely try out a bag.

 

[Hugo]

I've no experience with it, can only see from the ingredients, but was it that bad? 4? Damn! Why then do they even use dolomite lime if it's not on the correct amount? ...

It's like they dont use it actually, because 4.5 is the usual pH of sphagnum peat.

 

[GCase]

Thanks Hugo and low_and_slow.

low_and_soil great info. Just the kind of user feedback I needed and alternate suggestions. Appreciated greatly :thumbs:.