First growth ever questions!

[Mañ'O'Green]

@Mañ'O'Green Quick question for you sir. If I use the gaia green living soil, would I be able to reuse it for another growth or do I need to use fresh soil and discard the one that was use before?

With proper top dressing and careful additions you should be able to use Live soil indefinitely. @Proph grows that way and may be able to help you with that.

 

[MaskedPlants]

@Mañ'O'Green Hi! I was wondering if a 3gal pot would be too small for my second plant? I know you said it would be better in a 5gal pot, but I only have 8gal of soil right now and I wanted to do one plant in a 5gal and the other in a 3gal.. Would it just be a waste of a seed?
Also, would two plants be ok in a 2x2? Or should I just do the one in the 5gal?
Thanks, I appreciate the knowledge!

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

@MaskedPlants I am more of a Hydro/salt grower you need @Proph to point you in the right direction.

 

[MaskedPlants]

Hello @Proph !! Asking you some question about my living organic soil grow :

I was wondering if a 3gal pot would be too small for my second plant? I know it would be better in a 5gal pot, but I only have 8gal of soil right now and I wanted to do one plant in a 5gal and the other in a 3gal.. Would it just be a waste of a seed?
Also, would two plants be ok in a 2x2? Or should I just do the one in the 5gal?
Thanks, I appreciate the knowledge!

 

[Proph]

Hello @Proph !! Asking you some question about my living organic soil grow :

I was wondering if a 3gal pot would be too small for my second plant? I know it would be better in a 5gal pot, but I only have 8gal of soil right now and I wanted to do one plant in a 5gal and the other in a 3gal.. Would it just be a waste of a seed?
Also, would two plants be ok in a 2x2? Or should I just do the one in the 5gal?
Thanks, I appreciate the knowledge!

Hello! The first things you may want to do is pick a growing style, then learn as much as possible about that grow style. Seems you've picked a "living soil".. If that's the route you want to take, then you will want to learn as much as possible about growing in a living soil. You have also stated that you will be using a 3 part nutrient line... It's usually one or the other... Living soil, or nutrient line.. Not both. That's why it's not making sense to you to add nutrients from the start, to a soil that is already loaded with nutrients. You can reuse all soils. That's a main point of growing in soil. If you use a nutrient line, the soil needs to be flushed before it's reused. If you are growing in living soil, then it can immediately be reused. Pot size is not important when you are using a nutrient line. It's a major factor though if you are growing water only in living soil. If that's the style choice, the bigger the pot, the more available food. Two plants in a 2x2 should be fine depending on the genetics. A 5 gallon pot can produce a pretty big/tall plant.. So let's do some math if you're in a 2x2x5 tent.. 70 inches of total height...The hung light will take up at least a foot of height... The 5 gal pot itself is at least 10 inches tall.. You need space between the light and plants.. so another 18 inches.. That's 70-12-10-18.. Which leaves 30 inches max plant height. So if your plants get any taller than 2 1/2 feet (which most do), you'll have space issues. Just some things to think about. But first, you need to pick a grow style.. Living soil/organic.. Or a nutrient line.. That will determine how you proceed in your grows!

 

[MaskedPlants]

@Proph Wow that's a lot of things to think about.
I will be using Gaia Green Living Soil with Gaia Green 4-4-4 all purpose dry amendments for top dressing. I'm guessing that's a solid combo?
Based on your calculations, I will be only growing 1 plant in a 5gal and I'll LST to make sure it grows more horizontally then vertically.
Also thoughts on water ph in living soil? Should I keep it around 6.2? I've heard water ph in soil does not matter as much... But I do have the pH meter ready to go.
Also, reusing living soil, you say it is good to go immediately after a grow, but should I add some dry amendments in it for the next grow or is there still some nutrients left from the last grow?
I appreciate the feedback a lot! Trying to learn as much as I can before I do anything!

 

[Proph]

@Proph Wow that's a lot of things to think about.
I will be using Gaia Green Living Soil with Gaia Green 4-4-4 all purpose dry amendments for top dressing. I'm guessing that's a solid combo?
Based on your calculations, I will be only growing 1 plant in a 5gal and I'll LST to make sure it grows more horizontally then vertically.
Also thoughts on water ph in living soil? Should I keep it around 6.2? I've heard water ph in soil does not matter as much... But I do have the pH meter ready to go.
Also, reusing living soil, you say it is good to go immediately after a grow, but should I add some dry amendments in it for the next grow or is there still some nutrients left from the last grow?
I appreciate the feedback a lot! Trying to learn as much as I can before I do anything!

Sounds like a plan. The top dress should be fine.. Just keep in mind that you are growing autos in a living soil. If you keep the soil alive and regenerating, you shouldn't need much more than water only or a compost tea here and there. I grow my main plants (including autos) in
15 gallon pots of living soil. I've never ph'd anything or checked anything. That's the purpose of organic growing.. To mimic nature and let the plant do the work.. Nature doesn't check ph, lol.. But you may need to understand the basics of organics for all of this to make sense.. You can check out my current grow if you'd like.. But I don't feed or top dress until the plants show signs that it's needed. And even then it's very light, and it rarely happens.. If you keep your soil alive, then there won't be anything you need to do after harvest. That style of growing is called "no till".. Where you do not disturb the soil after harvest, and just plant a new clone or seed in the pot. That's how I grow my photo period plants.
So the 4-4-4 should work fine.. Just don't try to follow the feed chart.. You aren't growing tomatoes, lol. I'm sure it says to add a certain amount per gallon of soil every month or two... I would do 1-2 tbsp per plant as needed.

https://www.autoflower.org/threads/prophsplace.80415/page-2#post-2359905

 

[MaskedPlants]

@Mañ'O'Green Well as you said, I'm having issues with heat and humidity in my tent with the 400w MH light even tuned down to 150w.

I'm keeping my tent door open to let some fresh air come in and it seems to be working ok for the most part, temperature overs around 77 degrees and ambient room temps is 66 degrees.
My issue is humidity, even with a small humidifier inside the tent, it stays at a constant low of 30-31. I'm afraid this will cause some issues when the seed starts growing.
I currently have a 4inch exhaust fan with the carbon filter strapped at the top and it's running quite fast, but it's not enough to keep the hot air out of the tent.
Would switching to a lower wattage LED light like the Mars Hydro TS 600 help at all?
Thanks again for your knowledge.
Also tagging @Proph in case he can also help!

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

@Mañ'O'Green Well as you said, I'm having issues with heat and humidity in my tent with the 400w MH light even tuned down to 150w.

I'm keeping my tent door open to let some fresh air come in and it seems to be working ok for the most part, temperature overs around 77 degrees and ambient room temps is 66 degrees.
My issue is humidity, even with a small humidifier inside the tent, it stays at a constant low of 30-31. I'm afraid this will cause some issues when the seed starts growing.
I currently have a 4inch exhaust fan with the carbon filter strapped at the top and it's running quite fast, but it's not enough to keep the hot air out of the tent.
Would switching to a lower wattage LED light like the Mars Hydro TS 600 help at all?
Thanks again for your knowledge.
Also tagging @Proph in case he can also help!

Yes I was afraid you had too much heat. Yes an LED fixture will help a lot. Do not go too small on the LED. I would go with the TSW2000.

You need to get that humidity up to at least 60% at 77°F.

Use a wet towel with one end in a bucket and the fan blowing at it. Your humidity will go up a lot when the plant gets bigger. Do not defoliate until you have humidity in range and then only for air flow underneath.