New Grower Looking for some advice on my first grow!

[MrMojoRisin]

I'm going to be getting everything setup today or tomorrow, my beans should be here in 7-14 days, so I assume it's fine to start pre soaking and balancing the PH of my soil now? I have everything that I would need to do it besides the dolomite of lime which I can get easily. I've actually seen some grow journals on here with people using roots organic and not having any issues. I'll know more once everything is up and running. Thanks for all the help guys.

I also tested my tap water straight from the tap (city water), the PPM was 80-100, but the PH was almost 9.0!!! After letting it sit for 12 hours to allow some of the chemicals to dissipate, the PH has dropped to below 8, and I'm assuming it will continue to drop. Going to do another test tonight. I'm hoping it will get closer to 7 and I'll just PH down it to 6.5. Wasn't expecting the PPM to be so low, but at a PH of 9 out of the tap isn't this almost unsafe to drink (not that I drink it)?

Using a hanna instruments Dual PH / PPM / EC Meter, factory calibrated (calibration info comes in the box, all hand written and seemed to be on point). I think these readings are accurate, but I am going to re calibrate just to be sure.

Perfect time to start as you'll have a minimum of 13-20 days before seedling are ready for the pots if they don;t arrive for 7-14 days from now. What is your plan for germination? Autos don't like to be transplanted from what I've read. Might be a good idea to start them in a jiffy pellet or rock wool then just place the whole kit and caboodle into your pots when the seedlings have shown 1st true leaves. Rock wool needs to be ph balanced as well. Jiffy pellets (peat pellets) are naturally a bit acidic, so using left out tap water for germ should be fine.

 

[Skurge]

Perfect time to start as you'll have a minimum of 13-20 days before seedling are ready for the pots if they don;t arrive for 7-14 days from now. What is your plan for germination? Autos don't like to be transplanted from what I've read. Might be a good idea to start them in a jiffy pellet or rock wool then just place the whole kit and caboodle into your pots when the seedlings have shown 1st true leaves. Rock wool needs to be ph balanced as well. Jiffy pellets (peat pellets) are naturally a bit acidic, so using left out tap water for germ should be fine.

I'm not sure what I'll be doing for germination yet. Not sure if I want to use the paper towel method as I might not be around enough to keep them moist, and I've read that the tap root can fuse to the paper towel. Most likely going to drop my seeds into a cup of distilled water and plant them once they take on some water and sink to the bottom (directly into 3 gal smart pots). I'm open to suggestions, but I feel like this is my best bet. I also plan to use this tap water throughout the entire grow assuming I can get the PH down to 6.5, the ppm is plenty low enough.