Live Stoners My 1st time attempting a soil grow. Need a few tips please.

[Cubaniche79]

Greetings to all. So far I have done 2 grows using DWC and seeds that i had collected whenever I found any. But this go round i wanna try my hand at soil and with some quality seeds. I ordered 5-Gelato, 5-Zkittlez, and 5-Wedding Cake seeds from ILGM, all of them autoflower, which is also something else ive never tried. I ordered OF soil which arrives today but my main question is... Will I be able to use the nutes that I currently have in a soil grow? Im really excited to get going but i dont wanna waste these seeds I bought because I paid good $ for them.

Here are the nutes and everything I currently have:

Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated. Thx in advance

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

@Cubaniche79 Welcome to AFNOF is too hot for autos. I would mix it well 50/50 with Just plain peat (not amended). Maybe add about 10% perlite. Then get some seed starting soil mix like Jiffy. Take a solo cup and press it down in the soil to make a cavity. Fill that cavity with the seed starter and plant your seed in that directly. Autos should not be transplanted if it can be avoided. The tap root of a cannabis plant can grow 9 inches in three days and the lateral roots are not far behind. Transplanting can stunt the growth. Water the entire pot when needed. Roots will not grow into a dry spot. You will not need to fertilize for the first 2, 3 or 4 weeks. Every strain is different about what they like.

Yes you can use the products you have. Do you have an EC meter and PH pen? You will need them. Read about balanced nutrients here:

Tutorial - A word on Nutrients

The proper use of “salt” based fertilizer to grow Auto Flowering Cannabis. Salts: Natural and man made any chemical compound formed from the reaction of an acid with a base, with all or part of the hydrogen of the acid replaced by a metal or other cation. Learning how to use salt based...

www.autoflower.org

You probably will not need the HydroGuard but it will not harm. Put that Cal-Mag out of reach. Unless there is a quality control issue with the OF there should be plenty of Dolomite Lime to provide all of the calcium and magnesium you will need for the entire grow

I have a spreadsheet that does the math on the Flora Series for you. Simply enter how many gallons you want to mix and the % strength you want and it gives you the amounts to add. Be sure to follow the mixing instructions because it matters what order they go into the mix. Ignore the PPMs info as that is the full strength number from GH - way to strong for autos and even many Photos. I had the best results in the 50% - 60% range. When you do start feeding start with week 3 on the spreadsheet.

Flora Series.xlsx

Shared with Jumpshare

jmp.sh

 

[Cubaniche79]

@Cubaniche79 Welcome to AFNOF is too hot for autos. I would mix it well 50/50 with Just plain peat (not amended). Maybe add about 10% perlite. Then get some seed starting soil mix like Jiffy. Take a solo cup and press it down in the soil to make a cavity. Fill that cavity with the seed starter and plant your seed in that directly. Autos should not be transplanted if it can be avoided. The tap root of a cannabis plant can grow 9 inches in three days and the lateral roots are not far behind. Transplanting can stunt the growth. Water the entire pot when needed. Roots will not grow into a dry spot. You will not need to fertilize for the first 2, 3 or 4 weeks. Every strain is different about what they like.

Yes you can use the products you have. Do you have an EC meter and PH pen? You will need them. Read about balanced nutrients here:

Tutorial - A word on Nutrients

The proper use of “salt” based fertilizer to grow Auto Flowering Cannabis. Salts: Natural and man made any chemical compound formed from the reaction of an acid with a base, with all or part of the hydrogen of the acid replaced by a metal or other cation. Learning how to use salt based...

www.autoflower.org

You probably will not need the HydroGuard but it will not harm. Put that Cal-Mag out of reach. Unless there is a quality control issue with the OF there should be plenty of Dolomite Lime to provide all of the calcium and magnesium you will need for the entire grow

I have a spreadsheet that does the math on the Flora Series for you. Simply enter how many gallons you want to mix and the % strength you want and it gives you the amounts to add. Be sure to follow the mixing instructions because it matters what order they go into the mix. Ignore the PPMs info as that is the full strength number from GH - way to strong for autos and even many Photos. I had the best results in the 50% - 60% range. When you do start feeding start with week 3 on the spreadsheet.

Flora Series.xlsx

Shared with Jumpshare

jmp.sh

View attachment 1331532

Oh wow Man, u have no idea how much I appreciate your advice brotha, honestly!! Like I mentioned before I only know about DWC and ive read a bunch of negative things about growing autos in DWC. So im SUPER nervous trying out soil for my very 1st time having spent good $ on these seeds. Now can I buy the peat and perlite at Lowes or Depot? Someone recommend I line the bottom of my pot with the clay pellets also, for good drainage I imagine, so I was also gonna do that. Is that necessary in your opinion? Im using 4 gal grow bags and I was told that would be sufficient to last the entire grow. And yes I do have an EC meter and PH pen, but ive never used an EC meter so Im gonna have to learn. Ive always used RO water, should I continue with that or do you recommend going with distilled or something else? Ok then so tomorrow im hitting up Lowes for some plain peat, perlite, and Jiffy seed starter.

Thx again for your input. I need as much as I can get.

 

[Cubaniche79]

One more thing... I have starter plugs that I was gonna use for germination. Should I skip those n just plant the seed directly in to the Jiffy starter soil instead?

 

[EP3]

@Cubaniche79 welcome to the family.
@Mañ'O'Green knows his stuff. Good guy to listen too.
Good luck on your grow.
Cheers,
EP3

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Oh wow Man, u have no idea how much I appreciate your advice brotha, honestly!! Like I mentioned before I only know about DWC and ive read a bunch of negative things about growing autos in DWC. So im SUPER nervous trying out soil for my very 1st time having spent good $ on these seeds. Now can I buy the peat and perlite at Lowes or Depot? Someone recommend I line the bottom of my pot with the clay pellets also, for good drainage I imagine, so I was also gonna do that. Is that necessary in your opinion? Im using 4 gal grow bags and I was told that would be sufficient to last the entire grow. And yes I do have an EC meter and PH pen, but ive never used an EC meter so Im gonna have to learn. Ive always used RO water, should I continue with that or do you recommend going with distilled or something else? Ok then so tomorrow im hitting up Lowes for some plain peat, perlite, and Jiffy seed starter.

Thx again for your input. I need as much as I can get.

First off I grew my best Autos in DWC so whoever said bad things about it is full of shit and you can tell them I told you so.

Yes it should be available at any local store that sells plant supplies.

No, never line pots with peables or anything else. Plants and water drainage need homogeneous soil. No the smallest pot for a water only would be 5 gallon and 7 is better In True Living Soil. OF is not True Living Soil. RO or Distilled about the same. You can use tap water unless it is over 200 PPM to start or has known contamination. I doubt that since you drink it and aren't deed yet

One more thing... I have starter plugs that I was gonna use for germination. Should I skip those n just plant the seed directly in to the Jiffy starter soil instead?

I would just plant the seed directly in the Jiffy Seed starter soil. 1/2 inch deep. keep evenly moist 80°F with 70% RH.

 

[Doug58]

Just my own experience:

My local Happy Hydro store was out of Happy Frog I have been using the last few years so I had to use OF which the person running the Hydro store said was too hot. I mixed it with Promix HP about 50-50%. It might still not be the best. I started my seeds in a shot glass with a few drops of H2O2, filled the top of my container with an inch or two of straight Promix HP to plant my soaked seeds in.

The Hydro shop recommended Roots instead of Ocean Forest but I've never used it and they were out the day I was there.

I've still been running into some minor issues I suspect is from my well water which seems to have had it's ph number rise from last year and I haven't been able to get it dialed in. I'm currently in a drought or I would only use rain water harvesting usually.

If you grow outdoors I think it is better to build your own soil and build it with compost, worm castings, composted cow manure, Canadian Goose manure and grow straight in the ground. I also mixed in bagged top soil and used potting mix from pots every Spring. When I grow straight in the ground I don't use any nutrients other than manure and have had no issues with over watering, nutrient burn or even using my well water straight from the hose.

I've got 75 seedlings coming up now from my outdoor plot just from raking up the soil bed and tossing a handful of seeds onto the ground and raking soil over them. I don't plan on doing much more than turning on a sprinkler if I don't get rain often enough and thinning out the grow a bit. These will be from a strain I ran a seed run on last year where I crossed a very small strain called Azure Rocket with a Northern Lights strain. Azure Rocket doesn't get taller than 18 inches.

I have never managed to get any of my weed seeds to sprout from Jiffy Pellets. I wouldn't plant seeds I bought in them. Seedbank seeds are too expensive to chance in Jiffy Pellets for me.

I can't get worm castings anymore though. I use to pick up 160 lbs for $16.00. Place apparently closed down, heard the guy died and his wife closed it down a few months ago. I had to start using Canadian Goose droppings from the geese that invade my yard. I top dress my plot with it and have had no issues with it being fresh from the goose.

 

[Cubaniche79]

@Cubaniche79 welcome to the family.
@Mañ'O'Green knows his stuff. Good guy to listen too.
Good luck on your grow.
Cheers,
EP3

Thank u brother. Thats what I like most about this community... How people are willing to share their knowledge to see u succeed.

 

[Cubaniche79]

First off I grew my best Autos in DWC so whoever said bad things about it is full of shit and you can tell them I told you so.

Yes it should be available at any local store that sells plant supplies.

No, never line pots with peables or anything else. Plants and water drainage need homogeneous soil. No the smallest pot for a water only would be 5 gallon and 7 is better In True Living Soil. OF is not True Living Soil. RO or Distilled about the same. You can use tap water unless it is over 200 PPM to start or has known contamination. I doubt that since you drink it and aren't deed yet


I would just plant the seed directly in the Jiffy Seed starter soil. 1/2 inch deep. keep evenly moist 80°F with 70% RH.

Damn so I would need a min of 5 gal grow bag to last the entire grow? Man I was told all kinds of crazy shit then. The one thing i want to avoid at all cost is having to transplant. And I actually read in more than a couple places that autos dont do so well in DWC thats why I went soil this time. Oh well I always wanted to try soil so no better time. I can always go back to DWC n I really enjoyed it too. I looked at those charts u sent me n they may as well be in Chinese. LOL. Ive never checked ppm or nothing. Just ph. So when the time comes u might hear from me for a lil guidance if thats cool. Thx a bunch man u've been more than helpfull already.

 

[Cubaniche79]

Just my own experience:

My local Happy Hydro store was out of Happy Frog I have been using the last few years so I had to use OF which the person running the Hydro store said was too hot. I mixed it with Promix HP about 50-50%. It might still not be the best. I started my seeds in a shot glass with a few drops of H2O2, filled the top of my container with an inch or two of straight Promix HP to plant my soaked seeds in.

The Hydro shop recommended Roots instead of Ocean Forest but I've never used it and they were out the day I was there.

I've still been running into some minor issues I suspect is from my well water which seems to have had it's ph number rise from last year and I haven't been able to get it dialed in. I'm currently in a drought or I would only use rain water harvesting usually.

If you grow outdoors I think it is better to build your own soil and build it with compost, worm castings, composted cow manure, Canadian Goose manure and grow straight in the ground. I also mixed in bagged top soil and used potting mix from pots every Spring. When I grow straight in the ground I don't use any nutrients other than manure and have had no issues with over watering, nutrient burn or even using my well water straight from the hose.

I've got 75 seedlings coming up now from my outdoor plot just from raking up the soil bed and tossing a handful of seeds onto the ground and raking soil over them. I don't plan on doing much more than turning on a sprinkler if I don't get rain often enough and thinning out the grow a bit. These will be from a strain I ran a seed run on last year where I crossed a very small strain called Azure Rocket with a Northern Lights strain. Azure Rocket doesn't get taller than 18 inches.

I have never managed to get any of my weed seeds to sprout from Jiffy Pellets. I wouldn't plant seeds I bought in them. Seedbank seeds are too expensive to chance in Jiffy Pellets for me.

I can't get worm castings anymore though. I use to pick up 160 lbs for $16.00. Place apparently closed down, heard the guy died and his wife closed it down a few months ago. I had to start using Canadian Goose droppings from the geese that invade my yard. I top dress my plot with it and have had no issues with it being fresh from the goose.

Damn... I would love to have a yard where I can plant 75 seeds. Yeah thats the same thing MañOGreen suggested also... To mix it 50/50 cuz its too hot. Im really grateful for that advise too cuz I wouldve used straight OF and wasted a seed. Thats another reason im glad im only growing 1 plant at a time. I can see what works best for the others. Thx again man n good luck on your field.