New Grower Nutes and Soil Question for newbie

[Lysergik_kid]

I'm in the planning phase for my first grow, the grow area is almost complete. I've bounced back and forth between DWC and soil and have decided on a soil grow.. I've seen Promix HP being used and I'm thinking about it.. but it being a "soil-less" medium I can't lie that i'm a bit confused by that. Would I add in nutes so the seedlings have something to run off the first 2 weeks. Also do you add nutes every feeding? I know these questions are probably really dumb but I really want to produce a good yield for my first grow.

I've been warned about oF which was what I was going to use so now I need help picking a good soil under $50. The nutes I ordered aren't here yet but they are the GH Flora Trio line. I want to add Overdrive as well.. any other nutes that would benefit this grow (Mephisto sour crack, Ripleys OG)

 

[talkative]

As far as a medium any soil is ok as long as it has good drainage. Promix already has good drainage, for the others you will probably have to add more perlite which is just a small rock that's been popped like popcorn. Seedlings need no fertilizer. Nothing for about 2 weeks after they have popped. Then yes, if the soil is sterile like promix you will need to add the nutrients. Not sure why you have been warned about , they are all about the same and this idea that any soil out of the bag is too hot is just a myth.
Feeding is a whole nuther topic, very controversial. Just follow the directions and start half strength. Too much and that's it. Not enough you can always add more. Pot almost never has a deficiency because the grower didn't add enough. The deficiency is just a result of an out of balance condition where too much of one thing locks out the other thing.
For a peat based soil just buy the cheapest bag of soil at the store and add some more peat and perlite, like 2 parts soil, 1 part peat and one part perlite even though the bagged soil already has peat and perlite in it, it needs more. Black Gold is a widely available economical brand. Avoid any soil that already has time released nutrients because then you won't know if you run into problems what caused it and what it needs. That maybe why the warning if that is the case with their soils, IDK, never used it. Promix is very high quality but they ask too much for it IMHO. Some add small amounts every watering, some like to feed water feed or feed water water feed. Probably has more to do with the growers schedule and personality than the plant. One thing to be aware of is salt build up in the soil from all the fertilizer, hence the practice of flushing with straight water. Not a problem for me since my soil is highly organic (if there is such a thing) and I only add trace amounts of nutrients.
Another thing to consider is substituting coco for peat or even growing in straight untouched coco. If I was starting all over that's what I would do. Coco can always be found at Petsmart or Petco if you can't find it anywhere else. A 650g brick is about equal to 8 qts of peat. I'm slowly converting from peat to coco because it is ph neutral and my worms really like it and too much peat can swing your ph all out of whack. In spite of what they tell you, coco needs nothing else added to it but the nutrients, It already has perfect drainage right out of the brick. The adding occurs when it is being reused.
Good luck

 

[BigD1128]

I am a noob as well. I did 2 soil grows with less than desirable results. I was never able to feed the right amounts. Too many nutes, not enough nutes, nutes too early, nutes too late. It was horrible. After that I discovered coco and never looked back. I was able to get the results of hydro in a medium that was similar to soil but much "cleaner" and overall easier to use.

 

[Gatorbackbob]

I like roots organics, add in at least 25% perlite, some lime, and Epsom salt, and don't need to add nutes until at least week 3-4

 

[Lysergik_kid]

As far as a medium any soil is ok as long as it has good drainage. Promix already has good drainage, for the others you will probably have to add more perlite which is just a small rock that's been popped like popcorn. Seedlings need no fertilizer. Nothing for about 2 weeks after they have popped. Then yes, if the soil is sterile like promix you will need to add the nutrients. Not sure why you have been warned about , they are all about the same and this idea that any soil out of the bag is too hot is just a myth.
Feeding is a whole nuther topic, very controversial. Just follow the directions and start half strength. Too much and that's it. Not enough you can always add more. Pot almost never has a deficiency because the grower didn't add enough. The deficiency is just a result of an out of balance condition where too much of one thing locks out the other thing.
For a peat based soil just buy the cheapest bag of soil at the store and add some more peat and perlite, like 2 parts soil, 1 part peat and one part perlite even though the bagged soil already has peat and perlite in it, it needs more. Black Gold is a widely available economical brand. Avoid any soil that already has time released nutrients because then you won't know if you run into problems what caused it and what it needs. That maybe why the warning if that is the case with their soils, IDK, never used it. Promix is very high quality but they ask too much for it IMHO. Some add small amounts every watering, some like to feed water feed or feed water water feed. Probably has more to do with the growers schedule and personality than the plant. One thing to be aware of is salt build up in the soil from all the fertilizer, hence the practice of flushing with straight water. Not a problem for me since my soil is highly organic (if there is such a thing) and I only add trace amounts of nutrients.
Another thing to consider is substituting coco for peat or even growing in straight untouched coco. If I was starting all over that's what I would do. Coco can always be found at Petsmart or Petco if you can't find it anywhere else. A 650g brick is about equal to 8 qts of peat. I'm slowly converting from peat to coco because it is ph neutral and my worms really like it and too much peat can swing your ph all out of whack. In spite of what they tell you, coco needs nothing else added to it but the nutrients, It already has perfect drainage right out of the brick. The adding occurs when it is being reused.
Good luck

Thanks for the information man, I really appreciate it. I'm ordering my seeds this weekend and should have ready to start in 2 weeks or so. Alot of people are telling me about coco and I'm really interested in it! I'll keep researching and find out the best route to take.

 

[talkative]

Thanks for the information man, I really appreciate it. I'm ordering my seeds this weekend and should have ready to start in 2 weeks or so. Alot of people are telling me about coco and I'm really interested in it! I'll keep researching and find out the best route to take.

ok, just don't drink the kool aid. I buy my coco at walmart order online free shipping. Add to that the 2 gal/mo of ewc my WF360 produces and it really isn't coco anymore and the more it's reused the more it becomes soil. I just use the NPK from NPK industries. because I keep pure virgin unused coco in the bottom of the airpot so and it's more like hydro, so I don't have any friends. So maybe like in flower like today 1/8 tsp K, 1/4 tsp P/ 1 gallon ph water. You can buy a 2oz pkg of each for $10 a piece. But once you buy an 8oz bag you're hooked.

 

[White Punk on Dope]

Welcome @Lysergik_kid to AFN and a world of experts. Many great growers here in soil and hydro. You lucked out in finding this site.
I as many here totally fuked up my first grow so bad using nutes that I was shocked to produce anything worth smoking. I now live in the
world of white cob light and organic soil. These two were made for each other. I suggest you throw together a medium and start growing
and in the meantime research and consider building your own soil which takes a little time to get it ready. I now water my soil with PH'd
water/molasses and watch the wonders of my plants. Simple and easy. Growing can be very frustrating or it can be fun. I have done both
and assure the fun side is much better.
Here try one of mine..........very nice eh?
Someday this will be you.............but not now.......LOL

 

[talkative]

Welcome @Lysergik_kid to AFN and a world of experts. Many great growers here in soil and hydro. You lucked out in finding this site.
I as many here totally fuked up my first grow so bad using nutes that I was shocked to produce anything worth smoking. I now live in the
world of white cob light and organic soil. These two were made for each other. I suggest you throw together a medium and start growing
and in the meantime research and consider building your own soil which takes a little time to get it ready. I now water my soil with PH'd
water/molasses and watch the wonders of my plants. Simple and easy. Growing can be very frustrating or it can be fun. I have done both
and assure the fun side is much better.
Here try one of mine..........very nice eh?
Someday this will be you.............but not now.......LOL

always mixed in a great deal of tomato-tone in my soil, 5 cups per 8 gallon container. But when I switched to autos I didn't like the way the nitrogen made them grow so I switched to Flower-tone which was lower in N and that's when all my problems started. My plants would start out beautifully and then just hit a brick wall and start turning brown. But still they had really big buds and potent smoke. I'm smoking some right now. So I went through everything even though by then I was knowledgeable enough to know all the wrong things beginners do but what else was I going to do? What could it be? I'd tested my soil and it is sky high in everything all organic, only thing totally missing not even showing up was iron. I had not only just switched to autos but also had 2 brand new led lights and new big#10 airpots all at the same so it took me a while. Even though I knew there couldn't possibly be an NPK deficiency I started giving them the only fertilizer I have ever had in the last ten years, Jacks Blossum booster, and the ones I caught early started improving to the point where the degradation slowed down enough it could be identified. Oddly enough the first textbook case I had was the iron deficiency, but I was also for the first time getting classic MG and then CA deficiency and how could that be? I only use tap water should be enough calcium. I started googling iron and everything and was also slowly converting from peat to coco so everything had to be rethought out and I got into hydro nutes and got a truncheon and a bluelab ph meter and went to town, and what I found out was 1/4 teaspoon of Jacks in a gallon of my tap water created 6.5 water. Lack of Calcium in the new flower-tone versus the calcium in the old tomato-tone may have made a difference, but still there was enough of everything, just ph shut the right things out and then the good things left started becoming bad things. All or mostly just because of ph swings. Now I'm back to Tomato-tone and 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of jacks just to get a 6.5 ph water.