Soil issues

[ilovereggae]

I totally agree with FFOF being a bad choice for new growers. That’s what I started with because I always Heard that was the best soil out there for cannabis. If you use it to early it’s much to hot for small plants. After switching to something less hot ie roots organic I’ve had much better results. Adding nutes is not that that difficult.

I think its just all we knew, and its easy to find everywhere and relatively cheap. But like everything else in life, you get what you pay for.

Regarding supersoil vs nutes I agree its not that hard once you dial it in, but realistically that takes time. A new grower is gonna either over or under feed a couple of rounds until they figure out what works. I used FFOF/Bus/Ewc/Perlite and Roots Organics bottled nutes for a few years and the exact recipe is always strain dependant. Unless you are running the same clone every run you are constantly chasing the magic to keep them happy. It usually took me until my 3rd run with any strain to keep everything green up til week 6 of flower and end with a nice fade and not yellowed out and early dropping of fans leaves. I think a new grower would benefit from skipping all the guesswork, spending 2x as much on a super soil and not having to worry about any nutes. Usually a top dress or 2 of EWC should be enough in flower and they dont have to worry about burning anything.

 

[Ayokiwi717]

I totally agree with FFOF being a bad choice for new growers. That’s what I started with because I always Heard that was the best soil out there for cannabis. If you use it to early it’s much to hot for small plants. After switching to something less hot ie roots organic I’ve had much better results. Adding nutes is not that that difficult.

As I found out, the soil sux. I had better results with miracle grow

 

[Ayokiwi717]

I totally agree with FFOF being a bad choice for new growers. That’s what I started with because I always Heard that was the best soil out there for cannabis. If you use it to early it’s much to hot for small plants. After switching to something less hot ie roots organic I’ve had much better results. Adding nutes is not that that difficult.

I had better results with miracle grow then this crap

 

[Ayokiwi717]

I reuse soil and coco all the time and never have any problems. You're seedlings likely dampened off from over watering and creating the environment for pythium or other fungus's to grow. If you're using a dome for your seedlings stop. And use a spray bottle to mist the top of the soil just to keep it damp. You don't want wet soil you want moist soil.

I don't use a dome.

 

[Ayokiwi717]

After using FFOF for years because thats all I knew about, I switched to a supersoil / living soil style and am never going back. I really think FFOF is a poor choice for new growers bc by design its supposed to be supplemented with bottled nutes.

I have switched to just buying my soil from BuildASoil instead. The quality is so amazing I could never go back. Im on my first run with it all the way through- at week 4 of flower now and I have the best plants I ever grew and I have done nothing but water them. I am trying out veganic so I am even just using their Light soil mix. My friends are using the Olly mt fish compost LOS w killer results too, but honestly my plants are thriving and I dont think I even need the extra oomph. Even if I threw out the soil every run, I think it would come close in cost to buying cheap soil + bottles + labor/time mixing and chasing nute deficiencies the whole time. Im not sure if I will continually recycle it but I'm definitely going to run it multiple times and just ammend w ewc and maybe glacial rock dust. I have a friend on his 3rd round with it and his yields and plants are still amazing doing just that. I would highly recommend buying at least a 1/2 cu ft bag and trying it out on one plant and see what you think.

I am sure there are other good super soils for cannabis out there too, I just haven't used any of the others to know what to recommend. But I definitely think it is going to save you a lot of time and frustration in the long run.

Im guessing the light soil has low nutes. When do you start giving nutes, week three? I know you can't do it right off the bat

 

[Coloradogrower710]

Im guessing the light soil has low nutes. When do you start giving nutes, week three? I know you can't do it right off the bat

Week three might not be a bad starting point. The lighter soils have less nutes in them. What I do with liquid nutes is start with 1/4 the dosage on the bottle after a while I’ll go to half dosage and follow that schedule.

 

[Coloradogrower710]

As I found out, the soil sux. I had better results with miracle grow

It’s a good soil for bigger plants you wouldn’t have to give any nutes for like 4 weeks with FFOF just need to use it when you pot up when your plants are bigger.

 

[Coloradogrower710]

I think its just all we knew, and its easy to find everywhere and relatively cheap. But like everything else in life, you get what you pay for.

Regarding supersoil vs nutes I agree its not that hard once you dial it in, but realistically that takes time. A new grower is gonna either over or under feed a couple of rounds until they figure out what works. I used FFOF/Bus/Ewc/Perlite and Roots Organics bottled nutes for a few years and the exact recipe is always strain dependant. Unless you are running the same clone every run you are constantly chasing the magic to keep them happy. It usually took me until my 3rd run with any strain to keep everything green up til week 6 of flower and end with a nice fade and not yellowed out and early dropping of fans leaves. I think a new grower would benefit from skipping all the guesswork, spending 2x as much on a super soil and not having to worry about any nutes. Usually a top dress or 2 of EWC should be enough in flower and they dont have to worry about burning anything.

Really well said and thought out post. I agree using super soil is a great way to go for new growers. What you said about chasing the magic speaks to me on my latest grow I should have fed N sooner than I did and got some yellowing had to Up my feed a few times before they got happy again i tend to use less nutes and have the tendency for my plants to get hungry.

 

[Ayokiwi717]

Week three might not be a bad starting point. The lighter soils have less nutes in them. What I do with liquid nutes is start with 1/4 the dosage on the bottle after a while I’ll go to half dosage and follow that schedule.

I use a quarter nutes due to them being autos, never had alot of issues with nutes last grow, its more with getting them to not get root rot.

 

[Coloradogrower710]

I use a quarter nutes due to them being autos, never had alot of issues with nutes last grow, its more with getting them to not get root rot.

Don’t over water put your finger in the pot if you feel water before the first bend in your finger they don’t need water yet they can get thirsty it barely stunts the growth but over watering stunts them like crazy you can always give more water you can’t take it out.

 

[ilovereggae]

Im guessing the light soil has low nutes. When do you start giving nutes, week three? I know you can't do it right off the bat

Its not a light soil like a seed starting mix. Its a full on supersoil. No nutes needed at all. They just also have options with Malibu Bu's or Olly Mt Fish compost, and a few other heavier mixes. The Light soil is just their base mix, but it does have ewc and pinto bean compost as a food source in it. But it also has a mineral base for other elements you need. Its a living soil where you feed the soil itself, not the plants.

BuildASoil Light Recipe Soil - Soil by the Truck Load | BuildASoil

BuildASoil Light Recipe is our All-Purpose Mix available by the truckload. It was designed based on Logan Labs soil testing and saturated paste testing.

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