help me choose a medium for my soil.

[ThorGanjason]

OK, so I'm about to get my order from attitudes in, which will (hopefully) be a bunch of mostly sativa dank. I've got some bag seed seedlings under some CFLs for the time being to try and go ahead and get some experience with starting it up, and I'm realizing these little fucjers in this miracle gro soil under these twistie bulbs is really nothing like what I'm going to be wanting to do.

So first off, I'm a total grow noob (with weed but I've had a bit of a green thumb with other plants), but I am an undergrad senior majoring in biochemistry so I'm not exactly walking into it all blind.

I'm gonna make my nute order in the next day or so, and realized I haven't even decided on what kind of soil I'm gonna be going with. I'd like to go organic, BC A) I'd rather my plants be short-reached in their potential than have them burned, and B) the organic nutrients seem mostly water soluble, and I'm sure I will be antsy and would rather feed them more often with short-lived nutes then less often with longer lived ones (again, to decrease the possibility of me burning them).

So I'm kind of thinking about going with the coco/peat moss combo for a medium. I've heard you have to treat it more like a hydro grow, keeping your pH's lower for nutrient absorption and having to feed more regularly as the plants don't get nutrients from the soil.

The other method I'm considering, is going with an organic soil like foxfarms ocean (food? I think its called). I've researched a lot about what the plant will need, but its still hard choosing soils and nutes online BC they are all kind of thrown in together in a couple categories, and offer little information (its not like you can sit there and read the label on the jug).

So anyways, I'm open to any suggestions. I'd like to try to coco/peat moss technique, but have no idea if its an easier technique that gives you reliable results or if its more of a controlled thing, where you leave your options open but are more prone to screw something up (than a nutrient rich soil).

Also, I'm open to suggestions for nutes, too. Thinking of going with dyna gro (is that synthetic?) And getting a grow and bloom formula, plus a cal/mag. Also interested in trying out organic stuff like bone/fish/blood meal and guano, which are all rich in nitrogen (which i hear is needed more during veg than flowering). Just let me know your thoughts on a great soil/nute combo. The more detailed the better, if you change it up for flower and veg, or whatever.

Thanks in advance

 

[ThorGanjason]

Actually, doing a little more reading up on the fox farm ocean forest....seems like a badass soil, but I'm looking to use more soluble nutrients that are more readily available. If someone could recommend a good soil that has some nutrient value but won't burn my plants the first time I feed them with something else, please lemme know.

 

[brissel]

id go with a coco canoir

 

[brissel]

wow im retarded coir

 

[DemonTrich]

fox farm light warrior for seedlings, then up-pot into fox farm ocean forest. the good thing about FFOF is you don't need nutes for 3-4 weeks after planting. I also added 6 cups of perlite to a 1.5cu' bag of FFOF.

 

[brotherjericho]

wow im retarded coir

There is an edit button.

 

[bass1014]

just a little note (soil is a medium, what your plant grows in is your medium, such as coca, per-lite , hydration pellets ,sand ,rocks etc.) just a lil note to self. seemed a lil strange seeing can you help me pick a medium for my soil.. lol just busting balls lol no worries mate. i use airo buckets. just water nutes and an airstone.. cheapest way to grow. just fill the bucket with water and nutes ,ph her and let her ride. refill my reservoirs every 3-4 days depending on stage of growth. my root mass was as big as my 5 gallon bucket and stems 3'' in diameter check my journal for pics and outcome.. good luck and what ever you do KEEP ON GROWIN..

OK, so I'm about to get my order from attitudes in, which will (hopefully) be a bunch of mostly sativa dank. I've got some bag seed seedlings under some CFLs for the time being to try and go ahead and get some experience with starting it up, and I'm realizing these little fucjers in this miracle gro soil under these twistie bulbs is really nothing like what I'm going to be wanting to do.

So first off, I'm a total grow noob (with weed but I've had a bit of a green thumb with other plants), but I am an undergrad senior majoring in biochemistry so I'm not exactly walking into it all blind.

I'm gonna make my nute order in the next day or so, and realized I haven't even decided on what kind of soil I'm gonna be going with. I'd like to go organic, BC A) I'd rather my plants be short-reached in their potential than have them burned, and B) the organic nutrients seem mostly water soluble, and I'm sure I will be antsy and would rather feed them more often with short-lived nutes then less often with longer lived ones (again, to decrease the possibility of me burning them).

So I'm kind of thinking about going with the coco/peat moss combo for a medium. I've heard you have to treat it more like a hydro grow, keeping your pH's lower for nutrient absorption and having to feed more regularly as the plants don't get nutrients from the soil.

The other method I'm considering, is going with an organic soil like foxfarms ocean (food? I think its called). I've researched a lot about what the plant will need, but its still hard choosing soils and nutes online BC they are all kind of thrown in together in a couple categories, and offer little information (its not like you can sit there and read the label on the jug).

So anyways, I'm open to any suggestions. I'd like to try to coco/peat moss technique, but have no idea if its an easier technique that gives you reliable results or if its more of a controlled thing, where you leave your options open but are more prone to screw something up (than a nutrient rich soil).

Also, I'm open to suggestions for nutes, too. Thinking of going with dyna gro (is that synthetic?) And getting a grow and bloom formula, plus a cal/mag. Also interested in trying out organic stuff like bone/fish/blood meal and guano, which are all rich in nitrogen (which i hear is needed more during veg than flowering). Just let me know your thoughts on a great soil/nute combo. The more detailed the better, if you change it up for flower and veg, or whatever.

Thanks in advance

 

[qwizoking]

why are you so worried about burning, if you do its just the tips of leaves and hardly hurts yield. organic is hard it takes time for it to get going not to mention teas and crap if thats how you wanna go much respect but i use miracle grow all the way, the only thing it doesnt have is mag so pick up calmag but ive only ever used it and it works great.


alot of people hate on it for no reason, trust me the iron and phosphorus etc is the exact same thing as in any other brand... their just nutes all being the same chemical formula. add up to equal parts perlite and your set..also the organic mg doesnt have time release balls that some dislike...


anyway bone meal etc will attract pests, i prefer to grow in straight perlite or clay balls, both are reusable and inert..(when is the enter button coming back its really annoing editing in spaces for readability

 

[kinetic]

Don't feed your plants too often. It's easy to do when you first start out. Also don't go and give them full strength doses like the bottle indicates when you first start. Start with 1/4 strength and work up, observing your plants as you go. A little patience goes along way in this endeavour. Good Luck and Happy Growing!
P.S.
I'm a fan of Roots Organic soil myself.

 

[ThorGanjason]

just a little note (soil is a medium, what your plant grows in is your medium, such as coca, per-lite , hydration pellets ,sand ,rocks etc.) just a lil note to self. seemed a lil strange seeing can you help me pick a medium for my soil.. lol just busting balls lol no worries mate. i use airo buckets. just water nutes and an airstone.. cheapest way to grow. just fill the bucket with water and nutes ,ph her and let her ride. refill my reservoirs every 3-4 days depending on stage of growth. my root mass was as big as my 5 gallon bucket and stems 3'' in diameter check my journal for pics and outcome.. good luck and what ever you do KEEP ON GROWIN..

Haha, yeah I noticed that after I made the thread. I had just burned one and I seem to remember noticing the redundancy but don't remember even trying to fix it.

Anyways, honestly man I've been all psyched about choosing soils, and reading up On nutrients and pH's and everything for a soil grow, but then I started seeing these airobuckets. They seem pretty simple, I mean I know you say its the cheapest way to grow but would it necessarily be an easier way to grow? I'm wanting to try all kinds of different methods (dwc, aeroponics, soil, and then like LST and scroging) but I definitely want to give myself the best chance at doing it right the first time around by choosing an easier method.

So I've seen a lot about checking pH's of runoff on certain setups, in this kind of system do you only have to worry about basically checking the pH of your nutrient solution in the bucket? What about buildup, do you basically just flush by using 3 times the normal volume of water before going back to nutes? (Or however you flush)

Another thing is that I don't live ANYWHERE near a decent hydro store so I'll have to order all my notes online, will it still be cheaper than going soil? Seems like it would take a lot of nutes like this, BC its basically only getting whatever you put in that water.

And one last question (promise), do you ever have to dump nutes/water solution out of the bucket, I've heard of people doing that on like dwc's and hydro setups if the plant doesn't use them after a certain period of time.

Sorry for all the questions man, but I'm SUPER excited about getting started, and can't believe I've waited this long to try and learn. I'm known as the man of many talents in my parts, and adding the ability to grow glorious nugs to my repitoír is an absolute must for me. Too many people take advantage of weed's societal/legal status and exploit something that should be easily available to anyone that it can help. Im a true believer in marijuana, and hopefully someday soon the rest of the world will be, too.

I appreciate all your tips man, and the advice from everyone else too.

 

[ThorGanjason]

Don't feed your plants too often. It's easy to do when you first start out. Also don't go and give them full strength doses like the bottle indicates when you first start. Start with 1/4 strength and work up, observing your plants as you go. A little patience goes along way in this endeavour. Good Luck and Happy Growing!
P.S.
I'm a fan of Roots Organic soil myself.

Awesome, thanks for the advice. That's what I was planning on doing, a quarter concentration of the regular solution and probably even starting out just with every other water (the first couple waters anyways). I've heard that tip waaaay too many times not to do it, lol.

 

[Nootnam]

I use FFOF but I just bought some stuff called "Humboldt Earth" and it is supposed to be just like ffof but it is a little lighter on the nutes.. If I plant a seed in FFOF it grows fine without any nute problems except the stems and fresh seedling growth are usually red/purple but it goes away when they get bigger. As far as it being too hot to add any additional nutes, just don't add them as long as the soil is still hot. Eventually the roots are gonna suck all of the nutes from the original medium and get hungry again.

when is the enter button coming back its really annoing editing in spaces for readability

The button at the top left that says "Switch editor to source mode".. Click it and the enter button works again, I'm not sure what made me want to click that button but it worked for me..

 

[Galvatron]

ffof is more like a slow release medium while coco coir will let you control exactly what goes in since the medium itself has no nutrients.

 

[ThorGanjason]

I use FFOF but I just bought some stuff called "Humboldt Earth" and it is supposed to be just like ffof but it is a little lighter on the nutes.. If I plant a seed in FFOF it grows fine without any nute problems except the stems and fresh seedling growth are usually red/purple but it goes away when they get bigger. As far as it being too hot to add any additional nutes, just don't add them as long as the soil is still hot. Eventually the roots are gonna suck all of the nutes from the original medium and get hungry again..

Yeah, I'm sure I'm gonna try this ffof stuff out at some point in time. I'm thinking of going dwc on my first run here, and maybe get something like the Humboldt stuff or something similar. I wish I could just hop in the car and ride to a grow store. Would be so much easier.

 

[DemonTrich]

ffof (imo) is not good for seed/seedlings. its too hot. FFLW would be ideal.

 

[ThorGanjason]

ffof (imo) is not good for seed/seedlings. its too hot. FFLW would be ideal.

Yeah, I'm trying away from stuff that's a little hot. I've heard great things about fox farms, and since I'm learning I can't decide if I would be better off (in the long run) going with something low maintenance like the Ocean Forest, or using something that is a little more hands on to help me learn how the plant reacts to different notes.

 

[Nootnam]

Yeah, I'm trying away from stuff that's a little hot. I've heard great things about fox farms, and since I'm learning I can't decide if I would be better off (in the long run) going with something low maintenance like the Ocean Forest, or using something that is a little more hands on to help me learn how the plant reacts to different notes.

Yea, you will definitely learn more going with a dwc grow since like you said is much more hands on rather than just letting your medium do all the work.. But that doesn't mean no work, after the FFOF runs low on its food you will most definitely need to start watching more closely and adjusting the pH. Good luck to you man!

 

[ThorGanjason]

Awesome guys, thanks so much. My seed order has hit the states and so I'm hoping I have them by Friday. Got my MH bulb today and ballast, but I ordered from a local hardware store and it was literally just the guts-- the capacitor was separate and everything, I had to go out to Lowes and buy a chord that plugs into the wall and wire them all together. DIY stuff saves money but shit its a lot of work.

Thanks for all the tips. I'm learning this site has invaluable information/ opinions, but its a lot faster for me to learn by going out and researching the web rather than to post a question on here and wait for answers. But at the same time, I've gotten a lot of stuff from here that I couldn't have found anywhere else.