Best Premade Organic Soil for Autoflowers?

Hey people,

Going in to my first grow, and I have about everything chose aside from the soil I’m going to use. Planned grow setup is a 3gallon fabric smart pot in a 2x2 grow tent.

I want to use a bagged super soil to make the process easier. My goal is to add/amend as little as possible, outside of adding perlite and mycorrhizae. I am in an apartment so making my own soil isn’t really an option

I’m between KIS organics and their nutrient pack, or Coast of Maine Stonington with their fertilizer/amendments.

Do you all have a suggestion as to which I should do? willing to pay a premium on soil if it’s good enough to last almost a full autoflower grow cycle with minimal fertilizer/amendments on the backend. If you wouldnt use either of these, which soil would you use and why? Please let me know, thanks!

What I use I pick up at my local hardware store. It’s called Natures Care organic potting soil. It has an orange label. Nothing need for about 5 weeks that’s when I start checking TDS and add nutrients as needed. My tap water ph is over 8 so there is no nutrient burn early on. If your water is lower you may need to adjust.

Everything depends on your light size. I use a 600 in a 2.5x2.5. It works great and I can start my next seed in the corner.

Im not sure if they make a soil that will take you all the way through. Mine only goes half way.

Nature's organic is miracle grow soil.

Yes and it works fine. Miracle grow owns a lot of things and makes tons of soil. Doesn’t mean it’s all bad.
It’s organic and it needs water only for about the first 5 weeks

DR. EARTH
EB STONE recipe 420
FFOF ( Ocean forest )
Kelloggs
Black Magic
Pro Mix
Sunshine #4

add more perlite / EWC / myco to ANY of those mixes

Top dress as needed thru grow ( since it needs it for about 90 days anyways - autos )
Water in at 6.5 ( calmag once a week if running intense led )
Autos hate complicated feeds or supplements

THEN
Go have a beer .

Easy auto grows with simple medium doing the heavy lifting - No bottles , No boosters , No Cooking.

Note : Some strains / seedlings may temporarily “burn” UNTIL it becomes acclimated to medium.

All my auto grows are basically layered bagged grows with Great White , Perlite , EWC ( 10-15% per volume of final container. )
I use Tap water ( 6.5 ish ) ph ..... that’s it . I add a teaspoon or so of MYCO ( great white or recharge ) once a week during VEG STAGE ONLY . And stop when plant sexes out .No burns or hyper loading nutes since it’s already acclimated to soil as it grows.
Scratch in a fistfull or 2 on top soil after week 6 from germ ( transition phase ) , then one more at week 2 of flower ( after stretch ) .
For mid flower and Late stage , add kelp / seaweed to water . Water when needed to end.

No flushing or other bullshit . Plant only pulls what it wants , myco is still breaking soil down elements with no goof ups.

Budzbuddha said:

DR. EARTH
EB STONE recipe 420
FFOF ( Ocean forest )
Kelloggs
Black Magic
Pro Mix
Sunshine #4

add more perlite / EWC / myco to ANY of those mixes

Top dress as needed thru grow ( since it needs it for about 90 days anyways - autos )
Water in at 6.5 ( calmag once a week if running intense led )
Autos hate complicated feeds or supplements

THEN
Go have a beer .

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@Budzbuddha if I used FFOF what would you recommend that I top dress with?

organicgordon said:

@Budzbuddha if I used FFOF what would you recommend that I top dress with?

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The same.

Budzbuddha said:

The same.

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@Budzbuddha top dress with more ocean forest soil? Or too dress with fox farm dry amendments? Sorry still new

Either Actually.....

Happy frog fruit and flower dry nute , Megacrop or Dr. Earth ( life , homegrow or flowergirl ) .... or a scoop of FFOF watered in.

FFOF also can be steeped as a tea / soil drench ... cheesecloth bag bubbling .

@Budzbuddha you are a saint thank you

organicgordon said:

@Budzbuddha you are a saint thank you

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He's the man. I tell anyone new they should look at his posts. McStrats and SwiSHa85 are 2 other guys here that I'd recommend, though i don't see them post in the autoflower section as much.

This go around I'm running 50/50 fox farm ocean forest / happy frog some perlite added. EWC, Dr earth 4-4-4, and recharge. See how it turns out. I'm getting sick of the bottled nutrient routine.

ebcrew said:

This go around I'm running 50/50 fox farm ocean forest / happy frog some perlite added. EWC, Dr earth 4-4-4, and recharge. See how it turns out. I'm getting sick of the bottled nutrient routine.

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@ebcrew that sounds like exactly what I'll be going with too! Please keep me/us updated I want to know how that goes for you

@Budzbuddha I trust your opinion, instead of FFOF per your instructions would you suggest coco/perlite with Dr earth dry amendments?

Why or why not preferred to soil?

organicgordon said:

@Budzbuddha I trust your opinion, instead of FFOF per your instructions would you suggest coco/perlite with Dr earth dry amendments?

Why or why not preferred to soil?

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To be honest , I personally never ran coco , always a dirt farmer .... cooking soil , growing veggies , hydro .
I don’t see why you couldn’t .... maybe bubble a cheesecloth ( in gallon ) of water for a “ watering feed “.
I would think you would what to break down in solution completely before applying. I have done that in 5 gallon buckets for soil drenches....... TEA.

organicgordon said:

@ebcrew that sounds like exactly what I'll be going with too! Please keep me/us updated I want to know how that goes for you

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I also just ordered chicken manure, bone meal and alfalfa meal. Ill premix the soil in a tote and let it cook for a few months. Get all those mycorrhiza and beneficials working

Also I'm reading the bag of ocean forest it says you can top dress with it. Anyone have experience doing that

@Budzbuddha could I germinate a seed in the forever home with that amended FFOF blend? would prefer to not buy seedling mix and peat pots/germination stuff aside from a dome over my pot for extra humidity if the soil isn't too hot for germination

organicgordon said:

@Budzbuddha could I germinate a seed in the forever home with that amended FFOF blend? would prefer to not buy seedling mix and peat pots/germination stuff aside from a dome over my pot for extra humidity if the soil isn't too hot for germination

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You “ could “ for the most part ... but know that FFOF can be a bit hard on some seedlings / strains at the start. Cotyledon leaves May yellow upfront , first leaf set burn , etc.

BUT you can plant directly if you like if you are aware of those things I just mentioned. That’s why I grow in a solo using the mild mix first to create a ROOTED solo plug ( healthy and ready to transplant ) . From there I use the cup to press a cavity in the premoistened FINAL container ( makes shape of solo cup ) then transplant. And if you have Myco on hand / dust hole or plug BEFORE transplant .

ANOTHER OPTION ( seed in final pot ) :

Prepare Final size container .... some say don’t sow seed in final size container ... but you can without much issue.
Taproot will shoot to bottom faster than go laterally, and that’s why some don’t like it .
But I do it without much problem ... simple plug and play.

Prepare your final container lightly dampened .... dig out a center hole .
Fill with a light mix ( you don’t need a large bag ) just a good fistful size ( not miracle gro ) .
spray it to dampen ... place seed in .
Think of it as a “ sandbox “ area for young seed begins to root out without stress.
Place a small cap / cup for humidity / condensation for emerging seed. Couple days you can pull cap and water very lightly as it grows out.



I keep shit real simple ...