well the corner stone of my success is my neighbors, they are like 75 and retired and all they really do is garden, so i take all of my ferts nutes and soil from their green house at night. a little shitty i know but they have a gold mine of plant stuff in there. they have a few different kinds of soil; MG potting, MG moisture control. i also take a little sphagnum moss guano and compost from them too. their compost could be older than me, and is probably the best thing i could ask for.
when i start seeds i germinate in a wet napkin inside of a ziplock bag and i put this on top of the cable box for warmth. once the seeds crack and i see root tips i pot the seeds in small cups or shot glasses, clear, so i can see when the roots are growing out. for soil i use just MG moisture control. when i see roots i transplant to solo cups with drain holes. the small pots are part of my technique to keep the plant short
this is my soil recipe, i dont actually measure so the numbers are aproximate.i mix up 25% MG potting soil, 35% MG moisture control, 15% compost, 5% bat guano, 20% moss. with the MG pooting soil i like to pull out a few of those nute balls so that its still not overpowering for my plant. i keep it in these cups for 3 weeks or untill they grow out of the cups
then i transplant the cup shaped soil and root ball into 1 gal pots with this mixture; 35% MG potting, 30% MG moisture, 20% compost and 15% guano.
with this near organig mix i dont need to add any nutrients untill i see signs of deficencys late into flowering, if ever