I’m getting ready to start a new run of autos. I pick up some Fox Farm cream of the crop soil. It’s grown medium with a 50/50 mix of perlite and coconut coir. Has anyone used this soil with success or should I add some strawberry fields at the bottom for flowering and some ocean forest in the middle for veg? Any input is appreciated.
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Coco and perlite will have no nutritional value. You will have to fed it everything, the plant needs. But this is a good thing for some, and just requires following the nutrient’s feeding charts. I wouldn’t add any type of soil into the mix, as the ph ranges are different for each. Also the daily watering that the coco requires will keep any soil way too wet.
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For soil I would recommend Roots Original soil. It has a balanced blend of soil components, perlite, coco, lime ph buffer, worm castings, and manures. You can use it as is without mixing anything to it. A lot of members here swear by Fox Farms, and I am sure they have a similar soil.
I’ve used that soil before with success. Also had good results with Purple cow Indicanja. It seems that evey living soil still need nutrients. I typically stick with autos and usually by 2 weeks into flower, I’m feeding with Jacks bloom booster. I still have a 1/2 bag of strawberry fields and 2 small bags of ocean forest. I can always cut ocean forest with it so it’s not so hot for the seedlings.
There is nothing wrong with coco and Jacks, and I have had great results, along with others, using this combination. Just decide which way you want to go first. You don’t want to start a seedling in a solo cup with coco, and then transplant this into soil. Same with nutrients choose either synthetic or organic, and don’t ride the fence on this.
BTW, Roots puts a little worm castings and manure in one their coco perlite blends. They don’t do this to fed the plants, but do it to start some microorganisms after it stays damp.
Coco is faster if you have time to water every day.
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Are you prepared to run coco instead of soil? They are not the same and cannot be treat as such.
I don’t think you will be upset.
What do you typically run your autos in?
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Iv ran both, coco and organic soil. I love both.
If you run coco I would run synthetics. That’s were coco really shines.
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Coco and Jacks here.
I don’t know why some say coco is more work. In a matter of minutes I mix my Jacks into the water, give each plant its portion and then go on with whatever else I want to do. Its the same every day. I don’t check pH because I have done the formula so often I don’t need to check it. My mixture always lands on 5.8. Plants grow fast and strong. Few if any problems as long as you water every day. If you begin to think you can skip days your PPMs in the root zone will rise and cause problems. Things happen in soil all the time. I have found coco to be far less problematic. Overall its cheaper than soil too. Find it from a local seller and you can get a block that expands to 2.5 cubic foot for about 15 bucks.
Using it again is easy if you want to.
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I agree! You have so much more testing and fixing capabilities with coco.
Just keep root zone ec in check and growth will be explosive.
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Yep.
The only problem I have ever had was when I thought i could water less often. The ec got high and burned some leaves. I still harvested a pound dry from my 3x4 tent.
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That’s wild!! This girl right here drank 2.5 gallons a day… I had a hard time keeping up.
At that point I just lowered my input ec so the dry backs were not so detrimental. This is what she gave me.
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@Autos-only @Spiney_norman So you have no problem with root bound autos going into flowering too soon in coco? Or do you need to do like soil, and go to the final container ASAP?
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Grown in a fabric/felt grow bag there is no root binding. It forms a massive weblike network of roots.
This was soil in a grow bag, its even more dense in coco.
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I only run photos, guess I like to control everything.
But I have noticed that with coco the seedlings don’t seem to do as well while in the solo cups, as they do in soil. Thinking about omitting the solo cup, and going with seedlings in plugs directly into the final container. And just let the roots go free from the beginning.
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I start my autos in the final container. (Not saying you can’t transplant.)
I personally think root bound stresses come more from medium drying way to quickly and frequently then not enough room.
I personally think if medium saturation stays within an acceptable range it’s not a problem.
Just my thoughts.
