Best soil for grow dots?

I’ve seen a few people try grow dots. For my next auto I would like to give them a shot. The plan is a mephisto sour stomper in a 5gal fabric pot. I know for sure I can find ocean forest, happy frog and stonington blend locally. What would be my best option and why.

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I like Grow Dots, I’m on my 4th and 5th plant with them. I use Roots Organics Original with the Dots, so far it’s worked great. It was designed with cannabis in mind, and it has plenty of perlite. I only use Recharge and a touch of calmag, all good so far. I’ve never used Stonington or FF soils, but if you use something like Ocean Forest that’s heavily amended, then it’s recommended to not use the heavy application of Dots.

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Good call, do you run autos or photos?

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I run autos.

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I haven’t used Stonington blend, but roots original has been way more flexible and consistent than anything I’ve had from fox farms. It’s not as commom but I don’t think I’ve heard a single person move from ff to roots original complain.

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@Twelve1 @dbrn32 thank you for the suggestion, I will check with the local shops and see if anyone carries it. I’ve already noticed ph swings in the FFOF and im still on my first grow with it.

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Ph can swing for a lot of reasons, but something that seems to be especially a problem with ff. Aurora has dealer locator on their site, I would start there.

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Good call, thank you!

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Bingo! Looks like there’s one store in town that shows up on the locator. I will definitely be giving them a call tomorrow.

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I’ve also had difficulty finding the soil locally, but I’ve bought it online at Amazon and Walmart; Home Depot also carries some. Growgreenmi dot com has some deals with free shipping, if wanting more than one bag.

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Awesome!

Stonington Blend is an excellent soil medium, lighter and cleaner than any FF mediums. I’ve had 2 successful clone runs in this medium and recommended for transplants and clones… it’s loaded and hot and I water fed for the 1st 6 weeks before adding any nutrients :love_you_gesture:

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If you’re going to amend the soil with ti.e release nutrients, then you want the base soil to be pretty dry. Roots Organic 707 is very lightly amended and drains well, while still retaining moisture. I’ll be using it with my next organic grow.

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I use roots organic original with mine. Always a consistent, well performing soil even with grow dots.

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@Meloco1980 I’m tagging you in on this😉

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@Twelve1 @BobbyDigital what application method and ratios of dots has given you the best success?

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Medium and medium/high. With the plant that I used the medium rate on, the breeder said to go a little lighter on nutes, especially nitrogen in flower. Worked great, only a tad of “painted nails” in flower, which is often considered just right.

I used the heavy rate on my first two grow dots plants (ILGM white widow autos), both of which showed just a bit of nitrogen toxicity, but they were otherwise healthy and produced great buds.

I’m using a medium/heavy rate on my current two plants, one a cbd auto, the other a gdp auto. Both have done well with that, and maybe the cbd would have been a tad better with the medium rate, as a few leaves developed some minor clawing down, but otherwise is great and has really nice nugs. And then “maybe” I could have gotten away with the heavy rate on the gdp - no signs of any nitro tox, and hardly any painted nails into flowering. Maybe that strain is hungrier, and they tend to be larger autoflowers, from what I’ve seen and experienced with my current gdp.

Also, see if your strain description has any grow/nute tips or instructions. And of course, if the soil you use has some amendments, then that would be a consideration, i.e. go lighter if you use a heavily-amended soil, which might have been discussed earlier in this thread.

Thank you for the insight, did you mix it with your soil or did you apply it as a topdress? I’m still on the hunt for the roots organic soil but I did get a recommendation from the local grow store. Ever heard of organicare true earth potting mix?

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I mixed the dots into the soil.

Sorry if I forgot, not sure if Amazon was suggested. Not always the cheapest in some instances, though.

I haven’t heard of the soil you mentioned.

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I’ve been giving medium feed as well. Tends to run out mid flower. I supplement jacks for mid-late flower. I haven’t tried top dressing mid flower because these do seem heavy in nitrogen.

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