Ok. So I am having trouble finding good Soil locally, especially since it isn’t yet legal here. Lowes, Home Depot, ACE, and Walmart are my choices. Will be more easily gotten once it is legalized I’m sure. I simply am not willing to throw a bunch of money that I don’t have into shipping for dirt.
About a month ago I took some clippings from a Forsythia Bush on the side of a road and I just cut some holes into the lid of a bowl and stuck them down into some wet Petlite and have kept water in the pan under the bowl I put them into and 6 of the 9 sticks I put in there have rooted and they are doing well.
So my question is this… Why can’t I just grow in Perlite as my medium? Or even Petlite and Coco Coir? IS there some reason I CAN’T and still be successful?
Thanks
Perlite/coco is a common combination
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it works very well too, although a little extra effort. Perlite alone would basically be hydro. coco perlite isn’t far off.
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Lots of growers in coco/perlite at about 70/30. Some do 50/50 but that’s a lot of feeding since coco dries fast. I do straight coco.
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If you want to use only perlite for a medium you can look up Dutch buckets or bato buckets they use perlite as the medium. It is also considered a hydroponic grow system.
They use this for tomatoes peppers beans cucumbers so I don’t see why it wouldn’t work with cannabis.
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Thanks y’all for answering. I know my forsythia are doing well but I do think I will mix the 2 together and try that. I read that some CoCo isn’t washed or some such something. I also see that when bought from a pet supply store the CoCo is WAAAAY cheaper. Is there that big a difference?
The pet store is probably selling coco peat for bedding. You would want the coir or fibers. I buy the bricks then wash and buffer it myself
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Yeah. I figured as much but didn’t hurt to ask. Lol! Wishful thinking. Still isn’t as much as potting mix and perlite. Thanks.
In my experience the Coco will be a little more expensive than soil grows. If you process your own brick you will lose 30-50% washing out the peat and sand so keep that in mind when your planning your grow. Coco also has no nutritional value so you will be feeding every day maybe even twice as your plants get big. I use an auto irrigation system to feed up to six times a day, but that isn’t required. that adds a bit of cost in added nutrients and more time mixing nutes and watering. It can be quite rewarding though with slightly faster growth and possibly larger yields.
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I use this from home depot. Mix in perlite and use the ff trio with pretty good results.
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@Gl1tch so what you’re saying is that the CoCo has sand and mulch in it? That I’d have to wash away when hydrating it? If that’s what you’re saying then yes, definitely something to think about.
From my reading I understood that with, for example, the Home Depot 8lb brick would make up to(closer to)15 gallons and so would fill or almost fill 3-5gal bags- but mix in half that of Perlite I’d be looking at filling 5 -5gal bags with 1-8lb brick of CoCo and the Perlite, ±? Are you saying this would not be the likely scenario? How many 5gal bags could I, at the most, fill with an 8lb brick and half that of perlite, without any other additives? And then the nutes… I get that I’d be using the Cal-mag, which I haven’t had to do but I do have a bottle, and I don’t really mind having to feed-feed-feed as opposed to feed-water-feed. The possibility of making it through a grow without one issue after the other and to be able to get a decent yield at the end of it would be worth spending the extra. I DO NOT however know like whether to feed in what the label calls for or to give more each time, or as you say to feed twice a day. So I also have those questions. Thanks.
Do you have any local plant shops in your area? I’ve found that they sell better soil than big box stores. And you might be surprised that some of them carry a “cannabis soil”. Unless like some of the ppl above have said you are basically making your own mix.
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Compressed coco bricks may have a little dust in them but from my experience over the last 3 years growing in it I can say its not enough to worry about. I hydrate it in water with a normal dose of cal/mag to buffer it. I let it hydrate a day or two. Use whatever dosage the bottle says. After its hydrated I fill my grow bags and rinse the coco with fresh water. Tap water is fine. Let it sit a day or two and the chlorine from the tap water will go away. Or sometimes I rinse with RO water with Jacks and skip the tap water rinse. Any dust in the coco, (all it is is tiny coco particles) will sink to the bottom of the bag. It will still drain fine. From there you will feed and water new seedlings every 3 days or so and about week 2 or 3 every 2 days and by week 4 every day. Never needed to water more than once a day. I have a 3x4 tent and if I grow 4 plants then they are in 3 gal bags. If I grow 2 plants then I use 5 gallon bags. Coco is easy. But do water every day when you get to that point. If you start to notice leaf tips burning just give plain water a day and test the run off. Do that until you get under 1000 ppms. Then resume normal feeding daily.
I use this and have never seen sand or peat in it. I do think some are less clean.
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let me clarify a little. I don’t mean peat moss. I mean coco peat which are those tiny bits the coir are the long fibers. The peat holds more water and less oxygen than the coir. You absolutely can grow a nice plant without much rinsing. You would water less often because more peat means it holds more water. You can wash out a lot of that peat and then you have a very airy medium that doesn’t trap much water and can tolerate such frequent watering. Both have their merits. The high frequency fertigation does seem to produce faster growth in my last few grows, but requires a little more effort. both methods grow some pretty good smoke. I haven’t tried that brand. I’ve tried a few different ones and some are definitely better than others. I can’t say I’ve found one I like yet.
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@Indacut I guess you’d say making my own. Just CoCo and Perlite. We do have a couple feed stores here that do sell stuff specifically for mj, but good grief their prices are twice that online. They are all independently owned and totally redonkulous on that kind of stuff. Well, on everything except their dog shots really. With those you gotta watch the date. It’s sad really.
@Spiney_norman ok. So what about adding the nutes with the Cal-Mag prior to putting in a seedling? I been using rain water. Found a 50gal drum for 11 bucks. It’s great except the is like 20/10 ec/ppm, so I always gotta add something to increase those numbers. Except with the GH nutes. With them by the time I had a gallon mixed I’d have to make it 2.5 gal to get the numbers down.
I will look that up. Trying to avoid shipping is a big issue. I was looking at some stuff from Home Depot. The question and answer section was fairly informative. Hydro Crunch 2.5 cf. Also they have the Vigoro Perlite that I like. It has big chunks that the other brands I’ve used don’t. You should totally check out the HC brand and tell me what you think. It really is great q & a section. I’d like your thoughts if you find the time.
@Gl1tch Ah. I’m a bonehead. Lol! I meant to mention that I served with a guy named Glitch. Were you ever in the service?
I wasn’t, I got the name from my dad because I showed him how to exploit glitches in some of his favorite video games. I use GH nutes as well. When mixing my nutes I find it helps to leave out just a little water mix my recipe and then add a little water at a time until I reach desired ec/ppm. Coco for cannabis is a great resource and also has GH recipes to use with coco/perlite.
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Well that’s a cool nickname.
I feed with Jacks and never need calmag. My last step before planting a seed in the coco is to water it with full strength Jacks 321 solution till I get a good run off. At least as much out as the solo cup would hold when empty. In my personal opinion, and only my opinion, calmag is unnecessary as all cannabis nutrients are full of calcium and magnesium. The cry of “You need CalMag!” is way over used in the cannabis community. Again, Just my opinion.
The use of calmag to buffer the coco only happens before the coco is used to grow.
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Good soil is expensive but you can make your own and more of it for half the price or better then add amendments as you create beds or in pots, just use the Coots formula for 3 equal parts, spahgnum peat moss, perlite and native soil. This year I made 36 cubic feet of this mix for about 140$
In my case I used horse pasture dirt and native soil along with perlite and spahgnum peat moss.
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I’m actually cooking up a batch of dirt right now. After a few years of refining my coco grow I wanted to compare organic soil again. I think it cost me about $4 a gal to buy absolutely everything.Mostly at my local grow store, but there were a couple things they didn’t have. I haven’t tired no Cal Mag yet, but I have used quite a bit less each grow with no ill effects. I’ll have to try none next time.
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