New user and first time poster, and loving this place so far! Since cannabis is legal in Canada, and COVID has us all with some extra time, I figured I would go ahead and give growing a shot. I had a few successful outdoor plants in high school, but none of that experience really applies here so I’m starting fresh. Thanks in advance for all your help, I look forward to discussing and learning! Here’s where I’m at, with my specific questions after:
I have ordered 5x Wedding Cake seeds and 5x LSD seeds. All fem. I also got 1 oz of Kelp Extract as a bundle.
I plan to germinate and pot in solo cups/small pots, whichever I have around at the time. Either will have holes for proper drainage.
These will be in a sunny bathtub that stays warm.
I will transplant to 5 or 10 gallon pots/buckets and grow outside until harvest.
My questions:
Soil: I’m looking at pro-mix all purpose mix, which includes: * Canadian sphagnum peat moss * Peat humus * Perlite * Limestone * Controlled release fertilizer * Mycorrhizae - PTB297 Technology - thoughts on this as a starter/main soil? I’ve seen mixed reviews and info on other pro mix products. I’m not sure what nutrients are in this soil and in what ratio it has.
We still aren’t getting full days of sun. If I have CFL bulbs near the plants for my full “light” time and let the sun come out in addition, will this help with the light cycle? It won’t be the main source of light, just an extra until they’re outside. Would that be helpful/a problem?
Related to the soil, if I use that as a base, what should I be looking to add at the start and along the way? What would that soil likely be lacking for each phase, and what products should I be looking at adding? I’m having trouble not knowing what that fertilizer is like, but it’s a good deal and who doesn’t want to save money in these times…
I can only have 4 plants legally at a time so I’ll be sticking with that limit. I’m trying not to go crazy with the additives because they’re not cheap, and it’s hard to justify for 4 plants a year, so keeping things to a minimum is key. If it means better soil, but I don’t have to buy another nutrient mix, that works too. Just trying to be efficient but effective.
Hopefully those questions are all clear. Looking forward to your inputs and learning lots from this community.
You might want to consider going with a water only super soil set up.
There are quite a few companies out there making a good product that is designed to grow from seed to harvest not having to add nutrients (sometimes they’ll need some calcium and magnesium depending on lighting) just watering them.
Here are a few to look up. The cost up front can be a put off but when you factor in things like easy button, not having to spend money on nutrients etc it really ends up quite reasonable.
Kind Soil
Build a soil
Sohum soil
Michigan water only soil
Purple Cow Organics
And others out there too.
With a 4 plant limit I would go with the biggest cloth pots and soil you can swing…bigger pots…more soil…more soil more food in there…more roots bigger plants. Time release nutrients I usually would avoid.
Some cannabis friendly soils many use are Fox Farms Ocean Forrest and others in their lineup and Roots Organics Original (ROD) are good as well but if using these or the one you mentioned you will need to feed them at some point in the grow but with using the super soil it’s engineered to take you to the end with minimal additional nutrients.
As far as lighting it depends on how long and how big they get before being able to move them outside for that free light.
@Interlu@Skydiver Thanks for all the info, that certainly gave me a lot to research.
I looked a lot into the commercially available super soils and they are definitely more expensive, but I’m not totally convinced on some of them. A few looked good but I can’t get shipped to Canada without high costs. Others said they had all the nutrients but only for a month or two, meaning I would likely need to nute anyways. I need to do more research before I start thinking about making a super soil.
I’m leaning now towards using normal soil with general fertilizers for the veg/bloom stages. Any recommendations on these from the forum? I haven’t seen any good comparisons and there’s lots of choices… Also if I go that route, what’s the best soil to use then? All of the potting soil I’m looking at has long release which I believe I want to avoid if I’ll be adding nutes.
I feel like I’m going crazy looking at soil so much… There’s just not enough info about these normal soils advertised to make an informed decision about using them… what a rabbit hole!
I’ve been hearing good things from quite a few growers on here that are using jacks 123 dry fertilizer and it’s very economical.
Do a search at top right magnifying glass icon and do a search for it you’ll find them using it and they are happy with it.
I’ve been using ProMix HP, with fox Farm trio nutrients, with excellent results. The ProMix HP has no fertilizer, and a shit ton of perlite. I haven’t used ProMix all purpose mix.
I feel for you griff I’m in the same boat…but I’m in the states so shipping wouldn’t be bad for me.
I ordered my seeds on the 8th april and came monday the 11th.
And all 15 seeds I got the to germinate.from i.L.G.m
Good luck griff!!
@Otis Is that the grow/micro/bloom trio? What’s your schedule like with those nutes? Just as recommended? Have you ever needed something like cal mag on top of the others? What you’re doing is basically what I’m looking for, something I can buy a bale of and a few nutes and that’s good with me.
Have you ever mixed anything in with the hp? Anything that could help or is that just unnecessary?
@Raysvols69 being in the states would certainly make things more accessible! I can’t wait for mine to come in and start the process! It’s been so long, I feel like a new parent. Best of luck
I use cal mag also every other feed during flower. Ive been using straight HP. But my next grow im going to use Baccto professional growers mix.They carry this at my local co op, and is a lot cheaper than ProMix. It is basically the same as ProMix. Im going to mix in Baccto veggie mix in 2 of my pots and see how it compares to the straight up mix
I’m in Tennessee. ProMix is hard to come by here. I have to drive an hour to get it. And it’s about $40 a bale. I’m switching to Baccto professional growers mix. My co op carries this, and is only about $20 a bale. It seems to be the equivalent of ProMix HP.
@Otis Thanks for that info Otis, that’s really getting me going on a path of actually choosing something.
I can’t find a reasonably priced place to buy/ship the fox farms trio, so I’m looking at the Advanced Nutrients grow/micro/bloom trio instead. It’s pretty cheap and seems like it’s pretty reputable. Definitely getting cal mag, from what I’ve read plants will pretty much always want that so that’s a definite yes.
I’ll probably avoid any mixing since you’ve had good results with the hp, base nutes, and cal mag. So I guess that’s where I’m at right now. I have the kelp too. And I might have to buy something else to get my free shipping so we’ll see what I end up with any suggestions? Am I missing anything here or should this give me a good start? @Skydiver
So I just thought about my water situation. I’m just going to be using water from a hose whenever it doesn’t rain, could that be a problem with the AN trio? I think it says to use distilled/RO water only…
If that’s the case I might change my tune a bit. Going back to the pro mix slow release soil. These plants will be outside for a while before they start flowering. I’m thinking that the soil that can handle 3 months of fertilizer (the least) plus tap water will be fine for the veg stage. Then in bloom I would add a bud booster and hopefully the nitrogen from the slow release is gone or will be low enough that it won’t hinder the bud growth. This would be a cheap option for sure and a good start.
I’ve been using tap water. I have access to RO water from work, but I’ve been pretty much using tap water. I just PH it to about 6.2. Seems to be a sweet spot for ProMix. I don’t check TDS, and I don’t follow the fox farm flush schedule. Growing is not that complicated. Reading some of the journals on here, I thought u needed a fucking engineering degree from MIT in order to have a successful grow. I keep it real simple now. I top once, then let the plants do it’s thing… perhaps some selective grooming in flower. Could I improve my yield? Perhaps. But I pull close to 2 pounds of high quality bud from 4 plants in my tent. How much more could I increase it? I like my relaxed approach… the only thing I am a stickler about is curing. U could do everything textbook, and if not dried & cured properly, it will taste like dingleberry hair. Or u could piss on your plant every day, and if u sure it right, it will taste delicious.
@Otis I just use my tap water to it seems to work fine I have a lot chlorine in mine but I just use my ph stuff to bring it up or down than I water it work just fine like that
I live in a small hillbilly town here poplin of 500o we don’t have shit for growing here we don’t shops light shops chemicals to get tour plants nothing for the horticulture I have buy it online eBay amozone etc
Okay that’s good to know. Soil pH can be a bit higher than soilless I think? Either way it’ll be some trial and error to get everything nailed down. I ordered PH/TDS pens so I’ll see what they say about my water. I’m thinking it should be pretty good but some pH down might be necessary.
I’m with you on what you’re saying for sure, I’ve gone from thinking straight soil in pots is fine, to contemplating what room in my house I should make into a grow room, and now I’m back in reality and looking at some basics. I actually do have an engineering degree but it’s mechanical and not chemical so it’s not much help right now
I think I’m going to skip the Advanced Nutrients for this grow and go with some veg potting soil that can feed for 3 months and just hope it runs out of/is low enough in N by flower, then boost the flower stage. Like you said, how much would an extra 200/300 dollars really help me here? I’m thinking it’s not worth it for the first grow.
Thanks for talking me through this, it really helped just having any sort of direction when there’s an endless sea of information out there!
any suggestions? Am I missing anything here or should this give me a good start? 