Coast of Maine Raised Bed mix nutrients

[Deda]

Newb grower here!
Decided to start an outdoor raised bed grow of some Blueberry Auto. Im using Coast of Maine's raised bed mix with some added perlite.
I want to know if anyone has experience with this soil, particularly with its nutrient load and when to start feeding? The back of the bag says .6 - .35 - .22 for its nutrient content. Ive read that people consider Happy Frog pretty hot and the Nitrogen in this one is double! My seedlings seem to be doing well, 3 days emerged (pics attached), 5 days from direct sow and measuring about 2.5 inches tall. The one you can see is working on its second leaf set. I take it I wont need to feed for a while? Ive got the fox farm trio of nutes I plan to use down the road.
So far ive only used some Humic acid pH water (explains the brown stain in the one leaf) and a light Silica/Aloe foliar spray. Ive got cheap battery powered LED grow lights just to lengthen the light period since they only get about 5 hours direct sun. I dont have electrical access for anything stronger.

 

[Badfinger]

I'm going to be using their Growers mix next grow, which was designed with autoflower cannabis in mind. Their claim is 15 gallons of soil per plant will need nothing but water. Or 30 days of nutes for every 5 gallons.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

@Deda Welcome to AFN You will need to start adding nutrients around the 3rd week. Here are some basics that may help:

What you need to learn about watering will come with practice. Here are the basic rules: Never let the soil dry out. Soil and or coco can become hydrophobic if allowed to dry. This means it repels water. This in turn will create dry pockets in the soil and the roots and microbes will die there. If your soil - coco have accidentally dried out use a surfactant to help re-wet it. I like yucca powder. Don't let soil remain soggy by watering too much too often. Root rot, damping off, molds, fungus gnats and other problems start in soggy soil. When you do water water the entire pot. How to learn when to water starts before you plant the seed. Fill your container with fresh soil/coco and weigh it (heft it) this is the lightest weight and consider it a dry pot. Now slowly water until the soil/coco will no longer absorb the water and run-off begins; weigh the pot (heft it) this is the maximum water, the wettest the pot can get. The difference between wettest and driest is the maximum water weight, for ease of explanation lets just say the water weighs 20 pounds. When the pot loses 10 pounds (half of the water weight) it is time to water again. There is an art to watering.

Tutorial - A word on Nutrients

The proper use of “salt” based fertilizer to grow Auto Flowering Cannabis. Salts: Natural and man made any chemical compound formed from the reaction of an acid with a base, with all or part of the hydrogen of the acid replaced by a metal or other cation. Learning how to use salt based...

www.autoflower.org

Have fun!

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

I'm going to be using their Growers mix next grow, which was designed with autoflower cannabis in mind. Their claim is 15 gallons of soil per plant will need nothing but water. Or 30 days of nutes for every 5 gallons.

Good TLS with 7 gallons can grow an auto water only but it will be close. I think they are talking about photoperiod plants in 15 gallons?

 

[Deda]

I'm going to be using their Growers mix next grow, which was designed with autoflower cannabis in mind. Their claim is 15 gallons of soil per plant will need nothing but water. Or 30 days of nutes for every 5 gallons.

In hindsight I wish i had used that one, but it was harder to locate locally. I see they have a very easy and natural feeding schedule for that blend starting week 4, which I like the sound of as opposed to using Fox Farm. My garden bed is 10 cub ft and im growing 4 plants which comes out to about the same amount of soil of 19 gal per plant.

 

[Deda]

@Deda Welcome to AFN You will need to start adding nutrients around the 3rd week. Here are some basics that may help:

What you need to learn about watering will come with practice. Here are the basic rules: Never let the soil dry out. Soil and or coco can become hydrophobic if allowed to dry. This means it repels water. This in turn will create dry pockets in the soil and the roots and microbes will die there. If your soil - coco have accidentally dried out use a surfactant to help re-wet it. I like yucca powder. Don't let soil remain soggy by watering too much too often. Root rot, damping off, molds, fungus gnats and other problems start in soggy soil. When you do water water the entire pot. How to learn when to water starts before you plant the seed. Fill your container with fresh soil/coco and weigh it (heft it) this is the lightest weight and consider it a dry pot. Now slowly water until the soil/coco will no longer absorb the water and run-off begins; weigh the pot (heft it) this is the maximum water, the wettest the pot can get. The difference between wettest and driest is the maximum water weight, for ease of explanation lets just say the water weighs 20 pounds. When the pot loses 10 pounds (half of the water weight) it is time to water again. There is an art to watering.

Tutorial - A word on Nutrients

The proper use of “salt” based fertilizer to grow Auto Flowering Cannabis. Salts: Natural and man made any chemical compound formed from the reaction of an acid with a base, with all or part of the hydrogen of the acid replaced by a metal or other cation. Learning how to use salt based...

www.autoflower.org

Have fun!

Thank you for the welcome and the tips. Unfortunately im growing in a stationary garden bed so i cant do the pot weight test. But I have moisture meters and all that jazz.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Thank you for the welcome and the tips. Unfortunately im growing in a stationary garden bed so i cant do the pot weight test. But I have moisture meters and all that jazz.

Most moisture meters are worthless. You just need to be sure it never dries out or gets too soggy. Soggy is not a normal problem in a garden bed.

In hindsight I wish i had used that one, but it was harder to locate locally. I see they have a very easy and natural feeding schedule for that blend starting week 4, which I like the sound of as opposed to using Fox Farm. My garden bed is 10 cub ft and im growing 4 plants which comes out to about the same amount of soil of 19 gal per plant.

I don't know how I got thinking about a pot? You may not need to feed anything with that much soil. After this grow you can refresh your organic soil with a blend of this super soil concentrate that you make yourself.

 

[Sour D]

Their lobster compost works quite well for top dress. I've used their Bar Harbor with autos and was happy with it. It's a lighter version of the Stonington. I thought the Stonington to be rather pricey given the nutes were good for 30 days and was hard to get regularly.. I'm getting away from those as I'm not a perlite fan. Gonna try the Penobscot next and will add rice hulls instead of perlite. I've been getting their stuff from True Value w/ free ship to store

 

[Badfinger]

Good TLS with 7 gallons can grow an auto water only but it will be close. I think they are talking about photoperiod plants in 15 gallons?

Good TLS with 7 gallons can grow an auto water only but it will be close. I think they are talking about photoperiod plants in 15 gallons?

I drew my conclusion based on their video, said you can grow a plant with no additives from start to finish in a 15 gallon pot, but then later they said you will need additives after 30 days in a 5 gallon pot. So I just assumed 15 gallon was for a 90 day grow. But then, I didnt think you could do a photo in 90 days.

 

[Sour D]

This from COM owner in reference to the stonington blend
Order these three. Blend the Quoddy and Bar Harbor 50/50with a tablespoon of the STPF. Top dress with the STPF every 30 days.
For germ to soil, I use a little of their starter mix in the hole but I screen out the perlite. I lost one cause it got stuck under a couple pieces of perlite