New Grower Mixing Soils

[The Squid]

Hello again. You won't need lime with the Promix, it is ready to rock right out of the bag. :head: I always add some xtra perlite to mine though. And hey I'm not saying the stuff won't work...but no mixing or less mixing seems much more simple to me.

As far as the pest control a lot of people use the mosquito dunk things and with good success. You can buy 'em in packs at Wally World I believe, and they're fairly cheap. Mr Piggy uses them, I am pretty damn sure he uses FOF all the time and he breaks the mosquito dunks up and mixes them up in his soil every time from the start to prevent any problems from ever occurring. That is an option and I'm sure he could give you a few pointers, too.

Your HPS will be fine for the entire cycle. Start your light at 24 inches from the seedling, HPS is intense. You can gradually drop that down as the plant grows more nodes('levels' of growth vertically)
The majority of the veg cycle is pretty short then it will be rockin' with that HPS. Peace out man. :smokebuds:

 

[bawse103]

Thanks Squid!! What about optimal temp conditions??? I heard 68F to 77F is where you should be. Could you give me an idea of what the temp should be when my light is on, and what my temp should be when it is off. :smokebuds: P.S. I have also heard that Autos like Higher temp when vegging, and lower temps when flowering. Is that true???

 

[The Squid]

Never heard that about different temps for different stages.
IMO 79-80 degrees is golden. Anything over 85 for too long is bad.
So shoot for high 70s lights on and 65-73 lights off.

 

[KindredSpirit]

Hey bawse. You've gotten some great advice here already, so I just have one thing to add.

Don't use any pesticides bro. There are organic options that do a better job for pest control and aren't poisoning you in the process. As Squid said, pick up some Mosquito Dunks. You can crumble them up and mix them into your soil, or put a half a dunk into your water storage container (or both). I would also pick up some diatomaceous earth and mix some in with your soil. DE's structure makes it like a million tiny razor blades on the bodies of any pests that might try and crawl through your soil. Neem oil is another all-natural option, as is Dr. Bronner's Magic Peppermint soap.

Have a read through this section of the forum: Tips / Tricks / In-Depth Knowledge Base. You'll find lots of answers to your questions in there.

Good luck! :smokebuds:

 

[fweedom]

Hey dude. Fox Farms has had some quality issues in the past several months. Apparently Scott's(The Co. that owns Miracle Grow) bought them out and have sub-standard methods of storing their mix, so they have had bug and other issues. It seems to be hit or miss you, up to you.

Bawse and I were speaking about this in PM by the way folks. I'm not just slamming like that off the bat. Just responding to a PM and his current deal on this thread so that everyone can learn.

:

what other issues?

damn dude i need more soil to get some more beans going but at my local hydroponic store they have just Ocean Forest, happy frog , light warrior and roots organic. thats pretty much it, no biobizz or promix.

all ive ever used is fox farms so if i get it should i expect it to have off ph or bugs or what?

 

[The Squid]

what other issues?

damn dude i need more soil to get some more beans going but at my local hydroponic store they have just Ocean Forest, happy frog , light warrior and roots organic. thats pretty much it, no biobizz or promix.

all ive ever used is fox farms so if i get it should i expect it to have off ph or bugs or what?

Roots Organics I have heard is good stuff.
I am NOT saying Fox Farms is completely unusable. There are still a lot of members using it and with good success. I don't have a lot of hands on experience with soils just what I hear and read mostly. I have a friend that used it for a grow because 'it's so popular' he said. Well he burned up his Autos and dealt with Ph issues until hisplants died.
My experience is in Promix so that's what I always suggest.
is fine if that's what's available. Just mosquito dunks. And lime for the OF or HF. LW isn't really hot enough to need the lime added. Just my opinion here.

 

[wg]

Google for Garden Centers and "Seed and Feed" places in your area. There's many more options for soil other than hydroponics stores (which will gouge you, I used to get my OF for $9.98 for the big @ my garden center..). After all, they are "hydroponics" stores..

In terms of how hot the soil runs, OF -> HF -> LW with LW pretty much being a refrigerator. HF needs very little if any lime, OF runs too damn hot for anything IMO. It needs to either be amended with another soil or a pH buffer(amend it with promix, which has lime and myco in it.. brilliant idea there).

You've got a lot of experience so far fweedom but you still seem very unsure.. what do you think would make your grow better and what do you think is hindering it? You've barely used your liquid nutrients so far and before that had the Flora series.. do you remember your experience with the Flora series?

Sometimes we go changing things over and over and over and we won't get dialed in. Getting dialed in is much more important and valuable to a grow than the nutrients, soil and other additives we can buy. There's no easy fat cola huge plant trick, it's through dedication and getting all of the elements of your grow right.

 

[fweedom]

Roots Organics I have heard is good stuff.
I am NOT saying Fox Farms is completely unusable. There are still a lot of members using it and with good success. I don't have a lot of hands on experience with soils just what I hear and read mostly. I have a friend that used it for a grow because 'it's so popular' he said. Well he burned up his Autos and dealt with Ph issues until hisplants died.
My experience is in Promix so that's what I always suggest.
is fine if that's what's available. Just mosquito dunks. And lime for the OF or HF. LW isn't really hot enough to need the lime added. Just my opinion here.

Well I have a 40lbs bag of lime so I'm set on that.
The lime should take care of the ph problems in the soil if there is one right?
And other than that should i look for bugs or will I not he able to see them anyway?

 

[fweedom]

Google for Garden Centers and "Seed and Feed" places in your area. There's many more options for soil other than hydroponics stores (which will gouge you, I used to get my OF for $9.98 for the big @ my garden center..). After all, they are "hydroponics" stores..

In terms of how hot the soil runs, OF -> HF -> LW with LW pretty much being a refrigerator. HF needs very little if any lime, OF runs too damn hot for anything IMO. It needs to either be amended with another soil or a pH buffer(amend it with promix, which has lime and myco in it.. brilliant idea there).

You've got a lot of experience so far fweedom but you still seem very unsure.. what do you think would make your grow better and what do you think is hindering it? You've barely used your liquid nutrients so far and before that had the Flora series.. do you remember your experience with the Flora series?

Sometimes we go changing things over and over and over and we won't get dialed in. Getting dialed in is much more important and valuable to a grow than the nutrients, soil and other additives we can buy. There's no easy fat cola huge plant trick, it's through dedication and getting all of the elements of your grow right.

Well where I live the only place for any growing stuff is called " Texas hydroponics" and the guys that work there are clearly potheads and they're really helpful when I ask them stuff..that's the only place that has any good supplies, other than that its Walmart and Lowe's which obviously has nothing really.

As far as the floranova i had it for years so it was past shelf life it was time for more so I got the ff nutes.

And I really don't want to switch as ive always grown with ff but I mean if the bags I'm going to get aren't gunna be any good I'd rather switch then deal with bad soil but I don't really want to switch I'm just concerned.

Edit: I think not mixing lime in the soil in the beginning is what's hindering my grow..
Cause basically if I don't add the lime then I have no way of keeping my soil ph in check unless I water with perfectly ph'd water right?

 

[bawse103]

what other issues?

damn dude i need more soil to get some more beans going but at my local hydroponic store they have just Ocean Forest, happy frog , light warrior and roots organic. thats pretty much it, no biobizz or promix.

all ive ever used is fox farms so if i get it should i expect it to have off ph or bugs or what?

Buy it online.