New Grower Newbie asking soil advice

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Hey everyone thanks for your time I'm new and had been browsing forum and stickies a little bit I have a question.....
I've mix 3 (32dry quart organic mix) with play sand( local cleaned sand) w/ 1 tbs per gal. Bone meal & 2 tbs blood meal per gal. With some horse manure I have had sitting for a few years any suggestions I should also mix In? Can't get seed meal in my area...also how long should I let this cook?...thankful for any pointers and info you can help me with!....happy growing
 
Also with this type mix does ph runoff need to be checked?
 
Welcome to AFN Vthazed! Glad to have you join our family here. Stop by the introductions thread when you have a moment and introduce yourself, let everyone get to know you better.

So, this mixture, did you get a recipe from somewhere or are you just winging here. I think maybe winging it...I would like to make a suggestion if I could. Stop by the Organics thread and have a look around, especially at the stickied posts at the top, especially, especially at the one that says TLO/Supersoil recipes. That should give you an idea of how to create a good soil recipe to begin with. If you just wing it you have a good possibility ending up with crap(pun intended). Anyways, the link to the thread is below.

https://www.autoflower.org/f89/
 
Thanks for the fast reply!
You caught me this is a total throw together mix... I live in the northeast and supersoil is pretty much unheard of here!....I will look at the organics section and check the stickies thanks for the quick reply and help I plan on enjoying my stay here!
 
Also this soil is planned for a Dutch passion auto white widow grow that I plan on doing In a virtual sun. 48x48 tent.... Looking at lighting plans so any suggestion for the amount of light for that area would be good have 5 fem seeds thanks everyone!
 
No problem Vtdazed, it is worth the while to mix up a good soil considering the cost of the seeds, the cost of your electricity to get you through a grow and the time and energy spent on growing. You may get lucky and hit a special recipe that works but odds are you are going to struggle to keep your grow functioning without a good base recipe. Especially when you consider soil is about the cheapest component in your grow, I would suggest a good quality one.

To your question, you have selected a wonderful strain and should have a great grow with those DP seeds. I would offer you a suggestion of maybe only running 2 the first time to give yourself a chance to get everything dialed in. You could run all 5 but it is going to be cramped in there. What size pots are you going to use? I would suggest 3-5 gallon because DP has a tendency to grow big if given the right pot size. I personally run mine in 5 gallon. Lastly, your question about watts, generally speaking you want between 50-80W/foot squared. You have 16 square feet so you should be looking for around 600W. I have a 4x4x7 and currently run 600W and it is a tad on the small size if the tent is full but is perfect for 3 plants. You probably need to look for an air cooled hood as well, 600W is going to generate a pretty good amount of heat in there and you need some way of keeping the tent cool. Preferably around 76F but not over 85F. Hope that helps you!
 
Wow @420er rep+ for the fast reply and knowledge.... Soil is my biggest concern right now......don't wanna struggle through my grow with soul issues,I was planning on starting 3 seeds and seeing my germ rate...I use the seeds in a cup of water with a wet napkin banned for a cover(just keep moist) method, planning on placing seedlings in Rockwool cubes,...is transplanting a issue with autos?.. Plan on 5gal buckets for each plant, Any brand of light recommended trying to stay basic mh/hps bulbs.... Also planning on a 20 hour on 4 hours off lighting... I appreciate the fast replies and great info!
 
No problem Vt, that is what we do here. If you can afford it and don't mind adding nutes regularly, I would suggest Promix. It is not really a soil, more of a hybrid soil/hydro. It is peat moss with vermiculite and some starter nutes added to help get your girls through the first few weeks of growth. It is a very high quality mix and generally pretty easy for new growers. It is what I started with and have never used anything else. It is a little pricey at about $40 per bale, but one bale with get you through about 20 5 gallon grows so it really only costs about $2 per plant. You can normally pick them up at any good coop or nursery and it doesn't look suspicious because almost all good gardeners use it for starting seedlings.

Your germ rate should be 100% with DP! I absolutely love their genetics and they are top notch. I wouldn't suggest transplanting. If you are going to start them in rockwool, that isn't a problem but get them in their final containers before the roots start coming through the bottom of the cubes.

I don't recommend brands of lights because most of them are pretty darn good and it mostly comes down to growers choice. I have run Hortilux, Ushio, Lumatek, Sun Master and Sun Pulse. I currently run Ushio and have had no problems. I will say, if you plan on running a digital ballast make sure the bulb manufacturer will warranty your bulb with the ballast manufacturer. I run Lumatek digi and last year a certain manufacturer of bulbs that I did run quit warrantying their bulbs with Lumatek ballasts so I quit using them. Just make sure they are compatible. MH/HPS is king in my opinion but there will be some that disagree. Some people run HPS through the entire grow with Autos but I really like MH to start. I have had better results with vegging under MH. Regardless, you can use a good spectrum HPS thoughout the entire grow if you want. Veg is generally only 3-4 weeks with the Autos anyways.
 
What's up bud ....looks like u got plenty of great info ..
Since hr planning ..
The great part is these supersoil recipes..
Almost man in TLO is simple watering and a feeding once a week ..

u will want a good diversity of the Poops and is you can get oyster shells or even plain Eggshells .if ur into science and experiments u can make some quality feeds yourself .
But the Tlo and Organics is fuss free and will produce quality meds that feel great..
 
There are a couple specifics that are important. What organic soil? Some are nothing more that peatoss, some chicken poo and a little pH buffer. There should be a ingredients list.Also how was the poo agged? Was it protected from the rain?
 
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