Setting up my first indoor grow in 17 years… I was thinking I would hit the local grow store and get some grow medium and nutrients to support the locals and not mess with more shipping during the holidays.
Not going hydroponic. I would love some advice on which grow mediums and nutrients to try for this grow. Looks like the local store has lots of options. Just starting with 3-4 plants. I have seeds of all types (thanks OG folks!) but very few are feminized autoflower. Also love advice on what type of seed to start with. Should I start with feminized? Avoid autoflower or go with autoflower?
I’d say photoperiods are much more forgiving in the sense that you can extend your veg period if needed while you get your setup dialed in. I’m a hydro guy and I honestly think DWC is easier than growing in soil for a newbie. No worries about over watering or under watering all you have to do is keep your ph and ppm in check.
100% agree if you haven’t grown in 17 years, you should go with photoperiods first. You can really ruin your yield with autos, probably best to get yourself dialled in before you go for those.
IMO living soil is the easiest but that’s just me. Get some dry amendments, and all you’ll have to do is top dress every 30 days. Other than that, just water when dry. Once you’ve got some good microbial life built up, you don’t really need to pH your water (unless it’s way out of range)
Perlite, 5 gallon buckets, and a complete nutrient. Called hempy buckets.
Huge thread on icmag about it. No easier way to grow, no cheaper way to grow, accessible, modular, with many advantages over soil. All you need to do is mix nutrients into water, adjust pH, and water in. Perlite cannot be overwatered.
I find the easiest nutrients are 1 part complete nutrients. Dyna Gro, MaxiGro/MaxiBloom, etc.
Very very inexpensive. MaxiBloom is less than $20. pH dropper is about $5. pH up or down is less than $20.
I still use them, and I’m a big proponent for anyone with a hobbyist level grow. More than a couple lights worth and you’re gonna want to automate irrigation but if you are going to grow less than a few pounds per cycle and like things simple, easy, and idiot-proof, this is the way.
Thanks for the advice. The main reason I don’t want to go with Hydro right now is it seems more complicated for the initial setup. I am going to try it eventually, I have a bunch of hydro equipment that was gifted to me. My first grow will be very small and I don’t need huge yields as it would probably go bad before I could smoke it. Very good point about using photo so i can dial in the grow.
Thank you for your reply. I appreciate that you listed some specific nutrients. You are saying to grow in 100% perlite? I hadn’t heard of this. I will do some research. Not sure what. icmag is but I will google it. This will definitely be a hobbyist level grow at first. I sure hope its less than a few pounds as I would not be able to smoke that much.
My vote, would be look into Octopots (or the DIY micro octopots some of us are running) they are almost foolproof.
the top layers of soil/medium stay dry, so fungus gnats can’t breed.
you can’t over water
no pumps or electricity needed
You can use straight coco coir as a medium. But I like to do 2/3 coco 1/3 potting soil.
And basic nutes work fine. I use ordinary General Hydroponics flora series.
Depending on what country you’re in, it would either be Gaia green or dr earth dry amendments that would be commonly found. You can buy pretty much any organic soil and just start adding these later on. You can keep recycling the soil and it gets better with age. Worth looking into for sure
I’ve got to agree with you @vernal, this is my second full hempy grow and it’s really been super easy. I switched from the three part flora series from GH to the two Maxi series and everything is just growing easily along. Big props to you for the recommendation
I really enjoy a base of Fox Farms Ocean Forest and perlite (many add peat/coir for a 1:1:1), my base is just the FFOF and 30% perlite by volume of total soil including amendments.
I include about 10-20% homemade compost, as well as worm castings, and Down to Earth dry soil additives with the soil base. DtE is organic, effective, and easy to find.
Currently on my amendment shelf from DtE:
Neem seed meal (stinks btw)
All purpose
Rose & Flower mix
Azomite
Kelp Meal
Bone Meal
Granular Humic Acids
Langbeinite
Bio Live
You can use pure fine perlite. The big chunks don’t hold enough water when pure.
I cut it with vermiculite around 25% for extra water holding capacity, or you can use coco instead of vermiculite. Some do mostly coco in the buckets. Million ways to skin this cat as far as medium. I simply find mostly perlite is the way to go.
@anon20530495 6.0-6.5 is best, about 6.2-6.3 is ideal. You’ll rapidly notice low pH lockout under 6 in any soilless, IME.
Any premium potting soil amended with dr earth (tomato/veg)and watered with recharge(or top dressed with worm castings and watered with molasses) I just mix 1.5tbsp dr earth/gal soil and 1tbsp kelp meal/gal soil then top dress the same amounts(bud & bloom) when I flip to 12/12. Bit low on the magnesium, but I’ll get that worked out.
I recently moved to Promix, and Jack’s 3-2-1. Very easy to use start to finish, and getting good results.
I’ve used about everything. While philosophically I like the idea of using organic homemade soil, I always seemed to have problems as I moved through flower.
