I just kicked off my first grow, and I’m checking the soil and possible feeding programs of my Afghan kush auto from growers’ choice seeds. I’ve got a 4x4 tent, using Bio365 soil, and I’m wondering what tips you seasoned growers have for building a solid soil mix or setting up an easy feeding routine.
Currently, I’m keeping it simple with some basic nutrients, but I’d love to hear about your go-to soil amendments or easy-to-follow feeding schedules. What brands or homemade concoctions do you swear by for a successful harvest?
I am new here but I share your curiosity concerning “homemade concoctions” that you get for free on or near your own property. I am currently building many of these homemade solutions that will “fix” my current soil, so here is a tip: Thermal compost… There is much information on the internet about it, some good and some not so good. A good site to begin learning about the Soil Food Web is:
Watch some of the videos to get you started in the right direction. This is where the bug bit me and convinced me to move away from hydro and to organic. lots to learn but it is totally sustainable and it is so much cheaper!
I would buy a simple A and B nutrient formula and keep it easy as a beginner. With soil you can usually go all of veg without feeding as long as you’re buying a quality mix. Whenever you transplant add 2 weeks you don’t have to feed. Beyond that, use the simple A and B at 50% strength, basically only for flower and you’ll be more than set.
I’d pay way more attention to maintaining your ph. That will make the biggest difference, just a tip.
I use FloraFlex now but with soil any reputable A and B will be fine.
If you want to stay organic, try General Organic as again that will make it easy for you and they’re relatively cheap and readily available.
Soil with a little compost/worm casting will get you through harvest with water only and in my opinion give the best tasting buds. You can also play around with dry amendments, just keep in mind what nutrients you want at a certain time and that dry amendment take time to breakdown. The only liquid nutrition I use is ferments and those are more of a micro nutrient and probiotic boost.
Welcome to the soil world! There’s a thread on soil recipes that are pretty tried and true. A pretty simple mix like promix or roots works well with some dry amendments (think Dr. Earth for a broad, cover-all) and then perhaps some bottled flower nutrients for flower but it’s important to get familiar with what is in these flower products so you can get an eye for what is necessary and it’ll help when you need to transition between brands or if you jump into dry amendments! Ask more questions if you’d like. Fermented plant juice is a very easy to make, effective and very applicable product. Good luck!
Thanks for the advice, man! Keeping it simple with A and B nutrients sounds like a good plan. I’ll definitely focus on maintaining pH as well. Appreciate the tips!
Here’s what I recommend to my friends when they are first starting out. It’s a cheap, easy organic method that produces great tasting weed.
Just grab 1 bag each of:
Roots Organic Uprising Grow, Bloom and Foundation.
It’s a dry organic nutrient with a nice mix of different organic ingredients + it includes mycorrhizae and beneficial bacteria. They also have a “terp tea” powdered organic line that is good too, but the uprising is a bit more forgiving for new growers.
Start with a teaspoon of foundation and teaspoon of grow once every 4-7 days and slowly increase from there (to maybe every 3 days depending on the plant). Sprinkle it on top of the soil before you water, then water it in.
Then switch to foundation + bloom for flower.
It’s a very easy method that allows water-only feeding (if your tap water’s ph is way out of whack, you may need to ph the water) and it’s produced good results for my friends who have used it.
You can also top dress with a TBS of bat guano or seabird guano around week 2-3 of flower, and worm castings in veg+flower. Or other dry organic ingredients.
And you can make some aerated compost tea as well if you want. I’d recommend at least once in veg and once in bloom but it’s not necessary.
You will encounter many soil recipes in here.You are going to have to find the one that works best for you not all are created equal and some may not work out for your environment ws well as others. you dont have to spend hundreds of dollars to make a good soil.Dr earth is a very good line of dry amendments my preference is the Organic pure gold bag with Berger BM6 or Sunshine white bag i also add copius amounts of Malted two row barley and Basalt dust its a paramagnetic element one of inly two besides granite on planet earth keeps your things in balance…This dr earth stuff has everything you need on top of also being able to be used in veg and flower and its loaded with Microbials and beneficials.Always cook your soil for 2 weeks before using dry amendments is important dont plant anything in it until its fully cooked or you will have trouble.Stuff is cheap and reliable i swear on my counseling stick you will not grow plants with this stuff you will grow trees.Throw in some malted Two row barley,Basalt dust and Brut ECW and now your cooking with racing fuel.
Organics alive is really good if you want to kis (keep it simple). If you want to make your own recipe, i would suggest the down to earth line granular nutes. I use oa for veg, but they have a whole line for veg/transition/bloom as well as additives. If you want my down to earth recipe, just shoot me a dm.
All of these comments are very good. From a philisophical stand point you are trying to reproduce the forest floor. I grew pot for decades in the woods just by digging a hole in the ground and replacing the native soil.
There’s a thread on soil recipes that are pretty tried and true. A pretty simple mix like promix or roots works well with some dry amendments (think Dr. Earth for a broad, cover-all) and then perhaps some bottled flower nutrients for flower but it’s important to get familiar with what is in these flower products so you can get an eye for what is necessary and it’ll help when you need to transition between brands or if you jump into dry amendments! Ask more questions if you’d like. Fermented plant juice is a very easy to make, effective and very applicable product. Good luck! 
