Are my soils good enough

You only want to let the water sit out overnight when using plain tap water. Purified waters don't require that step.

PH is important. If the nutrients that the plants receive are in a solution with an incorrect pH value, the plants won't be able to make use of them (to some degree). When the wrong pH prevents one or more nutrients from being usable, those nutes are said to be "locked out". I'm attaching a pH lockout chart to this post. You can see that for soil, the best pH is 6.5 because that's the only pH value at which all necessary nutrients are usable. You can also see that other specific pH values each lock out specific nutrients.

There are two basic categories of pH readings; liquids and substrates. I like to use broad spectrum pH drops To test liquids. They're cheap, accurate and don't lose calibration over time. If the drops have trouble testing a more opaque liquid, pH test strips may be used instead.

To test the pH of your soil, start with pure water and verify its pH. When the plants need water, wet the soil thoroughly all the way through but without flushing it. Let the plants sit for at least a couple hours so the substrate has time to change the water's pH. Then squeeze out some water for testing. This can usually be accomplished by pressing on the soil surface and collecting the runoff. It should be noted that pH values can spontaneously change over time, even when you don't do anything to actively change it. Microorganisms and chemical reactions in a liquid or substrate are the primary causes of these long-term pH changes.

You don't have to check pH values all of the time. Once you know how much a certain amount of a specific fertilizer will change a gallon of water's pH, you don't need to continue testing every gallon of fertilizer solution you make. Similarly, once you know how the pH of your soil mix reacts to your water and your specific fertilization regimens, you don't need to regularly check soil pH during each crop you grow.

So, knowing that the pH is correct is important but you can know it'll be correct from experience without the need for testing.

 

lol, you'll find that there are many that say, "they have it down, this is perfect, etc." you have to find out what your perfect is. to get what you call, "basic needs," soil, i'd use something like ffof, and maybe amend with some pure blend for veg, then flower. after you get a grow or two under your belt, you'll find your "perfect!" your 3 to 1 perlite ratio is good. if i remember correctly, b.o.g. would start with wal-mart continuous feed soil, and add some blood/bone meal, perlite, and that's it. some use some dolomite lime to stabilize ph.
yes, ph is very important. you may want to check into organic growing. i think there's a thread here called "jerrys organic obsession." i've checked it out. it's full of good info. from a very helpful dude....

 

Technically, soil pH doesn't directly change with strain. That said, the way the plant grows, needs to be taken care of and therefore the strain can indirectly cause differences in pH. For example, you grow two plants of very different types and care for them both exactly the same way; same soil, same lights, same food. Strain #1 grows small buds and barely yields an ounce. Strain #2 is a fatass mutha that yields a quarter pound at harvest. Because its buds get so big, strain #2 needs three times the food that #1 needs. Using the same amounts of pH adjusters for both plants, their soil pH's would be different by harvest because of different amounts of acidic or alkaline fertilizers and different microbial activity. PH differences could also be witnessed if their flowering periods were significantly different with one soil being used longer, fed more times, etc.

The genetics don't directly affect the substrate's pH but can mean that the grower cares for various strains differently, and those differences in care can certainly affect pH. When properly setting the pH of all waterings & feedings, the pH differences can be minimal but still exist.

Personally, I don't trust most pH meters. I've had them read incorrectly right out of the package. Even when they start out fine, they can lose accuracy over time. If you do choose to purchase a pH meter, be sure to buy one that can be calibrated. Most cheapo soil meters are complete crap. The broad spectrum drops I mentioned above are about $7 at any garden center and last a good long time when used sparingly.

The difference between vegging & flowering soils are just the fertilizers you mix in. Flowering plants need less N and more P & K than vegging plants do. They also need more food in general- nutrient levels should increase as they start growing more and more buds. Most people transplant into larger pots filled with a new soil mix just before starting flowering. No food needs to be in the soil at all. Some growers mix all they can in the soil while others provide all nutrients manually from start to finish, using a completely inert substrate. In these cases the vegging & flowering soils are exactly the same.

For vegging, something around 10-8-4 will work well; 80% as much P as N and half as much K as P.

For flowering, you start with close to the vegging NPK because buds aren't yet growing and they still grow alot of foliage in early flowering. The one difference is adding extra K. Potassium encourages flowers to form, to the point that high enough doses can cause preflowers even during a 24/0 light cycle. You then ease off on the N as flowering progresses, providing very little in the second half of flowering, and end up feeding around 2-9-9. The concentration of this fertilizer solution gets stronger as the buds get bigger. It doesn't hurt to see a little nutrient burn on the lowest leaves by harvest time- this tells you that the plants got all the food they needed.

 

N - P - K.
2 - 9 - 9.

Simple. N for nitrogen. P for phosphorus. K for potassium.
It's the ratio of each nute in the solution

 

2 - 9 - 9 = 2% nitrogen, 9% phosphorus, 9% potassium. It's really simple u don't need to overthinking things. And yes ph is different from ppm. Ph is the potential hydrogen of the water. Ppm is a measure of the amount of dissolved solids in ur soup

 

Since you want to keep it basic which is a good idea, buy a little ph test kit (General Hydroponics pH Control Kit - PH Maintenance) and adjust the water to around 6.0 before watering. Water when the pot feels light. Don't worry about soil ph now. Use your Foxfarm soil with the extra perlite through veg and flowering. Buy a basic one part "grow" fertilizer and a one part "bloom" fertilizer and use it on a regular schedule. Worry about wasting your money on additives later. Transplant at some point before flowering. Calculate how big you want your plants to be when you start flowering to allow for a 2-3x their height stretch during flowering. Make sure your lighting and ventilation setup is good. Watch for bugs and powdery mildew. Flush in the last week or so and dry the plants slowly. Anything else is unnecessary stress for a first grow.