Ok so..... hello! I’m a new grower, longtime smoker and I’ve finally started a grow all by myself, a little coaching from a long distance friend as well but he’s mainly hydro soooo yea. The only thing I didn’t dive headfirst into researching is soil! Yes debatably the most important part I know. I got some shit brand soil and just cranked out 6 plants and I was so pumped hahahah. My seedlings all did great for a bit got them into solo cups and That’s when they started dying. Necrotic spots and yellowing starting at the bottom working up with the purple stem. Now at first I thought it was drainage alone. I restarted again dropped that shit soil and got some organic burpee and cranked out another 6 no problem I got this. This time they grew a lot bigger and faster! Got them into 5 gals and slowly but surely the same shit happens. Now I start to read and I know I fucked up lol big time. Onto my questions: After reading about subcools supersoil im wondering....are any of the ingredients redundant or is that the point like do you need 3 different types of bone meal? Why not just more of one. And the guano and worm castings? Are they bringing different chems to the table or what. I was just looking for a way to simplify the recipe or make it better. I have more questions but this alright to start I guess, thanks for any input!! cj
Hey there, welcome to GC. I'm not a soil grower, but I've heard this before, so I'll give my 2 cents. it sounds like from what you said that you're watering too much. In my experience It's a good practice to let your medium dry a lot between watering early on so it forces the root system to get bigger and search out water. Perhaps use the soil you have and try that out before spending a lot of money on new stuff. Also you can always put some perilite or something in to keep your soil from impacting, but you may already have that going on from the sound of it. Good luck with everything and keep it up, you'll get there for sure.
Well, thing was I got soil with perlite but failed to add a shit ton like your supposed to, along with some other vital shit so I agree that the soil has been retaining a decent amount, my drainage is still terrible. I’m down to my last 2 living plants and they are doing better with the WC that I was able to give them but the drainage issues may be the downfall of them. Thanks for responding!
I agree to much water Your soil does look quite muddy and compact to. I’d go buy a bag of perlite dig them out add shit ton perlite and wash roots and put back. I tried not growing in good soil and without perlite for while never pays off. One got far i flowered 4 months she was huge but 3 weeks in flower got nute lock and died. Or cut back watering a lot a lot Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Ok Grandsouls I like the idea but here’s my main question, if I do repot with more perlite how would you recommend getting them enough food to survive? Current soil is a basic NPK with maybe a couple cups of WC. To be honest I’m planning on making some supersoil for my next try which I’ve already started planning ( can you advise on any aspect of that? ) I would love to see these last 2 plants through but I’m not trying to go crazy saving them. The past weeks since I started I went through so much trial and error shit like literally pulling my hair out stressing about my plants and why they were doing what they were doing but I think I got through that phase ( the stressing ) kinda glad I didn’t hop on here sooner hah. Would love some soil advice for a legit run. Amendments, ratios or whatever. Like people love happy frog for a base but is promix any better?! I need the knowledge
Oh yes I meant to say, the pots are top dressed with WC that’s why they look a bit muddy. The soil is a bit lighter but still needs more drainage.
Yea like say I take them out and add the perlite. I should add some other stuff while I’m at it for food? What I’m saying is that I’m not going to be feeding with bottled nutes.
If not feeding for sure bud. I don’t have tons of experience in organic. But I will say Gaia line of nutrients is a great path to take. Easy instructions to follow, great ingredients. Gaia does great in coco coir some perlite, or perlite/peat base soil and watered with Ph’d water. Use it on tomatoes and peppers too, they love it.
what kind of soil are you using for a base right now? you should also dome seedlings for the first couple weeks, they need a very high humidity. It doesnt need to be fancy or expensive, i rigged mine up in colored solo cups with clear plastic cups on top.
Base is basic burpee organic seed starter. No compost no amendments no extra perlite. WC were an afterthought and a weak attempt at saving the last 2.