First time grower, need advice before I begin. I've been reading around the past couple days and I have a few questions left unanswered. I will detail the process I'm planning on doing, and fill me in on anything I'm missing or am unsure of. I'm planting them in pots but they will be on the outside patio. Also, planning on starting in red solo cups, then transplanting to 1 gallon, 3 gallon, and potentially 5 gallon if need be. 1: Planning on buying autoflowering feminized seeds from Nirvana 2: Germinating seeds using paper towel method, dark place until root sprouts (Any root sprout at all will do? Or does the root have to be out a good bit) 3: I plan on planting them in Fox Farm Ocean Forest and Fox Farm Light Warrior at a 2:1 ratio in red solo cups (At what point do I move them to sunlight? When the flower breaks the soil and has 2 leaves poking through, correct?) 4: When do I need to worry about watering? nutrients (Do they need nutrients with the FFOF and FFLW soil?) If I need to worry about nutrients, what nutrients work the best? And how many weeks in should I be using them? This is all I can think of at the moment, any help would be appreciated.
Also, do I have to use distilled water on the plants or would it be alright to use tap? As far as the pH balance of the plant goes, if the soil im using is pH balanced, should I still get a pH kit?
Plants in full bloom don't grow any more roots, so transplanting autos at any point is a bad idea. You want their roots to grow freely from day one, instead of wrapping around a solocup or pot between transplants.Transplanting photos is different, because you can make up for any lost time with more veg. Don't have that option with autos. For nutrients, the foxfarm lineup works well with the ocean forest. I add 1½ cups of dolomite lime ($4/home depot) per bag because my ph drifts down over time without it. With the lime I ran ph 6.4-6.6 from day one to harvest with no issues. You should get a ph kit anyway, it's a good diagnostic tool if you do run into problems.
So with that being said, it would be better to plant directly to a 1-3 gallon pot immediately after germination instead of the solo cup? Thanks for the tip on the lime.
yes, listen to sure, not @Not sure: you still on the foxfarms? i thought you add minerals and ? something else, so makes one wonder about the "foxfarms trio"
Yeah everyone does things differently as I can tell from reading, it tend to mess with my mind a bit... haha
Exactly. I grow organically because there's no set schedule and it's easy as fuck, not because I hate chemicals or anything. I'd grow with foxfarm again, have some advanced nutes and GH flora series as well.
I wouldn't use paper towels to germ them. Soak them in a shot glass with distilled/ro water til they sink. Once they sink, plant them directly into the final pot your gonna put them in. within 24 hrs they should break soil.
Oh and if your gonna use tap water, fill up a bucket and let it sit for a day so the chlorine evaporates. I would rather use RO/Distilled/Spring. At only like $0.68 a gallon, why mess around with it. The only time i use tap water is when im brewing tea, but then i aerate it for 24hrs before adding anything to it.
I thought the purpose of the paper towel germ method was to know which side the root came from so you knew which way to plant the seed to grow properly. What is the added benefit of the shot glass germ as opposed to the paper towel? Or is it just about preference?
Its preference. I get 100% germ the paper towel method. I tried the shot glass and didn't like it at all. Thats just me Sent from my SPH-L710 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
shot glass = no chance of ever touching the roots, or having the roots stuck into a paper towel. Just crack the seed open and drop her in the soil. I actually dont even pay attention to how the seeds are planted. Just poke a hole and drop it in. The seed knows which way is up. Never had a problem.