Picking the Right Soil for Autos

Discussion in 'Growing Marijuana Indoors' started by 918AutoGrower, May 22, 2018.

  1. My current grow is a failure and a success. It's a failure because I made so many mistakes and stunted the crap out of my 3 plants (Jack Herer auto, Blueberry auto, and Purple Bullet auto). One of the dumb mistakes that I made was using only Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil from start to finish. I started them in the containers they are going to finish in. FFOF is too hot for seedlings. I know that many growers think that is total crap and have successfully grown from seed to harvest in FFOF, even with autos maybe. The success of this grow is the knowledge I have gained by making so many mistakes. I'll be lucky to get 1 oz out of all 3 plants, even though the strains I chose are high-yielding strains with good genetics and in the right hands could easily produce 5-6oz combined, if not more.

    I have already chosen my next soil medium (well, almost). I have decided to go organic on my next grow. And I don't mean what most people consider "organic" to be. I mean I am going to grow in an organic super soil / living soil. Instead of mixing my own and ending up with hundreds of pounds of living soil, I have found a manufacturer who sells ready to use living soil. Living soil will allow me to grow some big plants without having to feed it nutrients...it will only need water from seed to harvest. It will benefit greatly from adding compost teas from time to time, however.....(i.e. just bore flowering, and again a few weeks from harvest).

    After speaking to the manufacturer, they said that their living soil is too hot for seed germination and seedlings of autoflowering plants (regular photoperiod is fine they said). After about the 2nd week (when you would normally transplant into something larger), they will be ready to uptake the organic nutrients in the super soil. So here is what I'm trying to decide....

    What soil is best to use for autos / ruderalis in the first two weeks while they are getting established (assuming you start in the finishing container)?

    1. This is what I think I should use — Pro-Mix HP with mycorrhizae. Tbone Shuffle recommended that I use this, but he said to use it for the entire grow with some amendments.

    [​IMG]
    Or, I could use Fox Farm's Light Warrior — it would certainly be cheaper. It is formulated for seed starting, and also has mycorrhizae in it. But, I just have this feeling that I need to stay away from Fox Farm's soil mediums. The last two bags I used had fungus gnats in them, and it took me 5 weeks to get rid of them.

    [​IMG]

    ANOTHER OPTION

    OR, do I have to choose a potting mix / soil? Could I start it out in a mix of coco, compost from a local nursery, and coarse perlite (equal mixes of each)?

    I want to start my plants in something that will provide accelerated growth during the first 2 - 2.5 weeks without burning it or causing an issue once the plant starts feeding off the organic nutes towards the bottom of the container. I don't want for my plants to be 3 weeks old with 1 or 2 sets of leaves on them.

    My Setup

    My current grow.

    I'm going to be growing 2x C4 Autos from Fast Buds in a 32" x 20" x 63" tent with a HLG 260watt quantum board in 3000k. 4" exhaust, with air conditioning from my central A/C unit being pumped into the tent. I'll be using 2x 5lb square fabric pots. I will also be germinating and planting in rockwool. It's a decent setup...definitely capable of producing some good weight.

    I want to know what some of you more experienced growers would use. If you were doing this grow, what organic starter / potting soil mix would you use on top of the living soil?

    Please and thank you for all the help.

    [​IMG]
     
  2. I’m using happy frog plants love it[​IMG]


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  3.  
  4. Big bud auto


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  5. oh yeah you already told me that. I still hate you lol
     
  6. I just put a auto lemon og in the dirt


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  7. Nice! I ordered a Lemon Haze OG auto from GYO on my first order which would have been included with this grow, but the seed didn't pop for some reason. It's probably for the best. The tent I purchased is only large enough for 3 plants maximum. I just started germinating an Opium Feminized photoperiod seed today. It's going to stay in veg and be the mother plant for me and all of my friends who are growing outdoors this year.
     
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  8. 100% guaranteed, written in stone, perlite with a foliar feed of 2ml protek t, dynagro ph down to 7.5 and then 2ml foliage pro/gallon. If that gallon and medium doesn't produce magnificent auto flowering specimens in 30 days I'll buy your perlite. Foliar only with the feed.
     
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  9. Hope it goes great


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  10. Growing in nothing but perlite, how often you water


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  11. Well hell I must be an expert then because I use ffof seedlings everything out in the hundred and 20 degree weather and huge pots. But now I'm kind of enjoying this because hopefully the soil keep getting cheaper
    My summer journal
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  12. Just spray whenever you think about it. Start spraying water as soon as you sow the seed and switch to the nute as soon as you see green germination. They don't burn. Once the roots have filled your container (I use a 5 gallon smartpot) it's pretty much just like soil. To continue all the way through flowering you keep the nute solution in a reservoir in the bottom of your container and the roots suck it up. I kept a fully mature plant in a dark room in a 2 gallon bucket thinking with nothing but perlite it would dry. I harvested the plant and 2 weeks later when I dumped the 2gallon perlite it was like a bag of wet roots. Apparently it's as hard to dry out as it is to get it wet. If I was growing photos I would certainly start my seeds in a 2 gallon bucket with perlite and transplant at 30 days when the roots have filled the bucket. I grow in smarpots now and the black smartpots are filled with white roothairs poking through. The thing about a seed in perlite is you know it is in a perfect environment and there is no doubt you have done everything perfect and if it doesn't germinate it was the seed. If you go all the way you can make a perlite pot fit your watering schedule. A busy person with a job could 1 minute chore it in the morning, maybe 5 minutes after work and a minute before bed. The chore is just feeding and flushing. Think about a 5 gallon smartpot filled with perlite sitting in a 16 inch saucer and you can make it just like you always dreamed it could be. I can hardly wait until it's chore time. I'm on hardwood floors and I never spill a drop.
     
  13. I would really like to see a grow journal where only perlite was used as the grow medium. Do you have one?
     
  14. #14 Talkative, May 23, 2018
    Last edited: May 23, 2018
    My daughter got me an istupid phone and I don't even want to try to hook it up to grasscity, don't know how to do pics, but if you have an old or questionable seed try planting it in perlite. I did it because I was growing in coco but I had so many gnats I wanted to mulch with perlite, and then I got curious if a seed would germinate in pure perlite, so I took an old seed that had been in the fridge for 2 years and it germinated and I never looked back. I aint gonna lie to ya, at first I burned everything to a crisp, coming from an organic soil background. That's when I discovered H2o (it's practically outlawed in coco circles.) I ran my 2 gallon perlite filled buckets under the kitchen sink and to my surprise the plants didn't die. I tried a pot with perlite/vermiculite thinking I would need some moisture retention and quickly ditched it and went pure 100% perlite no additives. Blank canvas baby, if it's screwed up the grower did it not the perlite. I've since moved from 2 gallon hempies to 5 gallon smartpots using a 16 inch saucer as my reservoir and now I'm in root heaven.
    I talk about it because it is so simple and easy and about 90% of the problems people post about that aren't because of inadequate light would not be an issue if they had just started in pure perlite, no nuthin added.
    I would like to get a picture of the setup. From ground up, 24 inch saucer (22 actual) Then inverted 2 gallon food grade bucket (old hempy) then 16 inch saucer with 6 feet of 5/16 hose curled up in bottom and 5 gallon smartpot (with handles to keep hose neatly tucked when not in use and easy to find end of) filled to the brim with perlite in saucer, under of course my famous Blackdog 200 that everybody hates even more than perlite or even 24/0 autos. Start your day with a suck on the hose and empty the saucer and you are good to go. I flush with about 3/4 gallon between daily or every other day feeding.
    You should try one and start a journal and I'll hijack it for you. (Speaking of Hijack, I opened an old jar last week and I haven't stopped talking since! (Jack Herer/ak47 cross.))
     
  15. I start seeds in straight perlite, works great.

    The original hempy bucket was perlite with some vermiculite. Plenty of people have done straight perlite hempy grows though. It's extremely simple and forgiving.
     
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  16. As much as I respect your commitment to growing with only perlite, I am a new grower and I don't know enough about how much to feed and what to feed in order to get the best results; I'm still learning. I know enough about nutes to not kill my plants, and that's about it. That's why I want to go with the organic supercoil. I can grow with it until I get a few grows under my belt and learn more, and then I think I may try perlite. That is, of course, unless you have a perlite feeding schedule for autos :)
     
  17. In a gallon of water add 2ml dynagro protek t (it is horrible stuff and people only use it because it works, I learned about it from a fellow Jacks dirt farmer who brought it with him when he came back to Jacks.)
    Then ph that protek t in the gallon best you can to something reasonable like anything with a 7 handle. Ph is not that important because you only use it as a foliar spray on the leaves. I use the dynagro ph down as opposed to the gh PH down. Seems to work better for this particular application. And then add 2 ml of Foliage pro. Measurements don't need to be exact, just make it 1:1 ratio Protekt to Foliage pro. Resist all temptation to drench with this feed. Foliar only, all the time until roots hit reservoir. Meantime keep perlite flushed once a day with water to prevent any buildup. I guarantee that will produce very healthy plants ready to flower.
    For flower you can just replace the foliage pro with Magpro. It's not perfect. Maxibloom or Jacks is just as good, but after 30 days of being sprayed with Foliage pro they probably have enough N to last a lifetime. So that's
    Veg 1 gallon
    2 ml Protekt
    then ph down (7.5 or so)
    then add 2 ml Foliage pro
    Spray don't drench.

    Flower
    2 ml Protek t
    then ph down
    2 ml Magpro
    Final ph to 6.0
    Top water enough to fill saucer each day

    The veg is guaranteed, the flower, like all successful endeavors, may require courage, patience and flexibility. Water is your friend if you over do it.
     
  18. I grow from seed with FFOF with Kindsoil at the bottom of my container. I haven't had any issues with it being too hot (I have heard that before tho). Maybe you got a bad batch? I'm a newbie but I have grown 4 autos and 1 photo from seed to harvest. Currently have 2 autos going now and they seem to be doing fine , they are only 16 days old tho.

    Happy frog and Light warrior from what I hear is better with seedlings than FFOF. I would use that if I was having problems with seedlings. I one day , want to try buildasoil.coms water only systems. I haven't seen many reviews for them though, so I really don't want to recommend it without trying it first.

    Are you in the 918? I'm 405 lol. Don't forget to vote June 26 for mmj . If it passes , I will be able to expand my rink a dink growing space situation lol.

    Good luck with whatever you decide to go with.
     
  19. I've heard of straight perlite grows, but foliar feed only? That's a new one to me, maybe as a seedling, but I can't help but feel like it wouldn't last a 4 week veg with only foliar feeding. I'd love to see some pics
     
  20. Yep – the old saying...."Pics...or it didn't happen." I think could be applied here. lol
     
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