Hello! I am wondering what kind of soil I should use for my little babies to be. I know to stay away from Miracle Grow, but not much after that. Any suggestions welcome...and I would like something that is easily obtained (Lowes, walmart, etc).
FF is not sold is most stores, certainly not walmart or lowes. I'm using miracle grow ORGANIC. So far so good (I am really early in my grow though). You could always go with whatever generic brand of potting soil they are peddling. As long as it doesn't have timed release ferts added you'll be ok, that's the reason people say to stay away from MG, because it will give your plant nute burn. Something like fox farm ocean forest (that you'll probably have to order online) will be really good and have lots of extras like worm castings that your plant will love. But I've seen grow journals where people get by on barebones soil and giving their plant MG nutes every few waterings. It's not ideal, but I think it's sufficient. That's what I'm doing as well.
See if your Lowes has a product called Kellogg Patio Plus all natural potting soil. It is a pretty good organic soil without added chemical fertilizers. I would also buy a bag of perlite and add about 20-25% perlite to the soil. http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=291161-11628-680&lpage=none
If you can't find Fox Farm at your garden stores, look in the Yellow pages for small time beer brewing places. They usually sell Fox Farm products. Remember, your growing hops for beer.
One of the pictured on the very bottom BUT keep in mind every growing medium is going to be leached out after ~6 weeks and you will have to fight deficiencies...so it's not really worth spending the extra money on that stuff. So you might want to start out with ProMix HP and use the appropriate nutrients such as: Sounds expensive and complicated? It really isn't. And the quality and yield will show!