Whats the best soil to use at home depot

It depends on what is available. My Home Depot almost exclusively carries MG soils. If you flush the MG soil a few times to remove the extra fertilizer, and you able to get the PH to 6.5 then you can use that. I would suggest the organic or moisture control. I personally had a VERY hard time with the PH in MG soils so I avoid it like the plague . Other then that, look for another potting soil, preferably organic.

 

If you set your water at like 7.6 at first, MG is okay. I have actually had seriously stinky bud with MG, but yes flushing is an issue. The only reason I mention the stinky is because I went organic and it has been some trial and error. I just about have it but I've run through a couple of crops. Again, MG can turn out some good bud, but if it isn't flushed you can hear the bud sizzle when you burn it. If you don't mind that well rock and roll.

The first time I grew, I'll add a pic, I grew in MG, in those semi-clear gallon water jugs and 2 liter bottles, with un-phed tap water, SHITTY tap water, desert shwag seed under a two 40 watt buld fluoro shop fixture and those clamp on lights with the reflectors and cfls and turned out a bunch of bud that smelled like a lemon grove. Second time w/ MG was under 400 watt HPS and smelled like juicy fruit, so, you know...

 

Also, I heard about 'water flushing' on youtube. Some lady said to really flush your plants you can cut them and stick the bottom stem into some water for a couple of days to get a good final flush. never tried it though.

 

I would stay away from MG, you can't pH-balance away nute burn, and flushing actually can cause the time-released fert balls to dissolve more and put more nutes into the soil not less.

HD near me carries an organic soil from forest floor compost and scrapings, the same idea as the base ingredient in FFOF. I forget the name of it, but near me it's in the outdoor section, in a white bag with I think green writing on it. Cheap as hell, under $3 for 50 lb. This can make a really good base for building your own soil. Only small issue with this HD soil is it has the occasional larger chunk of bark or a piece of a root 1" long or so, for larger pots it's just fine as is but in a smaller pot you may want to pick out a few.

Mix a soil like this with some other readily available ingredients and you can make a great, cheap soil for growing MJ:

- 4 parts organic potting soil
- 3 parts sphagnum moss
- 2 parts worm castings
- 1 or more parts perlite
- 1 or more parts clean sand

None of these ingredients should have added ferts. Careful: MG does add time-released ferts to its sphagnum moss and even its perlite.

 

I recently just got it, so I haven't tested it, but home depot sells a brand called 'Premier' 'Nature Mix' I grabbed a organic seedling potting mix for under $6, it has peat moss, and some other useful ingredients in there, although you might want to add more. Only good thing I could find at home depot.

However remember I havn't tested this, I just planted my germed seed last night.

 

Whenever I've been stuck with hd soil I'd just go buy the seed starter soil. It's got nothing in it. So I'd buy the seed starter some perlite and vermiculite. The two will make the soil nice and airy. The seed starter tends to be thicker than the other shit because there's no sticks and bark and miss and all that other stuff it's just plain soil. That way you don't have to worry it'll burn your babys

 

I'm only on my first grow at the moment, but have had no problems with the soil and have also been told by members here that it's a good mix (perlite, peatmoss, and compost) so go get it if you can, it's at home depot. 'Premium Natural Mix Seed Starter Mix'

 

Ah, found a picture

 

Yep thats the one I got, originally I got the organic potting mix (didn't see seed starting one at the time) and used it for my first 5 seeds I had ordered. I lost them all T_T.

My guess is that I got nutrient burn, but then again it could have been my non-phed water...

Oh well, I have another 8 seeds on there way, and hopefully I don't screw up again.

 

Oh man that sucks that you lost them all
Are you making sure you have your PH right before you stick your seedlings in the soil??

 

Well I have two left, one barely sprouted and the leaves are looking tiny, and the other I just put in this new seed mix, however the one that has sprouted is still in the old soil mix (afraid to transplant it as it's very fragile looking) and the other one in the new seed mix was watered in with the unknown ph level,.

I havn't been measuring the ph cause someone told me that cities regulate the ph of the water and I'd be okay, so maybe thats whats causing the problems, when my next seedlings come should I water with distilled water, or adjust the ph on my tap water?

Also I heard bark is acidic and dangerous to seedlings, is this true? because even this new seedling starting mix I got has a bit of bark in it, maybe I shouldn't use this for my next seeds?

 

I haven't been toying with my ph levels at all. Depending on how organic you want the grow to be, this soil along with some water and sun/light should be all you need.

 

Yes dead wood tends to be on the acidic side. You should always check your soil PH because it could be WAY off from the water you are pouring in.

Over water your plants a bit and capture the drainage from the bottom. Measure that PH, it should be about 6.5. When i tried MG soil it was at about 5.0 - WAY too low, that will kill plants QUICK. If you can go do it now!!!

 

I just realized something.

I live in Toronto , near Lake Ontario known for it's high pollution . If our tap water is from there, there is most likely high level of chlorine, and other chemicals which are probably damaging my plants. I had never really thought to much about water, and have been worrying about my CFl wattage/temperature but I may have overlooked something very serious.

I can't check the ph of my water or soil right now unfortunately, I ordered a soil moisture/ph/light meter that hasn't arrived yet and I got to go get a water ph meter still. Definitely going to get these by the time I get my new seeds.

 

If you are using tap water you should always let it sit out overnight in a bowl or bucket, this allows chlorine and other chemicals to evaporate. I personally use a bubbler, the kind they use in fish tanks to add oxygen to the water. This speeds up the evaporation and it adds oxygen to the water which the roots love.

 

Sand is useful to "fluff up" the soil a bit. Toasy biz is right on with that recipe- Keep your soil airy with a bit of sand and perlite, but avoid high levels of either as they willa ctually increase compaction past a certain point. Same goes for worm compost. Indispensable, yet in moderation.

Bark would be acidic, however this has to do with micro organisms during its decomposition which should not affect plant growth. Bark found in soils should be decomposted and not too acidic or harmful. It should have already been consumed by fungi, and consist mostly of carbon at that point, which is usable by plants as TB mentioned if the container is large enough to ensure there is a self- regulating "soil food web" so to speak. the minimum recommended size for such a setup would be 35 gallons (hard sided) container although others like Jerry11165 have made the no-till setup work with less.