hey, so I've decided that i will grow nirvana northern lights autoflower this spring, And am wondering what kind of soil would be best to grow them in. they will be grown outdoors. I am not trying to spend too much on soil because they are autoflowers, and don't yeild much anyways, so I'm looking for a cheap light soil mix for autos that will be healthy for the plants. I'm new to growing, especially autos, and therefore I'm not sure of what the plants will need, other than that nitrogen i good for the veg, and potassium and phosphorous are good for the flowering. this is kind of confusing to me since they're autos, and I'm not sure whether I should get a soil suitable for flowering, veg, or both. I hope I don't sound too much like a newb lol, my only experience with growing was some photoperiods that got pulled up last year after a month of growth. If you don't know any by name, it would be perfectly fine to just tell me what I should be looking for in a soil mix. Also if anyone has experience with growing autos and was successful, I'd love to hear. it's always nice to hear a success story to get my confidence up after failing last year
I grew Nirvana short rider autos over this past summer. It was easy and I got a nice stash. I used Whitney Farms organic soil mixed with 1/3 coarse perlite. A lot of companies are make a tidy profit selling specialized soil and nutrients for growing weed. Nothing wrong with that. But the truth is, you can use almost anything. It's best to use some kind of commercial soil mix, but in most places, you could get by with dirt from your yard. I have in the past. The key is to mix in perlite so your soil will drain.
I ended up with a little over 4 ounces of bud from 3 plants. If you scroll back through the feed, you'll find a thread for Western WA/Oregon outdoor growers. I posted lots of photos and notes about my autos. I grew both autos and photos, and the photos turned into a huge project. I hung in there until the last week of October, because I only had 3 small plants, and I was aiming for peak quality. The result was everything I hoped for. But, with hindsight, the auto bud is really good too, with 1/10 the effort. I'm amazed at how much autos have improved since the "90-day wonders" I grew back in the 90s.