Switching mediums, which is the easiest?

papa canna

papa canna

Well-Known Member
I had a few grows under my belt. Did decently with FFOF, roots, and one good run with a peat moss mix. But I am now on my third failed grow after swapping mediums and nutrients. I was using maxi gro and I've flipped over to dyna gro. I'm not sure what my issue is but my recent failures have humbled me greatly. What is the simplest medium so I can reteach myself what I thought I already knew.

I was planning on just picking up a charged soil and taking things slow. But everyone I know of speaks highly of coco mixes.
 
Afgan King

Afgan King

Well-Known Member
papa canna said:
I had a few grows under my belt. Did decently with FFOF, roots, and one good run with a peat moss mix. But I am now on my third failed grow after swapping mediums and nutrients. I was using maxi gro and I've flipped over to dyna gro. I'm not sure what my issue is but my recent failures have humbled me greatly. What is the simplest medium so I can reteach myself what I thought I already knew.

I was planning on just picking up a charged soil and taking things slow. But everyone I know of speaks highly of coco mixes.
Click to expand...
Tupur....Coco mix great for buffering pH and EC for beginners. You'll love it
 
Creature1969

Creature1969

Well-Known Member
I went with a purchased super soil (Kind Soil. Research has shown me that everyone who's used it and followed their recommendations were successful. Most everyone stated they wouldn't be buying it again but never said exactly why.) under about 5 inches of coco in 5g pots. Couldn't be happier with how things are going @ 1 month. Suffered minor def's 2 weeks in as 2 plants grew slightly slower and didn't reach the soil in time (They recommend NOT using coco on top. I didn't see that part :eyesmoke:).

Nothing but day old tap water. Should be this way to the end with this soil. So they say.

That said, I'm running auto's. 1st real grow. I wanted easy, less chance for error, watch and learn.

Next grow is going to be coco/perlite. Drain to waste and coco "hempy" side by side. Same strain I'm growing now. Science!

IMO coco looks to be the easiest non-soil way to grow. All the bonuses of hydro without the issues that growing in water can have. I can read a digital meter, measure and pour so I should be good to go!
 
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NanoGadget

NanoGadget

Well-Known Member
To my mind it's largely about when you want to put in the work... hydro systems dont require a ton of work on the front end (unless you're setting up some huge, crazy ebb and flow sytem) but they require diligence and lots of monitoring throughout the grow. Something like a water only grow requires a lot of front end work and preparation, but if you get it right there isn't much to do during the actual grow... it's all about preferences.
 
papa canna

papa canna

Well-Known Member
Creature1969 said:
I went with a purchased super soil (Kind Soil. Research has shown me that everyone who's used it and followed their recommendations were successful. Most everyone stated they wouldn't be buying it again but never said exactly why.) under about 5 inches of coco in 5g pots. Couldn't be happier with how things are going @ 1 month. Suffered minor def's 2 weeks in as 2 plants grew slightly slower and didn't reach the soil in time (They recommend NOT using coco on top. I didn't see that part :eyesmoke:).

Nothing but day old tap water. Should be this way to the end with this soil. So they say.

That said, I'm running auto's. 1st real grow. I wanted easy, less chance for error, watch and learn.

Next grow is going to be coco/perlite. Drain to waste and coco "hempy" side by side. Same strain I'm growing now. Science!

IMO coco looks to be the easiest non-soil way to grow. All the bonuses of hydro without the issues that growing in water can have. I can read a digital meter, measure and pour so I should be good to go!
Click to expand...
I would caution the experimentation. Trying new things is good. But me personally, I got too big for my britches thought I knew what I was doing, now im struggling to get a crop to even make it into flower from experimenting too much. After 3 solid grows under my belt.
 
Creature1969

Creature1969

Well-Known Member
NanoGadget said:
To my mind it's largely about when you want to put in the work... hydro systems dont require a ton of work on the front end (unless you're setting up some huge, crazy ebb and flow sytem) but they require diligence and lots of monitoring throughout the grow. Something like a water only grow requires a lot of front end work and preparation, but if you get it right there isn't much to do during the actual grow... it's all about preferences.
Click to expand...
Exactly. I decided to start growing on a whim and I wanted them started yesterday. lol. I knew I wanted to do some kind of hydro, but what? So to get started fast I decided a "set it and forget it" grow was in order to give me time to research more. In my case it wasn't a time investment as I purchased soil but it was the quickest, easiest way to go. Growing auto's it seemed like a double no-brainer for me.

papa canna said:
I would caution the experimentation. Trying new things is good. But me personally, I got too big for my britches thought I knew what I was doing, now im struggling to get a crop to even make it into flower from experimenting too much. After 3 solid grows under my belt.
Click to expand...
I don't take things slow, I go all in right away. I want/need to know all I can about a subject I take interest in. Usually turns out expensive but almost always pays off for me. I'm already experimenting with this grow to some extent. 2 of my 4 plants are being abused in different ways and I'm in the "mini party cup challenge" growing an auto in a 1/4 cup container. I'm growing in un-pH'd coco using the wrong nutes. I know for a fact that I don't know what I'm doing with a few of these plants atm, but I am going to be forced to learn pretty darn quick. I've also learned over the many years of doing too many different things to always have a back up, fail-safe because shit happens. lol. So, next grow will likely have at least one "set it and forget it" plant.
 
M

mjinc

Well-Known Member
For big plants I like a Coco/Perlite mix. It's a bit more forgiving and if the pots are quite large you can get away with watering every few days
 
Creature1969

Creature1969

Well-Known Member
My experiments are to weed out fact from fiction with autos. Too much conflicting info out there with most of it being a few years old. In just 4 weeks I've found they aren't quite as delicate and unforgiving as most say. They're pretty simple experiments. Well, except for the "challenge plant" but I went into that knowing I'm bound to fail miserably anyway. Who tries to grow cannabis in a 55ml pot? :bigjoint:

I still vote a good super soil that will carry you through to the end is probably the easiest and most forgiving way to go. More time for bongsmilie
 
whitebb2727

whitebb2727

Well-Known Member
Creature1969 said:
My experiments are to weed out fact from fiction with autos. Too much conflicting info out there with most of it being a few years old. In just 4 weeks I've found they aren't quite as delicate and unforgiving as most say. They're pretty simple experiments. Well, except for the "challenge plant" but I went into that knowing I'm bound to fail miserably anyway. Who tries to grow cannabis in a 55ml pot? :bigjoint:

I still vote a good super soil that will carry you through to the end is probably the easiest and most forgiving way to go. More time for bongsmilie
Click to expand...
I did the same with autos. They are actually pretty potent fromnthe right breeders. You can top some of them. You can do a lot of things that people say not to.
 
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