Soil and water only Grow

Fahn2k

Fahn2k

Well-Known Member
I don't like to rain on anybody's parade, but judging by when you started this thread we started at the same time. My ladies are over 2' tall and in Flower since 5/26 and your still showing babies. I hope I'm wrong, but if this is as far as you have gotten then you should try the old tried and true method called "KISS" keep it simple! You're doing too much and wasting money at the same time. I went in with the same thought process of using water only soil and seeds only. I picked up Detroit Nutrient water only mix, you can pick it up on Amazon for an arm and a leg! One bag will fill 3=5 gallon containers or 4-3 gallon containers. Since I changed my mind from 3 gallon to 5 gallon I didn't have enough, so I picked up FFoF. 3 to 4 days after transplanting the Detroit Nutrient pots (2) showed browning and yellowing of my leaves while the FFoF pots (2) did just fine. Nobody can tell you how much water your plants need exactly although telling you not to water till overflow is best practice. Why wash out any Nutes or supplements that you add and you will need to add. Just watch your plants daily and you will start to recognize when they show signs of needing water. When you over water your plants will slow down, under water and they wilt, just enough and they spring into action! Watering needs will change as the plants get bigger. By the way 1 plant per pot! Anything more and two things are going to happen 1. the roots get intertwined and separating them without damaging gets harder. 2. the two plants together are going to fight for nutes in the soil. Also you have a 2x2, an experienced grower can make more than 2 plants work, but you said you were a noob, KISS. You have how many plants growing just to flower 2? most seed banks I check get about $10 per seed, KISS save some money germ 3 or 4 seeds in rockwool or a 8 ounce cup, pick the two that show the most robust growth and add to the tent in 3 gallon containers and hope that size limits the growth to under 30 inches. You'll learn a lot about training with 2 plants in a 2x2x48 so again KISS. How much room do you have in the tent after you subtract the room taken up by the light and the height of the container that holds the plant? When you plant hits12" you hace to switch to flower and even then it could double or even triple in height that could be 24 to 36" with a photo. Your pushing it. I use a 3x3x72 with 4 ladies and I promise you space is becoming a major issue day by day. I went from transplant to flower/bloom without any added nutes or supplements. I started using soil amendments on the same day I started my 12/12 cycle (Meigs formula 1 & 2 along with Mighty Bloom) that's it. As a noob I didn't look for perfection in my 1rst grow I'm just looking for completion and to at least break even on a cost basis. We should keep in touch, I plan to get a 2x2x48 in about 2 maybe 3 weeks I'm just waiting to see the light at the end of my 1rst grow, actually I see it. I got some auto seeds that I think would be better suited for a small short tent as apposed to photo seeds. I'm curious about how your tent size will become an issue when you get into the flowering stage. A good idea may be a fast seed using SoG, many plants, grown short, acceptable yield, shorter time frame! I'm sure the experts will tell you better ways, but right now I'm a happy happy camper. Oh, don't worry so much about the soil you use, but rather how it's stored where you plan to buy it. Avoid anyplace that stores their soil outside (bugs), look at the cleanliness of the store and try to gage who long the product has been sitting there, if it has dust on the bags keep moving. Like I said the experts and well healed on this site can definitely give better info than me but just keep it simple and you have less a chance of anything going wrong.

Good Luck
 
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Fahn2k

Fahn2k

Well-Known Member
Here's a link to a cool spot to read up on growing. The internet is full of information and it can make your head spin especially when it becomes opinionated. It's nice to have a baseline that can just help get you there. Don't knock the opinions, I'm sure they are all or most based in good faith, but also remember were all in different environments so what works for one may not work for all.

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Good Luck
 
Fahn2k

Fahn2k

Well-Known Member
Pmurp said:
Funny you say that 2x2 isn’t much space. I literally just started thinking about expanding my stealth grow to a tent but can’t figure out what size.
4x4 is definitely too big, but I also kind of felt 2x2 was too small. What’s the smallest tent you’d consider worth it?
Click to expand...
For my first tent I planned on a 2x2, but nobody had them in stock so I got a 3x3, its actual outside dimensions are 40x40 perfect for 4 decent plants under a 315watt LEC, or the so called 1000 to 2000 watt cheap LED's, 400 watt MH/HPS anything more and figure on adding AC.
 
Flowtrail55

Flowtrail55

Well-Known Member
This thread has been basically a long first grow. As you can see I've killed lots of plants.
I've made tons of mistakes. Lots of watering mistakes too. The plan is 2 plants at the end going into flower. I will weed out the weaker plants to finish with 2.

This has been as simple as I can make it. So far with the last pictures I have improved.
 
Fahn2k

Fahn2k

Well-Known Member
Glad you haven't given up. I know people swear by coco and I know it has its place, but something told me to avoid it on a first run. I think you mentioned using it. Mixing coco adds its own problem because it doesn't have nutrients in it. So now you have to add nutes and worry about ph more than you would for soil. All those notes cost. Soil with some extra amendments is cheap in comparison. Straight soil for your 1st time out. Don't let people tell you ffof is garbage, it works my ffof plants are excellent. An advanced grower may not speak highly of it, but they have advanced past it and you will too. Right now though it'll give your plants what they need for at least a month without adding anything and that will get you over the hump. After a month a tablespoon of soil amendment per week will carry you to the bloom stage. At the bloom stage keep adding the ammendment plus add something to enhance the buds like mighty bloom. Then leave it alone till you get to the point where you feel like you'll harvest in a about two weeks. Then stop adding anything and just use water. When you harvest, dry and cure time should be slow and steady. About 3 weeks for best taste.

Good luck
 
Flowtrail55

Flowtrail55

Well-Known Member
I appreciate that advice.
I will continue doing a full soil grow. The local guys at my hydro store were super helpful. Your advice has been helpful too. The original plan was to do soil only. No added nutes. I plan on sticking to that, even with the steep learning curve.
 
Flowtrail55

Flowtrail55

Well-Known Member
Chick magnet doing very well.
Seems like I got watering dialed in.
20210608_140613.jpg20210608_140615.jpg20210608_140552.jpg

Topped the next set of leaves to start building more branches. She seemed very happy last night. The 2 sets of leaves started praying up already. (Pic below is just after pinching off the new leaves.)
20210608_202848.jpg
 
Flowtrail55

Flowtrail55

Well-Known Member
Finally some good progress!
Chick magnet.
Transplanted to fabric pot.
60/65% bu's blend soil
40% coco
Base is 50/50 soil/coco (2-3 inches for drainage)
Plenty of room to top dress in flower. 20210705_090530.jpg20210705_090541.jpg
Bottom photo is through a lens of some cheap sunglasses.
 
ChunkyBulbasaur

ChunkyBulbasaur

Member
Flowtrail55 said:
I think I may filter and PH my tapwater.
Completely restarted my grow. Still using same soil/perlite mix. And same lighting schedule.

3 or 4 purple sponge.
4 Grape pupilView attachment 4893453View attachment 4893454View attachment 4893455View attachment 4893456View attachment 4893457View attachment 4893458
Any help would be great.
Please be positive. I have cut way back on my watering. But some of them look over watered. The others look very thirsty.
I gave them all a watering today.
Click to expand...

You may be having issues with the bags over the pots. Maybe taking the bags off as soon as you see the sprout would help. My hypothesis is your humidity drops severely when you remove the bag, and the seedlings aren’t prepared for it because it happens so quickly, from %80 to %50 or so..
this begs the question, what’s your humidity?
You might also want to turn your lights down a bit. I could be wrong, but those plants look light stressed. Seedlings need just enough light to keep them from stretching too far.

Another tip: you are trying to keep precise moisture content around a very small root zone, so you want a very small pot to start with, unless you have your watering technique down to a science. You had the right idea when you were giving a few drops, but to keep that up at the right intervals, with that much soil, would be a bit difficult.
IMG_1094.jpegI have my baby in a 12 oz coffee cup, and it’s working on its 2nd set of true leafs now. Pick up the cup, and if it doesn’t feel super light and airy, don’t water it. I think I’ll transplant soon, I don’t want her roots to get crowded. Now that the growth rate has picked up, a bigger pot won’t be much of a watering issue.
 

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