ehhh

Before anyone bashes me, i have read the faqs, over and over again. I have a question about organic soil. If i use organic, how does the plant feed itself in the first 2 - 3 weeks if i am not giving it any nutes? Are there micro nutes in these organic mediums?

man i dunno if im right but ill try help...
the baby ones get nutez from the water...
i think it only uses the metals from the water...
but thats my biology coming in not testing

Alright my brutha, heres the skinny on the first two to three weeks in soil. For the first three weeks you could damage the plants by adding nutes because the soil does contain nutes within its own mix. If you give them nutes during this time, you could burn the tiny and very fragile root system that is developing. Salt build up can also form mkin for a really bad soil mix. So, yes let yourt plants absorb the in the soil nutes for three weeks to avoid killing your new crop.

yep the soil and the water got the food they need. I some instances you may not even need to feed in veg., depending on strain, soil mix, and/or veg. time.
Also the salt build up that the previous poster talks about is why it is a good idea to flush every so often. When growing less is better until you know your plants pretty well.

Yeah man think about it, do plants in the wild ever get fertilized? No. They spread out and collect nutes from the soil and organic matter within it. Growing in a contained pot, your goal is to make sure that the nutrient levels stay balanced.

so the soil i use for veg (let say ratio of npk is 6;3;3) should be enough to feed my plants for a good 3 - 4 weeks? and for flowering i do the same thing? just switching the ratios around? ..... so, i would be switching the soil at least 3 - 4 times? during its cycle? any input will help, please thanks

also, what about soilless mixes? with this medium, you would have to add the nutes, no? after the seedling turns into a stem?

GyGax, when you say you "feed" maybe once in veg, does this mean you are adding nutes to the soil..so mixing nutes w/ water then feeding?

I feed more than once but yes I add the nutes to a gallon jug with water then Ph then feed. I usually only water once a week though so if I only veg. for a month the plant only gets fed twice in veg. When the plant gets 3 weeks it should be ready, if it really needs food you will see the lower leaves start to yellow.

Depends on what kind of soiless mix you are using, I use Light Warrior on seedlings and just feed them water, they grow fine then when I do my first transplant I do a mix of Light Warrior and Ocean Mix, then I wait til week 3 or so and feed them some nutes.

ah gygax, you cleared up some confusion i had, thanks. what kind of soil is light warrior and ocean mix? just a regular potting soil? nothing organic?

and are PPM meters useful for hydroponics only? if not, how do u use it in soil?

GIJoe8383 said:

and are PPM meters useful for hydroponics only? if not, how do u use it in soil?

Click to expand...

You would use it to test the ppm of the water your going to use. I have talked with a few soil growers and all of them have told me they ph their water first, then test the ppm and adjust their nutes accordingly. Lets say you are going to water seedling about two weeks old. You want to use 1/4 strength nutes. Your nutrients call for an ec (electrical Conductivity)of 1.8 or between 1200 and 1300 ppm. So 1/4 strength you want around 300 ppm. You adjust the ph of your water an then check your ppm. it shows 300ppm. You would add nutes until your solution is measuring 600ppm. Now water your seedlings. Over the next week they will tell you what they need. Gradually bump it up to full strength over the next two weeks. VV

VV, some of what you said made sense...i read it like 10 times, im going to read it another 10, lol.

is the ppm labeled on the nute package?