Organic soil, nutrients for first grow

I'm looking for some advice on what soil composition and which nutrients (and when) to use in my first grow (stealth cabinet, Jean Guy feminized seeds = white widow x ???).

I have the luxury of having a hydroponics shop in my town, and I know for sure I can get Fox Farm's Ocean Forest potting mix on demand. I planned to use this as my base with vermiculite or perlite mixed in (or both). Any recommendations on ratios?

As for the nutrients, which compositions (I want to buy pre-mixed to keep cost/labor down)? Should I go liquid or solid? I'm assuming it doesn't matter, as long as they dissolve in water.

Thanks for the help.

I was bored, so I just went to the shop and got advice there. Per recommendations, I'm going to vege in a 16 oz cup of happy frog (less nutes than ocean forest, less burning in seedling) with fractional doses of big bloom if the color or posture of the plant start to look bad. I'll do the first bout of LST (90 degree bend) at 5-6 inches, then vege until it gets nice and firm, then I'll transplant to ocean forest in a 3 gallon container and do the the rest of the LST and topping for ScrOG. I'll keep using big bloom as needed, then ratchet it up and add in tiger bloom after two weeks in flower. My full strength doses of nutes will be half of what the bottles recommend.

Sound good?

Impatience costs money. Hydro shops are fairly notorious for giving expensive (and often poor) advice. You are in the organic section so I'm assuming that you want to grow organically...if not, then proceed...but Tiger Bloom is most definitely NOT organic and you will kill the beneficial micro beasts in the soil when you use it. If you build good soil, you can get to water only grows pretty quickly and give up the expensive (and inorganic) bottled nutrients. If you enjoy reading at all, there is a really excellent book called "Teaming with Microbes" which will help you understand what is going on in your soil....which is really pretty necessary if you want to grow organically. Another book...definitely not so academic or correct but one that is very easy to follow step by step and has some good info is the new book by the Rev - True Living Organics. I'm not following everything to the letter that he has to say but what he says will get you growing good plants organically and very quickly and I am trying the spikes and layers technique now. The Rev by the way likes Big Bloom (NOT Tiger Bloom) and recommends it for teas.It's funny but I've found that patience in growing is a good thing too. Many folks kill their plants with too much "love and attention". Get the soil and setup right and then lope along while keeping an eye on things. I've heard I'm a lazy stoner...but I'm growing some really nice plants!

TerraceFarmer said:

I was bored, so I just went to the shop and got advice there. Per recommendations, I'm going to vege in a 16 oz cup of happy frog (less nutes than ocean forest, less burning in seedling) with fractional doses of big bloom if the color or posture of the plant start to look bad. I'll do the first bout of LST (90 degree bend) at 5-6 inches, then vege until it gets nice and firm, then I'll transplant to ocean forest in a 3 gallon container and do the the rest of the LST and topping for ScrOG. I'll keep using big bloom as needed, then ratchet it up and add in tiger bloom after two weeks in flower. My full strength doses of nutes will be half of what the bottles recommend.

Sound good?

Click to expand...

I do agree with jcmjrt with the notion of hydroshops giving shit advice, that is a fact.... They want you to buy the shit they need to get out of stock and half of them couldnt grow a terd if it fell out of their ass.... My advice, do not attempt a scrog in a 3 gallon pot period.... 5 gallon pot for a month of veg or less and 7 for 2 months of veg or less (with an 8-9 week flowering strain).....

Grow in the 16oz cup until the first signs of roots popping out of the drainage holes, from there if you want to use a 3 gall pot for a transitional or sexing pot, thats about it.... or just plant in the 5 or 7 gallon pot right out of the 16oz. cups..... Which is what I'd personally do but thats just me....

Thanks for the replies. I'm glad to hear alternative perspectives, as it's bad practice to rely on a singular source.

I really don't think his advice was motivated by a dollar amount as he discouraged me from getting the grow big because it would be useless for a short veg, especially when I'm training to keep the plant short. He also discouraged me from buying the tiger bloom ahead of flower to make sure I use a fresh bottle when it's time (though I doubt they move through enough nutes in a small town hydro store to make something I would buy three months later any fresher). He even knew I would be likely to buy the tiger bloom at another store in another state. On top of all that, he gave me a black Friday discount.

I'm not saying he's the Santa Claus of hydro store clerks, but he didn't seem motivated to rip me off. That being said, he very well may have given me bad advice. I have no way of knowing his expertise versus your own or other members of this forum. He claimed to have personal experience with this kind of cultivation (though we never explicitly stated what was to be grown), as well as the benefit of time spent experimenting. Additionally, he seemed to have a basic knowledge of soil science, which checked out with my own that I learned in college biology.

All that being said, I'm grateful for differing opinions. The more perspectives I come across, the more I will have to work with in my own experimenting.

As to the size of my final pot, I can't really go any bigger because of space constraints. Essentially the cabinet is a glorified pc box, just with a little extra width and 8 in or so of extra head space.

Thanks for the book titles, jcmjrt. I'm not dead set on organics--the largest, frostiest buds possible with my setup take precedence--but I've read on different forums that organics taste better. Also, I was modeling my soil/nutes setup after another post on this forum specific to white widow in soil. This was from another first timer, so not a fool proof plan, I know. I really outta find the time to consult the books you mentioned. It's just hard to know what to do for a specific strain in a specific environment--there are so many options, and everyone's setup is different.

Anything will work dude..... if you are growing in a smaller space, maybe think about going with coco seeing you can use tiny pots and grow as big as you want.....Botanicare makes a coco specific line of nutes.... but I'd recommend doing some research, look in the DIY section for similar sized grows, google it.... you'll find something close to what you have, try to get as specific as far as lights ect....


One recommendation I can give you that I have personal experience with is a SOG grow is a 2 liter bottle or similar sized container grow... As long as you dont have any restraints on plant #'s its a really nice way to grow but you need to be able take a lot of clones at one time and pack them in tight.... I ran a setup using 2L bottles with coco in some and perlite in others using the "hempy" style of growing.... But you basically root your clones, veg them for about a week or 12" or so inches and as long as you get the right strain (60/40 sat./indica would be about right) they should end up about 18-20 inches after the stretch.... If and when you get it right as far as the strain and getting it dialed in etc (something you'll have to do which ever style of grow you use) but that setup will be good to pull from 14-20 grams per plant when done right under a 1000watt light......... But this is with hid or LED etc... sufficient lighting basically....

You have to experiment and see whats gonna work for you, I'm just trying to help you out with some suggestions thats all.... I try to look at other setups that are similar to mine and pick and choose the best things that work for me... Get a basic idea of what you wanna do, get a little something going just to experiment and get your self some clones to work with etc.. clones are much easier to work with in smaller grows.. from seed expect at least 4 months or so minimum to see any kind of bud or clones on a 8 week flowering strain.... That % of indica/sativa will generally get you something of an 8-9 week hybrid which is basically what most people are after these days...

Good luck dude, keep posting and keep researching and reading.... its the only way to figure all this out if you dont have a whole lot of experience aside from just actually getting some seeds or clones and getting it on....