potting soil.

i need to know what potting soil to start with for my seedlings.the choices of places to buy potting soil are limited.HD,lowes and walmart,i know,not much of a choice is there.any ideas would be greatly appreciated.thanks.

I don't know if you're strapped for cash or not but I would recommend getting on ebay or amazon and buying a bag of fox farm or any other equivalent soil.
I've been involved in a few debates here lately about miracle grow. I'm a soil grower and started out with the trying all the available $5 bags of soil and had problems after problems. Yes it can work. The problems with the department store soils are this. Biggest problem is it contains time released nutes, which tend to burn young plants. It doesn't allow you to control what and when you feed. If you absolutely have no other option, lowes has an organic soil by scotts. Its very heavy and often already has bug and gnat issues. I would recommend cutting it with vermiculite and perlite. By the time you you buy all that stuff you could have bought a bag of ff ocean forest. I know there will be dept store believers wanting to debate me on this. I
learned the hard way. Be patient and save your money for a couple of weeks and invest in a good bag of soil. After all we feed the soil, not the plant. Good luck on your grow.

Seedlings start in seed starter soil. Regular potting soil, worm castings and ferts come after the plant is established with a few pairs of leaves.

miracle grow puts out a seed starting soil mix you can buy at the big box stores. don't let people scare you from using mg products, there are plenty of successful grows using mg. start your seeds off in the seed starter soil, after they get an established root system transplant them into a good potting soil mix. use straight water for the first few weeks and be careful with over watering. good luck and happy growing!

Mother's Finest said:

Seedlings start in seed starter soil. Regular potting soil, worm castings and ferts come after the plant is established with a few pairs of leaves.

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You are right. It is better to start your seeds in a light mixture. I start mine in ff light warrior. I use to just cut the ocean forrest with 50% vermiculite to start seedlings.

@Kevin I agree, MG products deserve a little recognition (I use MG Veg Nutes) but I wouldn't recommend MG soil to someone that is obviously new to growing. Some simple compost, perlite, and virmiculite does the job for me and many others. I would only try MG soil if you're experienced enough to know what you're doing.

Ace Hardware carries Promix BX. I recommend that.

Otherwise, find yourself a plant nursery (they exist, just google it if you don't know where one is in your area) and get yourself an ORGANIC soil. Add in 1 part perlite for every 2 parts soil.

I"m getting rooted clones and was told (and bought a bag of roots organics) Will let you know how things turn out. But price wasn't bad $21.50 soo..even if it really does suck not too much to lose (although any loss is bad in my mind but their are bumps ahead being a new grower).

thanks to all.i found a place that sells fox farm about an hour away.just got my lights,timer,ph tester,fan and pots today.next week,road trip to pick up soil.got the closet white and cleaned.i hope to show some decent picks and not burned down plants.i must say this is an excellent site with excellent people.

420Marine said:

I"m getting rooted clones and was told (and bought a bag of roots organics) Will let you know how things turn out. But price wasn't bad $21.50 soo..even if it really does suck not too much to lose (although any loss is bad in my mind but their are bumps ahead being a new grower).

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And one of my bumps was learning the hard way how important good soil is.

well good luck and keep us all updates..I personally loce the grow journals

smilezofpain said:

thanks to all.i found a place that sells fox farm about an hour away.just got my lights,timer,ph tester,fan and pots today.next week,road trip to pick up soil.got the closet white and cleaned.i hope to show some decent picks and not burned down plants.i must say this is an excellent site with excellent people.

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Smart decision my friend. You won't be sorry. Itz the best commercial soil I've ever used. I also use their liquids and solubles going on 5 years now. Never a ph problem.