Questions about Soil and Fertilizer

ok first off.. this will be my 3rd grow ever... my first 2 were under fluorescents and had little or no success. my 3rd will be under a 400 Watt HPS. I plan to use lowryder seeds in this medium
1 part perlite
1 part vermiculite
2 parts soil

2ndly, the nearest hydro shop is an 2 hours away in a direction i never go.. gas is high and i dont wanna make the haul. so with that in mind.

what kind of soil should i buy? i have a walmart, lowes, home depot nearby and a few small garden supply shops.

do i need to fertilize or will the soil already have the nutrients?
if i need to fertilize.. do i buy something to mix in the water or something i have to mix in the soil? how often should i apply it to the water or soil

please dont respond with hate about the seeds or the fact i dont wanna take the trip to the hydro shop... if i can get a decent grow once.. i might start taking the drive to the shop lol

i get all my soil needs at home depot. eiether sunshine mix #4 or pro-mix ph
then 35%perlite, 15%vermiculite, mix together then add lime and 30% worm casting and a bit of kelp meal. awesome organic soilless mix

thanks! so do i need to just water them or add some kind of solution to the water first?

If you follow bonz's soil recipe you should be good on ferts until the beginning of veg then you just need to decide what type of nutes and schedule you will use after that. I am growing lowryder as well, and I hardly use any veg type nutes at all.

you will need a ph tester if you plan on using nutes. and there are alot of realy good organic nutes at home depot. stay away from mg and schults nutes or soils.they usualy have time release nutes and thats not very good to learn with.
then you will need some lime or backing soda to raise the ph. nutes will usualy lower the ph.
for nutes look for blood meal, bone meal, and worm castings, bat guano if you can. there are different n/p/k of bat poo.


oh i forgot, i water my soil for about a week or 2 before i use it to activate the mix

hey thanks a ton guys.. really helpful... i was confused about this stuff but you've cleared it up. props!