Soil help

Weed-noob

Active Member
Hey guys I need some help!!! I'm overthinking soil. I got some (Schultz Potting Soil Plus) ready to go for my seedlings once they germinate. Also I have a box of general hydroponics with everything I need for nutes Here's my questions!

1) Is Schultz potting soil any good for my seedlings

2) When should I start adding nutes

3) I received a Ph testing solution with my nutes. Can I test the soil with that?

I'm freaking out, we don't have any nursery around here/hydroponic store around here. My only answer is amazon and I'm on the clock since my seeds are germinating!!!
 

Morth

Well-Known Member
Not a soil guy so don't take my advice to seriously but think Schults would have to much nutrients for a seedling. Most say nothing but water until the little round leaves turn yellow. I put a little superthrive in the water for my seedlings though but they are in rockwool and it's not necessary i just like to do it lol. After the little round leaves start to turn yellow add nutrients at seedling level and go from there. Think of the round leaves as a nutrient tank that has all your babies need until they run out (turn yellow) but ya maybe different in sol not sure
 

Mellodrama

Well-Known Member
The general rule of thumb around this forum is to stay far away from any soil that has timed-release fertilizers in it. Like Schultz Potting Soil Plus. That advice goes double for seedlings!

I've had good luck with sterile starting soils for the first week or two, then moving the young plants to big pots and the soil they'll be in the rest of the trip. Without knowing your options it's hard to make a suggestion. A few people have mentioned that the Black Magic organic soil (Home Depot) is good. FoxFarms Ocean Forest is good if ameliorated with a few handfuls of dolomite lime. Sounds like you can't buy FFOF locally?

At the very least, avoid timed release soils.

Did you get some pH test strips? Or reagent and a color chart? First thing to do is figure out the pH of your tap water. If it's high, use food grade citric acid to get it in the 6.0 to 6.5 pH ballpark. That's what I use. You can buy a few pounds on Amazon for cheap, and that'd last a long time. I don't have a recommendation for bringing pH up.

With soil, a lot of people say don't worry about pH at all but I don't subscribe to that. Some folks use rain water. If you have a goldfish pond in the yard, the water they've been pooping in can be pretty effective!

This is just my opinion, but I believe that very young plants are more sensitive to pH imbalances than plants a few weeks old. Our well water is 8.2+. In my admittedly limited experience, seedlings seemed happier when I'd knocked the pH down to the 6.0 - 6.5 range.

Like Morth, I also like to add a couple of doses of Superthrive in the beginning. Like Morth, I don't know if it does anything.
 

Weed-noob

Active Member
What if I order fox farm ocean Forrest on amazon for later (veg/flower) and just do my own mix for my seedling. Peat moss/perlite/vermiculite? I don't want to burn my germinated seeds
 

Garrett Richardson

Well-Known Member
I started all my seeds in FFOF no burn, but most people recommend an organic medium, you could go either way, your way would be best bet if you don't want to risk burn
 

Mellodrama

Well-Known Member
Weed-noob, if you can order FFOF quickly enuf, go for it. Can you get a small bag of dolomite lime locally? FFOF seems to lose calcium quickly. Add a few handfuls of dolomite, problem solved. I re-use the FFOF. Plenty of threads about ROLS and etc., check into it when you have the time.

Your idea for hand-mixing a starter soil is probably fine if you just can't find a bag of starter soil around town.

What are you gonna do for containers? I like 10-gallon fabric myself. Whatever you use, provide drainage under the pot. You want to be able to see run-off.

Have you checked the water supply pH?
 

STX.OrganicGuerilla

Active Member
FFOF and FFHF.
FF happy frog to start them in and transplant into FFOF after a few weeks.
And as before suggested you should look into learning about True Live Organic growing and beneficial fungi and bacteria.
 
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