Soil preference?

Weedog420

Active Member
Hey guys , I’m just getting into growing autos. Could you tell me what’s a good mix? I have plenty of perlite, I was thinking about using FF happy frog with about 30% perlite mixed in. I read some people like mixing coco coir, perlite, and peat moss. Throw me some suggestions, I am new to this... plan on running some autos outdoors, as well as a small consistent indoor grow. Have a 2x2x5 tent with a spider SF1000 led. Thanks guys
 

Hobbes

Well-Known Member
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Hi Weedog

I just use Pro Mix HP (high porosity) and have been getting good results.

I've never mixed my own soil.

.
 

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
Hey guys , I’m just getting into growing autos. Could you tell me what’s a good mix? I have plenty of perlite, I was thinking about using FF happy frog with about 30% perlite mixed in. I read some people like mixing coco coir, perlite, and peat moss. Throw me some suggestions, I am new to this... plan on running some autos outdoors, as well as a small consistent indoor grow. Have a 2x2x5 tent with a spider SF1000 led. Thanks guys
I wouldn't recommend mixing coco with peat. They're totally different.
 

Weedog420

Active Member
yeah I honestly would just prefer to buy a pre mixed bag soil, that’s why I was thinking about FF happy frog.. just scoping some options and suggestions
 

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Are you gonna bottle feed or rely on the soil for nutrients?

A peat based mix like the Promix mentioned by @Hobbes will require a feed. You will want to water with runoff when bottle feeding to prevent salt build ups.

An organic mix like the FFOF will provide food, at least for the first 6 weeks, provided you don't wash it all out by watering with runoff.
 

FusterCluck

Active Member
Hey guys , I’m just getting into growing autos. Could you tell me what’s a good mix? I have plenty of perlite, I was thinking about using FF happy frog with about 30% perlite mixed in. I read some people like mixing coco coir, perlite, and peat moss. Throw me some suggestions, I am new to this... plan on running some autos outdoors, as well as a small consistent indoor grow. Have a 2x2x5 tent with a spider SF1000 led. Thanks guys
I watch I guy called Mr canuks grow on you tube he grows autos with Gaia Green 1-0-0 and gets some pretty decent buds.
 

DailyBlastin

Well-Known Member
So keep in mind firstly that i dont grow autos normally, every now and then i get them as freebies so i just fuck around with them, i normally grow photos in coco and do a 4 plant perpetual for self supply. we all know theres lots of info around about what not to do with autos, but again i just fuck around with them so i tend to try to do all the shit with them that people say not do, ive successfully transplanted, lollipopped, manifolded, and cloned auto's, the results were never *ideal* of course but i had fun doin it! All that being said the following statement will undoubtedly start controversy- but the best auto i ever grew was primarily a miracle-grow grow, started it in a small 4inch pot with MG seed starter mix, transplanted it to a 1gal smartpot with regular MG, at around the 40-45 day mark though i removed the pot, carefully dredged the majority of the MG out of the rootball and repotted it in coco to avoid the N saturation in flower, been a few years but iirc i pulled a little over 3oz off a plant that was less than 2ft tall and no more than 1sq ft wide, also im sure i could achieve better results in my regular flower tent, but this was a "stuffed-in-the-corner-of-my-veg-tent" plant that impressed the hell out of me at the time, i was convinced then that starting it in MG is was gave it the extra boost in its pre-determined veg state that beefed it up enough to pull that much under a 150w light with atleast 8 other photo veg plants also utilizing that light source. Naturally i would never recommend MG to anyone as a full cycle medium or even for vegging plants you care about really, but if you got a spare auto seed you just wanna fuck around with try vegging in it for shits n gigs. :bigjoint:
 

Budzbuddha

Well-Known Member
The following is for AUTOS : using FFOF soil peat blend.

FFOF can at times be a l little hot “ upfront , however if you let the plant acclimate to it without dumping more Nutes on top , it will
grow out of it. Some strains are sensitive , but FFOF has all the Nutes built in to grow autos from start to finish.
WITHOUT ADDING BOTTLED NUTES. NO FLUSHING NEEDED.


Autos only require feed and stable environment for approximately 90 of life ....
Autos thrive with simple methods , uncomplicated feeds. This bagged soil is premium enough to cover all of the feeding.

You can grow good size autos with the following steps even 1 gallon grows ! NO SOLO CUPS , NO TRANSPLANTING ...
NO BULLSHIT.

Mild bagged mixes are infused with root enhancing elements for a much more dense rootball upfront , this where the most important
stage of an auto will come to play. Screw up the short VEG stage and you get small plants and wasted medium. The EWC is an important element to add to any soil ..... I add 10% of container volume to mix into milder mix. I add perlite to enhance aeration and drainage. I add a scoop of MYCO ( great white or recharge or any brand you have ) mixed in well.

I start seed in final pot size ... myco will enhance the rooting from the start . Container is filled within 2” of rim. NO HALF POT BULLSHIT. Once everything is said and done , you will see and feel how thick and dense the roots have grown across topsoil.

This will work with reg strains also , but different steps involved ..... may post that later.

Water only grow .... No “ special “ water ... I use tap. If you are using RO , then supplement some CALMAG .
You can add some blackstrap to the flowering stage “ kelp ” water or dilute a spoonful of honey to keep the microbials
fat and sassy. Simple sugar elements.

Hard to fuck this up !

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BostonBuds

Well-Known Member
I use Black Gold potting soil from my local hardware store. I like it because it is 0.05-0.00-0.00 so I usually start adding a small amount of nutes around week 2, and it's light and fluffy so it's easy to tell when the pots need watering by how heavy they feel.

20200510_074424.png
 

dirtyoldb

Well-Known Member
Grow in soil takes a little longer.
Grow in coco a lot faster.

On average 3 to 4 months soil.
Coco average 2 to 3 months.

Soil can get problems with insects.
Coco no problems.

Generally I grow autoflower in coco.
Photoperiod in soil.
Just my preference.
 

Weedog420

Active Member
Grow in soil takes a little longer.
Grow in coco a lot faster.

On average 3 to 4 months soil.
Coco average 2 to 3 months.

Soil can get problems with insects.
Coco no problems.

Generally I grow autoflower in coco.
Photoperiod in soil.
Just my preference.
Hey man thanks for the reply! what sort coco do you use? I’d love to know more about growing autos in coco. Does it require more frequent watering? What sort of nutrients do you prefer to use? are the yields different?
 

dirtyoldb

Well-Known Member
Big difference in coco.
So much faster.
Yes they can get watered more often.
No nutrients in coco.
You provide them.
So far my favourite is Canna for coco.
Can water up to 3 times a day in coco.
Again just lift pot see the weight.
Can see the coco getting lighter in colour when drying.

20200515_074906.jpg
 

Weedog420

Active Member
Big difference in coco.
So much faster.
Yes they can get watered more often.
No nutrients in coco.
You provide them.
So far my favourite is Canna for coco.
Can water up to 3 times a day in coco.
Again just lift pot see the weight.
Can see the coco getting lighter in colour when drying.

View attachment 4566076
Awesome , how much would you need to purchase to fill 4 gallon pots? Like I don’t know how much does this stuff expand
 

Hawg Wild

Well-Known Member
1/3 - 1/2 peat moss from your local hardware store ($12 or so will get you a 3 cu. ft bale that will fluff out to about 6 cu. ft; it makes up 60% or more of all those name brand bags of dirt anyway but the stuff in the bales is actually higher quality than what the potting soil makers use)
1/4 - 1/3 compost and/or castings
1/4 - 1/3 aeration > If you want quick and easy, 50/50 perlite and vermiculite will work; I use lava rocks, biochar, carbonized rice hulls, and cocoa bean hulls
Mulch with clean straw.
You can do as much sourcing of individual ingredients as you like or, for simplicity's sake, take all the money that you just saved over buying bagged soil and go over to Buildasoil (my preference), K.I.S. Organics, or some other supplier and order a dry mineral and amendment mix to fit the amount of soil you're making. My preference would be the L.O.S. V3 minerals and amendments (sold and packaged separately). Sprinkle or water in some mycorrhizae at planting and every couple of weeks and you're golden. Oh.. and if you do use Buildasoil, use the coupon DunnDeal to get something off your order (I think 7%). You now have a living soil that will produce a better product overall than bottled nutrients in soil and will be much more difficult to mess up (no hot amendments to burn your plants or chelated nutrients to build up salts in your soil and root zone), since all you really need to do from here on out is water with non-chlorinated water, though you can topdress and foliar spray and water in teas as you see fit. Best part is that you can use it over and over again just by reamending or, better yet, topdressing and watering in what you take out, and it's only going to get better and better each run if you treat it right and keep your soil microbes happy, so you won't be buying much soil in the future unless you add more garden space.
 
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