Soil: The easiest way to approach the first grow

i want to grow tomatoes whats a good soil

you can do seedlings in happy frog, would advise not mixing in more perlite as it already has some. I transplant into a soil mix of happy frog and ocean forrest when it is time to repot and put an inch of perlite in the bottom of the big pot

not familliar with the nutes you bought, but can tell you don't feed em till they are 3 to 4 weeks old

I'm at work but will try and check back later to see if you get any other advise

Happy Holidays

I would not give your babies nutes for 3 to 4 weeks in that soil. It has plenty. Adding more perlite will not hurt it will help.

Yeah, many mix the FoxFarms soils with perlite and cheaper soils. It gets pretty expensive paying $22 a bag when you have to buy 10+ to fill multiple 3-7gal pots. The perlite is good for it, it allows for easier root growth, but your plant will dry out faster than if it was all soil. So just water every 2-3 days instead of 3-4 days....

Ace Smoking said:

Yeah, many mix the FoxFarms soils with perlite and cheaper soils. It gets pretty expensive paying $22 a bag when you have to buy 10+ to fill multiple 3-7gal pots. The perlite is good for it, it allows for easier root growth, but your plant will dry out faster than if it was all soil. So just water every 2-3 days instead of 3-4 days....

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Right on! Well said.

wow thanks for hte replies tha tosunds fantastic

This is nearly fail proof and easy.

put 2 inches of water in a cup and throw your seeds in. Put them in a warm place. On top of a fridge will work. Leave them in there for 24 hours. Ya can sink them or swirl the water to get them to sink. Not a big deal if they dnt but good if they do. After 24 hours plant them no matter if they sink,float or what! Plant them. they will be up in 2 or 3 days.

Soil is something I have never entered into.. I tried coco peat once and I hated it.. I kept over watering... I use clayballs which gives the roots heaps of oxygen that they need and I can precisely control what my plants are getting as nothing is trapped in the clayballs. I have to water for 15 mins every hour but I've got a timer that takes care of that for me... As long as I can check the PPM or EC of my reservoir, I can sleep easy knowing I know exactly what my plants get... There is no second guessing...

nephyx said:

Thanks for the replies - so let me see if I get this right

Ill germinate in paper towel then transfer to happy frog soil once sprouted - ill put the cfls (mix of warm and cool light) near my 4 inch mini container. I was thinking around 2-3 inches between the soil and the bulbs. Is that too close? Also, Do I need a humidity dome for these seedlings or is damp soil good enough? If I do use the humidity dome, at what point should I remove it - right before I transfer into my permanent 3 gal container for remainder of veg (6 weeks)? no risk of nute burn from soil if I place germinated seed in happy frog?

Regardless of those questions, say I succesfully tranfer into my 3 gal containers, now I should wait 3 additional weeks ( on top of the two seedling weeks) before I begin feeding the liquid nutrients? If that's the case, should I just apply flora micro until flowering begins or should I apply a mix of micro and flora bloom with more or less micro vs bloom depending on the age of the plant?

When flowering begins should I just use flora bloom? Sorry for all the questions but I'm one of those newbies who has to get everything right on the first time. I've already spent tons of time setting up my closet cabs (one veg one flower) and tons of money. My lights, temp , humidity and airflow are all optimal but that being said, I want to make sure I don't screw up the actual grow.

You guys are heros, please keep giving advice!!!

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the reason for not feeding a seedling for 3 weeks is because it cannot handle it , if your transplanting a plant at 4 weeks onwards keep liquid feeding as u did b4 the transplant , because the soil wont be suffiecent enuff it that age to feed it to its fullest

remove your humidity domes 24hrs after the seeds break the surface of the soil , keep your cfls probly 2-3 inches away, u can just put clingwrap around your pots to keep the humidity in.

OK you got some good advice and some lets say some questionable?

Since your new I'm gonna say to not take all advice (even mine) as gospel, do some reading and research on your own. If some one gives you advise without explaining why, ASK! understanding the principal behind the advise will help you learn how to grow better

If your starting with bagseed to get your learn on then mixing cheap soils with your happy frog will be ok, you'll "learn" not to and it won't cost much. If you spent $100 on 10 seeds why would you skimp on the soil? You can totally make your own soil mix but by the time you buy all the ingredients and mix them you will have spent more than if you buy a good soil blend Fox Farms is good soil and best is to go light warrior for seedlings, happy frog for week 3 to 5 and ocean forrest for flower. You will find that mixing them is good as well

My final (for flower) soil mix is (if you read my noob advice thread you'll see I got this from a tomato forum)

one part happy frogs
two parts ocean forest
a handful (cup) of sphagnum moss
and one tablespon Dolomite Lime (per gallon of soil)

The reason I said not to add perlite to your happy frogs is because it retains water and HF's has bark and moss in it that also retains water,,,,

THE BIGGEST MISTAKE MADE BY NEW GROWERS IS OVER WATERING

So my advice is not to add more water retaining material to your first grow, learn to read the soil before you begin to experiment, and I'm all for experimenting

For the same reason (as above) do not put your seedlings into 3 gallon pots, you increase your possibility to OVER WATER 10 fold the seedling can not drink that much water and it will take longer for the soil to dry out, increasing your chances for drowning your plant and possibly mold (as well as other problems)

+ rep to the guy that said put your seeds in a small cup of tepid (room temp) water, if tap water let it set out 24 hours to evaporate the clorine. I go 12 to 24 hours till the seeds sink then put them in soil 1/8 to 1/4 inch deep do not pack the soil when you cover it. Lots of folks use the 16oz red party cups (I have too) these are good for 3 to 4 weeks. I use 6 inch coir pots because they are good for my total veg period (5 weeks) and you just plant them when time to go in a bigger pot (no messing with roots)

Now I'll add a tip/trick buy a small bag of seeds (any seeds, I like tomatos) from home depot, lowes walmart and put them into the cup your going to soak your seeds in (to be clear fill cup (1/2 cup to a cup) let set for 24 hours, add entire bag of tomato seeds, let set for another 24 to 48 hours, remove tomato seeds (throw away or plant) put your seeds in 12 hours, plant em, use the water in the cup to water them

Why, (you can google seed soak water) all seeds have everything to start things off in them there is an enzyme that starts the process when they get wet and if you put lots of seeds in water it gets enriched with beneficial stuff seeds like this gives your "good" seeds a better healthier start as they enter our world


nuff for now

Good Luck