Hi everyone sorry if this is in the wrong place still learning about the form.
I’m doing my first grow in about 1 week getting my seeds soon (auto fem northern lights), I’m trying to find a basic soil recipe. I’ve seen hundreds of recipes or preferences. I’m leaning towards Fox Farm happy frog or ocean Forest with perlite. Trying to stay pretty basic for my first time, local hydroponic store has these. Also need to know what do I transplant to if it’s the same soil or what I should add in and how long in to the grow. I don’t know if it helps but I’m doing a indoor grow with cfl’s. I understand this is a different answer for everyone but anything helps. Thank you.
Not a hundred percent sure what your question is but soil is a preference an you will get many answers that very most importantly is lighting, and use a pretty neutral soil for seedlings so not to burn them with nutrients. Alot of us start in red solo cups till you can see roots around the outside of the soil then transplant to 2 or 3 gallon or 5 if you are going for bigger plants hope this helps
I have used FFOF and FFHF and I a much happier with Happy Frog.
ProMix BX is good stuff too @CaliWelder And a little less expensive!
I have found that for me it is better to sprout my Autoflowering seeds right in their forever home. I use the 3 gallon cloth pots for the Autos and they work great!
Mist with pH 6.5 water and cover with dome (clear plastic solo cup or cutoff water bottle or something similar for first week) Spray with pH water inside the dome and base of plant couple times a day. They like warm and humid!
If you use a “nutrient rich” soil then you won’t need nutrients right away.
ILGM has Flower Power Nutes.
I have used the GH Flora Line and I am currently using the FF Trio Nutrients.
They are all good in their own right. If you are in the USA; Nector For The Gods Nutrients is offering a free sample for the price of shipping which was about $25 for me here in MA.
Do you have a pH Meter, pH Up and Down @CaliWelder
@CaliWelder if you follow @bob31 suggested method you don’t need nutes for the first 6 weeks or so. You can make a pocket of perlite and soil nested in fabric pots for them to start out. Keep the soil dry and mist the area around it like the inside of the dome.
Lighting is a personal preference. I use led’s and many do but get smart about them before you buy. EVERY LED ON EBAY OR AMAZON IS LYING. If you understand that, you’ll be getting off on the right foot haha. Let me ask @dbrn32 and @Niala to weigh in as they know far more on this subject.
This is where people need to get educated on TRUE WATTS. Most of the LED sellers are technically not “lying”. They’re not being honest either. They sell them as 300w, 600w, 1000w… That’s why I bought the 2 I needed to get this grow done. They were up front with the actual watts. (300watts actual out of a 600w light). I advise people to go read the specifications and as @Myfriendis410 advises, ask @Niala and @dbrn32
@CaliWelder, you can grow cannabis very successfully with a minimum of tools. The first 3 are a *good ph meter with 7.0 reference solution, ph up, ph down. All of the rest makes it better. Correct ph is life or death.
Search Google for nutrients for cannabis or go to YouTube and search the same. That way you can decide what you’d like to use. FF trio or GH Flora series is just 2 of many nutrients you might want to use. If you’re growing indoors, do your research. Failure is not hard to do indoors because of so many variables (lights, air moving, temps, and so on.) I spent 2 months researching before growing and still made mistakes. You need to go on Amazon and get yourself a pH meter and TDS meter. I would have failed for sure without them. You need to have pH up and pH down solutions to keep your water around 6.5 when growing in soil.
When I used FFOF I had issues with the soil being too hot to start seedlings and then bugs. I was very careful to not overwater and I still got the soil gnats. They come from the bat guano in the soil.
I tried FFHF on the next grow and no issues whatsoever! Though I am considering trying the Pro-Mix BX that some of the folks are talking about. @VelcroThumb
@bob31 I do remember you telling me the Fox Farms was a hot soil for seedlings. I had a little nute burn from it. I use OF as well, although ihavent run into soil gnats… yet… fingers crossed