Having issues like most newbies

I only been doing water at 6.8 with run off at 5.5-5.9 , I only did nutrients when I transplanted hoping if would help with shock . So when my seeds arrive do I use the same soil of just coco with perlite ?

I can show you a photo of what it looks like if you need more clarity by photo .

this how it looks as of now . The small square pot with the small seedling is the pot size it was in and I transplanted it yesterday to the 3 gallon , so no over all process yet but what are your thoughts.

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She been through hell and back but it has shown new growth of leaves in the last 4 weeks , been in veg since first week of March .

My schedule has been water , skip a day water , skip a day and 2 measured cup of nutrients once a week and 1 full gallon of water that has been cured for 48 hours ?

I topped it twice and did 2 days of lst and this the actual up to date look ?

Growth will be slow to get back up to speed, it will come as the plant repairs itself.

So Iā€™m headed in the right direction ? I will ph water at 7.5 and hope the run off is 6.5 to raise it up at the roots , but I will keep an eye on things .

Going get a few bags of dolomite lime and try to dissolve at least a half of cup in ph water and hopefully this will help balance things out by the end of next week .

I been trying to find a mixing guide for soil medium . I have a large bag of fox farm , ocean forest , and coco coir , a bag of perlite , vermiculite and dolomite lime and been researching on how to mix it conservatively to give me a better chance of growing and not having to endure liquid nutrients more the less just water throughout the whole growth . Mostly everything I been researching is ancient Iā€™m assuming . But from what I gathered so far is that the fox farm soil but brands could be ah little strong for fresh termed seedlings . So Iā€™m still fighting with the one survived bag seed plant that has been stressed from the beginning . Iā€™m considering starting over with maybe a felt bag starter pot with maybe a 1/4 of a cup of happy frog starting mix , mostly coco and a 1/2 cup of perlite until the termed seedling makes at least 3 -4 weeks old before transplanting to a 2.5 liter pot , with a tbs of dolomite , Epsom salt , 2 cups of coco and a half of fox farm and ocean forest mixed on the very bottom on top of the clay stones until itā€™s topped and second set of notes grow to do a third transplant into a 3 gallon pot with another variable of mix to give the best result of at least getting to flower . Hopefully by this time my necessities would be in to go into experimenting mode to at least learn the science of this strategic art of growing since Iā€™m like $1670 into it . Now are there any considerations of a ratio on how I should actually mix the organic medium . Nevertheless should I just continue trial and error until I find a solution to on how , because until I successfully harvest at least one plant I wonā€™t quit trying . Now I read where the I should put the fox farm mix more to the bottom layer in the pot as the plant grows in stages it wonā€™t experience such intense nutrient intake and this method gives better results as the plant develop a root system into the more stronger organic soil medium . Now are there any conclusions to this that might help a far off lost biology scientist that is way in over his head and budget more the less ?

$10 a seed is like a gram of pot on the street (back in the days of selling blood plasma for weed)ā€¦ I invested in dirt for my first grow (around day 30 now).

I started in potting soilā€¦ no nutrientsā€¦ What you see above the dirt is even less than what the plant wants to do under the dirt at firstā€¦ so transplanting might be about a week and a halfā€¦ my 2nd set of plants are started in 3" paper grow cups they say I just drop into the next size planter.

Potting soil seems to be a little more peat moss than what you want to grow inā€¦ Perlite and Vermiculite help roots get air and waterā€¦ So, I take my next size planter and fill it half with the best dirt I can find- dump that in a tub (or wheelbarrow)ā€¦ Now the other stuff I found on this site- 20% perlite, 20% peat moss, 10% vermiculite (also adds that sparkly gold flake stuff to the dirt)ā€¦ mix both halves of the new dirt and toss in 3-4 TBS of Epsom salts (I know, right) and 3-4 TBS pulverized limeā€¦ I use a one time, high nitrogen plant food 'till I can try the stuff Robert sells here (I plan to feed low nitrogen higher phosphate for flower).

With auto flower the yield is less, but your first grow is behind you sooner, and could keep you from picking your cash crop apartā€¦ I think you get a deal on white widows (buy 5, get 5 free).

Oopsā€¦ this is not where I thought I posted thisā€¦ how did I miss this whole thread under the first postā€¦?

Hello there Yoshi,
I have a guide on soil I think will help you out. I can e-mail to ya or Hell iā€™ll just post itnhereā€¦lol Here ya go my friendā€¦copy and paste

Will

Whatā€™s The Best Soil For Growing Marijuana?
Growing marijuana is not easy. There are so many variables, so many decisions to be made, itā€™s enough to give a marijuana grower an anxiety attack! One thing that I always try to keep in mind when I am growing marijuana is to research and prepare ahead of time. For some reason, a lot of people think that growing marijuana is easy. Itā€™s only when they are weeks in that they realize they are in over their head. In an attempt to salvage the crop, the marijuana grower starts doing drastic things to improve the marijuana plants. Plan ahead, itā€™s well worth it.
The first thing that you will need to determine is whether you want to grow marijuana hydroponically or organically using soil. I will save hydroponics for another article, since this article deals only with soil. One of the biggest questions that I always get is, ā€˜what is the best soil for growing marijuana?ā€™ Luckily for readers, I have a recipe for quite possibly the greatest marijuana growing soil of all time. It was invented by the legendary Subcool. Here is Subcoolā€™s Super Soil Recipe which originally appeared on Cannabis Culture:
Subcoolā€™s Super Soil
To me there is nothing like the flavor of properly grown organic cannabis. The subtle flavors and aromas created when using mother earth is over whelming to the senses when done properly.
As with many vegetables a rich Organic soil can bring out the best in a plant. Over the past 20 years I have tried almost every possible way to cultivate our favorite plant and while hydro is certainly faster and the yields blow soil away, I have developed a soil that performs extremely well and thereā€™s very little guess work. I donā€™t worry about ph or ppm I simply have spent a few years developing a sound recipe and in combination with 7 gallon nursery pots I can run from start to finish using only water. Other than a bit of sweat equity every 90 days or so it takes a huge amount of science out of the garden and puts nature back in charge. This recipe is slightly different from my last and from the one so many use as gospel that I have passed around for years from grower to grower.
I always start with at least 6-8 large bags of high quality organic soil. The selection of your base soil is very important so donā€™t cut corners here. I cannot begin to discuss all the different products but I will discuss a few in this article. A good Organic soil should cost between 8-10$ per 30# bag. I want you to get a real good idea what I consider a balanced soil to be so take a look at the ingredients of a product called Roots Organic:
Lignite*, coca fiber, perlite, pumice, compost, peat moss, bone meal, bat guano, kelp meal, Green sand, soy bean meal, leonardite, k-mag, glacial rock dust, alfalfa meal, oyster shell flour, earth worm castings and Mycorrhizae.
I have always believed in giving my plants a wide range of soils and additives I figure itā€™s like a buffet they get all they need
ā€œLignite, also known as leonardite, mined lignin, brown coal, and slack, is an important constituent to the oil well, drilling industry. Lignite, or leonardite as it will be referred as hereafter, is technically known as a low rank coal between peat and sub-bituminous. Leonardite was named for Dr. A.G. Leonard, North Dakotaā€™s first state geologist, who was a pioneer in the study of lignite deposits. Leonardite is applied to products having a high content of humic acid. Humic acid has been found to be very useful as a drilling mud thinner.ā€
Another local product we are trying now is called Harvest Moon.
Washed coco fibers, Alaskan peat moss, perlite, yucca, pumice, diatoms, worm castings, feather meal, fishmeal, kelp meal, limestone, gypsum, soybean meal, alfalfa meal, rock dust, yucca meal, and Mycorrhizae fungi.
The Roots produced a more floral smell in the finished flowers while the Harvest Moon generated larger yields.
If you have access to a good local mix like these then I highly recommend starting with these type products. We have also had decent results using commercial brands as well but not as is. The best results we have seen from well known soil that is available nationwide is Fox Farms ā€œOcean Forrestā€ soil combined in a 2-1 ratio with Light Warrior. On itā€™s own the Ocean Forrest is known for burning plants and having the wrong ratioā€™s of nutrients but when cut down with Light Warrior it makes a pretty good mix for a base soil.
You can also just use 2 bales of Sunshine mix #4 but this is my last choice and plants growing in this may not complete properly with this ā€œJust add waterā€ method of soil growing. The concept to this concentrated soil is to not have to worry with mixing up nutrients after the soil is made. The concentrate is placed in the bottom ƂĀ¼ to ƂĀ½ of the container and blended with base soil. This allows the plants to grow into the strong concentrated soil and in the right size container need nothing else but water throughout the full harvest cycle. With strains requiring high levels of nutrients we go as strong as ƂĀ¾ of the container with Super Soil but this is only with a small percentage of strains.
Here are the amounts we have found that produce the best tasting buds and strongest medicines.
8- Large bags of High quality Organic potting soil with a coco and Mycorrhizae
1- 25-50 pounds of Organic Worm castings
5 lb. Steamed Bone meal
5 lb. Bloom bat Guano
5 lb. Blood meal
3 lb. Rock Phoshate
ƂĀ¾ cup Epson salts
ƂĀ½ to 1 Cup cup Sweet Lime ( Dolimite)
ƂĀ½ Cup Azomite ( Trace Elements)
2- TBS Powdered Humic Acid
This is the same basic recipe I have used for 15 years the hardest ingredient to acquire is the worm castings most people donā€™t even know what it is. Be resourceful and find it worms make up ƂĀ¾ of the living organisms underground btw and hold our planet together.
Be careful not to waste money on Soil Conditioner with worm casting but local Pure Worm poop with no added mulch.
There are several methods of mixing this up well.
You can sweep off a patio or garage and work there on a tarp.
You can use a kids plastic wading pool these cost about 10$ and work really well for a few seasons.
Some growers have been known to rent a cement mixer and cut down on the physical labor. As long as you get the ingredients mixed up properly that is all that matters.
This can be a lot of work so donā€™t pull a muscle if your not used to strenuous activity. This method is good for mind and body. Working with soil keeps me in pretty good shape, but if you have limitations you can simply have someone mix it up for you while you supervise. One of the things I like about this method is I can drop of plants to a patient and all they have to do is water the plants when the soil dries out.
Place a few bags of base soil in first making a mound. I then place the powdered nutrients in a circle around the mound and then cover with another bag of base soil.
Then goes in the bat poop and then more base soil. I continue to layer soil and additives until everything has been added to the pile. So now I put on the muck boots, these help me kick the soil around and get it mixed up well using my larger leg muscles and not my back and arms. Then itā€™s as simple as my Skipper used to say ā€œ Put your back into itā€. This is hard work that I obsess on, even breaking up all the clods of soil by hand. I mix for about 15 minutes, turning the pile over and over until it is mixed well. I store the mix in large garbage cans. Before using the mix the entire load is poured out once more and mixed well. Once placed in the containers I water it slightly adding 3 gallons of water to a large garbage can full. It will make the stirring harder next week but it will activate the Mycorrhizae and I think help all the powders dissolve.
So now we add water and let it cook in the sunshine. 30 days is best for this concentrate.
Do not put seeds or clones directly in this mix. It is an advanced mix used in conjunction with base soil. It is used to place in the bottom of each finishing container and fully rooted established clones are placed in a bed of base soil that is layered on top of the concentrate. As the plants grow they slowly push their roots into the super soil drawing up all nutrients needed for a full cycle. The Super Soil can be used also to top dress plants that take longer to mature.
I will use this mix for a full year just adding like 30-50% in the lower potion of the container and plain base soil in the top portion.
Base Soil means your regular potting soil Like Roots, Harvest Moon, or even sunshine mix without the additives!
Buds from this method finish with a fade and a smoother fruity flavor. The plants are not green when done but Purple, Red, Orange and even Black at times. The resin content is heavier and the terpins always seem to be more pungent.
This method is used my medical growers all over with amazing results. The feed back I receive is really positive with reports of Hydro-like growth and novice growers producing buds of the same quality as life long growers.

Here is some insight that I received from http://www.hailmaryjane.com:
Whatā€™s good Greenies and welcome to another insightful Wisdom Wednesday from me, ThisBuds4You. This week Greenie Brayden writes in asking about the best kind of soil for indoor growing:
hey i was just trying to figure out what the best type of soil there is to use for growing indoors and was wondering if you had any suggestions on what to use? or your favorite type of soil to use? because ive done lots of research and i cant seem to find the best type of soil just homemade mixes and the pH level the soil should be between so if you could answer this that would be great thanks.
peace and pot
There are many types of soil and mixes to choose from. When looking for a soil mix there are a few things to consider, pH, drainage and nutrients. A few months ago I did a post on the differences between Soil and Hydroponics and how each has its strong points and downfalls. In that post I mentioned Fox Farmā€™s Ocean Forest Potting Soil and I still stick by that potting soil. Ocean Forest is a complete, all organic potting soil. Itā€™s consisted of rich composted forest humus, sphagnum peat for aeration, bat guano, fish, crab, shrimp, Norwegian kelp meals and premium earthworm castings. There are even some oyster shells mixed in to insure a balanced pH. Cannabis grows best in soil with a pH range of 6.5 to 7.0. Ocean Forest is ready to use straight out of the bag; it has good drainage, itā€™s pH buffered and contains enough nutrients to sustain the plant for the next 2-3 weeks. You can find Ocean Forest Potting Soil at your local hydroponics store or check Fox Farmā€™s website to find a local distributor near you.
Keep it green Greenies and OVERGROW THE WORLD!!!

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Garrigane I read this blog like 15 - 20 times and I have a bag of each more less thinking it would better my efforts . I have the fox farm , ocean forest , happy frog , coco coir , and vermiculite , perlite , dolomite lime . Now I had a seedling started in a rock wool plug and itā€™s about a week old and I up rooted to notice it was struggling trying to root through the rock wool cube , so I place it very cautiously in the mix of fox farm red bag , ocean forest , coco , perlite and vermiculite mixed with a 3/4 cup of dolomite lime compost that I baked in the sun for like 4 days , and hoping for the best that maybe it will take off and at least grow a few nodes so I can put the struggling stressed bag seed plant into flower and maybe make it to the finish . I place a significant order from ILGM and trying to stay hopeful and patience that my investment make through without the hassles of some of the bashing complaints Iā€™ve read so far with some clients and the issues of international mail . Let my faith be before me and the glory in reaching a profound regiment of preparing and producing some very stout short bushy flavorful buds ā€¦Iā€™m all in $1670 and have a stronger by far more expensive light on order , the Kind xl 750 hoping to also obtain another tent for veg and one for flower , so maybe the cloning process would be less tankful from seedlings and to maintain a sure supply of quality at the least instead of a bag full of short lasting street crap . At some point a nice mason jar of some lemon Kush or white widow , sour diesel or blue berry would be ideal for a medical calling in a few months to come ā€¦Lord let thy be success on the horizon through the grueling agony of brain storming from the depths of a few inches of not knowing !!!

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Am I being scammedit been 31 days and I have not received my order what s goimg on how do I report to card company

Well ok ā€¦sorry about that didnā€™t know
Yes I know how costly it can be ā€¦iā€™em into this BIG TIME ā€¦lol

Thatā€™s why iā€™em cloning to help cut costs just in seeds along
Next mite be the lights. Iem running two 1000w hps @ night I may get two 600w hps by ipower
If things go right iā€™ll have 5 different strains in cloning by the middle of summer.
What I have read on your post so far makes me think more about my soil and for that I Thank You because I would not have given it another thought.
So I sure iā€™ll be updating my soil next time around.

Thanks
Will

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Speaking of 5 gallon versus three gallon, that I went from six inch root bound pots to five gallon buckets at the time I really believed that I had already done several bad things as a beginner and that they will be vegging for a very long time till I get experienced, BUT transferring to five gallon pots caused me to over water several plants till I figured out I need to drill holes on the sides in four places along with the five they have on the bottom already, cause the soil stays too wet half way down. Now I have two very damaged two month old plants from overwatering, but not dead, just recovering with new growth, and I havenā€™t watered for five days, maybe six. Oh well, just after transpant, I noticed a problem cropping up, and I took like seven clones each off the damaged ones, due to thinning them out.

Anyway, I might later stick to three gallon pots. I am shocked that I just tested, and I might be able to go several more days without adding in water, unless I finally drill those aeration holes in the five gallon buckets! My problem was mainly health problems that cycle on me, and the pain meds that muddled my thinking. And the two most easily damaged were already weak I suppose from over nutrienting them previous. Iā€™m lucky I have any plants still left standing. I am gonna be taking things slow on these oldest plants, not even giving full strength fertizer, I donā€™t care if I end up flowering them if they are later six months old, their producing a lot of clones for me that likely will fair better and get flowered faster.

Hey Bud, all my buckets are 3 gal I start off in 6" pots then switch to the 3 gal
You talk about over watering,lol man I think I got you beatā€¦lmao
My plants were so over wateredā€¦I took them one @ a time and using my fingers gently removed the mud not harming the roots and
placed them into fresh soil with water mixed with root shock one cap of Hydrogen Peroxide
and then prayedā€¦I had 20 of them to do talk about pain staking ordealā€¦lol
It did take about 5 days and they were backā€¦but you can see even now that it has set them back by about two three weeks.

Will

Well hopefully I get enough trial and error and hopefully my shipment makes it successfully , because than I will have marketed products that may give me a better chance of succeeding or that will be a bigger migraine and back to streets where anything is possible . There is no guarantee either way as of now unless you are positioned where if can a walk in pick item like Walmart ? But for those who seek the grueling efforts to only supply and demand for the labor of what it takes to grow medicine and not monetary gain seems to be in a pickle and cookie jar of vinegar ā€¦Only the Lord knows Iā€™m in dyer need .

Ok latewood I need the recipe of mixing the ILGM nutrients per gallon for W.W. & O.G. Kush , itā€™s only 8.5 oz which is not as much as other U.S. Market brands , but I do not want to used it wrong and create issues that I fought for 3 weeks learning how to fix . Iā€™m waiting for the protector package but I have germed 2 seeds of you guys one of each ww og Kush , so I want to get this right after screwing up the bag seedling . So if you can brother can you give me the measurements of how to mix per gallon .

I had it near by. hope this helps

Will