'Til Harvest Do Us Part

A customer has a question and I hope we can get some opinions on it, thanks.

"I understand how to feed nutrients and how it all works, but unfortunately where I am now its hard to find soil such as fox farm or organic super soil, but we do however have FloraBella* potting soil. It is 100% organic, I read some reviews and to my surprise, seems to be some top notch soil, comes with PH already set at 5.5 – 6.5.

So my questions is, I will be adding 4 to 1 ratio soil/perlite, can I just use this soil through out the whole growing cycle? ( with nutrients and transplanting).
Or, would coco be better for flowering?"

I’m a soil grower so I don’t know anything about coco, but if you start in soil I recommend to do the entire grow in soil…
I also don’t have ff soil or promix or something else, just what I have in my country (soil for flowers or for some fruits plants). That soil should be just fine, the thing is that soil should not be to hot for seedling (you need to look on the label and see what is NPK ratio)…
@ILGM.Roy maybe you can invite that fellow here :wink:
I have looked at that soil and I think that is way too hot(some of they products are around 14-16-18 NPK)… Maybe you can find something for seedling(1.5-0.7-0.9 NPK is what my seedling soil have).
Preferably the soil for seedling is NPK 0-0-0.

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@garrigan62 @Hogmaster may be better suited to answer this since organic grow :slight_smile:

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Do you have access to amazon?

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Youll be fine using the organic soil
I would get a base reading on ph and ppm by doing a slurry test fist
Using thise figures you can adjust you nutrient regiment
I would start and finish in same medium myself
If you want to use coco start in coco

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There is no reason why you can’t use the same soil through out your grow.

HERE IS A LIST OF NUTRIENTS TO ADD TO YOUR SOIL

I not sure where you are so i;m not sure you can get any of this

Soil LESS Mix

Mixing ammounts will veary dependeds on how much you make. read instructions on each package for amounts.

1.) Pro Mix BX

Then add-----

2.) ( Mexican Bat Guano )

(10-2-1) This type of guano is very high nitrogen. This makes it perfect for the vegetative stages of growth. Even when the plant is young it can be fed a dilute mixture if the soil happens to contain very little nutrients. This type of guano can be used throughout the vegetative stage of growth.

( PLEASE NOTE )

( Jamaican Bat Guano (1-10-0.2) This type of bat guano is high in phosphorus. It is perfect for the early-mid flowering cycle once females are well established. )

3.) WORM CASTINGS

(because this stuff is so nutritious, the more the better).

Worm poop is gardening gold. Properly known as “worm casts”, what worms leave behind is actually
vital to the soil food web and is one of the key substances to maintaining healthy, nutrient-dense
soil for your plants. To quote from Sustainable World Radio:

“Research has shown that fresh earthworm casts are five times richer in available nitrogen,
seven times richer in available phosphates, and 11 times richer in available potash than the
surrounding upper six inches of soil. […]

Plant roots often seek out available earthworm casts. They follow the worm Burroughs and feed
on the nutrients in the available vicinity even if it means that the roots have to grow upward.”

While growers often spend a significant chunk of change on fertilizers throughout the grow cycle,
adding worm castings to your soil inundates them with the vital, natural nutrients they most desire.

4.) BONE MEAL

This additive is a nice way to get some additional phosphorous and calcium to your plants. An abundance of phosphorus
is especially important once your plant has reached flowering phase. To again draw from Gardening Know How:

“Using bone meal will help your flowering plants, like roses or bulbs, grow bigger and more plentiful flowers.”

As a flowering herb, the added phosphorus from bone meal helps your plant produce buds that are nice and big.

5.) BLOOD MEAL

Blood meal is yet another source of nitrogen. It’s also not vegan/vegetarian-friendly.
Blood meal is made from the dried blood of slaughtered animals, most predominantly cows.
Though the idea behind the fertilizer is a little unpleasant, its well-known natural gardening product.
Because it’s so nitrogen lush, it will help produce extensive growth during the vegetative phase.

6.) FISH MEAL

7.) Kelp and/or humid acid

Marijuana growers are very smart gardeners. There are a lot of things that growers do to increase
their yields that actually helping to build healthy soil microbiology. Adding kelp meal and humic
acids are some of these tasks. Both of these natural products are fungal foods. The interaction
between your plants roots and soil fungus helps the plant produce the nutrients it needs to thrive.

Kelp also adds a significant amount of potassium and copper to your soil mix.

8.) Epsom salt

A lot of people use Epsom salt to increase magnesium in their soil. As mentioned earlier,
you want to be careful not to add too much. You don’t want to over do it with the magnesium.
However, if your plant is showing signs of a magnesium deficiency, this is a very quick and
easy way to add some back in. Magnesium iscrucial to the absorption of other key nutrients,
like nitrogen and phosphorous.

All about microbes

Subcool’s soil mixture is definitely a good one. As is probably obvious by the various additives
in this recipe, this soil is extremely nutrient-rich. It’s chuck full of natural fertilizers and
makes it easy on the plant to have its favorite nutrients right at its root tips, so to speak.
Many of the extra or leftover additives can then be diluted with water and sprayed on during
the grow cycle as fertilizer.

If there’s one downfall to this recipe, it’s that it relies heavily on organic additives over
encouraging microorganism growth. In a plant’s natural environment, they get vital nutrients
from synergistic interactions between the plant and other organisms in its ecosystem. Plants
photosynthesize sunlight into sugars, and these sugars are in turn secreted by the roots. This
is a much more consciousprocess than commonly believed.

A plant can make an extremely wide variety of sugars and secrete them to attract specific types
of bacteria and microorganisms to its roots. These bacteria then eat these sugars, called exudates.
Through the bacterial metabolic process, essential nutrients like nitrogen are created for the plant
to use. Yet, nitrogen isn’t the only nutrient created through this process. This is how much-needed
vitamins and trace minerals make it into your plant.

9.) Dolomite lime

Recommended amount: 1 cup

Dolomite lime adds calcium and magnesium to your soil. Like rock phosphate, dolomite is also
a kind of mineral rock. It’s used to counteract mineral leaching. It also helps keep the
soil from becoming too acidic. Be careful not to add too much, though. It has high calcium
to magnesium ratio, and you may risk adding too much magnesium to your plants.

Azomite (trace elements)

Azomite is a brand of trace minerals. It’s mined from volcanic rock and contains over
70 minerals and trace elements. This particular brand is mined in Utah and is used to
re-mineralize soil. The product contains everything from gold, silver, and selenium
to potassium, choline, copper and calcium. Adding a few trace elements into your
increases the diversity of nutrients available to your plantss.

10.)

Marijuana growers are very smart gardeners. There are a lot of things that growers do to increase
their yields that actually helping to build healthy soil microbiology. Adding kelp meal and humic
acids are some of these tasks. Both of these natural products are fungal foods. The interaction
between your plants roots and soil fungus helps the plant produce the nutrients it needs to thrive.

Kelp also adds a significant amount of potassium and copper to your soil mix.

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Thanks everyone for your feedbacks, I am a first time grower and I’m trying to get this right on my first run.
I have checked the NPK levels on the FloraBella potting soil and its 14: 10: 18: can anyone tell me which phase of the growing cycle I could put this Soil to use or should I just toss it out. I bought 3- 70L bags, I paid nearly $70.The soil feels super light when I crunch it together it my hand it doesn’t compact like any normal dirt or soil. Would hate to see this stuff go to waste.

Thanks for your feedback. Unfortunately we don’t have any of those things here, but I can however check around and maybe get some much better soil for Veg. I ordered plenty of nuts from Amazon, micro, grow, bloom, along with calmag, multiply, unsulfured molasses and raw organic honey for added sugars and a few other things as well. Shipping alone is costing me the best part of $400. If I want to order soil from Amazon the weight in its self would prop up the shipping costs to well over $1000, DHL is quite expensive these days, I will have to due with what I have.

The NPK on the FloraBella potting soil is 14:10: 18: which phase of the growing cycle could I put this to use?

@jayjay1

Try this website aliexpress.com for your orders of grow supplies
This link has been approved.

Will

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Any chance to return that?

Thank you for that @garrigan62 I buy a lot from there, the only problem is that it takes a lot of time(2 - 6 weeks) to get the products but I choose the free shipping method :wink: :+1::rofl:

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@M4ur

That’s awesome. maybe you can help this person and give some advice on placing orders

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Definitely!
What do you need @jayjay1? Let me know if I can help you (just tag me by putting @before the nickname) :+1:
A little help whit that soil @garrigan62, he can use that? If yes, when?

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@M4ur

i told him that he could use that soil through his grow

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I just arrived from shopping and I bought soil and perlite for seedling :seedling:. This is what I get it’s made by a company named Agro, also I saw your soil in that store :joy::+1:. I guess we are almost neighbors :joy: (different countries but them are close :joy:)

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@M4ur thanks for the help, I use MYUS to purchase anything I want from the states, The shipment arrives within 5 days but it costs a pretty penny. I wont be returning the soil, @garrigan62 thanks for the info,i will use Aliexpress next time I’m not so much in a hurry for everything to arrive, also I will go ahead and order those nutrients to add to the soil, I’ll even look for much better soil while I wait for the shipment to arrive. I guess its better to have something and not need it, than to need something and not have it.

My grow room consists of (3) 1000watt HPS bulbs during flower, and (3) 400watt MH during Veg, with a separate seedling and clone area under florescent. I was going for 6 plants under each bulb, but thanks to all the awesome info on growing from ILGM, I’ve decided to just do 3 plants,1 under each bulb in 15gallon pots using the SCROG technique, going short and wide. I’m not too worried about my plants catching any diseases, I have a pretty good set up going with all the necessary gadgets to make sure everything is on point 24/7.

Times have sure changed, I grew weed 15 years ago. We used to toss the seed in soil pour some water and be on our way lol Thanks for all the Info guys! and I apologize for blabbering on, it must be the Sativa lol @M4ur I might be able to get that soil here, I will definitely check.

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that’s where I purchase everything I need

I will do just that, thanks

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Im around if you need anything @jayjay1

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Yep the stuff from us is not expensive but the shipping costs are to high so is a no no for me.
That is a lot of light my friend, I will say to much (1000w for 1 plant), you need around 35-50w psf, you can go a little higher but will be like you throw your money for electric bill :joy:, just my thoughts…
So if you need help just let me know :+1:

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