Beginner with questions-OR-shoulda known I'd ask

[ChrisAndRusty1]

I ordered 5 seeds and they got here really fast-hadn’t started putting things together yet.

I’m going to try for just one the first time, and if it’s going good I will put another one up about every 4 to 5 weeks and start a cycle.
The first question is one I have not really seen or read.
If I’m going with a five gallon bucket do I need to put holes in the bottom or rocks in the bottom?
I have 12 quarts of potting soil, I’m going to add some sand (and worm casings?) maybe up to a quart-see what it looks like as I do it-it is .13 N, and the other 2 are .01, most of the soils were low in nitrogen-I can amend if I need to. I know I need room for roots so I am going to pick up the balance of soil as soon as I see what is needed still-change nutes or pH.
Next step is germinate and don’t know if I’ll do it paper towel or just in the soil. I was thinking of one of the peat pots, still a little on the fence on that.

Found a light at Home Depot, and they are selling faster than they can stock them, $41, and they even include cana on the instructions!!!

[Holmes]

The water needs to be able to get out of whatever you grow in, so yes holes in buckets, as far as medium you want something that drains well, yet retains moisture and no time release anything. I have tried every method of germination and I prefer to put straight in the medium and water to the plant not the pot. Welcome to the forum, enjoy. You can get some ones attention by doing this @ChrisAndRusty1

[ChrisAndRusty1]

OK, thought so but wasn’t sure. I’ll be that “First Baby” guy.
The soil seems to need draining things. I tested some in my hand with a small amount (30 cc’s) of water, it seemed to be to…muddy to drain right yet-more sand more perlite and I hadn’t planned on any time release stuff. amend it before I plant to get the pH right if I need to.
I understand the nutes and pH-got one of those BA things and there was a lot of bio-sciences included .
Off to do some drilling and mixig-and direct soil is making more sense as I think about it.

[Skydiver]

Welcome to the party
That soil seems fine for part of the grow but in a month or so you will need to be adding nutrients to finish the grow.
I would get some perlite rather than sand and mix about 20-25% perlite with the soil.
A 5 gallon pot with many drain holes in bottom and a saucer underneath and you will need approximately 1/2 cubic foot of soil or so to fill it so along with perlite and worm castings once mixed up you may almost have enough soil now…maybe a little short.
Worm castings is a great addition to the mix as well I would use maybe 20% of that too all mixed up with the others.
The light will be fine for seedlings but after that you will need much more to finish. Many posts here relating to lights. I would read before buying anymore lights as many buy and find out they need to buy again.

I use peat pots with seed starter mix and they work great for me. Once they have established roots I put the whole thing into the larger container making sure to bury it just under the soil…I cut slits in the peat pot on sides and bottom before putting in seedling.
I use the water in a shot glass with 20% Hydrogen Peroxide and soak for 12-24 hours on top of my modem (heat) and then into a wet paper towel in container (on modem) closed off to light. Once tail pops and is 1/2” plant in seed starter soil about 1/2” down lightly covering the seed (tail down) and lightly water. Once it breaks through put a clear dome over it and spray it (mist the leaves) couple times a day. Once established plant it in the bucket…again bury the peat pot under the soil by 1/2-1” it’s ok to cover part of the stalk in soil it will grow roots from that like a tomato plant.
Some will tear the top of peat pot off as well but I haven’t done that.

Hope this helps and HAGD

[Skydiver]

Here are links to my grow journals…
Take a look through them as they may give you some insight as what to look for and what things you might be able to avoid etc etc.

My First Growth Journal

Hello all this is my first grow. First off I want to thank everyone who has helped my along my growth of learning how to grow this wonderful herb. On 11-28-18 my Pineapple Express Waikiki Queen and White Widow Extreme broke ground after soaking for about 30 hours prior to putting in 5 gallon clay pots. My soil mix was coco coir, perlite, worm castings and miracle grow potting mix - the miracle grow was a learning curve and caused some bumps in the road - won’t use that again in the future. T…

First grow using Worm Poo as medium

Hello all, This journal will chronicle my first and maybe my last attempt lol using worm castings as my main ingredient in the growing medium. I mixed up worm casting 75% and the remaining using equal parts of perlite and granular Diatomaceous Earth and placed the mix in a 1 gallon fabric pot. Once the seed popped I put it into the medium and 4 days later she broke through the Poo. I topped with maybe a 1/4 inch of seed starter mix prior to it sprouting so it had some lighter weight material t…

[Konflict]

Welcome to the community! I haven’t seen it yet so I’m going to say it. Be careful with the miracle grow organic. Esp starting out the seedlings. believe it’s hot, used it to start out with and nothing but problems out of it. Switched to FF and got them out of the MGO. I’d Def add perlite to the mix. Drill holes and a lot of them. Good luck.

[Skydiver]

Yep like @Konflict said get some seed starter mix for seedling stage.
The other soil you have should be fine once the seedling enters the vegetative stage as it has a lot of nitrogen and can burn the seedling

[Dman1969]

If you are using a plastic five gallon bucket or the like drill holes up the sides the more the better it helps aerate the soil and helps prevent root rot. Happy growing and my the buds be with you!

[elheffe702]

Welcome to ILGM, @ChrisAndRusty1. You’re in good hands

[Bobbydigital]

I have 4 of those lights. They will work for seedlings but the need to be real close or the plant will stretch. They won’t get you far for veg stage. If you decide to use them for supplemental side lighting later on, be warned that after some time, the lights stop turning off all the way. This one is powered off but you can see one strip is still lit

[ChrisAndRusty1]

Sorry about that-had some “life happen” on us, thankfully before I started with it. I am going to get back to it, it’s gonna be a short time, and it’ll be back where I was plus a shopping trip, and reread everything again also, so “I’ll be back”, and ready…

[belljos]

I too am a newbie. I read about the benefits of adding worm castings at the initial planting stage and when flowering starts. So, I just received my bag of worm castings and it contains live worms. I did not expect live worms. I am growing indoors. My silly question is this: Is it okay to have live worms in the grow buckets? I guess I just don’t want them to “escape” the buckets, lol.

[Skydiver]

If they “escape” they won’t do any harm they will more than likely just die. I don’t see a negative adding the worms to your pots only thing is they will need stuff to eat while in there.

[belljos]

Thanks, sounds like more trouble than their worth. What would I feed them?

[Dman1969]

@belljos I know worms love corn meal but I don’t know if the plants will. @garrigan62 May be able to help on this. I know they(worms) won’t hurt the plants and help aerate the soil. Plus give you free worm castings lol