What should I focus on having a digital pH meter for water or digital pH meter for soil. Something that will measure both PH/PPH. The one with my kit won’t arrive until the 29th. What do I do? Seeds are ready to go, 50/50 dirt and Foxfarm ocean soil. Please help.
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Do you mean they are already sprouted or you are ready to start from dry seed? Actually, either way, go ahead and germinate or plant in a solo cup if germinated. Your seedlings will take their moisture from the air at first anyway. Just make sure your medium is moist to begin with and relax for a week or so while nature takes it’s course.
Not even an issue yet during first few days.
Let’s back up a moment. Why are you mixing Fox Farm ocean forest with “dirt?” For starting seeds, something like ProMix BX or HP would be ideal, and Fox Farm Happy Frog would be acceptable.
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Yes the seeds are already sprouted and ready to go in two it’s medium which is a combination of black dirt and Fox Farm ocean brand soil for photo.
How do you test PH and PPH what’s the difference?
So I can just go ahead and get my seeds into their medium as long as the medium is moist I shouldn’t have a problem right? Just use room temperature water for now?
You need a tds meter and a PH meter, then YouTube soil slurry test (do it with distilled water)
Ph is Ph as in acidic or alkaline, while tds is total dissolved solids or the amount of nutrients in the mix
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So one tests the water and the other tests the soil?
pH is the acidity/alkalinity of a substance. If you’re growing in soil, you really don’t need to be concerned about pH unless things are going wrong. I’d test my tap water pH first to make sure it’s right around 7, and then I’d stop worrying about it.
PPM is a measurement of the dissolved salts in water. Others will disagree, but IMHO it’s irrelevant for growing in soil. Healthy soil continually makes nutrients available to the roots through microbes. We see new growers again and again try to mix fertilizer into water and apply it to soil. It can work, but for a lot of reasons it can go horribly wrong. Measuring PPM is going to make you think you have a problem before the plant tells you there’s an issue, and your response might actually create the problems you eventually see.
Go from a solo cup to a 1 gal to a 3 to a 5 to a 20, and you’ll have plenty of nutrients in the soil without adding anything that could mess it up.
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I had to change my medium due to the fact that Fox Farm ocean soil is too hot for the seedlings, so I have done a mixture of 50% Black dirt with 50% Foxfarm ocean soil as my new medium. I’m planting in red solo cups for photo and then transferring to a 3 gallon pot for the girl from vegetative to flowers
I’m using Fox Farm ocean soil as a medium because that was what was recommending buy Grow ace when I bought The 8 x 4 grow kit. Since I’ve learned that Fox Farm motion is too hot of a soil for the seedlings. Does changing from straight Foxfarm to a 50-50 mix
We don’t know what your 50-50 mix is.
I get that you’re taking in a lot. I’ll try to keep it basic. Any good bagged soil is going to have a guaranteed analysis report on it. That’s part of what you’re paying for. If your “black dirt” comes from your yard, 
Like I said, there are products that are appropriate. Part of why I like some of them is the sterile environment. Microbial issues are a common cause of seedling death.
Back to what I was saying before about soil and fertilizers, if I pour Gatorade into a big planter of dirt, what’s going to come out the drain-holes? Is it pure water? Is it Gatorade with soil particles/dissolved minerals? Or is it Gatorade minus some things and plus some things?
Fox Farm ocean blend soil came with my Grow kit. I believed that it would be good from seedlings to harvest. But I’ve been instructed by several members and more experienced growers than me that Fox Farm ocean brand soil is too hot for the seedlings. So I bought some black dirt and did a 50-50 mix of Fox Farm and black dirt for the photo process. When transplanted to the bigger parts it will be straight Fox Farm ocean brand soil With no mixtures.
Well, we’re gonna have to wait and see how it goes. You’re in uncharted territory, as far as my limited experience is concerned.
Is my analogy about soil fertilizer making sense? The soil will hold onto some fertilizer, and also release some of it’s mineral content into the waste water. That makes for an unreliable delivery of nutrients to the plants. Please let me know if this needs more clarification.
I’m using clear solo 16 oz cups filled 3/4 full. They will then be placed inside a red solo cup for the photo period.
Is this ok?
needs drain holes but yeah, great.
Got at least three good holes in the bottom of each cup.
The big question is how much water should I use?
Make all the soil damp and let it drain good before setting the seeds?
You’re more likely to overwater, as is the tendency of new growers. Take a spare cup and cover each cup to create a humid dome of trapped air.
You will be running in circles if you try to rely on everybody else. Best newbie approach (for me) is to take it all in stride and develop my own style according to my resources and needs. Read a lot and use common sense. Look for overlapping advice, that is usually good.
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I always say listen to one person, not several.
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Yep. Then as long as there is condensate on the cups it should be fine for a while (until true leaves).
So put a red solo cup over the seedlings?
How long before leaves develop?
How often should I check on them?
I do not have a clf bulb for the photo process, is using a HM bulb ok for photo?
And being covered with another cup how does it take in light? Should I start with an 18/6 or 24/7?