A test in progress.... Miracle Grow soil vs. Fox Farms soil. Is MG really that bad?

@Jack In The Bud

Yes, it's a good idea to supplement Mg and Ca to your MG soil/nutes, because even though they are present, they aren't present in great enough quantities to keep cannabis happy, particularly, during flowering. Epsom salts, Calmag, etc.... are a great addition to any MG grow, or just about any grow, for that matter.

Thanks for the tips on the drainage table. I plan on re-doing my veg room sometime in the near future, and want to integrate some version of your idea. I'll probably end up flushing the damn things, every other week.lol

@Carolina Green Bud

Damn man, nice grow. Those are some pretty impressive plants, using the most basic of supplies. Some of those fan leaves look like they are a foot long, not to mention the size of those stems. Sheesh.lol Congrats man, very nice.

they are really strarting to grow faster now guess that meens the roots arent having any problems..
that yellowing also looks like N to me also, but im no genius when it comes to soil..
i like ravens idea of trying a small dose on one of them...

RavenMochi said:

I think you should let it be and test how bad it will get without difference...its cold, its calculating, but its science... on the other hand treading one for nitrogen def would let us know if thats actually what it was....so either gives us valuable data...

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Very true. As much as I don't want to tamper with this test, I'm not going to let them get in too bad of shape, either. Typically, I start using Calmag with every watering, at about week 3, and probably will start doing that, next week. It contains a small amount of nitrogen, and should be enough to keep 'em nice and green, til flowering, when the real feeding will start. It's soooo hard to tell which way they'll go, right now. There is an awful lot of soil in those pots, which should be more than enough food for another few weeks(likely more), so I'm trying to be patient. At any rate, these two plants are 25% of my crop, and I can't let them die, for the sake of experimenting. Got bills to pay, ya know?

reggaerican said:

they are really strarting to grow faster now guess that meens the roots arent having any problems..
that yellowing also looks like N to me also, but im no genius when it comes to soil..
i like ravens idea of trying a small dose on one of them...

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Not yet, my friend. I'm betting that a watering and a bit of foliar feeding, will fix 'em right up. If they look worse, a week from now, I'll give 'em a little more nitrogen, via root-feeding.

EDIT: I gave them a light foliar feeding last night, with Dyngro Grow(high N), Calmag Plus, and Protekt, all at 1/2 strength. I'm going to hit 'em again tonight, when I water them.

i also like mending wounds thru folier feeding.. it can be real effective if you know what you are doing... or real dangerous as i have found out in the begining..haha
great job none the less...

^Yeah man, no doubt. I'm sold on foliar feeding, after having used it with great success, with my plants that are now flowering. Dare I say that it's been a flawless grow,(my first) without even one discoloration, or a burnt leaf tip, in any of the leaves, and am on week 3 of 12/12? *knocks on wood*lol I only plan on foliar feeding one more time, then it's time for root-feeding only. My current foliar mix works great, with no residue build up, no weird effects, only results that I've been seeking. I'm hoping it pulls the MG out of it's 'hole', so to speak, and am pretty certain that it will.


Also, I'm thinking about adding a little lime to the top of the soil, soon. That bag of MG I'm using, has been damp for a looooong time, and might be slightly acidic. I have a cheap soil PH tester, and will check it out, after I water tonight. I hope it's not fucked up, but it just might be. That would explain the deficiences, being that there is clearly plenty of nutes left in that soil. Hmm....

well yippy for you man, haha.. j/k

i been so busy with so many different things that my grow has taken a real beating..
im thinking i might not even start the next batch untill i get the gnats and thrips under control..

P.S. I was also noticing that there is a second test going on, unintentionally. All those plants I have in party cups, are the exact same age as those in the test. This, will show whether it's faster to go with party cups(or smaller pots) first, rather than going straight to a large pot, before a good root system has been established. The party cup plants are clearly larger and healthier, BUT, the question is..... will they be able to keep their edge, when transplanted to their big pots? Or, will the ones in the test, have a chance to pull ahead, having already had time to build a nice root system, in the big pots? Interesting, huh?

reggaerican said:

well yippy for you man, haha.. j/k

i been so busy with so many different things that my grow has taken a real beating..
im thinking i might not even start the next batch untill i get the gnats and thrips under control..

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LOL, Sorry man, but after two fucked-up grows, previously, I'm really happy to have a good grow, finally. I never saw a thrip before. Are they worse than gnats? Did they come with the soil, or are they native to your area?

jawbrodt said:

LOL, Sorry man, but after two fucked-up grows, previously, I'm really happy to have a good grow, finally. I never saw a thrip before. Are they worse than gnats? Did they come with the soil, or are they native to your area?

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well i first noticed them in my moms dwc water just kinda buzzing along on the surface.. almost like they were playing in the bubbles..
but now they are on all my plants in flower and my young clones... as far as whats worst i really cant say they both attack the roots causing all kinds of plant problems...
so im gonna be replacing all my mons soon and cleaning the entire space b4 trying again, i think i can still treat and save the clones..

reggaerican said:

well i first noticed them in my moms dwc water just kinda buzzing along on the surface.. almost like they were playing in the bubbles..
but now they are on all my plants in flower and my young clones... as far as whats worst i really cant say they both attack the roots causing all kinds of plant problems...
so im gonna be replacing all my mons soon and cleaning the entire space b4 trying again, i think i can still treat and save the clones..

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Damn, that sucks ass. I recently had to shut down and clean everything out, for a different reason...unknown hermies. I got pollinated badly, twice, back-to-back, and never found the strain that hermied on me. I had 3 strains, and eliminated 2 or them permanently, but saved the Crystal, because I knew it wasn't the culprit. Sadly, I miss the Velvet Ice and Velvet Kush, because they were great yielders, and literally dripping with resins. Ahh well, it was outta my control, right? Anyway, I didn't know that thrips were root-feeders. I'd assumed that they were foliage feeders, strictly. Cool, thanks for the info.

jawbrodt said:

Damn, that sucks ass. I recently had to shut down and clean everything out, for a different reason...unknown hermies. I got pollinated badly, twice, back-to-back, and never found the strain that hermied on me. I had 3 strains, and eliminated 2 or them permanently, but saved the Crystal, because I knew it wasn't the culprit. Sadly, I miss the Velvet Ice and Velvet Kush, because they were great yielders, and literally dripping with resins. Ahh well, it was outta my control, right? Anyway, I didn't know that thrips were root-feeders. I'd assumed that they were foliage feeders, strictly. Cool, thanks for the info.

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yea i think thrips are mostly leaf eaters but what the fuck were they doing in my water then???

but i would rather be safe than sorry so "scratch" is the word of the day...

jawbrodt said:

Damn, that sucks ass. I recently had to shut down and clean everything out, for a different reason...unknown hermies. I got pollinated badly, twice, back-to-back, and never found the strain that hermied on me. I had 3 strains, and eliminated 2 or them permanently, but saved the Crystal, because I knew it wasn't the culprit. Sadly, I miss the Velvet Ice and Velvet Kush, because they were great yielders, and literally dripping with resins. Ahh well, it was outta my control, right? Anyway, I didn't know that thrips were root-feeders. I'd assumed that they were foliage feeders, strictly. Cool, thanks for the info.

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Man, you'd think if they were well-pollinated you'd have been able to see which ones were at fault. Makes one wonder if you might have a neighbor growing a bunch of males or a hemp field might be nearby or something. In any case, that sucks. Hope you get it resolved with the next grow.

^Nah, we found the strain after I shut down. I gave my little ones to a willing friend,lol and he discovered it was the Velvet Ice that hermied. It's cool though, those were all my learner strains, and had taken quite a beaten, over the 7 or 8 grows.lol It was nice to start with fresh genetics, now that I have a little more education behind me.

Holy shit, MG pulls ahead! Wow, it's only been 1 1/2 days since the last pics, and there certainly are some noticeable differences, already. On the left of the side-by-side pics, are the MG plants, which are clearly passing up the FF plants. IDK if they're going to keep up the pace, but it's definitely going to be interesting to watch, over the next couple days.


I'm pretty sure the yellowing has reversed, since they've been watered(1 liter each) earlier today, and foliar fed, lightly, the past two days. Those roots are feeding now, me thinks.lol

i like your test with the party cups. i think small containers can be just as productive done right. but from all my readings of party cup grows, watering in flower becomes painful, with them needing 2 waterings a day sometime. you may already know this and have a plan, or the time to water that much. one grow I followed the grower used the aquaglobe in his party cup and it helped keep it from needing watering as often. another used a drip tray and watered that letting the soil soak up the water, kinda like a hempy modification with the tray as the rez.

oh, and you forgot the pics i think wake and bake baby, wake and bake!!!

Aw man,,,, PICS>>>PICS>>>PICS, PLEASE!

Canon said:

Aw man,,,, PICS>>>PICS>>>PICS, PLEASE!

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Crap, I forgot to attach 'em. Sorry about that.lol Here goes....

Thanks.

I've been using MG Moisture Control for awhile and noticed the yellowing myself. I've come to think of it as normal for whatever reason. Seems it effects the larger earlier growth mostly. Interestingly it seems to come on just before a major growth spurt too.
I bake this as I do all indoor soils. Hope it kills any lava and such. Seems to work. Also flush the soil before planting. If I don't it seems too hot for the young ones. Maybe possible that the yellowing is more nutes getting turned loose a bit early, or a bit too fast for the plant to adjust? Don't really know. Never seen any long term damage from it though.
Heard so much about the specialty soils and wanted to try some. Being expensive to ship & buy, I've refrained from purchasing. Always figured I was missing out on good growth (little to compare to).

Thank you for taking the time & effort to do this. You're answering many questions for me.

Thanks.

I have some MG organic and some FFOF, maybe I'll do a little test on a couple plants in my next go around.