MajorCoco
Well-Known Member
It's been a while since I posted on this forum, and it's funny how a lot of the posts I'm seeing as I'm looking around are talking about some of the same old things...the same old problems. I used to have a lot of the same issues too when I started out...
So...I wanted to share with everyone my "secret to success" with soil grows. Guaranteed great results every time, or your money back!!
depending on you maintaining suitable lighting, ventilation, humidity, watering regime and temperature conditions. Results may vary .
1. You need a big enough container for your plant to thrive through-out the flowering period!!!! I think this is the single biggest mistake you can make with a soil grow. Not using a big enough container. If you want guaranteed results use something like a smartpot (fabric pots) as your "last container" and make it a big one. My 5 ft plant will need nothing but water until harvest, and is in a fabric container which is 35cm wide and 25cm deep (that's the soil depth).
2. Use any basic potting compost as the base (levingtons works well), mixed with worm-castings which you can easily buy online now (use around a 75:25 to 85:15 ratio depending on how potent the wormcastings are). Add 5% perlite if your soil feels heavy....but most peat substitute these days should drain pretty well without it. Never use garden soil unless it's good sandy loam...and you know what loam is
3. You don't need anything else.....as long as the wormcasting is good quality it will provide everything your ladies need from veg right through to harvest.
4. Don't over-water....ever!! Lift the pot to feel the weight when she's small, and don't water until she's basically parched but not wilting! Always start in a small pot but move up to a bigger pot soon (within ~2-5 days) after you need to start watering her every day.
That's basically it. The only time my soil grows have ever really failed or had problems in the past is when I was using containers that (in hindsight) just weren't big enough. I have used the same basic soil mix mentioned above in every soil grow I've done. So only the size of the containers has changed and suddenly my problems with weird coloured leaf spots and "nitrogen deficiency that somehow still looks like nute burn" have vanished!!
When I first started growing with soil I found myself adding all sort of stuff later in the grow to try to "fix"plants that were showing symptoms of a variety of problems, which invariably ended up making things worse. The singular thing I found I needed to stops those problems happening completely was to change to using significantly bigger containers, even if that means re-potting 2 or 3 weeks into flowering.
Now I only ever feed my girls with pure water. No nutes, no kelp and seaweed, no bonemeal, no guano, no blood and fish guts
, no flushing, no nonsense....just water (filtered to take a little of the limescale hardness out, but even that isn't really necessary) combined with the naturally good stuff already in the wormcastings.
If you start seeing the any yellowing of lower leaves too early in flowering then just top-dress with a few more good handfuls of wormcastings, and water it in. Nothing else required. Here's my latest soil grown lady. The leaves closest to the light have been suffering with the heat recently, but she's still looking basically perfect. I'll try and add a wider shot later...the light is off right now.
So...I wanted to share with everyone my "secret to success" with soil grows. Guaranteed great results every time, or your money back!!
depending on you maintaining suitable lighting, ventilation, humidity, watering regime and temperature conditions. Results may vary .1. You need a big enough container for your plant to thrive through-out the flowering period!!!! I think this is the single biggest mistake you can make with a soil grow. Not using a big enough container. If you want guaranteed results use something like a smartpot (fabric pots) as your "last container" and make it a big one. My 5 ft plant will need nothing but water until harvest, and is in a fabric container which is 35cm wide and 25cm deep (that's the soil depth).
2. Use any basic potting compost as the base (levingtons works well), mixed with worm-castings which you can easily buy online now (use around a 75:25 to 85:15 ratio depending on how potent the wormcastings are). Add 5% perlite if your soil feels heavy....but most peat substitute these days should drain pretty well without it. Never use garden soil unless it's good sandy loam...and you know what loam is
3. You don't need anything else.....as long as the wormcasting is good quality it will provide everything your ladies need from veg right through to harvest.
4. Don't over-water....ever!! Lift the pot to feel the weight when she's small, and don't water until she's basically parched but not wilting! Always start in a small pot but move up to a bigger pot soon (within ~2-5 days) after you need to start watering her every day.
That's basically it. The only time my soil grows have ever really failed or had problems in the past is when I was using containers that (in hindsight) just weren't big enough. I have used the same basic soil mix mentioned above in every soil grow I've done. So only the size of the containers has changed and suddenly my problems with weird coloured leaf spots and "nitrogen deficiency that somehow still looks like nute burn" have vanished!!
When I first started growing with soil I found myself adding all sort of stuff later in the grow to try to "fix"plants that were showing symptoms of a variety of problems, which invariably ended up making things worse. The singular thing I found I needed to stops those problems happening completely was to change to using significantly bigger containers, even if that means re-potting 2 or 3 weeks into flowering.
Now I only ever feed my girls with pure water. No nutes, no kelp and seaweed, no bonemeal, no guano, no blood and fish guts
, no flushing, no nonsense....just water (filtered to take a little of the limescale hardness out, but even that isn't really necessary) combined with the naturally good stuff already in the wormcastings.If you start seeing the any yellowing of lower leaves too early in flowering then just top-dress with a few more good handfuls of wormcastings, and water it in. Nothing else required. Here's my latest soil grown lady. The leaves closest to the light have been suffering with the heat recently, but she's still looking basically perfect. I'll try and add a wider shot later...the light is off right now.
