Soil question

Guys starting my first inside grow. Topogrow 4x4 with 800w light. What soil do you recommend that is not full of bugs and how many photo plants would you grow in a 4x4? Thanks

soil recomendations will stretch from build a soil to make your own. many used to do the fox farm dance but seem to be dropping on quality. for bugs you need to impliment a complete ipm plan. Plant count will depend on limits, goals, strains, etc. If no plant count limit s.o.g. is the way to go from what i read as it limits veg time. If that is not an option 4 seems to be a common number. It is all relative, many moving parts to growing a health plant, time, goals, money available, space available, growing medium, etc

Do a soilless mix if you want to reduce the chance of bugs, plenty of recipes online.

I got some recipe 420 and really like it but haven’t used it much. Tried a few others as well FFOF and the frog one, and some others.

all seem nice, don’t recall any bugs coming out of any bags.

for me if to buy again I would get recipe 420 not knowing any prices.

I feel like I could make bugs show up in any medium if I keep the topmost soil wet at all times. For me it needs to dry for a day at least once in a while or nats

The bugs in the soil!! O shit. It’s dirt! Dirty soil dirt with bug larva of every species.

really most cannabis bugs are host plant dependent. Usually need plants to complete their reproductive cycle. Fungus gnats may be in soil, but they also can magically manifest just about anywhere.

I have used Fox Farms Happy Frog for seeds/seedlings and FF Ocean Forest for transplanting almost exclusively. I can’t recall ever having more than 1-2 gnats in total grow that Ive ever observed once I figured out the proper wet/dry cycle.. If you’re seeing gnats, you’re likely watering too frequently.

if it really bothers you, look for some Gnatrol which will kill the larvae.