what type of soil do you use? why do you use it? and wats your water schedule?

mtgeezer said:

This is getting to be unintelligible jibberish..................L8R

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Not to be nitpicky, but how is erryones soil recipe jiberish. this thread will be very helpful for beginers and experts, when choosing, or wanting to switch to a new media.

plus i find this thread highly interesting, as there are many skilled growers on riu. im sure we got some tricks.
that is the real reason for this thread. my personal interest.plus sunshine is 35$ a bag, not exactly cheap. im interested in hearing about all these soils, so if i were to change, i will have heard many quality responsses.and am equipped to make an informed chioce.

Big thanks for all the cool responses.

jondamon said:

I use coco soilless.

B'CUZZ COCO with 20% perlite.

No nutrients in it as its soilless. So the plants only get what I put in.

During seedling/clone stage I use a light feed of CANNA AQUA A&B EC0.6-0.8 with 4ml per litre of Rhizotonic.

I water with feed evetytime the pot feels 50% lighter than it did after watering.

During full on flowering in 11L pots I'm watering approx every 3days with A&B.

Because I use hydro nutes in coco I also add extra Ca and Mg and I also use silica and PK1314.


I use the grow nutes the whole way through veg and flower.

I base every next feeding governed by my runoff testing. If my runoff increases in EC then I back off the next feed. If it decreases too much then I up the strength next feed.




J

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i would like to thank you for the detailed post on coco. not to be a bitch, but you left out 1 thing. the REASON WHY YOU USE COCO. please update me, as that is a huge focus of this thread. what leads us to our choice in media.
thanks for the cool response anyway
thanks man. apreciate it

BioBizz All Mix - love it, great soil. I see no reason to change. (I have also used Canna Terra Professional which was equally as good - slightly more expensive though).

I water when the pots dry and become light. Depends on the plant as to how long that takes. My last run I had 3 different phenos, 2 needed it every 5/6 days, with the big tall girl needing it every 3 days without fail right up till harvest.

By faar your. Best bet the grow speaks for itself check my logs if u follow this receipie u will have great siccess, ok first your going to need a 117 litre square brick of promix, then your going to buy the biggest bag of perlite u see also get 4 tubs of mykes mychorhizae root fungus and also a bag of vermiculite the what I do is in each 7 gallon pot I mix the promix with the perlite 60 % promix 35% perlite 5%vermiculite and add in 2x the reccomemded amount of mykes fungis it has increased my yield significantly hope that this helps.

Every professional greenhouse I have ever been in uses Pro Mix. Why would I want to second guess professionals that stake their livelihood on Pro Mix? I use 3 gal nursery pots and water every other day (3/4 gal). I use a complete nutrient (Dynagro or Floranova) so I don't need extra additives. I have mixed extra perlite in on occasion but didn't notice any difference. I follow the KISS theory and believe less is more.

I have been playing with some DWC hydro too and my Pro mix plants are just as big and lush as the hydro. Peace.

kushhound187 said:

i would like to thank you for the detailed post on coco. not to be a bitch, but you left out 1 thing. the REASON WHY YOU USE COCO. please update me, as that is a huge focus of this thread. what leads us to our choice in media.
thanks for the cool response anyway
thanks man. apreciate it

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I use coco so that I can precisely monitor what my rootzone EC is by testing my runoff. Due to feeding everytime in coco its more of a hydro style medium but with the convenience of hand watering single pots.

Its light and if you prefer can be used without any additions such as perlite.

It works well with Chem nutes or organics.

It can be hand watered or used in a hydro setup.

You can give it beneficials if you so wish.

You don't need as big a pot as you do with soil.

But

You need to closely monitor pH and nutrient strength in order to not over feed or create lockouts.


IMO its the hand watering GROWERS CHOICE for great plants.


Its very hard to over water coco too due to its great oxygen draw in during watering.


I think I remember reading that there is always around 30% oxygen within coco even just after feeding.




Hope this cleared up why I use it.




J

I use organic Happy Frog, $17.99 for 2 cubic feet bag. I grow in 15 gallon pots, so it takes over a bag to fill. I only water my plants as necessary, (I use a moisture stick) IMO overwatering is the root of many problems.

jondamon said:

I use coco so that I can precisely monitor what my rootzone EC is by testing my runoff. Due to feeding everytime in coco its more of a hydro style medium but with the convenience of hand watering single pots.

Its light and if you prefer can be used without any additions such as perlite.

It works well with Chem nutes or organics.

It can be hand watered or used in a hydro setup.

You can give it beneficials if you so wish.

You don't need as big a pot as you do with soil.

But

You need to closely monitor pH and nutrient strength in order to not over feed or create lockouts.


IMO its the hand watering GROWERS CHOICE for great plants.


Its very hard to over water coco too due to its great oxygen draw in during watering.


I think I remember reading that there is always around 30% oxygen within coco even just after feeding.




Hope this cleared up why I use it.




J

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This post os exactly why i posted this questoin. to get details like this. one thing ive heard tho,it coco holds alot of moisture. if so, not the soil for me. i like quick drains

perlite is fastest best drain that still holds moisture

happy frog buds might taste better than perlite buds though

kushhound187 said:

This post os exactly why i posted this questoin. to get details like this. one thing ive heard tho,it coco holds alot of moisture. if so, not the soil for me. i like quick drains

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Yes it does retain alot moisture but without the risk of over watering due to that oxygen draw in.

With 3ft tall flowering plants in 11L pots you could be watering everyday, or every other, or even as much as every 3days.

It all depends on your environment as to how quickly the plants use what's contained in the coco.


If you like it to drain really well and dry up quickly then more perlite would help this become acceptable to you.


From what I understand about soil though, coco has alot more aeration than soil as a single medium.

Ammendments make any medium into your SPECIFIC medium.

I like 20% perlite, no reason why you couldn't 50/50 if you so wish.

However IME with anything over 60/40 coco/perlite it dried out too quickly and with coco this is something you need to avoid because if it dries too much it can throw the pH off.




J

I use Plagron soil/Products on this Run, mostly since its what my local hydro shop have (don't want to order big bag`s of soil from the other side of the world)




I use light mix as Im able to use it for seedlings and mix it to suit my Veg/flower pot`s with stuff like blood/bone/kelp Meal and mearl (lime) bat guano and worm casting aso

but so fare I must admit I like BioBizz a lot more, used it on my last two soil runs and it just seems lighter and with more Perlite, and for the fist time I experience over watering with the Plagron, but I wont blame it all on the soil, tho I will ask my local hydro store to get the BioBizz home agin for my next run as it worked great for me ..

there are many ways to "Rome" you just have to find the one that fit you, I did`t like the coco much, but I also use tap water and all the fettling with PH and such is not for me, one little mistake and the girls is suffering, agin a question of temperament, "you" might be useing RO water and have a great PH/Ecc Pen and think its easy to maintain, I did`t I guess Im a soil guy

Kite High said:

Promix HP with mycho, no starter charge, amended with 40% perilite, 1 cup each per cubic foot Diatomaceous Earth, Dolomite Lime, and Azomite

I use Dynagro Foliage Pro, ProTekt, Mag Pro, Botanicare Cal Mag Plus, Liquid Karma
Tastes smells awesome and potency out of this world, taste and aromas are most affected during dry/cure not nutrient sources
Ro water
yields are damn near unbelievable
Hope it Helps

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Kite knows his shizo. Im scared of using things like promix cause im not as good as he is yet so i use FFOF with 15% pearlite and mycorrhizae added. Synthetic nutes.

Hey Slipon.

Its like I always say, find what works for "you".

No 2 gardens are the same.


I personally use tap water with a starting EC0.2.

I don't use coco specific nutes but I add extra Ca and Mg to compensate as coco has a tendency to hold onto these.


My pH is always set to 5.8. Unless I have something I wish to do with the pH. For example I may get the start of the claw, if so I drop my pH down to around 5.5 for few feeds as N is less available at that than say 6. This way feed strength can stay the same while stopping the N tox claw.


BUT
I've always used coco from the very beginning and my skills have been honed with the medium remaining constant.





J

about over watering or pythium in soil or coco, IME its not so much if the medium is Wet or moist, or how much water you used or how often, its more if the water in the soil contain enough Air for the roots/plant, both when you water and when the plant use water it will draw air in to the medium, it have to be replaced with sumthing.

jondamon said:

Hey Slipon.

Its like I always say, find what works for "you".

No 2 gardens are the same.


I personally use tap water with a starting EC0.2.

I don't use coco specific nutes but I add extra Ca and Mg to compensate as coco has a tendency to hold onto these.


My pH is always set to 5.8. Unless I have something I wish to do with the pH. For example I may get the start of the claw, if so I drop my pH down to around 5.5 for few feeds as N is less available at that than say 6. This way feed strength can stay the same while stopping the N tox claw.


BUT
I've always used coco from the very beginning and my skills have been honed with the medium remaining constant.





J

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hi

and I agree, I also found out, that coco kind a lock in the Ca specially, I used GH micro/bloom (Lucas Formula) I tried to water with 5,8 doing Veg and 6,2 doing flowering, did ok, but since I don't have a Ecc meter and my PH was measured with a cheap test kit, it was a struggle to keep em healthy all the way through, so if Im going to do pure coco agin (still like to mix a bit in my soil mix) I will for sure get a nice quality PH/Ecc Pen and I will get a big bottle of Ca/Mg+ and most likely use a bit of Perlite in the coco and of course my new found friend H2O2

H2o2 kills friendlies contained in your rhizosphere if you have a semi organic mix.


J

Used roots organic straight out of the bag for my seedlings, they seemed to LOVE that shit. Then transplanted into homer buckets with like 1/3 super soil/roots organic cooked for around a month. I've got 4 going right now using this method and they're loving it, links in my signature.

I've tried a few other soils and find that I go back to Foxfarm Ocean Forrest with at least 30 % Perlite. I have no such thing as a watering "schedule" as I let the plants tell me when its time to water. I grow different strains at the same time and they all drink water at their own pace. When their pot gets light, they get watered. Along those same lines I have no timelines on when a plant is finished either. I dont even worry about calenders anymore like I used to. I let the plants tell me when they're ready.
How many weeks theyve been flowering etc mean nothing compared to what the plant is telling you.

Sorry, I didn't read anyone elses post, here goes.
1. Black gold (good and cheap)
2. Water when needed (silly question)
Bio bloom, grow, alg a mic