Which soils to use?

Ok, here's my 2 humble 2 cents.
I grow indoors and like to use the Fox Farms Ocean Forest Soil for few weeks until you start feeding. As usual test the ph and ppm of the water before watering and test the run-off excess also. I like to layer the soil with Hydroton Clay Pelets. Make sure to really wash the pelets well untill they leave no color to the water used to clean them. I also make sure to use some paper at the bottom to help keep to much stuff from getting out. The layers work wonders for the roots. I am going to use air tubes in the next rotation and will see how root growth progresses.
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My 1st 2 grows I used miracle grow 3 month feed soil. I've since switched to Fox Farm Ocean Blend and will not be looking back. One of the things I learned a long time ago, from my gram actually, she's were I learned to garden as a kid (not weed). Was to put a small layer of rocks on the bottom of your containers to help with drainage, this will help with any root rot in case you over water.
If someone is using miracle grow and can't get the Fox Farm, a trick I used was to take some of the feed sticks, the green 2-3 inch ones found at home depot and actually layer them into the soil.
Happy Growing.

I dont know if any one uses a mix like this, but i use Sunshine mix #4 mixed with bat guano, blood meal, bone meal, a bit of compost baked in the oven to get rid of bugs, a goodly amount of perlite, and some tlc. I dont nute till flowering and then only about 1/4 strength to half strength. I get huge buds with my soilless mix and healthy plants...

You guys want awesome soil ?
-Green World VPW 30 potting soil 50%
-Bio max peat and shrimp manure 50%
bone meal under your root system and there you go you have a great 100% organic soil.

AllMeatNoPotato said:

foxfarm ocean forest. it is the shit. everything is in there. just pop the bag, put in a pot, and grow. no need to worry about feeding until 2-3 weeks in. perfect for inside growers.

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What kind of nutrients can you use with that foxfarm? and is it absolutely necessary to use the ocean forest instead of the foxfarm original mix.

Garden Knowm said:

You will need a PH tester..

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I have one somewhere - even used it once, shoved it in the soil and the needle didn´t move, so don´t even know if it works. Since then just add my nutes to day old tap water. Plants seem to grow pretty well.

Otherwise I mix my own soil, to some peat or ´forest product´ substrate I add horse manure (well rotted), wormcasts, compost from my compost heap, perlite and some crushed eggshell.

All organic and the ladies grow well in it. I generally use 50 litre tubs - about 11 UK gallons (13 US).

(note that I cross posted part of this in an AF thread, but I'm posting just the soil related AF questions here in case I don't have luck there)

I'm getting ready to do a first grow indoors with a couple Easy Ryders and I have a some questions for anybody kind enough to offer their wisdom and experience, particularly with AFs grown in soil. I have no experience growing anything at all, so everything is new to me. I'll preface this by saying that I've spent several days reading everything I could find on the subject, especially from the forums on this site, so I've already done quite a bit of homework but I still have plenty to learn and lots of questions.

For a medium I've settled on using Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil. Did a lot of reading and it was one of the most highly recommended (along with Black Gold and a couple others), and most people said you really didn't need any nutes at all with it, and didn't need to mix it with anything else. With AFs pretty much everyone said not to use Nutes in the first few weeks anyways, if you use any at all.

These are my questions, in no particular order:

• Although people said straight up Ocean Forest would work great without mixing it with anything, I constantly see people talking about using Perlite, and I've seen a lot of people say you should always use Perlite with any "soil" medium. Should I use it, and if so, how? Do I just mix it thoroughly into the FFOF soil? If so, how much Perlite should I mix with say 1 gallon of FFOF?
• Do I need to do anything to prep the soil such as flushing it etc., and if I do, how long do I need to let it dry out (if at all) before I plant the germinated seeds? Is there anything else I need to do with the soil before planting?
• How far below the surface of the soil should I plant the germinated seed?
• Bearing in mind these are Easy Ryders, using FFOF soil, does anybody that's familiar with this combination recommend using nutes, and if so which ones, how much, and at what point in the process? Everything I saw said not before 3 weeks if at all.

TIA for the help, I know it gets old answering a lot of the same questions for newbies, but it would take months of reading and I still might not find the answers to all of these questions!

Can anyone recommend a good starter soil for a 12/12 seed-straight-to-flower PC grow? This attempt will be with Kushberry or Church.

Is FoxFarms the way to go? I can't find any Canna products in the States it seems.

Good?

http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/fox-farm-organic-planting-mix-cu-ft-p-394.html

where do u get this shit?

I've heard good things about Roots soil, haven't used it myself. Have heard mixed things on Fox Farms. Personally I am highly biased toward Dr. Earth soils/fertilizers and would highly recomend checking them out, they've got some new POTting soil out now that looks awesome/is formulated for us-haven't tried the stuff YET, but the original soil and fertilizer was really well balanced and gave me great yield, tastey nugs, and a epic lift. You can find most brands at local nursery shops though. You can also go on the Dr earth website to check where the closest place to find it is, and I suspect the other brands have this option too.

youngbuck9992003 said:

NEWBIE>>>> I was in home depot the other day and was looking at soils, I had no CLUE to what i was looking for all these differnt types like 20-15-20 and things like that i was wondering what IS the best soil to use???

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id say buy any organic potting soil test the ph and add dolomite lime if its too acidic and make sure theres exceptionnal drainage

I ended up here through 101 asked Questions,hope I'm not Bogarting.Bought some clean unfert.soil at the nursery. Mixed 40% soil,40% compost 20% perlite.Germed,watering 6.5 ph,07ppm.Starts look good but slow growth.Tested runoff, 7.5 to 7.7. Perlite was 6.4, compost 6.7, soil 7.9. How do I get this under control.

i use roots organics formula 707 with a little bit of superthrive, works great

I did tons of research on this subject before making a purchase. I decided to go with FF Happy Frog. I live 2.5 hours a way from the nearest retailer that sells it but I made the trip and it seems it was worth my time. I actually went with the Ocean Forest in mind but after talking to a very helpful and knowledgeable guy at HTG supply who advised the ocean forest was too 'hot' for seedlings, and since I was on a low budget and was not gonna make two 5 hour trips or buy 2 different soils, I choose the Happy Frog.

I went to Lowe's, Home Depot, Wally world, K-mart and a couple of others and what really turned me off was they all store their soils outdoors. I am hoping to have no pest problems and decided better safe than sorry.

I am on my first grow and i used a mixture of Topsoil, potting soil and perlite. The only reason i used it is because it was free, and since this was my first grow i didn't want to break the bank before i was sure i could get results. I am on day 38 of Flowering and have some nice looking buds, but i know my results would be so much better with a good soil, so next time i will be using better soil. I would recommend getting the best soil you can afford, i have heard great things about Fox Farms and Sunshine Mix... Also invest in some good nutes, no matter how good your soil is, your plants are still going to need food. Best Of Luck!!!

youngbuck9992003 said:

NEWBIE>>>> I was in home depot the other day and was looking at soils, I had no CLUE to what i was looking for all these differnt types like 20-15-20 and things like that i was wondering what IS the best soil to use???

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They have this stuff out now that is called "Dr. Earth" and it is supposed to be a huge improvement over Fox Farm. The stuff is $15.00 for a 10lb. bag and is incredibly potent. Not to say that GK dosent know their stuff but you really dont have to spend much money to have great soil. It has been recommend to me by SEVERAL vet growers. I got it at our Ag store here in town but HD MIGHT have it. If not, somebody will.

theloadeddragon said:

thats why you do 2/3 ocean forest, 1/3 light warrior! perfect mix. Flush about once a week

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I am new to growing. When you say 'flush', what is the process you use? Does this rid the soil of nutrients or just help keep the ph balanced?

Flush AFAIK is just using pure water to remove any salt built up in the soil to stop nutrient lock

I see several people have success with Black Gold. It is too strong out of the bag for starts?

I'm thinking of using pure manure or pure compost. If I use that will I need to use any fertilizers? Also should I mix it with something? I'm not too handy :/

Sorry twas a lil off topic, but thanks