Help me understand growing mediums better..!

[Dilbert]

Hi, I was just wonder if anyone could clear this up as I’ve been a bit overwhelmed by all the information and reading people’s various grow diaries.

I’m planning on just doing the simplest grow involving soil but I’m getting confused about whether this means compost, or whether it’s a mixture of compost and batmix, perlite, worm castings, coco coir etc. I was hoping that I could buy a quality compost plant it and keep using the same one and whether I can add nutes when I need? I hear all sorts of different ways people are mixing their soil/compost or changing when changing pots and I’m just getting confused as to which ones you can leave to grow or which you have to be adding nutes too.. sorry if this is rambling but I’m just wanting the easiest method for a first grow which to attempt a grow.

Thanks.

[Gaz]

If you want to keep.it cheap and simple then grab some B&Q verve and some perilte and stick with that for a while. Id then recommend you grab some Plant Magic Old Timers Grow and Bloom and some Plant Magic Magnecal+ . Im sure you can get all 3 in one bundle on Amazon.

You can use a rooting additive like Rhizo or I use Great white shark Fungi. You can use both but niether are very cheap.

Im a new grower though mate so you might want to wait for the ganja gods to appear

[Dilbert]

Cheers mate. That’s pretty much what I was considering, use some decent compost, a bit of perlite for drainage and stick with some basic nutes. I’m not au fait with the majority of the complex additives people use so wanted to keep it simple but still get a quality plant and not be having to deal with pests or various nasties throughout. Though is this an issue between non-organic and organic soil?

Is Rhizo just add at the start then I take it?

[Gaz]

Cheers mate. That’s pretty much what I was considering, use some compost, a bit of perlite for drainage and stick with some basic nutes. I’m not au fait with the majority of the complex additives people use so wanted to keep it simple but still get a quality plant and not be having to deal with pests or various nasties throughout.

Is Rhizo just add at the start then I take it?

Mate the real pros here dont use shit loads of nutes mate in fact they advocate a less is more approach is most aspects of growing.

On top of what Ive said I would have the two following additional peices of advice noob to noob.

Get some neem oil before you even germ. Then before you even plant once the soil is in the pots mix 10-15ml of neem oil to a litre of watm water and add a drop of washing up liquid. Mix it up and chuck it in a spray bottle and spray the intakes the tent walls, floor , the pot and the medium. Then continue to do that once a week right the way through and you can also spray the plant right up until flower. Also check out Redz sticky in the pest section of the infirmary on IPM.

Second, get a diary up and running as soon as you germ. Fuck nutes , mediums, lights ect for minute. The best thing you can do for your grow is have a diary. You can get help and advice on the go and the collective knowledge here is mind boggling.

Hope this helps and good luck

[Gaz]

Cheers mate. That’s pretty much what I was considering, use some decent compost, a bit of perlite for drainage and stick with some basic nutes. I’m not au fait with the majority of the complex additives people use so wanted to keep it simple but still get a quality plant and not be having to deal with pests or various nasties throughout. Though is this an issue between non-organic and organic soil?

Is Rhizo just add at the start then I take it?

Yeah Rhizo to establish roots, I prefer the Great white shark fungi as it just feels more organic lol. The Magnecal isnt organic mind you but it's only fed via a spray bottle (foliar feed) but the OT grow and bloom are organic nutes.

[Valentina]

I’m planning on just doing the simplest grow involving soil ...

It can be done!! Take note of what Gaz said. The neem oil is a good preventative.

I am all for low budget. I did mine with "Black Magic" and "PlantGrow" nutes for vegging (both available from Homebase), then in flower I used Chempak Cactus nutes (for the low N count). Q4 mycorrhizae, liquid seaweed to bump up the living organism count in the soil.

The grow went okay. I am not in a position to splurge on "proper" nutes for that last 10% improvement when I have not yet maxed out on what common garden nutes can do. But that is probably just me.

My next grow will be with good old Fish Blood and Bone, and may be some chicken manure pellets. 5 quid for 7 kilos from Wilko, how can I say no?

[sourshoes]

My next run I'm doing a simple mix I can PM you a link if you want to check it out.

A quality bag of some some kelp meal and tomatoe feed could kill it.

[sourshoes]

My next run I'm doing a simple mix I can PM you a link if you want to check it out.

A quality bag of some some kelp meal and tomatoe feed could kill it.

bag of soil that is.

[Spartacuss]

Hi, I was just wonder if anyone could clear this up as I’ve been a bit overwhelmed by all the information and reading people’s various grow diaries.

I’m planning on just doing the simplest grow involving soil but I’m getting confused about whether this means compost, or whether it’s a mixture of compost and batmix, perlite, worm castings, coco coir etc. I was hoping that I could buy a quality compost plant it and keep using the same one and whether I can add nutes when I need? I hear all sorts of different ways people are mixing their soil/compost or changing when changing pots and I’m just getting confused as to which ones you can leave to grow or which you have to be adding nutes too.. sorry if this is rambling but I’m just wanting the easiest method for a first grow which to attempt a grow.

Thanks.

Lots of good suggestions here so far. Try to find some soil that has a mixture of ingredients such as alfalfa, any type of guano, worm castings (excellent to have), humus, oyster shell, mycorrhizae, kelp, greensand, rockdust, azomite, compost etc...Unless you plan on making your own soil all of these will prob not exist in what you buy but just keep these ingredients in mind when looking as these are good things to have..With that being said you can grow successfully in cheap stuff just try and make sure its more on the organic side since you are new to this..Get some kind of Grow and Bloom type nute(ones for tomatoes are good) for what you can afford as they get expensive..Look into some kind of calcium and magnesium supplement as well (calmag is popular) and epsom salts..it doesn't have to be expensive to be a good grow so try and stay cheap with some of these ingredients and build yourself up. And most of all have patience, most new growers use way too many nutrients which is just a waste of money. Have fun and good luck

[Kurdt]

Im still pretty new to all this but have a few grows under my belt now.I try to keep things as simple as possible and fool proof. Plant Magic soil and some perlite, dont really use OT grow as the soil usually has enough juice to see you through till flower then just use OT bloom for flower and job's a good'un! (although with my last grow i used bloom and OT plant magic organic pk 4-8 together and had some great results.) Oh,and having some cal-mag to hand wont hurt either. What set up do you have?