SOIL You are what you eat: Nutes - Please help with counsel, advice and guidance

[billyboy]

I am getting a grasp on the environmental conditions for a satisfying grow. I get light, and heat, and day vs. night temps and RH and PH and fabric pots and which soil and how to measure these factors and control them on my phone w/apps, my grow room configuration or with PH'd water.

But the whole feeding thing is somewhat of a mystery. So far I have just been following a recipe and schedule in a kit I bought. I mean - you are what you eat, right? So I am thinking the flavor, aroma, yield and effect will be massively impacted by the nutes. Second only to genetics - right?

So I was hoping people would contribute their knowledge and experience and brands or organics they use to get a great crop with all the flavor, aroma, yield and effects that make them happy. Soil growers. Indoors please. (Just to limit the variables)

I went to: https://www.growweedeasy.com/nutrients

And I want: https://www.growweedeasy.com/wp-cont...-sanderson.jpg

But I cannot decipher: https://www.house-garden.us/nutrient-calculator/

[billyboy]

I don't understand this either: https://www.growweedeasy.com/wp-cont...abis-chart.pdf

How do I know if I am in the 4th week or 7th week of Veg? The plants decide, not me. Or is that chart for Autos?

[Gingerbeard]

Hey-ya billy. I started with General Organics GO Box. I don't know if I would use it again because I have three bottles of nutes I will never use because of the differences in dose measurements. That is, I've gone through two bottles of one nute and only a couple inches out of another bottle. I've since ordered the quart containers of the nutes I'm out of. I don't know any better but I am happy with my results. As are others I share with.
So far of vegging time, When you get your plants under veg lights and go the 18/6 route, that's day one for autos or regular. Vegging ends when you go to flower. I judge how much time I veg by how much space I have to grow.
And there's molasses at the end of flowering.

[dphipps1020]

I'm still fairly new to the growing scene but I have multiple tents with a mixture of hydro and soil. This is my first grow using soil. I got tired of buying/mixing nutrients, changing out water, etc. so I decided to give soil a shot. I have plants in veg and a few flowering right now and so far I'm liking it better. I am using a soil mix of Fox Farm's Happy Frog and Ocean Forest for my base soil and found a soil amendment on eBay for $23 for my super soil bottom layer. Just needed some earthworm castings and 1.5 cu ft of soil per bag, mix and bake for 30 days. So far I'm pretty impressed. The picture is one of my ladies that's on about week 4 of flowering I think. She's kind of small because I got anxious, but my next cycles are already going and should be a lot bigger. All I've had to do is water, train and transplant to bigger pots so far and I love the ease of it. Not sure if this helps or not but I hope you find your answers

[billyboy]

What size pots are you transplanting from and to? Do you have to put the super soil at the bottom of both, or just the one where you are finishing out the grow?

[dphipps1020]

I'm starting with just my base soil in 1 gallon pots for seedlings, transplanting to 2 gallon pots for part of veg, and then I have both 5 and 7 gallon fabric pots for my final. The super soil is only about the bottom 1/4 of the pots and you only need it in your final pots. Still on my first grow using soil but so far so good

[s62]

I’m really satisfied with the smells and flavors that my KindSoil brought out. You might consider the super soil approach and eschew nutes altogether.

[billyboy]

I grow in 5 gal fabric pots of FFOF w/ some perlite now. If I switch to KindSoil how does that keep the plants fed for the whole grow? Do you have to use CalMag and other stuff along the way?

[s62]

For a 5 gal pot with 5 pounds of KindSoil in it (as per their directions), you should be able to pull as much as 2.5 months in veg, and your full flower run without ever feeding your plants. No CalMag or other nutes at all. Just pH'd water. I'm going to reply to this thread with an informative KindSoil image that contains a lot of information about it. Every time I see people struggling with measuring run-off, over-feeding or under-feeding nutes, etc., I feel really glad I'm going to super soil route. Not having to mess with ANY nutes is definitely nice. It just works.

[s62]

Here's some information about how KindSoil works.

[dphipps1020]

Try workout mats maybe? Or something similar. Can put them right under your tent without losing too much distance between your tent and ceiling. Just a thought. This is basically the same thing I'm using, works great so far. I haven't even had to pH my water!

[s62]

I grow in my basement, which is partially underground and has a concrete slab floor, i.e. the floor is always cold. I just put my fabric pots in saucers with either gravel or hydroton underneath to act as a buffer. Seems to work just fine. I wouldn’t worry to much about that, to be honest.

[OlderNOTwiser]

I had a 3 x 8 sheet of styrofoam (about 11/4" thick) from a door shipment (I'm a strategic pack rat) and cut it to fit under the tent. Hopefully it will insulate from the cold concrete. Being in the northern U.S. where we usually have a basement the temp is pretty solid in the low 60's all winter. I will be paying more attention to that next month when I start my 1st indoor grow.

[billyboy]

OK - so no flush with Super Soil? How do you know that you are getting the plants "flushed"?

[s62]

The plants never get nutrient build-up to begin with. There’s nothing to flush.

Think of it like this: feeding a plant nutes is like forcing it to eat. It fills up with more food than it would like, and as a result, you’ve got to flush that food back out. Giving a plant super soil is like taking it to a buffet. You give it access to all the food, but it picks out what and how much it eats. It takes what it needs and no more.

Or at least, that’s my understanding.

[BillyKidd]

I don't understand this either: https://www.growweedeasy.com/wp-cont...abis-chart.pdf

How do I know if I am in the 4th week or 7th week of Veg? The plants decide, not me. Or is that chart for Autos?

You don't mark your start date on a calendar or something?

[SoOrbudgal]

I count veg time when I put my say....1 month to 6wk old seedlings in there final home which is my tent and final container. I have 4 photo seedlings under 54watt cfl and 1 t5 tube. They are less than a wk old seed to sprout. They will go into 5gal fabric and plastic containers. As soon as they are in there I start the vegging count and the rest is beginning training till they are where I want the height to be, then flip to flower. I try to keep track of all the grow. Have a calender, write it all down. That's me.