How to mix my growing medium

[tencents]

Hi,

Ok so I am a first time grower and at this stage I have started 5 plants, 1 died, 1 is not very healthy and the other 3 are growing extremely slowly, I am the embodiment of frustration at the moment.

I have germinated another one but this time I want to make 100% sure I am giving her all she needs, give her the best possible opportunity to grow well and grow fast.

Here is a list of the 'ingredients' I have and would like some advice on what to use, in what quantity, when it should be added and any other tips you might have to ensure this grow goes well.

- Coco
- Perlite
- Germination mix (see attached photo)
- Bone meal
- Green moss
- Canadian peat
- Containers (see attached photo) - which size will be the best.

I am only going to use mineral water ph'd down to around 6. I am using 10x25W CFLs (6500K around 15000 lumens total). I am thinking of using around 60-70% perlite\coco mix with 30-40% germination mix and then add the green moss on top. I'm just not sure how\when the bone meal and Canadian peat must added?

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

[Minoo96]

Hi tencents, here's my 2 cents, (MY opinion, and I'm a new outdoor greenhouse grower)
I use germination mix, simply. But I also noticed problems and slow growth. Thanks to others on the forum I understood mainly that the soil needs to be more airy for the marijuana plant to really thrive in it. And that's what we want, don't we... So you could mix coco-perlite-germination mix. Or just coco-germination mix. Or just perlite-germination mix (that's what I plan to do for the next seed.)
I was advised to keep approx 30% perlite to 70 germination mix. Its how you feel it also, everyone's got different techniques
I don't think adding any bone meal is a good idea, its a slow release and its for flowering mainly. Blood meal is more for veg (i tried to add some in the last layer of the pot, for when the plant's roots reach that far). But if you plan on transplanting as soon as its ready, the germination mix should have enough nutes to keep it going til then.
I like the container in the middle, it seems a decent size. You could also go with the bigger one on the right, just in case (if you got one like me that's a fast/fiery one) but you should be careful of overwatering then, cause the container will not dry as fast as a smaller one.
As for green moss and canadian peat, I have no clue

coco and perlite have no nutes also, meaning you have to add some at some point. Sooner than if you put more germination mix. (Some might think its better, its really how YOU feel it should be. You're gonna have to try it with more than one seed I guess.)

[oldjarhead100]

hey ten cents . I use a straight coco/perlite mix ,but if you want to use the other stuff I would mix the peat moss in with the coco and keep the bone meal for a top dressing if needed . that being said I do amend my soil for my outside grows. in gorilla grows Its hard to stay on top of the nutes so I put enough in the soil to carry them if I cant make it out to them. the pic is of a 14 day old clone(14 days since I transplanted them into coco)if you look at the roots you can see a big piece of perlite I use the 1/4 inch stuff inside to give a more airy root ball . these are all personal choices there are no set rules so dont be afraid to experiment and see what happens keep us posted.

[oldjarhead100]

Minoo I've never drank Mineral water thats why I asked if it has all that in it then defiantly use it. I use city water from a Lake in town so I know whats in it and I still run it though a filter to remove chlorine. Before I had the filter I used tap water but let it sit out overnite with the container open allowing most of chlorine to evaporate. my friend uses RO water it has nothing in it so he has to add something every watering . just trying to share my thoughts and experiences maybe help in some way I'm not always articulate or even understandable hahaha. that clone was only 14 days in coco gotta love that voodoo juice and yesterday I took the top of one of the five that had roots like that and its in a dome

[Minoo96]

I was in India for a while, tap water there is... processed from a recycling plant. Passed by it a few times, it was stinky... I'm pretty sure it was sewer water! That's why I'm very careful with tap water. (That's why a lot of people have well on their land, not everyone rely on city water there). But if you know its coming from a lake, it's good! They add chlorine but yeah most of the minerals you need are there. Letting it sit overnight to evaporate the chlorine, tip noted, in case I ever need.
Mineral water is my go to for now, but during summer we set up pump in well. That's DA best water for plants.
Clones for outdoor is not really do-able, ain't it?

[tencents]

Thats a nice looking plant, for some reason I just want to touch those roots

[tencents]

Thanks for the replies. So it seems there is no real right way to do things, pity, would be nice to have a step 1 - Do this, Step 2 - You have nice and healthy plants oh well, I suppose there is fun in the trial and error.

So what I have decided is to use the small container (only because I have never planted in one that size before so I want to see how that goes). I am going to use a 60% coco\perlite, 30% germination mix and 10% Canadian Peat mix and and then lay a bit of green moss on the top. I'm going to leave the bone meal for now, I will add some when I do the first transplants (or wait for second?). I am also going to keep using tap water for my current plants (with the chlorine removed, tx oldjarhead100) and use mineral water for my new baby and see if there is any noticeable difference.

Tx again, will keep you posted.

Oh, one more thing, I measured the EC of the runoff and it was like 2.6 (around 1300 ppm), is this too high?

[Minoo96]

The small container will get filled fast, transplant will be sooner than with others. (I cut the bottom part of such things, so that the roots can appear very easily at the bottom... also very easy to cut the pot and discard it, leaving only a perfect square of potting. (I cut the thing during transplant of course).)
Add bone meal during second transplant if you wish, but try to make it in such a way that when she is flowering she will have access to it. She doesnt need much of phosphore/potassium during veg.
As for EC, I don't know. ^^
Have a nice day!