I broke the rules and got good plants

[tomtom]

Many years ago when i lived in North Carolina i grew an indoor crop under four 4 foot flourecent gro-lux tubes and got good results. The soil i used was about 60% sand and 40% vermiculite. The only fert i used was fish emulsion. The seed was bag seed. The plants took off like a rocket and grew very fast and extremely healthy and stayed deep green for the entire grow. I will admit that only using fish emulsion probably hurt the final potency but the plants definitely got you good and stoned.This was before people were using sodium lamps (about 35 years ago) and the only book i could find on growing was one of Ed Rosenthals first books on the subject.

Has anybody ever used a soil mix like that ? I have never seen it described anywhere and i basically just came up with the idea for it myself.

 

[mrred]

i think the very first hydroponic medium was sand and they used river or sea water which has plenty of fish poop, algae and all that good stuff

 

[guest2012y]

I grew two separate outdoor crops in sand next to rivers. Great yields,never had to water,never even fertilized. I wouldn't try it in a pot under HPS's

 

[luciano28]

I have grown outside in some terrible soil, next to rivers and creeks like the guy above. Sandy soil mixed with broken beer bottle glass is how I would describe it, lol. Guerilla.

Indoors I have always used good soil and lights for the most part. But one time when I was a teenager I did grow one plant to full maturity just under a $10 T12 Shop Light and soil I shoveled out of my parents back yard(it was decent soil, could've used some perlite). I grew it in a closet in the attic and never really had to open the door because the shop lite gave off no heat. Real small buds but they were good and got us all high which is all that matters.

 

[mean mr.mustard]

Man you should try fighting the law

 

[VerdantGreen]

in parts of jamaica they do a similar thing and plant directly into the moraine - the roots find their way down through the rocks and stones and eventually hit water water.

heh, my first grow was under t8's in a cupboard 8 foot deep, 2 foot high with the door at 1 end (thats when i came up with the modular scrog idea that i still use today except i didnt know it was called modular scrog until years later lol). well over 20 years ago, the only thing i knew about growing weed was really the only thing you need to know - that it takes 12/12 to get buds.

happy days

VG

 

[tomtom]

i think the very first hydroponic medium was sand and they used river or sea water which has plenty of fish poop, algae and all that good stuff

Well the beauty of this method was i did no fussing. I mean all i did was alternate waterings with plain tap water and tap water mixed with the fish emulsion at the strength that was recommended on the bottle. No pH testing or any other kind of testing.

If Ed's book had recommeded that you change to a bloom fert during flowering i probably would have gotten really good weed but his book said nothing about changing ferts for flowering. I remember now that i grew this crop in 1976 and at the time the people i was hanging out with had only heard about simsemilla a year or 2 before. What people knew about growing back then was much more limited.

 

[Rambro]

im doin a ghetto grow myself right now with a 70w hps and 2 plants in a small cab. i think next watering will be done with water out of my fish tank

 

[Zendo]

The best thing about 'accidentally' dropping a seed or two in sandy areas, like near rivers and such is that they are the last places people look for them..

 

[hopleaf]

i used to grow out of a mixture known to the professional golf course industry as 7-2-1. it's 7 parts sand, 2 parts top soil, and 1 part sphagnum moss. it worked pretty good, but i found that cannabis does better with more soil and less sand. the 7-2-1 drained very well, but the plant would dry out almost daily which was a pain in the ass. now i use more like a 3-6-1.

 

[rubbanutz420]

TomTom...I used to live in Nags Head, NC after I graduated high school, I moved out there and lived on the ocean front with a bunch of friends.....we grew lots of reefer and it grows very well in the sand, as long as you can water it enough.....Sand is the best, it drains very well, just aslong as it doesnt get packed down....add a bit of perlite to loosen it up a bit and you are good to go...growing in sand is almost like hydro in a way.....but i have grown some dank shit in sand.

 

[tomtom]

Hey guys thank you for all of your great answers to my post.

I wonder why a sand soil recipe has never become popular. I mean it was easy to grow with and you can get sand just about everywhere.

 

[papie]

Hey guys thank you for all of your great answers to my post.

I wonder why a sand soil recipe has never become popular. I mean it was easy to grow with and you can get sand just about everywhere.

Well, soil is hella cheap and disease free.

 

[mrred]

sand gets crusted like a cake when it dries, perlite does the same job and doesnt cake up, sand is heavy too, gotta think about all that diesel thats going get burned up hauling it around

 

[feral]

I'm glad this was brought up because I remember seeing a post on here (I think) of someone who was growing in a vermiculite/perlite medium if I remember correctly and had some kickass plants. I would like to try something like this. great drainage, no salt/fert buildup, fungus gnats I think would be history.

 

[mrred]

thats called hempy

 

[10k]

Well the beauty of this method was i did no fussing. I mean all i did was alternate waterings with plain tap water and tap water mixed with the fish emulsion at the strength that was recommended on the bottle. No pH testing or any other kind of testing.

If Ed's book had recommeded that you change to a bloom fert during flowering i probably would have gotten really good weed but his book said nothing about changing ferts for flowering. I remember now that i grew this crop in 1976 and at the time the people i was hanging out with had only heard about simsemilla a year or 2 before. What people knew about growing back then was much more limited.

Ahhh the seventies, brings back fond memories.
Back then there was so much great stuff available on the streets that there wasn't even a reason to consider bothering to grow my own. We had all the legendary kinds of smokables available any time all over town. Things like Thai stick, Jamaican, Columbian, Panama red, Acapulco gold, and a few other great sativas from south america. Plus plenty of hash like black Afghani, temple ball, red and blond Lebanese. Pfffft, all dirt cheap too. Yea "those were the days" most of us were to busy enjoying ourselves and partying. Too busy getting high to even think of growing "home grown". In fact back then most "home grown" was undesirable trash similar to indiana hwy 41 ditch-weed heh heh

 

[Dignan]

My first grow was in 100% vermiculite with HydroFarm nutrients only (called 'passive hydro'). Under a huge bank of 4' shop lights in an unventilated closet, with bagseed.

I thought the results were excellent, but as time has passed I've wondered how much my memory can be trusted. Without pics, it's really hard to say. Just last night I was digging through ICMag for some old plants of mine, circa 2005... and I remember that grow being totally awesome and dialed in... but the pics tell a different story. LOL

Without pics, at the very least, I am skeptical that great plants can be grown in sand with fish emulsion.

peace-

Dig

 

[CarpeLibertatem]

Stories like these always interest me. You always hear about how some plants were grown in sand or pine needles and it was the best shit ever. This just solidifies in my mind that nutrient light mixes are what we're after for ultimate flavor.

The question in my mind is how light can one really go? I'd be interested to hear Crazy Composer's answer to that.......

 

[Guiness]

I think of my first grows and how in the dark I was. No internet in those days. Just plant seeds in remote spots and hope for the best. I was planting Colombian seeds in northern climates and never getting anything. I remember smoking fan leaves. You know they do get you high.