Super soil outdoors

[DoobieGrower]

First off, this is my first grow ever. I have read, read, and read for months and tried to educate myself in the art of growing cannabis. My fiance is a MM card holder so I thought I would grow a few plants for her and save us some cash in the long run. I myself am a very light smoker-just for pleasure, at most a couple times a week after work. For my first grow I wanted to make it as simple as possible so I ordered some seeds and bought some clones from a close friend. I have currently 3-100 gallon smart pots, 2-30 gallon smart pots, 2 plants in the ground, and 4 plants in a raised planter box. Everything is going pretty smooth for the most part. I am basically feeding the smart pots plain water at this time and everything else is Maxi grow/Maxi bloom. The soil in the smart pots is Subs super soil using various store bought soils and amended as the recipe calls for. The Maxi plants are doing super, especially with the foliar spraying of AACT's, OGBIOWAR, and soil drenches with bennies. The smart pots however are running short with the nutrients. I put them in the pots the second week of May and recently have been dropping leaves from the bottom and inside the canopy like crazy. I top dressed them with about 3 inches of super soil and improved greatly, but soon I am going to have to do something else. the roots have filled the whole pot up and the plants are really hungry. I have fed a couple of the bigger plants a half dose of Seablast made by Earth juice (transition), and they seemed to love it except for my Northern lights which got a slight nute burn, which pretty much took it like a champ and is still thriving. I bought some Earth Juice catalyst and biozuess (forgot the spelling but basically microbes) and plan on feeding as needed to keep them happy. Does this plan seem reasonable. As stated before this is my first grow and need some reassurance. The ladies are getting large and in charge and sometimes its kind of overwhelming but enjoyable at the same time. I work full time so this has been keeping me busy on my days off. Anyways, what do you guys think?

Pics:

White Widow x OG Kush




Northern Lights x Big Bud


Blue Dream


Purple Trainwreck x Cantaloupe Haze?(clone) My favorite plant. So dense and sticky.

 

[DoobieGrower]

The blue dream looks hacked to hell due to a broad mite infection about 4 weeks ago-it's recovered very well considering and is blowing up. The whole middle was removed when it was about 3 feet tall and now it's starting to creep up to my 6 foot tall fence.

 

[Cep]

Super soil seems to have a bunch of arbitrary additions like x amount of epsom salt for example. In your reading did you come across Albrecht ratios? Heres a link that gives a short summary:
http://www.healthyag.com/albrecht.html

One of the focuses in this method it to balance the base cation saturation. The only way to know that is to get your starting material tested at a soil lab (around $30/sample) and then correct deficiency. One thing that the soil test will allow you to do is not too much of something like Magnesium. If the base cation saturation shows 40% Calcium and 30% Magnesium then that added Epsom salt in the super soil recipe would be a mistake...

Overall this is looking good for your first garden. When did you put these plants out?

 

[OLDproLg]

welcome an congrats!

Feeling a bit more free i hope,an good job
fighting the insects.....
Lg

 

[aridbud]

You definitely have a green thumb! Fantastic job! Whatever you are doing...KUDOS for you and your fiancé having a grower with varied selections. Grow on!

 

[DoobieGrower]

Thanks guys. Cep-thanks for that interesting article. I skimmed through it but I'm going to read it thoroughly later today. I put the 3 larger smart pots out around the second week of May. I was busy this morning feeding the girls and gave them a medium dose of seablast. Should do them some good. The Maxi girls seem to be chugging along putting on weight . If I have time ill get my camera out later today and get some better pics. Happy growing everyone.

 

[Cep]

No prob man. Albrecht's research was discussed in the Tom Hill outdoor large plant thread:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=159846
There is a wealth of knowledge to be had in there that applies to all plants, not just monster cannabis.

I'll emphasize again that you're doing very well for a first grow. Getting soil mixes dialed is a process and road bumps will surely be found. My first attempt didn't produce plants as healthy as yours!

Another note:
Earlier plantings may require supplemental lighting to prevent starts from flowering when planted. You can get by without it but the plants will stall before reveg and growing time will be lost. That is also something that is discussed in detail in the big plants thread.

 

[DoobieGrower]

I have stopped by and read some of Tom Hills posts in the outdoor "tree" section. Lots of knowledge to be gained from the pros there. Thank you for the kind words. Next year I already have a game plan to improve things and be a little more cost effective such as mixing my own soil-just started reading about that. Just like any hobby, it takes time to get the hang of things and you learn tricks and tips along the way. ICMAG has a great collaboration of dedicated farmers which makes learning enjoyable and fun as well as educational. Props to all the experienced pros here helping the little guys out. I've seen it time and time again browsing posts throughout this site.

 

[wallywombat]

Great stuff impressive for a first grow keep us updated peace from oz

 

[DoobieGrower]

Update with pics

Update with pics

Hello All! A little update. Seablast (Earth Juice) nutrients seem to be doing the trick. I'm feeding every other watering which is every 4 days now. I have been needing to water every 2 days. Using transition nutes for the Blue Dream, Bloom nutes for the WW and the NL. Using Maxi bloom for TW cross. I also have a Super Silver Haze but it's pretty boring at this time-it's just starting to transition to bloom but no flowers yet. Any input is welcomed and appreciated. Thanks.


Purple Trainwreck Cross-only 1 month left until harvest

White Widow cross-about week 3-4 in flower

Northern Lights cross around week 3-4 in flower

 

[DoobieGrower]

Northern lights

Blue Dream-transitioning

Garden security patrolling the grounds.

 

[backyardbogfan]

Isn't fighting California bugs fun? Central Valley farmers nuke em and then they come into our yards and act like it a Chinese buffet since you don't want to smoke chemicals. Wait until the moths and butterfly's hit, you'll forever hate them from then on.
Good job on your first try. If the roots get hot in the smartpots it will look like deficiency but it will be heat stress.

 

[DoobieGrower]

Thank you for stopping by backyard. I have stepped up the watering lately and started feeding. Seems to be working. I was going every third day watering but now its every other day, either watering or feeding. Most of the larger plants enjoy it, the smaller ones in the 30 gallon pots are going every 5 days or so (clones from the garden). I think that has helped with the overall health of the plants along with the extra food. Other than that I like the soil mix. Next year I'll be mixing my own soil and using less bags. I think I burned through 50-60 bags of soil this year. Every morning and evening when I inspect the garden they are praying to the sun god, so I figure its working. As far as bugs, I just went out with my green light and smashed 4 grasshoppers. I don't see much else. I think the OGBIOWAR has helped with that tremendously. I have a whole closet full of organic insecticides/repellants that I pretty much ignore at this point, but they are there just in case. I had a gopher problem earlier in the week, he buried the trap I set in the run so I pissed in his hole and I haven't seen him since.

 

[hmongsauce]

Do you mind showing us the silver haze? I'm having issues with mine, just thought I could compare. Thanks

 

[CountryGoldGuy]

Cool grow! I'm sure your girl will appreciate the nice variety of smoke.

 

[GreenHands13]

Great garden man especially for you first one.

 

[backyardbogfan]

I did a actinovate soil drench as I think I'm seeing some fungal infection on mine.

 

[Cep]

Actinovate seems to work well as a foliar preventative for botrytis in my experience, but the more seasoned growers on here use mycostop for a soil drench:
http://www.ecogreenwarehouse.com/search.php?search_query=mycostop&x=0&y=0

The stuff is a bit expensive, but if a plant is showing signs of root rot $100 or so isn't that steep to save it...

 

[DoobieGrower]

Thanks guys. Hey sauce I'll get a pic up tomorrow. It's dark now. The SSH is finally starting to flower and chugging right along. I like the shape of it the best it's only about 3 1/2 feet tall but about 41/2-5 feet around, a perfect bush shape. I cut a couple of the smaller branches off one of the trainwrecks and drying them up for my lady. She's gonna be out of meds soon and needs to stay medicated at this time. See you.

 

[wantaknow]

well done bro ,from what I see you have a very successful grow on your hands and I would at this time start to prepair for harvest and drying ,keeping to basics is a real shure way to a good harvest and you will improve ,you already are ,glad to see your grow is going well ,best of luck with your harvest ,be vigilant ,the rippers will be out .....