Top 10 pro hints for the soil newbie...

[Buzz Lightyear]

1. Slow release ferts don't work too good indoors. These are better left outdoors. Don't buy a soil mix that states "lasts 3 months" or something like that.

2. Ph is important. Best to adjust the ph of your fert water after adding everything. Ph 5.8 is good for soilless growers. Most of you are...like soil mixes containing peatmoss, bark, perlite, vermiculite.

To test soil mix ph, water till the pot is dripping. Wait 1 hour. Pour just a little bit of distlled water (Has to be distilled!!!) till the pot drips. Catch this on a plate. Test ph. If you don't have a meter to test ph, look for cheap test strips with a range like 4 to 7.

3. Dolomite lime is your best friend. Add 2 teaspoons per gallon of mix if already not added. Avoid pelletized but get powdered/pulverized. This gives you calcium and magnesium.

Bonus tip: Add 3/4 teaspoon pulverized/powdered gypsum per gallon of mix to get valuable sulfur.

4. Avoid fertilizer with urea or ammonia. Choose ferts high in nitrate nitrogen.

5. More light indoors is better. Add more for better results.

6. Your soil mix must be light and fluffy. Buy promix, fafard, majestic, sunshine soilless mixes. If stuck with a sloppy poor draining soil mix, add perlite.

7. Keep temps 75-85f. High temps make plants stretch. Low temps lead to poor germination and slow growth.

8. Use the search feature at icmag.

9. Tell no one about your grow. Ever!

10. Plants grow better on the dry side. Use the lift method to see how wet the containers are. Lift when fully wet. Keep lifting daily and you can feel the water loss. Eventually you can lift and know ...they need water.

Questions, comments, got your own helpful top 10?

Peace, Buzz

 

[greenhead]

Sorry bro, but nobody should be taking your tips or figures as the Gospel or the correct way of doing things.

I remember you giving this tip to somebody in a thread:

You might experiment and mix 20 watts of incandescent light like a refrigerator bulb for every 100 watts of florescents during flower.

I'm not a pro, just a noob who's on his fourth grow, but a PH of 5.8 for soil seems a bit low in my opinion.

 

[Buzz Lightyear]

Gee Greenhead. Thanks for the comments.

Adding a little far red light from incandescent bulbs does help the florescent grower in flower. Extends the flowers more like normal.

The public library is a huge source of information for growers like you .... Check it out.

Buzz

 

[greenhead]

The public library is a huge source of information for growers like you .... Check it out.

Buzz

Are you even a grower ? Do you grow ? I'm not so sure about that, to be honest. Not a single picture in your gallery is of a Marijuana plant growing.

 

[Mr Celsius]

Thank you for the tips.

I would recommend coco as your soil medium, its far superior then peat.

I would agree that 5.8 would be on the low end... glad you're trying to help.

greenhead, you're coming off as standoffish. If you wish to criticize his advice, attack the information, not the person offering information; it simply defeats the purpose.

 

[greenhead]

greenhead, you're coming off as standoffish. If you wish to criticize his advice, attack the information, not the person offering information; it simply defeats the purpose.

Perhaps you're right, it's nothing personal against him.

Ok, I'll try to attack a couple of his ideas and not the person.

I remember reading some of his earlier posts and some of his suggestions seemed so outlandish, that I have to wonder if he actually ever tried out some of the things that he's suggesting, or if he is just simply suggesting ridiculous stuff without ever having tried it himself, such as the incandescent bulb idea, which is a terrible idea in my opinion, simply because of the heat generated and the inefficiency of the bulb VS. the added cost of running it. If they were so great, then you'd see those bulbs in everybody's grow diaries. There's a reason nobody uses them.

And here's another suggestion I read which just sounds crazy to me. He says nutrients should be given every watering, which is the opposite of the advice given by many nutrient companies, which goes - water - nutes - water - nutes etc. He also said this should be done on a weekly basis, feeding the plants just nutes once a week. What size pots must somebody have to go 7 days ? 10 Gallons or higher ? It just doesn't sound like realistic advice for indoor growers in my opinion.

If somebody is going to go 100% against conventional wisdom, then I think it is fair for people to be sceptical. Well, anyhow, I hope he doesn't take anything personal, I'm trying to criticize some of his ideas, not the person.

 

[Dr Dog]

Well here is what I think, making a top 10 list does make you appear to be claiming to be an expert, and you are opening yourself up to critique. I also agree that it is easier to attack the person, rather than the statements, so here is what I think of the list

1. Slow release ferts don't work too good indoors. These are better left outdoors. Don't buy a soil mix that states "lasts 3 months" or something like that.-- Who uses slow release ferts? The only time I see stuff like that is in lawn fertilizer and shrub products, marijuana is not a shrub, and should not be treated like on. It is a flowering plant and should be treated like one. The problem with most of the premade soils containing nutrients already, is that they tend to be on the "hot" side and will tend to burn the plants. Also most people prefer to contro what is going into their plants

2. Ph is important. Best to adjust the ph of your fert water after adding everything. Ph 5.8 is good for soilless growers. Most of you are...like soil mixes containing peatmoss, bark, perlite, vermiculite. -- Not as important is you think, especially in soil/soiless grows. Did you know that your runoff ph will change, as your plants use different elements from it?

To test soil mix ph, water till the pot is dripping. Wait 1 hour. Pour just a little bit of distlled water (Has to be distilled!!!) till the pot drips. Catch this on a plate. Test ph. If you don't have a meter to test ph, look for cheap test strips with a range like 4 to 7. Why distilled? are you using distilled water throughout? Otherwise you are testing the runoff ph of the distilled water, and not the actual feed runoff

3. Dolomite lime is your best friend. Add 2 teaspoons per gallon of mix if already not added. Avoid pelletized but get powdered/pulverized. This gives you calcium and magnesium.Yes it does give you calcium and magnesium, but I have never used it, did you know it also raises your soil ph?

Bonus tip: Add 3/4 teaspoon pulverized/powdered gypsum per gallon of mix to get valuable sulfur.

4. Avoid fertilizer with urea or ammonia. Choose ferts high in nitrate nitrogen. Maybe, you are talking chemical based nutes here, is that what you want to be smoking? Not really too sure why you would want a fert high in nitrogen, as it is not the nitrogen that gives you the buds

5. More light indoors is better. Add more for better results. Not just more light, the right kind of light, not gonna do anyone any good putting halogen floods in there

6. Your soil mix must be light and fluffy. Buy promix, fafard, majestic, sunshine soilless mixes. If stuck with a sloppy poor draining soil mix, add perlite. Basically you want to have your soil/soiless mix, be porous enough to pass liquid through it and drain within a few minutes, perlite is great for that, but they are lots of other stuff that does the same thing, weed will not grow well in mud

7. Keep temps 75-85f. High temps make plants stretch. Low temps lead to poor germination and slow growth. High temps can also cause many other issues, stress, burning, insect invitations, mold, mildew, stretching is the least of the temps problems, and most plants are genetically tuned to stretch during flower, the heat really has nothing to do with that. Yes cold temps will cause issues, but we are talking temps into the 50's for that, planting stuff outside right now, will do just fine, inside, you place will at least be as warm as the outside, especially under lights

8. Use the search feature at icmag. Agreed

9. Tell no one about your grow. Ever!

10. Plants grow better on the dry side. Use the lift method to see how wet the containers are. Lift when fully wet. Keep lifting daily and you can feel the water loss. Eventually you can lift and know ...they need water. What you should say here is that plants like to dry out a bit inbtween waterings, marijuana does not liek to have "wet feet" in soil.

Questions, comments, got your own helpful top 10?

Peace, Buzz

 

[moonymonkey]

there is more then 1 way todo things

 

[greenhead]

Yo Buzz ! You haven't posted since this thread !

I apologize if I came across as harsh ! Your intentions were good, I just disagreed with a few of your ideas and the whole idea of a "10 top pro - list", regardless of who makes such a list. There are so many different ways of doing things, that I think that such a list is not a very useful idea, since it doesn't apply to everybody.

 

[Buzz Lightyear]

Well here is what I think, making a top 10 list does make you appear to be claiming to be an expert, and you are opening yourself up to critique. I also agree that it is easier to attack the person, rather than the statements, so here is what I think of the list

1. Slow release ferts don't work too good indoors. These are better left outdoors. Don't buy a soil mix that states "lasts 3 months" or something like that.

-- Who uses slow release ferts? The only time I see stuff like that is in lawn fertilizer and shrub products, marijuana is not a shrub, and should not be treated like on. It is a flowering plant and should be treated like one. The problem with most of the premade soils containing nutrients already, is that they tend to be on the "hot" side and will tend to burn the plants. Also most people prefer to contro what is going into their plants

Miracle grow potting soils, for example, include unwanted slow release ferts.

2. Ph is important. Best to adjust the ph of your fert water after adding everything. Ph 5.8 is good for soilless growers. Most of you are...like soil mixes containing peatmoss, bark, perlite, vermiculite.

-- Not as important is you think, especially in soil/soiless grows. Did you know that your runoff ph will change, as your plants use different elements from it?

Ph is important. Yes ph will change as the plant uptakes nutrients...the plant releases OH- and H+ into the soil solution.

To test soil mix ph, water till the pot is dripping. Wait 1 hour. Pour just a little bit of distlled water (Has to be distilled!!!) till the pot drips. Catch this on a plate. Test ph. If you don't have a meter to test ph, look for cheap test strips with a range like 4 to 7.

Why distilled? are you using distilled water throughout? Otherwise you are testing the runoff ph of the distilled water, and not the actual feed runoff

Diistilled water has virtually no buffer holding its ph...only disolved carbon dioxide in the form of carbonic acid. So ph will readily change. It will assume the ph of what is introduced to it. This is the Virginia Tech pour through method.

3. Dolomite lime is your best friend. Add 2 teaspoons per gallon of mix if already not added. Avoid pelletized but get powdered/pulverized. This gives you calcium and magnesium.

Yes it does give you calcium and magnesium, but I have never used it, did you know it also raises your soil ph?

Carbonates raise ph...yes.

Bonus tip: Add 3/4 teaspoon pulverized/powdered gypsum per gallon of mix to get valuable sulfur.

4. Avoid fertilizer with urea or ammonia. Choose ferts high in nitrate nitrogen.

Maybe, you are talking chemical based nutes here, is that what you want to be smoking? Not really too sure why you would want a fert high in nitrogen, as it is not the nitrogen that gives you the buds

Plants require nitrogen to grow and function. Ammonia and urea are toxic to plants. This is especially true in potting soils rather than outdoors. Outdoors microorganisms convert ammonia/urea to nitrate nitrogen. This does not happen in potting soils much. Blood meal is an example of a organic ammonia containing fert. Plants are blind as to what they are fed. Organic or inorganic does not matter. It will be the same in the plant. Interestingly, tobacco growers commonly spray potassium nitrate not something organic to help the crop...it does not contain sulfur.

5. More light indoors is better. Add more for better results.

Not just more light, the right kind of light, not gonna do anyone any good putting halogen floods in there

Ok

6. Your soil mix must be light and fluffy. Buy promix, fafard, majestic, sunshine soilless mixes. If stuck with a sloppy poor draining soil mix, add perlite.

Basically you want to have your soil/soiless mix, be porous enough to pass liquid through it and drain within a few minutes, perlite is great for that, but they are lots of other stuff that does the same thing, weed will not grow well in mud

Ok

7. Keep temps 75-85f. High temps make plants stretch. Low temps lead to poor germination and slow growth.

High temps can also cause many other issues, stress, burning, insect invitations, mold, mildew, stretching is the least of the temps problems, and most plants are genetically tuned to stretch during flower, the heat really has nothing to do with that. Yes cold temps will cause issues, but we are talking temps into the 50's for that, planting stuff outside right now, will do just fine, inside, you place will at least be as warm as the outside, especially under lights

Plants are going to grow slowly if your planting outside in cool weather this includes low night temperatures

8. Use the search feature at icmag.

Agreed

9. Tell no one about your grow. Ever!

10. Plants grow better on the dry side. Use the lift method to see how wet the containers are. Lift when fully wet. Keep lifting daily and you can feel the water loss. Eventually you can lift and know ...they need water.

What you should say here is that plants like to dry out a bit inbtween waterings, marijuana does not liek to have "wet feet" in soil.

Ok

Happy growing icmag!

 

[Buzz Lightyear]

Yo Buzz ! You haven't posted since this thread !

I apologize if I came across as harsh ! Your intentions were good, I just disagreed with a few of your ideas and the whole idea of a "10 top pro - list", regardless of who makes such a list. There are so many different ways of doing things, that I think that such a list is not a very useful idea, since it doesn't apply to everybody.

I am not offended. I created this thread while shit faced drunk. Hey, I like to talk about plants in general....

 

[cocktail frank]

i see sprotco is back.
we been wondering where you been hiding sproutco!
i didnt think you left for good.
if buzz is sproutco, dont follow his advice.
he has been banned numerous times for giving shoddy advice.
buzz does fit the criteria for sproutco tho.
all the signs are there:
talking plants when he never grew pot.
just dumb pics in the gallery
weird outlandish advice.
time for a new nick again:
sproutco
stonewall
happy camper
hot gurl
lady 420
blackvelvet
raw silk
and many more i cant even remember.............

 

[Guest]

Dr Dog and Cocktail Frank------well said gentlemen.

TyStik

 

[Endo]

haha... Cocktail Frank the transgender detective on the case! sniffing every butt till he finds his man.!!!

 

[BRNEYDBVR]

Cocktail Frank is spot on with this one....

Hey Buzz, maybe you should add the Borax stump remover to your list...

 

[KnightShield]

that was some funny shit..lol..last i knew he resorted to being a fluffer at the porn studios. his rank went from green thumb to white thumbs real quik..haha

 

[smokeymacpot]

i see sprotco is back.
we been wondering where you been hiding sproutco!
i didnt think you left for good.
if buzz is sproutco, dont follow his advice.
he has been banned numerous times for giving shoddy advice.
buzz does fit the criteria for sproutco tho.
all the signs are there:
talking plants when he never grew pot.
just dumb pics in the gallery
weird outlandish advice.
time for a new nick again:
sproutco
stonewall
happy camper
hot gurl
lady 420
blackvelvet
raw silk
and many more i cant even remember.............

he hangs around like a really bad smell. cant someone IP ban the idiot?

im surprised he didnt have tip no 11 as; use stump killer

 

[Endo]

haha this dbag buzz just gave me bad rep, what a joke, back to your hole with you!

 

[DIGITALHIPPY]

Are you even a grower ? Do you grow ? I'm not so sure about that, to be honest. Not a single picture in your gallery is of a Marijuana plant growing.

i wonderd whats up with the artichoke and tramp stamp tatoo...

 

[overmind1632]

Just wondering, why are ferts with itsNitrogen based on Ammonia and Urea bad?