Grow lights vs. LEDs

[boot-cheese]

Ok, so I'm getting things finally set up and have been testing the Lights and the Fan in my Grow Chamber, and noticing just how HOT it was getting in there, so I'm about to make a few adjustments to control the Temperature in there (fucker was in the low 80s with Humidity at 35%. Definitely not what I need), one of which is to poke some holes in the Carbon filter that I added to the hole I cut into the bottom of my Grow Chamber. I'm beginning to believe that's the culprit in regards to the Air not circulating like it's supposed to. If that doesn't work, I might just either expose more Air by lifting the small piece of Carbon filter I installed, or remove it altogether.

My nest query is the Soil mixture, as well as Watering cycles, but I'll get to the Soil mixture. I have some Black Gold, Perlite, Vermiculite, and a bottle of Alaska Fish Fertilizer. I've been researching to see the proper mixture of it all, but am receiving conflicting answers on the Web. I'm sure this is due to People's own personal tastes and what works for them, but I'm wondering do I need the Perlite & Vermiculite to mix with the Soil, or nah? Also, when do I use the Alaska Fish Fertilizer--during Vegetation, Flowering, or both phases? If I do use both Perlite & Vermiculite, how much do I use to mix with the Black Gold?

Here's what I was getting confused on (both links are associated with 420 Magazine Forum):

Soil Mixture

Hey guys:rollit: toke it up! A few questions, I have at my disposal potting soil, peat moss and perlite. - what's the difference between perlite and vermiculite? - what would be the optimal mixture of the three listed above? I'm thinking like 60% soil, 25% peat moss and 15% perlite...

www.420magazine.com

Seed Germination & Mediums

Overview: There are many choices and options you can make when picking the medium to use for seeds. Hopefully this guide will make your choice easier and help you understand the different mediums which are readily available at the majority of Nurseries and Hydro Shops. Mediums...

www.420magazine.com

 

[Sueet]

Which black gold, all purpose ? Perlite is fluffed up volcanic material, it is mostly used to aerate your soil, to allow better oxygen exchange. Vermiculite a fluffed up (expanded) mineral, and is used more to hold a bit of extra moisture. Sometimes you can use them together depending on your conditions.

Is the fish fertilizer the only fertilizer you plan on using? I tend to use the fish stuff more as an occasional plant treat, vs thinking of it as a complete food, pretty sure it doesn't contain all they need.

 

[013]

yes the fish is rated 6-1-1 but think for flower cycle you will need the ability to bump PK on demand too…

 

[boot-cheese]

Which black gold, all purpose ? Perlite is fluffed up volcanic material, it is mostly used to aerate your soil, to allow better oxygen exchange. Vermiculite a fluffed up (expanded) mineral, and is used more to hold a bit of extra moisture. Sometimes you can use them together depending on your conditions.

Is the fish fertilizer the only fertilizer you plan on using? I tend to use the fish stuff more as an occasional plant treat, vs thinking of it as a complete food, pretty sure it doesn't contain all they need.

Black Gold Natural & Organic Potting Soil & Fertilizer. Should that be good enough?

I was planning on using the Alaska as well, just trying to figure out when, esp since it's good for lowering the PH Balance, when necessary.

yes the fish is rated 6-1-1 but think for flower cycle you will need the ability to bump PK on demand too…

Yeah, the Nitrogen levels in it are much Higher, and I'm trying to remember if it's the Vegetative or Flowering phase that needs more Nitrogen, which is when I'll more that likely use it without compromising the PH Balance in the Soil.

 

[013]

Veg needs higher N with lower PK but flower needs some nitrogen with higher PK

 

[Sueet]

You are definitely going to need to feed that. The only food in that soil is a very small amount of earthworm castings. A VERY small amount, the rating on the bag is 0.09 - 0.03 - 0.03. It does have perlite, tho Idk exactly how much, you will have to look at the mix and see if it is enough.

Using fish fertilizer to ..... LOWER the pH? That is not my understanding of it, I'm pretty sure the fish brings pH UP, not down. To be fair, it is not a huge change, but definitely up, not down.

Anyway, you will probably get away with doing just veg with the fish fert, but you're gonna need more for flowering.

ETA: The way you speak about changing the 'pH balance' of the soil concerns me that you aren't fully understanding pH and its' function in growing this plant. You want the pH of your fluids (since you are growing in soil) to go in at roughly 6.3 pH, and the soil itself, which has buffers, will bring it back up to closer to 6.8 slowly (allowing the plant to access whichever nutrients are available at a particular pH level - you can search here or elsewhere for 'nutrient availability' for more info).

 

[boot-cheese]

You are definitely going to need to feed that. The only food in that soil is a very small amount of earthworm castings. A VERY small amount, the rating on the bag is 0.09 - 0.03 - 0.03. It does have perlite, tho Idk exactly how much, you will have to look at the mix and see if it is enough.

Using fish fertilizer to ..... LOWER the pH? That is not my understanding of it, I'm pretty sure the fish brings pH UP, not down. To be fair, it is not a huge change, but definitely up, not down.

Anyway, you will probably get away with doing just veg with the fish fert, but you're gonna need more for flowering.

ETA: The way you speak about changing the 'pH balance' of the soil concerns me that you aren't fully understanding pH and its' function in growing this plant. You want the pH of your fluids (since you are growing in soil) to go in at roughly 6.3 pH, and the soil itself, which has buffers, will bring it back up to closer to 6.8 slowly (allowing the plant to access whichever nutrients are available at a particular pH level - you can search here or elsewhere for 'nutrient availability' for more info).

That's exactly why I'm on here, to learn exactly how all of this works. Doing the Research on my own helps, but asking People with more experience like you Cats & Kittens should help fill in any blanks.

So, from my Overstanding, using the Alaska Fish Fertilizer will be used when it's in the Vegetative phase, but when it's in the Flowering phase, I'm definitely going to have to add more Food. I also have a Bag of Espoma Tomato Tome, would that be sufficient for the Flowering phase?

 

[Sueet]

It will definitely be more of what you need than the fish fert... but I've never tried growing with just tomato nutes so Idk what problems you might run into. Likely you will also need to get some Cal-mag as it seems when grown under leds, they go thru it a lot.

 

[Fenderbender]

I vote this greatest forum hiatus ever!
First post 2011 'Okay I'm about to get ready to grow soon'
First post second page more than a decade later 'I'm finally getting things set up'
Life is what happens when you're making other plans I guess

 

[SmokingWings]

My nest query is the Soil mixture, as well as Watering cycles, but I'll get to the Soil mixture. I have some Black Gold, Perlite, Vermiculite, and a bottle of Alaska Fish Fertilizer. I've been researching to see the proper mixture of it all, but am receiving conflicting answers on the Web.

At this point you can make your soil mixture as complicated as you want. The first thing is to look at the bag of Black Gold and tell us which one it is. The company makes several mixtures. If what you have is the All Purpose then the easiest thing is to mix that with the Perlite and Vermiculite at a ratio of 1/3 of each. (Personally I would rather have Canadian Spagnum Peat Moss but the Vermiculite will do.) That will give you a basic "potting soil" which will be great for houseplants or flowers on the porch.

A Marijuana or Cannabis plant is a heavy feeder so the potting soil will have to be doctored up. Some people add fertilizers to the soil before planting and some add the fertilizers through-out the growing session on a schedule and at specific amounts. Advantages and disadvantages to each method.

The 6-1-1 Alaska fish fertilizer you have is OK for houseplants or special occasions like flowers in hanging baskets but will not work well for what you want to do. Even if you buy the MorBloom (0-10-10) made by the same company and use both it will not be enough. You will have to think along the lines of the "basic three" from Fox Farms (which I used fow awhile), or fertilizers from other companies. Currently I use a program of dry fertilizers from Roots Organic.

Figure that no matter what you choose to do you will still have to buy a Calcium & Magnesium supplement. Both of those will come together in either a liquid or dry product.

While thinking through all that you can research the 3 macro nutrients (which are the 3 numbers found on any any fertilizer product) and the micro-nutrients (often listed on the back of the bag or bottle) to see what they each do for plants.