John Innes No3?

[Ifbleaf]

High ppl. Can anyone help me with the properties of John innes no 3 as a soil. I'm going to mix a bit of perlite and organic coco?
My original intentions were to add the John innes to my existing soil mix of coco , some lovely loam I took from an orchard this spring and unfortunately some cheap multi purpose compost. Also reusing soil and the old root's left behind. Do they break down readily in the presence of compost enzymes?? I've been growing for 12 months and have my 5th grow starting. Every grow has hermied . First one had heat stroke. Then I had more probs with the pH and getting it right in hydro,hand fed coco, . Cheap pH pens . I use the fluid now as it's reliable. Then I had too much light . Most recently, this week the girls all stinking grew bollox. I was bending a rampant triple cheese out wide as I didn't lollipop her. Needed to see how she grew without any training. Indeed I think it was a badly pruned kush that hermied first as I created a nest of flowering buds so tight together that the leaf was all against eachother. I'm thinking this and chopping too many fan leafs off in the name of air flow at week 5of flowering. My sister was right, I'm an idiot. Should I just get regular seed. Do ppl really get far with feminised? I'm starting to think it is just modern commercial bullshit. Indeed alot of the bud I have bought lately, and from a diverse range of sources, has hermied. Still nice tight buds but a bit ruff+ tiny seeds of course!
I have regular temps in my garden and good lighting 2×400w sodium for flowering. AC hoods. Any advice on the medium and the John innes?????

 

[StoneOtter]

Welcome lfbleaf, Not me but hopefully another will. Looks good from here.

 

[Ifbleaf]

Welcome lfbleaf, Not me but hopefully another will. Looks good from here.

Yeah hopefully! The photos don't show quite how badly trained the kush on the left side was . You can't see the packed tight buds all fighting for the light , but they are fighting eachother and that is not conducive to healthy crops. I'm sure of this much eh. The girl on the right is the triple cheese and she is barely trained other than a one off topping .

 

[StoneOtter]

Yeah hopefully! The photos don't show quite how badly trained the kush on the left side was . You can't see the packed tight buds all fighting for the light , but they are fighting eachother and that is not conducive to healthy crops. I'm sure of this much eh. The girl on the right is the triple cheese and she is barely trained other than a one off topping .

Yea, sometimes they don't conform like we want. Best we can is all we can do.

 

[Ifbleaf]

That sounds like' up your game' which is the truth. I've bad habits. Over water over feed . Thanks for the response

 

[Alafornia]

Welcome.

Why mix soil and non soil? Doesn't that complicate things? Again, I'm new so I'm hoping to learn something here.

 

[Ifbleaf]

High! Do you mean coco by non soil. I'm not really familiar with the reusable medium thinking. I don't know too much about soil mixing and amendment other than what's briefly described being about it.????. Wwrrr.

 

[Alafornia]

Yes. Coco is not soil and is devoid of nutrients. Just seems weird to me. Maybe someone will be along shortly to set me straight.

 

[Ifbleaf]

Yes. Coco is not soil and is devoid of nutrients. Just seems weird to me. Maybe someone will be along shortly to set me straight.

Yes and no! As I understood it. Coco natural is capable of cation exchange ?. But it's long term biodegradation is resilient I imagine, being coconut wich I imagine to be like Bamboo fiber ultimately. I've read of people's worms having the coco coming back from the end it went in. Having said that, I think I was thinking of me soil mix as an experiment,and consequently it was a temporary effort. My stories wonder somewhat. . I've only worked this out through your question,so happy for effort.
Also I have no idea what I'd be doing with peat moss and grit. I'd raided the orchard soil and coco made a medium mixer

 

[Alafornia]

Perhaps @Emilya or @Virgin ground can shed some light on mixing coco and soil together. It's just a new concept to me and seems counterintuitive.

 

[Emilya Green]

Perhaps @Emilya or @Virgin ground can shed some light on mixing coco and soil together. It's just a new concept to me and seems counterintuitive.

Many of the well known commercial soils include a little bit of coco in them. Subcool's supersoil recipe called for some too. When used as a filler and not as a major component in a soil, it really does not change the characteristics of the soil enough to make any changes.

 

[Ifbleaf]

Many of the well known commercial soils include a little bit of coco in them. Subcool's supersoil recipe called for some too. When used as a filler and not as a major component in a soil, it really does not change the characteristics of the soil enough to make any changes.

I'm starting to remember. Huh drugs. I'm starting to see enough weed strength to stop. Haha.
Yes ultimately I definitely aspire to adopting the mix as refined over years by a classically trained pot farming organic hippie collective. Sort of thing.

 

[Virgin Ground]

My first soil mix was about 1/4-1/3 coco. It gave a nice spongy texture.
I pHed for soil and everything was great. I used the Burpee brand garden coir so it was already prerinsed etc.

 

[Alafornia]

Thanks for helping out, guys (and for setting me straight).

 

[Ifbleaf]

I've got a paper bag of larfy buds in the fridge while I'm still hanging the bigger buds. What. It is just a reminder of the diversity of nature. Not that frost free fridges and cfc cooling is a natural thing. But after an hour or so I cecked the bag and the cold dry atmosphere of inside the paper bag was kinda self explanatory.

 

[Ifbleaf]

My first soil mix was about 1/4-1/3 coco. It gave a nice spongy texture.
I pHed for soil and everything was great. I used the Burpee brand garden coir so it was already prerinsed etc.

Seeds seem to love that sponge texture. I've got some just popping up. Barney's farm. Peyote critical. Critical Kush,& blueberry OG

 

[Ifbleaf]

Seeds seem to love that sponge texture. I've got some just popping up. Barney's farm. Peyote critical. Critical Kush,& blueberry Kush.

Sorry 5monster cuttings reveging late as I didn't cut off the flowers, about four weeks ago.