Which soil to get from Bunnings or Masters?

[Mad Flavour]

Go to Bunnings, pretend you are growing tomatoes. Buy tomato seed raising mix, $4 a bag. Buy nitrosol, $15, water with 1/4 strength nitrosol starting when plant is a few weeks into veg. When plant is starting to flower buy Powerfeed Red $15 for roses etc. Switch to this while, in flower. Outlay $35. i have grown some super outdoor plants with just these things. I now use the same nutes and grow some good plants in coco. indoors. Just pretend you are growing tomatos you will be sweet. Forget all the complicated soils and expensive hydro formulas, not required.

Damn I wished I checked back in here earlier and read this. Going to follow this to the letter from now on.

Here is a little rundown of my attempts so far.
3 months in and I just can't get any decent growth in soil in my tent until this last week.

On to my 3rd round of seedlings, but they all kept dying at about 5cm high. Yellow leaves, then they dry out and wilt. Tried more watering, less watering, letting them go without for periods, Tried LED, Tried MH. MH is a bit better as I think the heat helps (none of the pro LED people tell you lack of heat may actually be a PROBLEM).. the extra heat and adding more air flow in the last week has seen my best results but it still so damn slow and uninspiring. My mate has the same strain, tent, lights and soil (except he mixed through his compost whereas all I could do was put it on top of the seedling potting mix I used) and he has amazing plants he just put to flower, I started a month before him and I got nothing but climbing power bills to show for it.

The soil seems crap but my mate says 'it's a living soil, its fine' he gave me some home made compost to put on the top of my potted soils but it's still not doing anything except now I seem to have a lot of creatures in my soil..

I dunno do I just keep going, with just water? Doesn't feel right to not be giving the plants anything but water. Do I add nutes at some point, is that why they keep dying? My mate just watered and later on used 'thrive' powder and his compost, thats it. (NOTE: Going to try "NITROSOL")

All I am trying to do now is get the fundamentals right, and I'm slowly starting to see some growth more like what I've read it should be when I worry about these

• Keep the temp between 20-25 degree Celsius (SF2000 LED wasn't warm enough so got a 400W batwing MH) - TICK
• Keep the air flow and fresh air into tent constant (wasn't doing this before, just had a internal blow fan that wasn't getting new air in / old air old) - TICK
• Keep the Humidity above 70% - seem to struggle with this, so have just got a humidifier with hygrometer for the tent, coming in a few days

Apart from that, how much do I need to worry about the ph of my water going in to the soil? Half people say check it, but I don't know if I got a crap ph meter but everything I test (tank water or tap) seems high - tank water 8.5 and tap water high 7's - I think I probably need some ph down.

If after ph and humidity is ticked and it's still struggling, I'm thinking of trying a coco attempt.. but thankfully this latest soil attempt has been improving.

 

[Captain goodvibes]

PH is important. Less so in soil but still important. Always check the PH of your water. I will post a step by step "Bunnings" coco grow information guide soon. I only grow in coco now and I am getting great results. I have recently completed 2 side by side grows soil and coco with coco winning hands down. Sorry, no photos due to security concerns about this plant of ours and living under an oppressive regime in this country.

 

[Mad Flavour]

I will post a step by step "Bunnings" coco grow information guide soon. I only grow in coco now and I am getting great results.

I'm super keen to check this out man, your tips in this thread have been some of the easiest to understand and applies to us aussies.. thanks for all your advice. For now I'm just going to try and get my current soil thc bombs some Nitrosol and see if it improves, but I think I'll be using your coco guide next attempt

 

[Captain goodvibes]

all good, that is exactly how I am growing successfully so thought I would share.

 

[McRib]

PH is important. Less so in soil but still important. Always check the PH of your water. I will post a step by step "Bunnings" coco grow information guide soon. I only grow in coco now and I am getting great results. I have recently completed 2 side by side grows soil and coco with coco winning hands down. Sorry, no photos due to security concerns about this plant of ours and living under an oppressive regime in this country.

I'm using the Bunnings coco and it seems to go alright. I used the Bunnings hydro nutes for veg and they did alright as well. I got sucked in by the marketing of weed specific nutes and switched over to Cyco nutes for flower. They go alright but I'm not convinced the Bunnings flower nutes wouldnt do just as goos at a third of the cost. Check out my grow journal link in my signature if you have time. I'm only just starting so really happy for experienced eyes keeping an eye out for me

 

[McRib]

• Keep the Humidity above 70% - seem to struggle with this, so have just got a humidifier with hygrometer for the tent, coming in a few days

Mate check out this thread on VPD. I found it really helpful for dialing in temps and humidity

 

[Captain goodvibes]

madflavour, this is the one you want

 

[Captain goodvibes]

I'm using the Bunnings coco and it seems to go alright. I used the Bunnings hydro nutes for veg and they did alright as well. I got sucked in by the marketing of weed specific nutes and switched over to Cyco nutes for flower. They go alright but I'm not convinced the Bunnings flower nutes wouldnt do just as goos at a third of the cost. Check out my grow journal link in my signature if you have time. I'm only just starting so really happy for experienced eyes keeping an eye out for me

Your plants looking good, impressed with your seed collection too.

 

[McRib]

Your plants looking good, impressed with your seed collection too.

Thanks mate. They seem to be cruising along alright at the moment.

I’ve made a couple of successful seed orders now. Don’t think I want to keep pushing my luck so I think that’ll do me for the next few years.

I suck at seedlings so I’m hoping I can at least get one of each strain big enough to take clones and keep a mother of each until I decide which ones are keepers

 

[McRib]

@Captain goodvibes have you tried this one? I rate it

 

[Captain goodvibes]

Never seen it at my local Bunnings, But I see it has a cal mag additive which is probably a good thing. Certainly would save on the pre buffering.

 

[Captain goodvibes]

Thanks mate. They seem to be cruising along alright at the moment.

I’ve made a couple of successful seed orders now. Don’t think I want to keep pushing my luck so I think that’ll do me for the next few years.

I suck at seedlings so I’m hoping I can at least get one of each strain big enough to take clones and keep a mother of each until I decide which ones are keepers

I built up a seed stock and have them stored in the freezer starting 20 years ago of 3 strains. I think cloning is the way to go though, Ive had some success at cloning previously but the number of plants required to grown at one time makes me a little paranoid. I only ever grow for my own use and spread the love for my friends but our laws are draconian. I need to move to Canberra.

 

[lilfeen]

hi guys first time growing outdoors, what nutrients should I buy , I am unsure? Happy to buy online or go into bunnings myself, any help would greatly be appreciated

 

[Sentinal]

Hey guys just wanted to post on this thread as it relates to Australia and some of the info I've read I can't get the right equipment in Aus. I've got osmocote seeding and cutting. Just been watering, when would you recommend to use nutes? I've Got seasol, is that okay or does it have to be nitrosol? Also im having trouble finding 40W or higher CFL globes, anything you guys would recommend instead for Aus?
Thanks In advance

 

[Captain goodvibes]

I buy my lights off ebay, always LED now. Need to know what your budget for lighting is. CFLs wont give you much success. .Start nutes 2 weeks in 1/4 strength because the cutting mix has nutes. Dont know much about Seasol apart from the fact its a natural product., I have never checked the nutrient profile, what you are looking for in veg is a nute with a high nitrogen content compared to Potassium and Phosphorous and in flower the opposite. I dont buy the high priced hydro formulas even though Bunnings also stock them but I checked the profiles and the cheaper stuff stacks up to them. I only picked nitrosol and powerfeed based only on the profiles and have had great success over the years.

 

[Sentinal]

Do you mind linking me what lights you got from ebay? I just got CFL because some thread said that was best for seedling stage, but I would prefer to just have one type of light from seed to harvest. Okay I'll compare the nutes of seasol to nitrosol and powerfeed, thanks

 

[Sentinal]

I saw on your previous post you said to mix 2 to 3ml of nitrosol with 1L of water. How much of this mixture would I pour into the pot, till it starts to drain from the bottom of the pot?

 

[Captain goodvibes]

Do you mind linking me what lights you got from ebay? I just got CFL because some thread said that was best for seedling stage, but I would prefer to just have one type of light from seed to harvest. Okay I'll compare the nutes of seasol to nitrosol and powerfeed, thanks

I bought quantum boards 240w (draw) suitable for 1m x 1m space. 3000k colour will give you better results in flower, 3500k in veg. I will not link to vendor due to site rules. But any colour spectrum from 3000 to 3500 is good for both. I use a 3000 in my flower and 3500 for veg.

 

[Captain goodvibes]

I saw on your previous post you said to mix 2 to 3ml of nitrosol with 1L of water. How much of this mixture would I pour into the pot, till it starts to drain from the bottom of the pot?

Just water till it drips out the bottom. With soil water less frequently.

 

[Sentinal]

I bought quantum boards 240w (draw) suitable for 1m x 1m space. 3000k colour will give you better results in flower, 3500k in veg. I will not link to vendor due to site rules. But any colour spectrum from 3000 to 3500 is good for both. I use a 3000 in my flower and 3500 for veg.

Thanks, so does your board have the option of changing from 3000k to 3500k when you need to? If I wanted to buy lighting from Bunnings or in store is there anything you'd recommend just to start out with and say a budget of about $200? Would You Also need a fan and exhaust with the LED setup you have?