Hi everyone.
I'm preparing for my first ever grow. This grow will be outdoors.
I live in Norcal (San Jose area). In summer, it can get in the high 80's to 90's.
I'm a control freak. I enjoy being in control of every detail when I do something. So I wanted to mix my own soil.
After a lot of research I thought of something like this:
20 gallon smart pots.
Soil = 1/2 Ocean Forrest 1/2 Coco with added amendments (earthworm castings, bat guano, blood meal, bone meal, perlite, etc).
However .....
After visiting the grow shop in my area, an employee I spent a lot of time talking to gave me his recommendation.
I told him I planned to grow big, wide plants and that I wanted to maximize my yield but quality was my first priority.
He said 20 gallon pots were too small with 50% coco unless I was prepared to water 3 or more times per day in summer. He recommended 45 gallon pots so I might not need to water as frequently, and for more root mass which will help with my desired outcome.
Actually he recommended limiting the coco to 10%. And his opinion was that Ocean Forrest already had a good amount of perlite in it and that I wouldn't need to buy more.
In that case, I remembered a video I had watched where the growers said to combine Ocean Forest with Happy Frog to get the best of both worlds. So when I was talking to the guy at the grow shop, I mentioned it and he said that would be good. Maybe 2/3 Ocean Forrest with 1/3 Happy Frog.
So, I thought since this is my first ever grow, maybe I shouldn't try to make it too complicated. Maybe I should just go with OF / HF and be done with it and try something different on my 2nd grow and compare.
Regarding amendments, I'd like to use castings and bat guano.
At the shop, they recommended Kelp and insect frass with my castings.
I already have a bunch of Ocean Forest. And I have earthworm castings, and bat guano (0-7-0).
I'm posting this here to see what you all think of my original plan compared to my new plan.
Any comments or suggestions? Any recommendations for amendments ratios / measurements?
Thank you all so much.
- Randolph
I'm preparing for my first ever grow. This grow will be outdoors.
I live in Norcal (San Jose area). In summer, it can get in the high 80's to 90's.
I'm a control freak. I enjoy being in control of every detail when I do something. So I wanted to mix my own soil.
After a lot of research I thought of something like this:
20 gallon smart pots.
Soil = 1/2 Ocean Forrest 1/2 Coco with added amendments (earthworm castings, bat guano, blood meal, bone meal, perlite, etc).
However .....
After visiting the grow shop in my area, an employee I spent a lot of time talking to gave me his recommendation.
I told him I planned to grow big, wide plants and that I wanted to maximize my yield but quality was my first priority.
He said 20 gallon pots were too small with 50% coco unless I was prepared to water 3 or more times per day in summer. He recommended 45 gallon pots so I might not need to water as frequently, and for more root mass which will help with my desired outcome.
Actually he recommended limiting the coco to 10%. And his opinion was that Ocean Forrest already had a good amount of perlite in it and that I wouldn't need to buy more.
In that case, I remembered a video I had watched where the growers said to combine Ocean Forest with Happy Frog to get the best of both worlds. So when I was talking to the guy at the grow shop, I mentioned it and he said that would be good. Maybe 2/3 Ocean Forrest with 1/3 Happy Frog.
So, I thought since this is my first ever grow, maybe I shouldn't try to make it too complicated. Maybe I should just go with OF / HF and be done with it and try something different on my 2nd grow and compare.
Regarding amendments, I'd like to use castings and bat guano.
At the shop, they recommended Kelp and insect frass with my castings.
I already have a bunch of Ocean Forest. And I have earthworm castings, and bat guano (0-7-0).
I'm posting this here to see what you all think of my original plan compared to my new plan.
Any comments or suggestions? Any recommendations for amendments ratios / measurements?
Thank you all so much.
- Randolph
