Need a shoulder before my first soil grow

[BreezeEazy]

Hello, everyone! Long time lurker, just now starting to post. I'm not going to lie, I'm really nervous to grow soil. I've always done hydro and while I feel like soil will be easier, I feel about as comfortable as someone who just had 3 bran muffins and 2 cups of coffee stuck in a traffic jam on the highway.

I'm a RDWC fan and was really eyeing big tokes bio-buckets in hopes of going organic but the needed funds to do so just isn't there at the moment. Which brings me to a soil grow. Why? Because I want to convert over! I see the light now lol.

I don't know anyone that grows soil that can help and talk me through the basics so anyone wanna help pop my soil cherry?

I can afford to run 2x600s, 12 plants using roots organics 0.75 cu ft bags, and EJ nutes with ful-power. And now that I wont be doing hydro just so happens that I have a massive air pump not in use and some 5 gallon water jugs. I'd like to recycle some of it and make a vortex brewer. I've read the 3LBs on EJ and Heisenberg's myco tea.

How do I know when to feed? Feed every watering, skip some, or am I suppose to tell by looking at the plant? Do I need trays for under the bags and how do I know how much to give them?

 

[eric2028]

feed water feed water ect. feel how heavy your plants are before u water them. let them get almost that light before u water them again. u will need trays for under your pots/bags unless u have a drain or mop.

 

[BreezeEazy]

feed water feed water ect. feel how heavy your plants are before u water them. let them get almost that light before u water them again. u will need trays for under your pots/bags unless u have a drain or mop.

Hmmmm, makes sense. I wasn't sure on the feeding. I've seen people say feed water water repeat, and some even feed feed water repeat. EJ says to feed with every watering. I know its hard to burn plants but I'd like to avoid it anyways

 

[eric2028]

yea I use to feed always. some strains were big drinkers but not big feeders so they would burn. also if u use just water between feeds u help prevent salt buildup in the root zone. all my experience is with promix and ionic nutes. good luck bro

 

[Weird]

earth juice really shines when you brew it with EWC and feed in that manner

 

[BreezeEazy]

earth juice really shines when you brew it with EWC and feed in that manner

So I have heard bro. I planned on getting some EWC or at least ancient forest even though it isn't the same thing. That why I want to make a brewer this weekend

Thanks eric, yeah sounds fool proof man. Like I said, I just don't want to burn them and I know some people suggest feeding heavy anyways with EJ.

I'm nervous but pumped to go soil. If all goes well I'm going to run soil until I get big tokes setup running. I should have gone organic a long time ago lol.

 

[macamus33]

If you are really interested in growing organic with soil indoors, you should look at TLO (True Living Organics) style of growing. I just switched over to this type of growing and I'm loving it. Bought a book called True Living Organics, very easy to read and understand. I am getting great results already( on my third grow) with this method. Yeild is a little down but taste and potency and bag appeal are awesome. Look into TLO growing, you won't be disappointed.

 

[BreezeEazy]

If you are really interested in growing organic with soil indoors, you should look at TLO (True Living Organics) style of growing. I just switched over to this type of growing and I'm loving it. Bought a book called True Living Organics, very easy to read and understand. I am getting great results already( on my third grow) with this method. Yeild is a little down but taste and potency and bag appeal are awesome. Look into TLO growing, you won't be disappointed.

Thanks man but I think my soil adventure is going to be short lived unless I end up really enjoying it. Not that I have anything against soil. It sounds simple and easy compared to hydro but just not sure yet, never done soil. Really hoping it is as easy as it sounds. I just want to plant my clones in the soil and water, trim, and other basic maintenance. I feel like I got the basics covered? lol

 

[BreezeEazy]

I see what you mean macamus about TLO. It is still a little more advanced than I can handle at the moment. I'm going to go ahead and do this one cycle using Roots Organic soil since it has high reviews and then I guess I'll go from there based on how the cycle goes. I'm about half way through reading "Teaming with microbes." Figured it was a good start.

One last question. So if I'm judging water needs based off picking the plant up and by the leaves telling me what soil conditions are like. How do I know how much to feed them regardless if they are week 2 in veg or week 6 in flower?

 

[Floridian]

I don't think I've fed a plant with just R/O water in the years I've been growing around a dozen or so years.If you are doing a perpetual grow from clones you want to feed at every opportunity IMO.Start them in a 4 inch container whether clone or seedplant and let that plant develop a good rootball before transplanting up a size.I go from 4 inch to 1.6 gallon and finish in a 3 or 5 gal container,depending on if its a clone,finishing size etc.I've never seen a situation where an indoor plant needed more than a 5 gal container but you have folks that need the dirt

 

[BreezeEazy]

So you feed every water then? or you talking like feeding with tap water when not feeding nutes?

So far I've dropped $600 today so far. I bought a solis tek 600 ballast, solis tek 600 bulb, my soil, some bags for the soil. My EJ nutes, a measuring cup and the owner of the store that I'm friends with cut me a huge deal so I also got $30 in cloning stuff extra then what I planned and saved $60 on top so I came out $90 on top of what I was thinking. I also got my brewer parts today from the hardware store. The guy that helped me get everything has set up 6 grows and all this composting types stuff so it was a breeze to get what I needed. Totally pumped to get this shit working. All I need now is a new water jug without a handle and my scrubber.

 

[gus738]

dont know if its already too late but get a soil like fox farmers ocean forest and for containers or ground which are you doing? i like facbric like smart pot. start with a 3 gal bag per plant or get like a 25 gal but only fill it with 2 bags of soil .

if soil is fresh that you lightly water it before putting plant in , then wait then put plant and rewater it with plant in it. and water when the top of soil feels and looks dry( depending on brand of soil will depend how soon or late you will water.

for feeding; if getting ffof you dont need to feed if at all at the end of the flower cycle you may need feed a little.