Organics - Newbie searching for answers!

[Guest]

The deal is, i've grown before, multiple times. Just not in soil. And not with organic nutrients. Just wondering if this sounds good.. So i'm a hydro grower going organic, am i crazy?

The medium mix =Some soil (50%) + coco coir (30%) + some growrocks (10%) + some perlite (10%) .. does this sound good?

Nutrients = Biobizz grow, bloom, alg-a-mic, fishmix, topmax and rootjuice for cuttings. Do i need anything else / would you like to add anything?

But then.. One thing i am not sure about. The pot size. What would be enough (approx.) for 2-3 months veg and couple flowering?

I'm thinking about 7 litres would be fine, but is it? 10 litre containers are so big..

 

[kov]

Hello v1ru5, seems you're not attracting attention of those soil wizards of IC . May I carefully approach one of the issues you're addressing here - the pot size.

If you're thinking of 2-3m veg and another couple flo (under HPS I understand), then the least you should be looking at is 15 liter pots if not much larger.

I find that my 9 liter pots are barely enough for 25days veg and 3m flo, and my soil gets stiff from the roots from bottom to top of pot.

rgds, kov

 

[Guest]

I'm with kov on the planter size. Healthy plants in a well done organic medium will explode with growth comparable to any hydrponic setup or better.

As a chemical user, I dont know a lot about organic mediums, but I'm sure you need more perlite, at least 25% of the mix, and you may want to look into more of a peat based potting soil, if that's not on the list already.

Good luck

 

[Guest]

I believe in keeping it simple

...start with a good fresh lightweight "potting soil" mix
I find most of them sold in my area around the $8 for 2cu ft. already have a high % of perlite in the mix...and rarly do I add anything else to the basic potting soil mix

once my plants get around 3wks old
I start giving them 5-1-1 fish organic emulsions every 2-3 waterings during Veg stage

once they go into flowering 2-5-1 fish/kelp emulsions


...thats it....


starting pot size 32oz cup
then 1 gallon, until they get around 5-6wks old
then 3 gallon (flowering or longer Veg)....if they stay in Veg for more then 7-8wks they will go into 4.5 gallons for flowering

...see my grow logs and gallery for the results I get....with smaller lights then most use

 

[Guest]

Ok, thanks!

What if started in 2 litre pots (64oz), go for 4 weeks on that one, transfer to 4 litre ones, go for another 3 weeks there, transfer to 6.5 litres for another two weeks and then go to 11 litres, veg for 2 weeks again and then flower?

Is my plan doomed to fail from the start?

Potting mix.. I am not sure if there is any available where i live. And wouldn't the fishmix from biobizz do the fish emulsions' work?

 

[Rellikbuzz]

Hello and welcome! My .02 cents on the topics (for what it's worth) is that progressively stepping up in pot size is definitely on the right track! This will prevent root rot from too big of a pot for the size of plant. Too large of a pot will just cause excess moisture to remain in the soil as the plant can't take in that much water. This will lead to fungus/mold problems and root rot.

As far as the what sizes to use, I use 16 oz beer cups for seedlings for a couple of weeks, then transplant to 4 liter (1 gallon) pots and then finally to 20 liter (five gallon) buckets. I typically veg for eight weeks before flipping to 12/12.

IMHO you will need the root space of AT LEAST a 20 liter bucket for the length of time you are looking to veg. This is not to mention the additional space the roots will need during stretch. There are soil growers on here growing in 60 liter (15 gallon) buckets to grow monster bushes. So, 20 liter is actually quite conservative by comparison. Just my opinion but hope this helps!

 

[Guest]

Thanks for helping..

Thanks for helping..

Heh.. As my space is limited, i am thinking on cutting down on veg time..

How long could i (approx.) veg if i would do as stated above and use the 11l pots as the final ones.. ??

PS: About the soil mix.. Should i go with something like 30% Soil, 30% Coco coir, 30% Perlite and 10% growrocks instead of the one stated in the first post?

 

[Guest]

Hi there.

This is how I do it:
First plant the seed or clone into a 4 litre pot. Veg for 10-14 days or until they look like they're rootbound. You can see it when the leaves start to droop a bit or stems go purple and the growth slows down. From a 4l pot I transplant to a 10l pot. Veg for 10-14 days (or until rootbound) more then transplant to 16l or 25l pot depending on number of plants and strains used. Flip 12/12 at 30-35 days of veg depending on plant size. 4 big plants in 25l pots or 5-6 a little smaller plants in 16l pots works best for me. This is what my 5 plants in 16l pots look like in early flowering, could have put one more in there but didn't have enough females


I use BioGrow, BioBloom and TopMax. The plants don't show any problems so I don't think you really need Alg-A-Mic. Also I've heard the FishMix smells terrible so you don't probably want to use that if you live with the grow.

I never veg in a 10l pot longer than a month. After a month of veg my plants are totally rootbound and start to show some problems if I don't transplant or flip 12/12.

 

[Guest]

Ok, thanks for the tip!

Tho i am getting the Alg-a-mic and fishmix, it isn't that i couldn't do without 'em, it is because i will probably do better with them

Thanks for the help everyone!

Does anybody now have anything to add?

 

[Guest]

Products from Fox Farm have lots of organics already mixed, however i never tried them. Ive had bad luck myself with a coco coir experiment, seems the coir I used is causing ph problems ...I use

per 3 cubic ft mix

50% ProMix
30% Worm castings
20% Aerolite
bloodmeal
bonemeal
treat the mix with ph correct humic acid/water before potting


Seedlings get small doses of "Indoor magic" fish emultion/water and respond nice imo.

look around at

http://www.wormsway.com/

 

[guest3854]

my opinion would be to keep your medium soilless ie coco perlite peat etc. add your ferts to water . you will have alot more control of what , when how your feeding .

 

[allmanbroskif]

steel, my thoughts exactly

 

[Growdoc]

organics...

organics...

a good soil mix

Per 100 liters:

Growdoc’s soil mix:
60 gram seaweed meal
60 gram bone meal
120 gram blood meal
80 gram Guano Peru
20 gram trace element
3 liter worm casting
12 liter Perlite

Pot size has alot to say that why they become a waste of space when u wanna fill a room, so this is how i do it.


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