Soil theory, "a low N soil, add N in water" first post!

[family guy]

After at least a decade of lurking and procrastination, I have finally begun my grow and joined IC. Thank you all for years of education.

I have decided to make my first grow in soil. Reason Being is that I want to focus on training the plants and removing as many variables as possible. I am growing for personal use and I am not obsessed with yield at this time. But comparing to hydro I notice the difference in yield and wondered if it was all the N that is in the soil that limits bids from bulking up the same. So I was wondering if a low N soil mix could be done, adding the N in water until flower stage like a hydro grow. Any thoughts would be great.

 

[family guy]

I am growing in a 3x3x6 tent with a 600 watt hps. Air-pots and later a blumat system. I want to so a super soil type of grow. Three types of strains are green crack, purple kush and some bag seed from some decent regs.

 

[Picarus]

If you are not "obsessed with yield" than don't be. Treat soil like soil, adding synthetic nutrients limits the upside and increases problems. Just try to get through your first grow first then change elements. You could add one good all in one amendment and that can carry you through just adding water. Especially under 600w.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Focus on duplicating what others have shown is repeatable. You'll have more information on how to correct any issues which may come up. The more people using the method and helping out newbies, the easier it is to get help.

Once you learn how cannabis grows and responds, THEN start messing with variables. Until then, you really have no idea what effect your changes are making. Experimentation is great, you still need a baseline to compare it against.

 

[Floridian]

Boy I procrastinated for a year and thought I had the record!Ive never use nitrogenatedr high phosphoros soil for vegging and flowering so I don't know.I try and use the best ingredients available to me even on my first grow.I use half ocean forest and half roots organic for my medium and Pure Blend Pro for my ferts.Remember a skosh of N is good the first couple weeks of 12/12.I would reconsider the regs bagseed as the chances of it being a tall lanky weak sativa are pretty high.When I compare my soil grows with a friends hydro grows they are essentially about the same the only difference I can see is his vegtime may be a week or two shorter with hydro.Use the best ingredients you can get from the start IMO, no use halfsteppin especially if you have 10 years of knowledge

 

[family guy]

I realize most of the difference is with speed of grow. I have a nature to wonder and tinker that works against my best interests at times. I had all these plans and ideas but I think it's best just to do it as simple as possible for first time. I have assistance from dad who has experience with plants, bonsai, a true green thumb. So I don't want to overwhelm him with complications. My only other issue is temps. My set up is in a finished basement, but it does get cool. I plan on running lights from 7pm to 7am , but how should I keep them warm during dark time.

 

[iloveweed123]

Experience with bonsai is not a lot of use with your first grow .....

I've been growing in soil for over 10 years and I'm just beginning to think I understand WTF is going on

Your proposal is a recipe for disaster ....keep us posted

 

[truck]

sounds like you are trying to run an experiment without really understanding your variables. Yes you can do soiless and treat it like hydro. But i don't recommend it. Here is what I do recommend to a newbie. Mix Sunshine #4, Roots Organics 707, and Fox Farm Ocean Forest in euqual amounts. Spray the inside of your 5 gallon bucket with mollases. Use a grow formula, Fox Farm All purpose 5-5-5 will do you well in all phases of growth, 1tbs and spread it evenly on the sides of bucket. Put a 1/2 gallon of drainage rock at the bottom. Put another TBS of 5-5-5 on top of the rock. Add 2 gallons of soil mix. add 1 tbs 5-5-5 plus 1 cup perlite, mix it up really well. Agitate the bucket and even out the soil. Add 1 tbs ring of 5-5-5 around the edge of the bucket. add 1/2 gallon of soil to cover the ring of nutes so the root ball wont come into direct contact with the nutes. Transplant rootball into bucket, cover with soil. Water with 1 gallon of water so it has been thoroughly watered. Then get a wooden dowl poke three holes per bucket about 1 inch from the edge of the bucket and about 6-8 inches deep, then insert all pupose plant food spikes into those holes. Or you can use the Fox Farm 5-5-5 mix it with some perlite, oystershell, wormcastings, and a small amount of soil, all in equal parts, with this method, poke your dowl all the way to the bottom of your bucket and pack it full of your plant spike mix. Then just add water tell harvest, wait 2 weeks before switching to flower for max potential. IF you want to either not spike the soil or aggressively feed, top dress at weeks 3or4 and 5or6. This is a pretty good out of the bag no nonsense formula that takes little knowledge to follow. Just do each step one at a time and you will be golden. Better than messing with nute bottles that go bad or just mess it all up from day one. Focus on the soil and you will have healthy happy plants. Don't focus on the nute bottle, as it usually messes up soil and the life cycle trying to happen inside it.

 

[truck]

Also focus on allowing the plant to dry out in between each watering. Each time the plant goes dry, water it with 3x 1 liter. Water in 1 liter wait 20 mins, 1 liter wait 20 mins, 1 liter. You may also want to top dress in some bark mulch to help make your watering and top dressing more effective. Just my 2 cents though. Good luck buddy!

 

[family guy]

The low N soil was just something rattling in my head. My plan is to go with a pure soil grow. The bonsai experience helps with training, which I want to be the main focus. I want to do LST manifold , something that would not intimidate him.after reading on it He said it's very simple for him to do. He also has extensive experience with all kinds of plants in general. There are at least 50 house plants inside, not including stuff outside and vegetable garden. Experience is experience. He has also grown, years back when I was a kid. It was outdoor, but a grow none the less.

 

[luvtogrow]

Need n all the way. Use premium 100% worm castings, keeps em green while they are blasting in flower. Used to get yellowing low on the plant in early flower till adding more/BETTER castings.

 

[family guy]

I thank all of you for taking time to respond. It is great and I am pumped! I didn't want to start this voyage without support from this community. I don't even have Facebook, so this is kinda new to me. Thanks again.

 

[Floridian]

I am also facebook free lol.Hell I got my first smartphone a month ago so my dumbass could Uber around until I get my licence back.I live in the past which after getting this phone I realize aint too swift!Dont hesitate to ask more questions as you go along

 

[family guy]

But, my idea still stands. I notice on grows a lot of people doing soils mention the nitrogen having a detrimental impact on flowering. If you could build a soil mix more favorable to flowering and add nitrogen via water during veg stage I just wonder if that could be helpful. Seems a lot of soil blends are real hot. I do not believe all that guano and blood meal ect disappears when you flip to 12/12. There is no way that stuff breaks down and depletes in one grow. And nitrogen would be easy to add.

 

[family guy]

It seems that he pure hydro grows have the advantage of tuning nutes to the grow on the fly, something that cannot be done in soil. This first grow leave me very little room for experiments. Maybe on the second or third I'll give it a try. Any idea how this could be accomplished? What Soil mix and nitrogen for the water?

 

[Picarus]

dooood,
You do not need to tune the crop on the fly, nor would it do any good trying as it is your first grow. I disagree with many of the previous posters as a bonsai enthusiast myself I believe that experience does help. Especially with patience.
Do you have access to Down to Earth brand soil amendments? I will give you a simple recipe that you can use just water the whole way through. Preferably well water, or rain if you can collect it.
Just make sure the timers and light work and def control the environment temp and humidity.

 

[organitron]

CrazyComposter runs a lean mix with weekly topdressing: https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=152752

 

[Emmay_Dee]

Seems like everything in soil is competing for the same thing. Nitrogen. The only way this could work is if you used distilled water only and controlled calcium levels

 

[truck]

nitrogen is needed all the way through flower. You just have to know how to shift gears through the grow by adding certain things at certain times to either up the bacterial count or dial it back which feeds the N to your plant. Same thing with learning how to increase the fungi activity in the soil or dial it back because it feeds your plant P. K is important to all biological processes, but don't use too much, all about timing and composting. Understand how nature goes through the seasons and how the biological environment feeds and sustains a healthy plant the whole way through its life feeding it what it needs when it needs it. Healthy soil, Health plants, healthy yields, healthy medicine, Healthy People=)