Confused About Nutrients?

brandon727272

Well-Known Member
I have my plants starting out, they're like 2 weeks old. This is my first grow and I pretty confused on when I'm going to need to start fertilizing and with how much and which fertilizers. Let me start by giving info on my soil mix. My mix is contains: 7.5 cubic feet of mid grade potting soil, 1 cf chicken manure fertilizer, 1 cf perlite, 10 lbs bone meal, 4 lbs gypsum. It's been sitting for over a month now so I think it'll be fine to transplant seedlings into it. I want the nutes I feed this plant to be organic or atleast mostly organic and pretty cost effective. I'm only growing 6 plants so I don't need a ton of it it's 60 gallons of soil total. When do I need to start feeding (if I even do) and with what? I have access to fresh horse manure as I own some. Thanks guys, it's my first grow and I know I'm probably asking something retarded, + rep for good advice.:joint:
 

racerboy71

bud bootlegger
well, it sounds as if your soil is going to be pretty hot all on its own and you shouldn't need any kind of feeding for atleast a good month or two, possibly even forever if you have enough available nutes in it..
check out some of subcools threads, and look for the one called subs super soil recipe, and see what all he adds to his soil, as it's pretty much a water only soil mix from what i have read.. once he mixes the soil, all he has to do for the entire grow is to water when they get thirsty, and that is pretty much it..
also, i don't know if you've ever heard of this magazine before called skunk or not.. it's pretty much like the new version of hightimes, and the editor of it, this dude known as the rev, is a pretty hardcore organics guru.. skunk just put out a new issue, a special edition, called the best of the rev, volume 3, and it just came out recently... it's a very good read, and would be exactly what you're looking for as it has a lot of info on feeding plants organically, and how to prepare a nice water only soil, much like sub's super soil..
 

brandon727272

Well-Known Member
well, it sounds as if your soil is going to be pretty hot all on its own and you shouldn't need any kind of feeding for atleast a good month or two, possibly even forever if you have enough available nutes in it..
check out some of subcools threads, and look for the one called subs super soil recipe, and see what all he adds to his soil, as it's pretty much a water only soil mix from what i have read.. once he mixes the soil, all he has to do for the entire grow is to water when they get thirsty, and that is pretty much it..
also, i don't know if you've ever heard of this magazine before called skunk or not.. it's pretty much like the new version of hightimes, and the editor of it, this dude known as the rev, is a pretty hardcore organics guru.. skunk just put out a new issue, a special edition, called the best of the rev, volume 3, and it just came out recently... it's a very good read, and would be exactly what you're looking for as it has a lot of info on feeding plants organically, and how to prepare a nice water only soil, much like sub's super soil..
What do you mean by "hot"? I've been reading people posting that, but I don't really understand what it means. I do know however that letting it sit for awhile cures it and I guess relieves the heat? Should I let it sit longer or is 3 weeks enough? Thanks!
 

marcnh

Well-Known Member
Hot means a lot of nutrients - too much nutes can burn your plants get it - hot!
for this one you will just have to give it water only until they look like they need something. its really better to start with an actual recipe for your soil. like said above about subcool. its kind of like guessing on ingredients when your baking a cake - its better to use a recipe that has had good results in the past. imo.
 

brandon727272

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the responses! I did use a soil recipe, although I added some extra horse manure. I think someone named kushking recommended me this link on my older post about what soil to use, but I never added any lime... I'm not really sure how that will effect it. Here's the link, https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=159846&highlight=tomhill the recipe is in the second post. It was a lot cheaper than subcool's SS recipe, which made it a lot more attractive to me. However, Tom Hill (the recipe poster) recommends "If your water is good, plain water with this mix until budding (at which time I like to slowly add bloom formula, maxing out at week 4-5 or so with 2-3 consecutive fertigations at full recommended strength) seems fine." I'm just a noob and don't really know what I need to get haha.
I'm emailing Atami as we speak. They send you a sample kit for free? I'm definitely gonna try it out. Is it easy to burn plants with that? This is my first grow and based on what a lot of people say one of the biggest noob mistakes is nute burn.. and I already fucked up 8 autos before they even grew lol. Thanks for the advice though !
 

Farfenugen

Well-Known Member
I'd go for totally organic if I were you. In the long run it's better on the plant and your body. Look into it. No matter what nutes you use, thnk of it as eating a Snickers bar or a fresh sweet organic strawberry. Do you want chems or organics?

My soil is always equal parts dried seaweed, sterlized organic compost and perlite for seedlings, only adding water for the first month. Then I supplement when and where necessary, being careful to check PH. The nutes I use, start off with organic fish (some aren't). Until flowering stage then I back off all together. It works for me.
 

Wetdog

Well-Known Member
Why didn't you add the lime? ~$5 for a 40Lb bag and it prevents a whole raft of pH problems from popping up, along with cal/mag issues.

But, experience is the best teacher.

Wet
 

brandon727272

Well-Known Member
should I add some now or would it be too hot to transplant into for awhile? I was planning on transplanting tomorrow. If I can, how much should I add for ~60 gals of soil? Thanks wet.
 

Wetdog

Well-Known Member
should I add some now or would it be too hot to transplant into for awhile? I was planning on transplanting tomorrow. If I can, how much should I add for ~60 gals of soil? Thanks wet.
*I* use 1cup/CuFt of mix. 60 gallons is ~8CuFt, so about 8 cups of lime.

Powdered or pellets, dolomite lime, or garden lime. Just make sure it is NOT Hydrated, which can burn your plants. Hydrated has been chemically treated. Regular lime, the dolomite or garden, is just crushed limestone and won't burn your plants.

Mix it in well. Waiting one day to transplant isn't going to hurt and the lime will save you a bunch of problems down the line.

Wet
 

brandon727272

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the advice wet! On my way home from work I'm gonna buy some and mix it in. Do you think my mix has enough P and K in it? I know it has a lot of nitrogen but I definitely don't want the roots to suffer.
 

Wetdog

Well-Known Member
Looks like you have plenty of P.

Kelp meal would be a good source of K, or Greensand, but the kelp would be better.

Wet
 
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