First soil grow, need help with bennies

Hi all
This will be my first non hydroponic grow.
I will be using eco life soil by eco thrive, this soil is supposed to be used without the need to add bottled nutrients, just de chlorinated water.

the seeds are fried ice cream by lit farms, I’ve popped 4 in 2l pots of light mix, at about 3 weeks I plan on transplanting into a 56l pot of the eco life soil where they will finish

grow area is a grow box ambient 1.2x1.2x2.2 tall tent, I picked it because it blends in from the window with its beige outer, and I wanted something white inside for a change.

lighting will be 2 hlg 350r Diablo leds but only one is in the tent at the moment

ventilation is taken care of by ac infinity s6 with their 67 controller and carbon filter, I’m blowing out of the filter into a crawl space, the fan and filter are both out of the tent and insulated from the room, so only a duct is in the tent

I have a smart humidifier maintaining constant 65 rh, a oil filled radiator for if needed, and the fan set to ventilate the room if it gets above 30c or 75rh.

the plan is to top at the second node for 4 tops then top each of those 4 just before flower which usually produces a pretty uniform flat canopy with indicas IMO.

sooooooo here’s the biggy…. Bennies! It’s been a while oh it’s been a while. What do you guys suggest? I used to brew ewc with super thrive and great white in a number of combinations to some success. Spoke to guy at store he’s showing me some crazy stuff at some crazy prices aimed at “unlocking” the soils nutrients. But what do I really need? Pest management and nutrient fixers both for roots and foliar.

any helpful input is allways greatly appreciated, thanks guys !

All you really need is worm castings and granular mycorrhizae. Bagged ewc is ok but many commercial worm farms feed their worms mostly just shredded paper. Castings fresh from a worm bin are usually much more active because in a home bin worms are fed higher quality foods like canna leaves, fruit, and veggie scraps. Starting up a worm bin is a baller move for any soil grower. Brew up a compost tea every few weeks to maintain a high level of microbe activity. The plants will pray to you in homage.
The other part is fungi; namely mycorrhizae which is same stuff as what is in Great White. GW is pricey imo for what it is; a generic label granular mycorrhizae will work the same. Attaches to the plants root system and helps with absorption of nutrients. Myco can collectively enter a dead worm and consume it from the inside out in a matter of days. Then transfer whatever nutrients are present to the plants roots. Mycorrhizae also can transfer moisture from one area to another like a mini bucket brigade.

Richard Drysift said:

All you really need is worm castings and granular mycorrhizae. Bagged ewc is ok but many commercial worm farms feed their worms mostly just shredded paper. Castings fresh from a worm bin are usually much more active because in a home bin worms are fed higher quality foods like canna leaves, fruit, and veggie scraps. Starting up a worm bin is a baller move for any soil grower. Brew up a compost tea every few weeks to maintain a high level of microbe activity. The plants will pray to you in homage.
The other part is fungi; namely mycorrhizae which is same stuff as what is in Great White. GW is pricey imo for what it is; a generic label granular mycorrhizae will work the same. Attaches to the plants root system and helps with absorption of nutrients. Myco can collectively enter a dead worm and consume it from the inside out in a matter of days. Then transfer whatever nutrients are present to the plants roots. Mycorrhizae also can transfer moisture from one area to another like a mini bucket brigade.

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Brilliant mate Thankyou, I will probably just use the same as I allways have then as it worked superb, maybe find a cheaper myco, the guy at the store was telling me he personally uses different species of (can’t remember) bacteria or fungi depending whether he was in veg or flower. Does this sound accurate or am I just being sold double the products hahaha

Also what would people recommend for pest management?

Blue brother said:

Brilliant mate Thankyou, I will probably just use the same as I allways have then as it worked superb, maybe find a cheaper myco, the guy at the store was telling me he personally uses different species of (can’t remember) bacteria or fungi depending whether he was in veg or flower. Does this sound accurate or am I just being sold double the products hahaha

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Definitely is grow store bro bullshit. You want to have a few different types of fungi in addition to ectomycorrhizae like trichoderma to have a healthy soil mix but these are also typically found in most forms of compost anyway. Ecto- myco is the type that attaches to root systems through symbiosis; as long as whatever product you get has that it will work to help w/absorption.
Organic soil usually attracts pests like gnats and thrips. It is far easier to prevent them for the most part than it is to get rid of them once they are there. So amend your soil with neem seed meal which will fend off any leaf munchers like thrips. I throw about 2-3 cups of neem seed meal into a 60 gal tote of soil along with several other amendments each time I recycle. Another preventative measure is diatomaceous earth; it’s like billions of tiny razor blades to a gnat landing in your pots. Kills gnat larvae and eggs in contact. Sprinkle a copious amount on top of your mulch layer when you build pots. That’s all I usually do and I rarely see a gnat.
If you do see them flying around yellow sticky traps will quell them as the DE prevents them from laying eggs. For thrips you’ll need something stronger: if you ever see the telltale white splotches on your leaves it could be from thrips. They that suck on the veins of the leaves and are so tiny they are almost invisible. This is when you may need something like Monterey garden spray w/spinosad. Safe for living soil and you can even spray the buds if you have a few more weeks before harvesting. Used to get thrips every season but since amending w/neem seed I have not had to spray.

Richard Drysift said:

Definitely is grow store bro bullshit. You want to have a few different types of fungi in addition to ectomycorrhizae like trichoderma to have a healthy soil mix but these are also typically found in most forms of compost anyway. Ecto- myco is the type that attaches to root systems through symbiosis; as long as whatever product you get has that it will work to help w/absorption.
Organic soil usually attracts pests like gnats and thrips. It is far easier to prevent them for the most part than it is to get rid of them once they are there. So amend your soil with neem seed meal which will fend off any leaf munchers like thrips. I throw about 2-3 cups of neem seed meal into a 60 gal tote of soil along with several other amendments each time I recycle. Another preventative measure is diatomaceous earth; it’s like billions of tiny razor blades to a gnat landing in your pots. Kills gnat larvae and eggs in contact. Sprinkle a copious amount on top of your mulch layer when you build pots. That’s all I usually do and I rarely see a gnat.
If you do see them flying around yellow sticky traps will quell them as the DE prevents them from laying eggs. For thrips you’ll need something stronger: if you ever see the telltale white splotches on your leaves it could be from thrips. They that suck on the veins of the leaves and are so tiny they are almost invisible. This is when you may need something like Monterey garden spray w/spinosad. Safe for living soil and you can even spray the buds if you have a few more weeks before harvesting. Used to get thrips every season but since amending w/neem seed I have not had to spray.

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Ecto doesn't do anything I've heard. It's Endo that you want. And I use Mykos specifically because it has no trichoderma. I've heard that can have negative effects with endo.

So I had a few problems, seems the light mix I’ve got wasn’t up to the job of feeding them until week 3, I’ve had to foliar some kelp and feed an ewc tea with kelp also,



I’m gonna try and transplant ASAP but I don’t think the plants are big enough yet, what do you guys think? I’m so used to rockwool this is alien to me. How will I go about getting the roots out considering they probs don’t fill the pot?

Actually really considering buying/making a worm bin at this point. For one reason or another there’s allways a lot of vegetable scraps and leftovers around and I like the idea of free worms, I can put some in pots and feed the aquarium fish worms too. And also free ewc and help the environment at the same time. Win win innit

I think my fresh ewc from the worm bins is the only reason my plants grow. I make all sorts of errors, but some fresh ewc and proper watering techniques fixes it up. I'd highly recommend getting one going.

Worm bins are easy/relatively cheap to set up yourself with just a couple totes. Lots of good info on this site, just search around for some vermicompost threads.

One suggestion would be to maybe just top dress some compost/ewc and mulch it over for now if you're worried about transplanting. Your pots look pretty dried out in my opinion so getting a bit of mulch and better moisture retention in there may be all they need. My biggest battle every grow is maintaining a proper moisture level as well.

Good luck with everything though and hope you can get a worm bin started.

Use the product Recharge and you will never be happier. I can basically only use that with great results in soil there’s plenty of beneficial bacteria and fungi along with some kelp and molasses for the bennies. I can’t recommend that product enough it’s a must for living soil. You will see a difference the next day after watering it’s crazy. OG kush under the Mars hydro fc-e3000.