What is the safest cheap nute plan

Thundercat said:

RIght on man, I didn't notice you were in soil. If you've got the 400w why scale down to the 150 smaller space this time? I think you'd be fine with the 400 if you've got ventilation.

When I was growing in soil I used Fox farm nutes with good success. They are pretty cheap and seemed to do the job ok. The key with any nutrient is to start off lower then the bottle tells you. Its easy to add more if the plant needs it, but its a bigger pain to take it away if you add to much.

But for the record, hydro shouldn't be much if any more time consuming, I choose to switch to hydro as I find it much easier. I don't have to haul and mix soil or deal with pests since I keep it all sterile.

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I do not have space in my house for a tent any larger. I also don't need more than 2g a week for myself. although i am shooting for 3.5g/week. Running the higher wattage may make it more difficult to cool and cost more every month to grow. With just spending $4 on mega crop i hope to hit 50g without having to use 3x more electric
Thanks for the feeding tip. I plan to use less than the recommended dosage in veg since i figure there wont be much of a difference. I will adjust my levels during veg and find out the best level and then increase it slightly once i switch to 12/12

Lordhooha said:

If your in soil you don’t need to worry with ph.

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You still have to PH your feed water, and a little lime in your soil won't hurt too maintain a 6.3 level, which really is the number your looking for good growth.
Organic soil in a perfect world is a very nice thing, but for a 3 month grow in a closet/basement it is unrealistic to think that the micro's needed to maintain a neutral ph will be there in that short of a period of time. If this guy want's a good plant in a tent in soil in 3 months, he's wasting his time and money. I grew soil for the 1st 10 years and then I got serious and went RDWC and never, ever looked back.
Better plants and product, hands down.

mbajohn1990 said:

I also don't need more than 2g a week for myself.

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My joints are 2 grams, so you must smoke a little teeny tiny amount of herb per week, right?
Save yourself the hassle of growing (it's usually illegal), go buy a oz (it should last you a LONG time), and save yourself the trouble and possible legal problems
Seriously, it will be more cost effective.

Jimdamick said:

My joints are 2 grams, so you must smoke a little teeny tiny amount of herb per week, right?
Save yourself the hassle of growing (it's usually illegal), go buy a oz (it should last you a LONG time), and save yourself the trouble and possible legal problems
Seriously, it will be more cost effective.

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Growing is a hobby of mine. I don't plan on switching to MJ until it is legal, for now i grow geraniums. When it is legal I figure I could grow 50g at a cost of just $100 over 4 months. 50g in a store would run me $450.
2 gram joints are huge! I used to be able to smoke a 1g blunt. Last time i tried that i had to put it out half way through haha. I smoke about .2g mixed with tobacco. I do that about once or twice a day.

mbajohn1990 said:

Growing is a hobby of mine. I don't plan on switching to MJ until it is legal, for now i grow geraniums. When it is legal I figure I could grow 50g at a cost of just $100 over 4 months. 50g in a store would run me $450.
2 gram joints are huge! I used to be able to smoke a 1g blunt. Last time i tried that i had to put it out half way through haha. I smoke about .2g mixed with tobacco. I do that about once or twice a day.

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These are what I smoke

Jimdamick said:

You still have to PH your feed water, and a little lime in your soil won't hurt too maintain a 6.3 level, which really is the number your looking for good growth.
Organic soil in a perfect world is a very nice thing, but for a 3 month grow in a closet/basement it is unrealistic to think that the micro's needed to maintain a neutral ph will be there in that short of a period of time. If this guy want's a good plant in a tent in soil in 3 months, he's wasting his time and money. I grew soil for the 1st 10 years and then I got serious and went RDWC and never, ever looked back.
Better plants and product, hands down.

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you must have missed my post where I said if your think the soil is suspect you can amend it but again I don’t ph any soil including promix bx never had an issue. Of course for the most part I try and keep a few 55 gallons worth of freshly built super soil on the ready.
I have a room that was running a rdwc system I built. The most I got from it was quicker veg growth flowers coming from either room generally has close if not the exact same taste provided. They’re the same strain and Pheno. But I simply have the two soil rooms now. One day I may do hydro again.

I grow in a 2x4 tent. Roots 707 soil. Tried a few different nutes. Megacrop is good. Using Floranova currently. Also good.
Never had pests except some fungus gnats one grow.
I just like soil and like you I don't smoke very much. Give a lot away.
Just do what you enjoy. Soil feels natural to me. I have no interest in hydro.
To answer your question, that sample of Megacrop lasted me an entire grow. 2 plants.
And I still have some left. Use it sparingly.
Good luck with your grow. I'm about 2 weeks from harvest myself.

drsaltzman said:

I grow in a 2x4 tent. Roots 707 soil. Tried a few different nutes. Megacrop is good. Using Floranova currently. Also good.
Never had pests except some fungus gnats one grow.
I just like soil and like you I don't smoke very much. Give a lot away.
Just do what you enjoy. Soil feels natural to me. I have no interest in hydro.
To answer your question, that sample of Megacrop lasted me an entire grow. 2 plants.
And I still have some left. Use it sparingly.
Good luck with your grow. I'm about 2 weeks from harvest myself.
View attachment 4243151

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How many gallons of water were your plants using? I was thinking 4 gallons a week for 5 plants would use the entire 300g sample

Keith Stoner said:

A long while back I won a sample of nutes from @GreenleafNutrients and I had a great grow experience with them. I’d give them a shout out on the forum.

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Same here. First grow of any plant ever and they are doing fantastic. Halfway there.

mbajohn1990 said:

How many gallons of water were your plants using? I was thinking 4 gallons a week for 5 plants would use the entire 300g sample

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Sometimes you'll use plain water too. Especially early.
Heat. Strain. Pot. Many things determine how much water you'll use.
I think there's enough nutes to grow 5 small plants.
150W is another story....

The cheapest way :

This my opinion....

Start with a good / complete / myco and amended bagged soil.

There are a number of good sources for bagged ...
Fox Farms Ocean Forest
Happy Frog
Black Gold
Dr. Earth Homegrown veg garden
Dr. Earth Pot of Gold
EB stone - Recipe 420
Promix
Sunshine mix #4
Roots Organic 707
And some others ... there are other medium choices but for sake of conversation I will talk about these.

First .... plant your seed / seedling in bag soil choice ..... water when needed .
Do NOTHING ELSE .... you let soil ALONE feed the plant. A good mix will carry growth for 5 weeks or so before showing some depletion.
Now INSTEAD of buying Nutes .......... DO THIS.

1. TOP DRESS some bagged soil and water in .... this will provide a boost . No measuring or PPM checking , just PH your mix ( water ) to 6.5 and water in. It refreshes the medium and feeds the plant.

2. Get a cheese cloth and make a soil bag ( drop / hang ) in 1 gallon of water .
Ph to 6.5 ... put a bubble stone ( Airstone ) hook up a small aquarium pump and aerate for a few hours or overnight before use. Give them their “ Tea Smoothie “ and go make pancakes.

There is NO CHEAPER method than using same bagged as a top dress or tea.

drsaltzman said:

Sometimes you'll use plain water too. Especially early.
Heat. Strain. Pot. Many things determine how much water you'll use.
I think there's enough nutes to grow 5 small plants.
150W is another story....

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Thanks for the nute tip. I am going to germ 5 fem seeds, so while i hope to have 5 plants it could be 3-4 plants. I have heard that growing more plants in the same size space will increase yield.

mbajohn1990 said:

Would mega crop 2lb bag be enough for one grow? It is just $15 compared to $55 for the 20lber. I am hesitant to invest $55 in nutes since i am a beginner. Will their be any need to check soil levels with mega crop? I am still digging through their site. Thanks for the recommendation.

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A few months ago they were sending out mc samples for $3 shipping, not sure if that's still going on? Personally I didn't like it but you might like it and the price is certainly right, if they don't have the free sample available I would use Jacks, good luck

I just use canna coco A-B and big bud and pk13-14 for the last two weeks that's it great results.

Lordhooha said:

you must have missed my post where I said if your think the soil is suspect you can amend it but again I don’t ph any soil including promix bx never had an issue. Of course for the most part I try and keep a few 55 gallons worth of freshly built super soil on the ready.
I have a room that was running a rdwc system I built. The most I got from it was quicker veg growth flowers coming from either room generally has close if not the exact same taste provided. They’re the same strain and Pheno. But I simply have the two soil rooms now. One day I may do hydro again.

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I had 2 - 6x4 rooms perpetual grow with 22 plants in 3 gallon pots that had to be hand watered every 2/3 days, plus re-cycled soil buildup and disposal became an issue (what do you do with all your used dirt?)
That is what drove me to hydro, I just found soil to be a hassle in my basement.
Now I have 3 - 25 gallon reservoirs feeding 26 plants in a RDWC system that the only thing that I have to do is add water and adjust nutes/ph daily
It takes like 1/2 an hour, and it's really painless.
But to each their own.
Here are some shots of my system. It's a modified Waterfarm.
Happy Holidays!!!

Jimdamick said:

I had 2 - 6x4 rooms perpetual grow with 22 plants in 3 gallon pots that had to be hand watered every 2/3 days, plus re-cycled soil buildup and disposal became an issue (what do you do with all your used dirt?)
That is what drove me to hydro, I just found soil to be a hassle in my basement.
Now I have 3 - 25 gallon reservoirs feeding 26 plants in a RDWC system that the only thing that I have to do is add water and adjust nutes/ph daily
It takes like 1/2 an hour, and it's really painless.
But to each their own.
Here are some shots of my system. It's a modified Waterfarm.
Happy Holidays!!!

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All my soil simply gets recycled. I simply ammend the soil and rotate. Looks good though

Lordhooha said:

All my soil simply gets recycled. I simply ammend the soil and rotate. Looks good though

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I do also, have a couple of compost bins and add manure and garden clippings and keep it aerated until everything breaks down.