Anyone car to help a newb with is first grow? thinking organic?

Whats up guys. I am in the stages of getting all of my stuff together for my little grow. So far all I got was some grow lights and a grow tent. I am thinking about growing my LowRyder #2 organicly. But was waiting to hear what everyone had to say before I made a choice. If anyone could help me with picking out soil from a place like HomeDepot that would be great. Or tips on soil mixtures and decent fertilizers, cause I hear M-Grow sux. Any little tips would be awsome, I am sure I will be asking some more questions soon, just no more come to mind at this time. TY in advance!


And I know my title has typos in it. I was high. sorry

MG Organic Choice from home depot and some perlite. ferts, MG works, reduce the usage amount to about a 1/5, but you might wanna get some better stuff at a local hydro shop or online.

So the perlite doesnt come in the soil? How much soil to perlite should I use ya' think?

it doesnt come in the organic choice. maybe 30% perlite to 70% MG OC

Welcome to RIU bro. If it's possible, get to your local garden center and get some grow mix from there without any ferts in it. All the MG soil is pre-nuted, which means it has fertilizer already added to it. Seedlings usually can't take all that food when they start out, and that's where ppl have problems. Most new growers try to do too much, they water more frequently than needed, and every time you water the pre-nuted MG, ferts are released into the soil and burn the delicate plants. I never had a problem with MG when I first started out, but I myself waited until my plants got to be like 6-8 inches and then transplanted them into the MG soil. Once they are a little heartier, they can handle it. If you don't have a garden center by you, Homely Depot, or KMart, or Walmart sells bags of Perlite, Vermiculite and Sphagnum Peat Moss. Buy a small bag of each and mix it together. That is a soilless mixture that you can use to start your seedlings in once you have germinated them. When they get a little bigger, then you can use the MG, IF, and I repeat, IF, nothing else is available. Just don't feed them anything because the MG will feed your plants up to 3 months. Good luck.

I dont plan to transplant. I was hoping to put the seedling directly into the soiled pot. I have to keep this simple and clean. Think I could still hack it with that soil? Or do you know of another route to take?

yea i would reccomend the MG soil it keeps it simple. you want need any extra nutes with the lowryder

Schweet, thats prolly' what I will use then. If this goes well I may take it up a notch with transplanting and such my next go round.


Thanks a lot guys.

from the scotts website on Organic Choice Potting Mix, "Delivers twice the growth of ordinary potting soil naturally! Contains both starting and slow-release fertilizer which feeds for up to 3 months."

its worked for me plenty of times.

you said you werent planning on transplanting but remember an ideal grow rate is 1 foot per 1 gallon pot..just something to go by give or take a little

I will check out that soil ugzkmk.

I plan to use nearly 3 gal pots

Or atleast when I was reading tips on growing lowryder they said use 3gal pots or so.

yeah that should be plenty big enough for lowryders. what kind of light are you goin to use

I got 2 CFLs that reach the Color Temperature of 6500 degrees Kelvin. Brightest CFLs I could find for the money I spent.

EvilMan said:

I hear M-Grow sux.

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its all personal prefence! u can start a seed in mgro but it does wonder when u transplant into it well at least for me

You've got some good advice here.. Here's my two cents. I started my first grow with MG potting soil (the pre-fertilized stuff). I did have some mild nutrient burn early on, but the plants worked through it. Now, I've got seven plants at 22-24 inches that are eating me out of house and home.

If you can refrain from overwatering, I think MG makes for a very simple first grow -- no head scratching about feeding, drainage, the pH was spot-on right out of the bag (at least my bags are..) -- lots of advantages. You can use it and get growing, be reasonably successful, and use that time to learn more about other approaches. I'm going to try an organic approach next time, but I'll be doing so with the advantage of experience and learning a ton from this forum.

The main thing you need to remember -- a little seedling uses very little water. A watering under CFL (which run cool and don't evaporate your soil moisture like metal halide or HPS) should last you at least a week, maybe 10 days early on. When your plants get up there a bit -- like 10-12 inches and beyond -- they will suck up water much more agressively and you'll have to water more frequently. When you do water, pick up your pots afterward and get used to the feel of a watered pot == the weight is distinctly different and will help you gauge when to water. A cheap moisture meter - about $5 - is really helpful, too. Water whenever the meter reads a "5" or below.

Good luck.. it's fun as hell.