BMO growing noob

Not sure how else to make a "title" for this thread. I've been reading so much in the last month my head is a complete mess full of knowledge I can't peice togerther. Here's my growing indoor noob story.

I started off dropping sprouted seeds into some Scotts potting soil into 1 gallon containers. Gave it no nutes for the 1st 3 1/2 weeks. Got the full line of bmo nutes and started feeding them slowly (about 1/3 strength) the last feeding I went to half strength. Fed them 1/4 spt and 1/4 gig for 2 feedings, going to feed plain water tomorrow (I guess). The "soil" I transplanted into 3 gal buckets is about 1/3 Scotts, 1/3 Hoffmans organic soil, 1/3 Midwest organic mix, and topped it all off with about 30-40% perlite. I mixed all the above contents out of frustration from reading so much but still having no clue on what I should finaly do, so the fk it mentality came into play. The plants are looking fantastic (minus the flying tiny silver/black bugs that are eating small holes in a few of the leaves). I water about once every 5-6 days (even though the soil still feels a little bit moist). I guess what I want to ask is, "I know my proccess is haywire right now, but is there anything I should do to get the full potential of these plants rolling?" "How should I go about getting rid of these flying creatures?" The plants are about 5 1/2 weeks old and 8"-10" tall. I just started LST on them today, and did FIM about a week ago (that looks cool when all those shoots come out of that 1 spot so fast btw).
I know I need a better process, I just don't know if it's all going to come into play by the next grow.
Any feedback, help, and flames would be great. I grew once about 10 years ago, the bud looked great, it just forgot to get me high.

I'm glad this little grow is bagseed, the next one won't be though.

Ok, so After reading even more today, I think i've figured out my watering frustration... there is none, every plant is going to be different in every set up i.e.: type of soil, humidity, air exchange, and so on. Watering when they look thirsty then writing how much water they are given etc. seems to be the only way for each person to get their set ups on track. I just looked at my bag of hoffmans, and there's a nice small image that states it has water holding crystals in it that I didn't see when I bought it. So this is why I don't get to water as much compared to most posts i've read. But, I hear BMO nutes are kick ass so that's probably why my plants aren't looking upset or nute deprived. If anyone has experience with bmo nutes and moisture control soil I'd sure be glad to hear your experience.

Stun... Perlite needs to be mixed at around 10 to 15 percent in soil mixes. You're at twice that, or slightly more. Having that much Perlite, can cause issues with the soil staying too moist. You need to let the soil dry out slightly between watering. The overly moist soil condition you have created is attracting pests.
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Your feeding strengths seem OK, but your soil is retaining moisture longer because of the high percentage of Perlite. You don't have to unpot and repot them. Just wait until the soil is actually semi-dry before giving your plants water. Soil that is too moist will also be a breeding ground for bad bacteria.
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Neem oil works well against pests and so does DE (diatomaceous earth). The DE works basically by mechanical action. It's like scrapnel for bugs. They come in contact with it, it punctures their outer body, they leak out all their bodily fluids and die. DE can be topdressed to kill the pests in the soil.
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& Your right, there is no one size fits all feeding or watering schedule for Mary. Every strain is different, all conditions are different, so just feed & water, low, slow & steady. Since your plants are now past the seedling stage, increase the GIG to 1/2 ounce (1 Tbsp) per gallon of unchlorinated water. Adding 1 tsp of Flower Power per gallon of unchlorinated water, every other feeding, will help boost root growth.
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Hope this helps....
Keep it Real....Organic.....
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Thanks for the info Ohso, I read a few different places that suggest 30-40% perlite to soil, I guess it depends on the soil. Can you tell me when I should be adding the spt? Maybe along with the fp? Or a little bit every watering?
I just can't seem to find a good soil locally, and I really don't want to have a big ol bag of dirt shipped to me. The bugs came from the soil, that much I know. I may try the hoffmans with the midwest mix only next time and lose the scotts. The only stuff I've found locally is MG organic and hoffmans. Just gonna take time to sort it out. I just like reasurance on what i'm doing (don't all newbies) so I "know" I'm not doing dumb crap that's going to give me a weak link.

I sprayed with a soap/water mix for the bugs and that didn't do much of anything. The bug problem isn't bad, I might see 5-8 flying around occasionally when I rustle the feathers. I'll try to find some neem. Thanks

Ya the bugs are cause you are watering to often. Let the plant show you it needs water. When you let the soil dry out real good you shouldn't see any more gnats flying around they can only breed when the soil is wet. So if you let it dry out real good till they are all gone and water and then let it dry out again you should be good. As for the BMO nutrients yes they are golden (cheap,work good, and pretty much won't burn unless you double the recomended dose. Anyways uhhh ya

So I should just give them less water more frequently I suppose; as if I give them a 1/2 gal each it'll be 2 weeks before I water again if I let it dry out real good. Would there be a downside to watering less more frequently or watering with more quantity over a longer period of time?

Just water 'em man it aint a damn science. When they need water give 'em a gl depending on what size pot there in. Let the soil dry out let the plant droop I mean let it show she needs water. Then yes you will get rid of the bugs.

greenfirekilla420 said:

Just water 'em man it aint a damn science. When they need water give 'em a gl depending on what size pot there in. Let the soil dry out let the plant droop I mean let it show she needs water. Then yes you will get rid of the bugs.

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Thank you gfk

No problem bro I didn't mean to come off angry ha just hadn't smoked yet. Mj doesn't need water everyother day in soil man its easier to overwater your plants than underwater them.

Yeh, I hear ya. I do wait until the leave begin to droop, the soil just doesn't appear or feel "dry", it's still a bit moist.... but, that is near the top, i'm sure if I dug down to the bottom it would be more dry as that's where the roots are taking all the water from.

Stun said:

Yeh, I hear ya. I do wait until the leave begin to droop, the soil just doesn't appear or feel "dry", it's still a bit moist.... but, that is near the top, i'm sure if I dug down to the bottom it would be more dry as that's where the roots are taking all the water from.

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How would the soil in the bottom be dry but the top moist??????????.....ahahahaha

do you need to flush with bmo stuff?

LAX Skunky BwS said:

How would the soil in the bottom be dry but the top moist??????????.....ahahahaha

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Just seeing if anyone was paying attention.

You got any pics bro? And no flushing is not needed with the BMO. Personally I think flushing is a lot of work for nothing. I just up the amount of pure water the last two weeks a half gallon each watering and don't go pouring 20 gallons through the soil at once. Anyways with that said a bit less than the reccomended amount of dosage per gallon and youll be good. Also early in flower your gonna have to pick up some dolomite lime for MG and CA cause BMO nutrients are low in it.

Thanks for the tip on the lime, didn't know that. How much per gal of soil would they need? I think I have a little bit laying around somewhere. Memory card on the cam is full at the moment, but I will get some pics. Working on the flower box now, needs a cool tube, and fast. The kids grew up another couple inches this past week!

What size light you using? And the cooltubes help out alot but if you outside ambient temps are too high you might just be sprinting in place ya feel me? Thats my problem atleast I'm in the middle of a florida summer with outside temps in the 100s every day. My 400w is pounding out some heat.

I'm only pushin' a 250, but it's hot as hell. my ambient is only 75f, so it shouldn't be this hard to cool. I'll just keep trying different things on that front and find out what's gonna work. I was just hoping to not waste $ and time doing a bunch of different things to the box. I actually have a different thread going about this problem in the grow box design part of the forum.

Do you have any exhaust fans or any type of intake fans in there. And also is it an attached ballest model? If so you need atleast a 4" inline fan for some exhaust those ballest's get pretty dang hot and pc fans aren't gonna do the job.

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/228273-grow-box-huge-heat-probs-2.html - heat problem fixed.

External ballast is sitting on top of the box.

greenfirekilla420 said:

You got any pics bro? And no flushing is not needed with the BMO. Personally I think flushing is a lot of work for nothing. I just up the amount of pure water the last two weeks a half gallon each watering and don't go pouring 20 gallons through the soil at once. Anyways with that said a bit less than the reccomended amount of dosage per gallon and youll be good. Also early in flower your gonna have to pick up some dolomite lime for MG and CA cause BMO nutrients are low in it.

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hey man. i got a greenhouse seed arjans strawberry haze right now, im using BMO organic nutes and i think mine has nute burn. its about 30 days old and ive fed it regular strength grow it green and then it started to show yellow tips, so ive just been watering with regular water. its in fox farm ocean forest right now. also its been on 12/12 for 2 days and has shown its sex. how can my plant have nute problems?
i would post some pics but i still dont know the "Safest" way to do this, anyone have any advice?