So...last night

So last night I was at my friend's house. He broke out fox farms ocean forest and happy frog and proceeded to mix them together...I was like oh cool that'll work for you...BUT...he then dumped an equal amount of pro mix bx in it mixed it up and then ran the hose in until it was the consistency of concrete mix...I was horrified by this point...I'm like WTF are you doing man...he said this is how I learned...so he proceeded to slosh out this slurry into fabric bags set in mix buckets...these things drained about 1 or 2 gallons of water out of 5 gallon fabric pots it was so saturated...he dug a hole and shoved barely rooted transplants(from Dixie cup to 1 gallon pot maybe 5 days)into this and then began to run another gallon or two through this slurry mix...again, I am horrified and just staring quietly...so he gets done and asks me what wrong...I said look man, you are my asking my opinion, so I'm going to give it to you...EVERYTHING is wrong about what you just did...he said...how so?
So I had to explain to someone who can never begin to understand because he won't listen...but...he wanted to use the soil mix so he could just come home from working 12-14hr days 6 days a week and just water...GREAT IDEA..but he cut the mix in half and then ran everything beneficial out of the soil with all of that water...today when I got there, they are wrinkly drooping and cockeyed in the holes ..lol....he broke out his $800 dollar collection of fish poop foop ferts, mixed a hot dose and began dumping that on the plants...with complete run off of a gallon or so through the bottom.
I had to tell him today that we cannot discuss growing anymore...he seemed a bit upset, but I think I was rather polite the whole time only saying something when I was asked...lol...I had to drag him through his last grow kicking and screaming and it turned out pretty good despite him and his "experience"...but hey, it's his grow and he can do what he wants...just thought you all might find this as curious as I did.
I've given him horticulture books, articles, written instructions...I might as well have sent it to him in Egyptian Hieroglyphs.
Organics is not for everyone...some people are not happy unless they are weighing, measuring, waiting for lockout to clear up, treating cal mag def, bug infestations etc.

I think people tend to get overly concerned about runoff in organics. If it was such a big deal, how would plants survive outside in pots when it rains?

However, I doubt he's gonna be able to pull off a water-only grow without adding some solids (compost and dry amendments), especially in 5-gallon pots. If he had mixed a cup or two of tomato tone into each of those pots, he'd be a lot better off...

pro-mix mycorrhizae hp, shake&feed, rain water.

But I'm all in with you on the super-saturated soil being a bad thing

weedstoner420 said:

I think people tend to get overly concerned about runoff in organics. If it was such a big deal, how would plants survive outside in pots when it rains?

However, I doubt he's gonna be able to pull off a water-only grow without adding some solids (compost and dry amendments), especially in 5-gallon pots. If he had mixed a cup or two of tomato tone into each of those pots, he'd be a lot better off...

Click to expand...

He was going to have to topdress at 25 days and at 40 days...but that would be as easy as watering...it's not measuring, buffering, waiting, adjusting, adding etc...my point is...he is missing the point and if he was just going to dump a bunch of foop on it...why did you buy the fox farms soils when just promix would have sufficed?...he asked for my advice and help...and as I said...despite his best efforts to thwart me at every turn...I dragged him through his last grow...but I already went through the dumbass phase of my growing years...thinking the more you do, the more it gets, the better it will be...not the case...I'm at the point where it's just my soil mix with Dr Earth, then 2 topdressess to go through flowering and chop it down and hang it when it's done on a regular turn around...I can spend 3 days a week in the grow room at a minimum and max is whatever you choose...anyways...thank you all for your replies.
I also haven't spent $100 in 5 or more years to grow my plants...he wanted to learn a cheaper method too since in the last year he has spent thousands on this n that ferts and everything in between.

If hes a total amateur and wants only water tell him to get a much bigger pot, fill it with amendments and there you go. 30- 40gal pot for 2 plants, short veg. I bet that would go through all the way. But then again watering would be a btch for him mehhh

I run hydro with non organic nutes and i add mycos and bacteria and they dont die soo you can run both mixed it will work.once i added too much of them and they grew soo much i had to change my whole res they raised my ph too much.i lower the ph and next day it would spike back up

amneziaHaze said:

I run hydro with non organic nutes and i add mycos and bacteria and they dont die soo you can run both mixed it will work.once i added too much of them and they grew soo much i had to change my whole res they raised my ph too much.i lower the ph and next day it would spike back up

Click to expand...

Exactly my point...why would you fuck with that shit when you can simply make a soil mix, dump any water on it and then top dress it twice through the grow cycle until you are done...no fuss, no muss...he wanted something simple but made it so complicated