First grow soil questions - Coast of Maine Stonington Platinum

Hey All,

Just moved the sprouted seeds into soil yesterday (solo's), doing 6 auto and 3 photo. The grow shop recommended using Coast of Maine Stonington Platinum. They stated the soil contains enough nuts for the complete grow. According to CoM's site "When growing in 15 gallon containers, there is no need for additional nutrients".

The plan was to take the autos from solo to 3g and photo solo/3g/5g.

Seeing how there are many threads about adding nutes, I'm questioning their comments on this.

Once you've done a harvest in the soil, is it usually tossed and start with fresh soil, or reuse it adding nutes?

Thanks.

It all depends on what you wanna do that's a lot of soil to be moving around and a big container I'm guessing your growing outside? Also ive refueled soil with micro and macro nutes and I've found if your not familiar with them it's a bit tricky to get the pH right and the amount down to a science so for the trouble it's better to just start over with fresh. Pluss you would spend a lot of money on the nutes anyways from bat guano to worm castings and the ferts you choose to use you'll end up regretting not just changing it out. Oh aslo what's the cost for that much soil? I guess sum it all up to what it's gonna cost you and how much trouble you wanna go through doing it...

I am kinda curious to how much your growing and how long a veg period for a pot that size bc I have 6 in 1 gal pots 8 weeks veg and 6-8 weeks flower and had no problems I'll send pics of the finished buds when home

Turbonyg said:

Hey All,

Just moved the sprouted seeds into soil yesterday (solo's), doing 6 auto and 3 photo. The grow shop recommended using Coast of Maine Stonington Platinum. They stated the soil contains enough nuts for the complete grow. According to CoM's site "When growing in 15 gallon containers, there is no need for additional nutrients".

The plan was to take the autos from solo to 3g and photo solo/3g/5g.

Seeing how there are many threads about adding nutes, I'm questioning their comments on this.

Once you've done a harvest in the soil, is it usually tossed and start with fresh soil, or reuse it adding nutes?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Soil can be reused after a grow if there were no bug infestations or fungal/mold infections without any additional treatment. If there were bug and mold problems you can sterilize your soil by placing it in one of those aluminum turkey pans and baking it until the soil reaches 180°F. That's usually about 30 minutes on the lowest setting.

Guydude1991 said:

It all depends on what you wanna do that's a lot of soil to be moving around and a big container I'm guessing your growing outside? Also ive refueled soil with micro and macro nutes and I've found if your not familiar with them it's a bit tricky to get the pH right and the amount down to a science so for the trouble it's better to just start over with fresh. Plus you would spend a lot of money on the nutes anyways from bat guano to worm castings and the ferts you choose to use you'll end up regretting not just changing it out. Oh also what's the cost for that much soil? I guess sum it all up to what it's gonna cost you and how much trouble you wanna go through doing it...

I am kinda curious to how much your growing and how long a veg period for a pot that size bc I have 6 in 1 gal pots 8 weeks veg and 6-8 weeks flower and had no problems I'll send pics of the finished buds when home

Click to expand...

Yes, once I added it up, it is a lot of soil. I would like to keep things as simple as I can while maximizing yield best I can from the soil/pot standpoint.

The Maine soil listed that I'm started with is $25/1.5cf (grow shop). I have since found Fox Farms Ocean Forest for $17/1.5cf (Blaines Hardware- not sure how much is at the grow shop). If I can complete a grow in the soil without having to add nutes (unless there's an issue that arises), then I'm fine doing that and using new soil each time.

I'm doing this indoors in a 7x7x7 space. I started 9 seeds total, but so far only 3 have poked through the soil (after 24hrs), so I don't know final count yet. 6 of the seeds are autos with a 45-55 day flowering time. I don't know how long of veg time they have before flowering. The other 3 are photo's that I was planning to veg until the auto were harvested, then switch them to flowering, so I'm guessing 3 month veg on these. The plan was to take the autos from solo to 3g and photo from solo/3g/5g. This was based on various reading and advice from 2 different grow shops. I'm ok doing smaller final pots if these are larger than needed as I'd rather not waste soil.

Turbonyg said:

Yes, once I added it up, it is a lot of soil. I would like to keep things as simple as I can while maximizing yield best I can from the soil/pot standpoint.

The Maine soil listed that I'm started with is $25/1.5cf (grow shop). I have since found Fox Farms Ocean Forest for $17/1.5cf (Blaines Hardware- not sure how much is at the grow shop). If I can complete a grow in the soil without having to add nutes (unless there's an issue that arises), then I'm fine doing that and using new soil each time.

I'm doing this indoors in a 7x7x7 space. I started 9 seeds total, but so far only 3 have poked through the soil (after 24hrs), so I don't know final count yet. 6 of the seeds are autos with a 45-55 day flowering time. I don't know how long of veg time they have before flowering. The other 3 are photo's that I was planning to veg until the auto were harvested, then switch them to flowering, so I'm guessing 3 month veg on these. The plan was to take the autos from solo to 3g and photo from solo/3g/5g. This was based on various reading and advice from 2 different grow shops. I'm ok doing smaller final pots if these are larger than needed as I'd rather not waste soil.

Click to expand...

I'm using Fox farm Happy frog and fox farm ocean Forest I start in the Happy frog and up pot into the ocean Forest and no nutes have been added at all which has been seemingly pretty well but you might want to add some lime to the mix the pH is pretty low and calcium and magnesium became a problem after about three months and I've also found less is more with everything to do with growing marijuana you don't need giant pots for giant plants unless you're going to veg for a very long time before flower and nutrients are only good for people who are looking for Mass growing for selling and have the cash flow for running an entire grow opp from co2 to 1000$ a PC's lights and the small people trying to get familiar with using them. Honestly just think with everything your about to encounter that less is more. The less you look at your plants the more they grow.
The less you try to add to your plant the better they grow.
The only aspect of less is more that is incorrect would be your lighting make sure you have a good light source good soil and a good genetic seed and you can't go wrong. Have fun bud and post pictures feel free to tag me in them...

Ohh and heres a plain old soil grow with a 600wt marshydro quantum board and ffof and ffhg sorry for the quality of the photo it's off my camera a photo of a photo lol but you get the point.. when you get good at growing with nothing then start to switch things up and read harvesting and curing on this site there's a good article that will help you out a lot bc that's the trickyeER part of the entire thing ..

Lol sorry but stay away from autos if you wanna big plant bro they are small and you can't play with the forces of nature when it's ready it is ready that's all I got lol sorry for rambling on high...#lit

Guydude1991 said:

I'm using Fox farm Happy frog and fox farm ocean Forest I start in the Happy frog and up pot into the ocean Forest and no nutes have been added at all which has been seemingly pretty well but you might want to add some lime to the mix the pH is pretty low and calcium and magnesium became a problem after about three months.

Click to expand...

Any particular reason for the switch in soil? I'm guessing it has to do with the nute differences, but seems early in the plant cycle to need a change.

and I've also found less is more with everything to do with growing marijuana you don't need giant pots for giant plants unless you're going to veg for a very long time before flower and nutrients are only good for people who are looking for Mass growing for selling.

The less you try to add to your plant the better they grow.

The only aspect of less is more that is incorrect would be your lighting make sure you have a good light source good soil and a good genetic seed and you can't go wrong. Have fun bud and post pictures feel free to tag me in them...

Click to expand...

Yes, I'm trying to keep the first couple grows as simple as possible. What size pot are you finishing in? Since you mentioned needing to add stuff at about the 3 month mark, that's when the autos should be ready to harvest, so I "should" be ok in just the soil.

Lol sorry but stay away from autos if you wanna big plant bro they are small and you can't play with the forces of nature when it's ready it is ready

Click to expand...

The reason for the autos is more for the shorter start/finish time. I'd rather be able to get ~2 complete grows in the time it would take for 1 photo grow (based on what I've read). I'm not to the point of worrying about monster plants, more concerned with completing a couple successful grows before getting deeper into it. Then I can focus on bigger plants and training.

I'm starting with 2 of these lights, but plan to build some Bridgelux LED strips along the way once I research all the parts more.

Okay so I'm going to reply to all three of your responses in one message to simplify things first I will touch base on your light as far as lights go on Amazon I typically stay away from anything that has to advertise the Watts it outputs most of those lights say 1800 watts but don't actually put out that wattage or even come close to equaling the output I liked the quantum boards for and all in one system full spectrum and if you're getting 2 of those I'll send a link in this message at the end to something you should invest in. As for my grows pot size typically I start in Solo cups until they're about a foot tall then I go into a 1 gallon pot from there I wait until I see the roots out the bottom and I give it about a week from that point till I switch to a 3-gallon or sometimes even go straight to a 5 gallon depending on the type of Bud if you're using autos you shouldn't have a problem finishing in a 3-gallon for photo a 5 gallon is ideal and if you're going to go big go from A 3 to a 10 gallon right away because it's a bitch to repot into something so big and I can promise you you're going to have a hell of a time trying to pot up from anything bigger than a 3-gallon I've done 5 gallons before but I don't recommend the struggle but as I said typically you're not going to need anything bigger than a 5-gallon bucket unless you're going to go extreme veg period now to touch base on what I meant with the soil I started adding calcium and magnesium after 3 months of growing because my plant started to show deficiencies for it. Also I start seeds out into a fox farm Happy frog soil because it's a healthy soil for seedlings and germs it's not too hot of a soil and promotes good root development then I pot up into Fox farm ocean Forest because it's high and nutrients a little hot of a mix but has a good pH balance and everything you need for your grow already in it by the time you get through flower and ready to harvest you're not going to need anything but I suggested feeding calcium and magnesium to any grow everything else you will learn along the way like macro-nutrients bat guano and worm castings natural organic macronutrients are great for your soil and help it thrive. Everything else is pretty much a basic hurry up and wait situation and there are a lot of people on here who will help you when harvest time comes don't be too urgent to pick your buds and don't be too late there becomes a point where you will see exactly where you like the bud you grow to be for your personal smoke other than that happy growing my friend.
Look up quantum board led grow lights and read reviews on them hlg is great marshydro s getting good and I love the new boards they put out and also spider farmer is good

And like I said it's not about the size of the pot it's about the bud inside the pot young grasshopper....

Yes that is a half gallon of soil with a full flowering three foot tall plant almost ready to harvest have fun learn and you too young grasshopper will evolve

Thanks for all of the input. I do have a habit of over thinking projects at the start, so this gives me a good plan for this run then can make adjustments on the next one.

No problem bro take care

Turbonyg said:

Hey All,

Just moved the sprouted seeds into soil yesterday (solo's), doing 6 auto and 3 photo. The grow shop recommended using Coast of Maine Stonington Platinum. They stated the soil contains enough nuts for the complete grow. According to CoM's site "When growing in 15 gallon containers, there is no need for additional nutrients".

The plan was to take the autos from solo to 3g and photo solo/3g/5g.

Seeing how there are many threads about adding nutes, I'm questioning their comments on this.

Once you've done a harvest in the soil, is it usually tossed and start with fresh soil, or reuse it adding nutes?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

That soil is nice stuff, but expensive. If you're into diy, make your own. My water only soil has a lot of the same ingredients. For the cost of 6 bags of that bag blend, you could mix up probably twice as much or more. If you have the room to mix and store, I highly recommend making your own.

natureboygrower said:

That soil is nice stuff, but expensive. If you're into diy, make your own. My water only soil has a lot of the same ingredients. For the cost of 6 bags of that bag blend, you could mix up probably twice as much or more. If you have the room to mix and store, I highly recommend making your own.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input, I wasn't sure about the soil when I was being sold it. Have no real idea on soils yet, so went with the recommendation and was a little shocked by the price. It seems Fox Farms is mentioned often and the pallet they had there only had one bag left, so after this bag I'll most likely switch. I think I paid about $25 for the bag and it seems the Fox stuff is around $17-$18. I don't know what my yearly soil consumption will be, and not sure if I want to get into mixing my own soil at this point.

Turbonyg said:

Thanks for the input, I wasn't sure about the soil when I was being sold it. Have no real idea on soils yet, so went with the recommendation and was a little shocked by the price. It seems Fox Farms is mentioned often and the pallet they had there only had one bag left, so after this bag I'll most likely switch. I think I paid about $25 for the bag and it seems the Fox stuff is around $17-$18. I don't know what my yearly soil consumption will be, and not sure if I want to get into mixing my own soil at this point.

Click to expand...

I've heard good things about platinum. I dont blame you for grabbing it from the shop. Of course the shop crew is going to push the most expensive stuff on you lol. If they're anything like the grow store I hardly visit, they'll try and sell you every new product they get. Stay and get your info on this site, you'll be better off. Anyways, I would have grabbed the platinum over the ff as well.There seems to be a discrepancy in quality depending where the fox farm soil is made. I believe I read that on here.
I feel ya on not wanting to get into mixing up your own soil. Not really what you want to dive into starting a grow. If you do, there are a lot of good recipes on here or hmu on pm for a recipe if youd like. It's way less complicated then you might think (1/3 compost, 1/3 peat, I use happy frog soil conditioner,1/3 rice hulls for aeration then all your dry amendments) I do 3cf of each so it makes a lot of soil. You could probably just mix up half the recipe if that was more feasible.
Good luck with your grow, post up some pics. I've used 3-4 different COM products, for cannabis and annuals. I'm curious to see how that platinum does.

I don't have a lot of (cannabis) growing experience under my belt, so I'm hardly an authority, but I don't think you're going to find much difference between high grade soils. I was able to grow a vigorous tent full of plants in Miracle Gro brand dirt, which I chose almost exclusively on the weight of the bag. It was light, and if it hadn't sucked up water sitting out in the rain at the garden center, that was good enough for me.

What I would suggest is growing in fabric pots (basically cheating...just remember to top them off as the dirt settles in), and adding a healthy amount of perlite into the soil, even if it already has some. I didn't bother with my first grow, and in retrospect I see how advantageous it is. I'm going with 20% on the clones I recently repotted. Some people recommend more. However much you use, the addition will help set you up for success. The faster you get a dense ball of roots going, the easier everything else becomes.

Guydude1991 said:

And like I said it's not about the size of the pot it's about the bud inside the pot young grasshopper....

Yes that is a half gallon of soil with a full flowering three foot tall plant almost ready to harvest have fun learn and you too young grasshopper will evolve

Click to expand...

It’s not about the size of the pot lol let’s see you pull over a lb out of that half gallon then master grower

Gt3076r said:

It’s not about the size of the pot lol let’s see you pull over a lb out of that half gallon then master grower

Click to expand...

He never made any claims on how much he was harvesting from the plant in a one gallon pot, just that you can do it. Same as all the solo cup grows posted. The thread has nothing to do with monster plants or growing massive buds.

If you are posting just to start a keyboard war, please do it in your own thread.