Is soil easier?

I have been growing with coco and general hydro Flora series for at least 2 years now. I seem to run into trouble almost every grow. My recent plant just started pushing nanners. Ffs I'm beyond frustrated. So I have been thinking about switching to soil. Is this a little easier to control, grow in? More consistent? I appreciate any opinions.

Soil can be more forgiving. Lots of good options (i like happy frog for example).

W81 said:

I have been growing with coco and general hydro Flora series for at least 2 years now. I seem to run into trouble almost every grow. My recent plant just started pushing nanners. Ffs I'm beyond frustrated. So I have been thinking about switching to soil. Is this a little easier to control, grow in? More consistent? I appreciate any opinions.

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I've never done coco, but I've done hydro nft, lp aero, and dwc in the past. I'm growing soil with salt nutes now because I feel like I can be a little lazier about it. Not as much time involved in overseeing everything. No risk of pumps failing. No big pH swings. Soil acts as a pretty good pH buffer. Water every two of three days. Soil has not been as productive for me as hydro though.

I've been thinking about setting up some coco with a drip system to see how I like it.

Fox farm is what I was interested in. I over think way to much and fry myself out. Trying without adding my own nutes might be easier for me and better for my grows

W81 said:

Fox farm is what I was interested in. I over think way to much and fry myself out. Trying without adding my own nutes might be easier for me and better for my grows

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You're going to have to add your own nutes after a couple weeks. I use FFOF. I transplant well rooted clones that have been veging in solo cups for a few weeks into 3gal buckets with FFOF. They're hungry after 2 to 3 weeks. Then I use GH nutes plus some supplements. Don't think you're not going to have to feed.

I feel like coco is super simple once you figure it out. If you manage your pH and EC there isn't much else to it as long as you feed to significant runoff.

Coco for the win.

Sips and Dr Earth dry ammendments. I mix in ammendments with the soil in a tote before putting it in the sip. Then when I flip, I top dress and scratch in the dry ammendments again. Other than that, it's just filling up the reservoirs with water every couple of days. There is a solid few hours of work in between cycles cleaning the sip and reammending the soil, but its cruise control after that

Thank you guys. Still weighing it out. I do like coco. I measure everything in and out. I just can't get the nutes right. Seems like all the measurements I add are too much or too little. Tried so many different ways. How much of each to you guys usually add for coco? I was at 4ml bloom, 2.5m grow and think the same for micro and calmag in flower.

Try this feeding schedule.

Or........you can just use the Lucas formula for coco..........6ml micro - 9ml bloom. No grow.

Hempy

Soil is no easier or harder than coco. It's different that's for sure. Both can be mastered. Jacks 5-12-26 and calcium nitrate or something similar is pretty foolproof with coco. I'd ditch the bottled nutrients and go with dry. But I'm not a fan of bottled nutrients and have been using nothing but dry for 15 years. Some use GH MaxiBloom from start to finish and do great.

MickFoster said:

Try this feeding schedule.
View attachment 4939580
Or........you can just use the Lucas formula for coco..........6ml micro - 9ml bloom. No grow.

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Thank you! I believe I tried something similar. Anything 4ml it burns the tips. The ppms were coming out crazy high.

W81 said:

Thank you! I believe I tried something similar. Anything 4ml it burns the tips. The ppms were coming out crazy high.

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I also use dry salts. If you go that route get a scale.

Are you measuring your feed EC and pH before feeding your plants? What are you feeding at? If you are following the companies nutrients schedule and it's too high then dilute it with water to a proper EC level for the plants.

twentyeight.threefive said:

I also use dry salts. If you go that route get a scale.

Are you measuring your feed EC and pH before feeding your plants? What are you feeding at?

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I measure ph and ppm every feeding. I cant remember off the top of my head The exact measurements.

I tried the organic soil route, fox farm and making my own it was a disaster. Coco is much easier for me.

I’m at the home stretch of my first grow using both soil and coir, and I found coco to be much easier aside from daily watering.

Ffof was hit or miss for me. The first bag was fine but the second screwed with my plants for two weeks after transplanting into it. Plus it’s basically just like coir after the nutes run out.

The control you have with coir just makes it so much easier imo.

Im a soil grower.

This year I turned away from bottled nutes and went with dr earth dry ammendments.

Easiest thing i can think of.

Mix a cup per 10 gallons of soil into the top 1 inch of soil and water with the hose.

Dont have to worry about adding nutes for a month after doing that. Water once every 3 days or so.

My issue with coco is having to water daily. I just dont have the time nor patience for it.

This:

It says it's for autos, but it works well on photos too.

My first grow I ran two plants in FFOF and tap water only (Dr Earth dry amendments for the other plants in the tent).
The FFOF / water only plants came out pretty good - so I learned that *** nutes are not necessary *** to get yourself some smoke that compares well with SoCal dispensaries.
The plants that were fed the amendments were noticeably larger and frostier - so I adopted that for a couple grows.
The last two grows I decided to try the GH Trio (I like them so far).

Current grow is in 5g fabric pots - FFOF / GH Trio (following the label on the bottles).
- Last feeding was 3 Tsp of Bloom / Gal of tap water - 2 days ago - tonight will most likely be the same.
- I have a slight N tox in my Herijuana, so I cut the Gro & Micro until it resolves.
--- I avoid "pushing" my plants, focusing instead on healthy plants. I've been pretty happy with the results so far.

fwiw - I chose soil for its simplicity and since then have approached nutrients with caution - I've read too many "fried my plants!" threads! - I'm interested in hydro, but soil suits me for now (maybe octopots?)

- RIU, The Troll Army, and a few other friends & forums have been invaluable guides. Use them!
Read all the soil threads you can find - emulate a successful method and tune it to your needs.
ENJOY!

Lockedin said:

This:

FFOF ( Fox Farms Ocean Forest ) made Simple - Autoflower

This thread was created to help those who seem to overthink the ease of use of this highly ammended bag soil. I see many growers both new and experienced seem to post “ issues “ when trying to run this medium. I am merely showing a simple no frills method of container / bag grows for autos...

www.rollitup.org

It says it's for autos, but it works well on photos too.

My first grow I ran two plants in FFOF and tap water only (Dr Earth dry amendments for the other plants in the tent).
The FFOF / water only plants came out pretty good - so I learned that *** nutes are not necessary *** to get yourself some smoke that compares well with SoCal dispensaries.
The plants that were fed the amendments were noticeably larger and frostier - so I adopted that for a couple grows.
The last two grows I decided to try the GH Trio (I like them so far).

Current grow is in 5g fabric pots - FFOF / GH Trio (following the label on the bottles).
- Last feeding was 3 Tsp of Bloom / Gal of tap water - 2 days ago - tonight will most likely be the same.
- I have a slight N tox in my Herijuana, so I cut the Gro & Micro until it resolves.
--- I avoid "pushing" my plants, focusing instead on healthy plants. I've been pretty happy with the results so far.

fwiw - I chose soil for its simplicity and since then have approached nutrients with caution - I've read too many "fried my plants!" threads! - I'm interested in hydro, but soil suits me for now (maybe octopots?)

- RIU, The Troll Army, and a few other friends & forums have been invaluable guides. Use them!
Read all the soil threads you can find - emulate a successful method and tune it to your needs.
ENJOY!

Click to expand...

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