Grow medium for Beginner

A good soil will work best for you. Dwc is kinda easy as a beginner but not as hands off as quality soil. Avoid other soilless grows for now. I’m learning that the hard way atm. My first grow was dwc, it went well, but I wanted to be involved.

Shit, dollar sign makes the numbers disapear. i spend about 30 dollars per year on fertilizer. the 25lbs for part a and cal nitrate are 50 - 75 and 30 - 50 us dollars. The 8lbs epsom should be 7 or 8 us dollars. Initial expense is little over 100. it'll last you multiple years.

oops == for the estimate, i do about 30 plants per year. fewer now, but also more wasteful with me watering.. to per year on fertilizer... guarantee it's the cheapest and highest quality you will find. (primarily because the ingredients are ubiquitous commodiies that don't really vary in quality, lol, don't buy magic!)

fool proof == Soilless grow and hydro nutes. simply fertigate with some minimal runoff and hit cruise control. Jack's Nutrients Part A 5-12-26 hydro is an excellent base. - for 25 lbs Calcium Nitrate 15-0-0 - this can be any generic brand. - for 25lbs Epsom Salt (magnesium sulfate, foodgrade) - any generic brand, like walmart's "Equate" brand. 8lbs for - They offer smaller 1kg options, but you pay a lot more per lbs. If you buy bulk to start, you won't have to buy more until you've used over 3000 gallons of fertilizer, and the shelf life on these dry ferts is 30 or more years. I do about 30-40 plants per year. it took me 4 years to go through the first 25lbs of Part A. I still had 8lbs of calcium nitrate leftover. the 8lbs epsom bags run out with Part A. i'd suggest bumping P a bit from what their base 3-part setup provides but other than that should be able to hit the ground running with near-perfect results your first grow. I use triple superphosphate 0-46-0 in addition to the above. The problem with this option is that you have to grind it up to improve solubility, which is only 90%. The other three items above are all 100% soluble. If you do automated irrigation you'll need a micron mesh on the intake, but you should have one of those anyway, so no big deal. This 4th item isn't necessary, but not a bad idea either. There are other options to boost P 10% to 20% above what the above provides. Mix 650-750 ppm and fertigate everytime with 10% runoff - waste water can be used outside or toss down drain. do not use runoff water on potted plants, and don't let it sit in a puddle. Minor adjustments to nutrient formula relative to local environment and the pace of growth it allows from the plant. Jack's has an excellent ratio to start, so it's just a mater of adjusting overall concentration relative to a few weeks of observation. I bet you don't change it more than 10% from instructions. What's great about starting this way is tha you can easily transition to hydro, if you want. These nutes will work in soil, if you change directions, too. I've got 4 years of tracking ppms with this setup. i've got an easy to use ppm calculator in my google drive link - check my growdiaries profile main page. sort comments by date and should be at the top. there's a leaf chart in there and some other useful things if you want to download them, too. you cannot edit anything online. so if you want it, you have to download it to use the spreadhseet. it was made with openoffice calc. it is an incredibly simple spreadsheet and any program out there should be able to open it / convert it.

Decide if you want to grow in Soil "living medium" or Soilless "with or without a medium eg, coir and peat vs DWC" Then decide your nutrients. I found Soil easy as a beginner, some find this harder as you can't control some inputs into it. I also picked dry amendments as my feed vs liquid options. Good Luck!

It makes no dif if they're autos or photos. Roots are roots. Food is food Pot size from the start plays a role. But, as far as sub genes. I've never heard that Yes, you can get a all in 1 for autos that'll bring you through all of veg. But, as far as sub. It'll come down to your style of growing. How hands on/off you wanna be. A good nutrient rich soil will push you through till 3-5 wks. (Pot size will again play a part as to how far she'll go) as the bigger the pot. The more sub = more nutrition soil. Real free to Mes me if you wanna talk in depth about subs and what'll be needed nutrient wise. (That's when I don't have a 7hr ban)

Okay. Depending on nutrients you want to use. Plagron have a full list of promix (No EC value, worm castings for rapid growth) Royal mix (you'll get a few weeks before nutrients needed) so, I'd say. Go for something that'll help you push into good shape. And then you take it from there. Their natural line With some of their other products work great. I've had plants leave the seedling stage this round from 5-7 days. All other 50 girls grown before took anywhere from 9-12 days. Good Growing

I am not a complete beginner, I have grown auto flowers in soil, with questionable results, but never had experience with photo periods. On this grow I have new light and tent, so want to try it out. I have SF 300w light in 90x90cm tent, RQS seeds.