I’ve been straggling on starting my first marijuana plant I have no idea that planting would be this complicated, a lot of things to consider. I’m trying to grow this .I decided to grow my own just for personal use and it’s been very effective on treating my chronic back pain
Welcome!
I think this is a good start. Give these guys some more info on your plan… indoor/outdoor? soil/soilless?
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What questions you got?
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We’re all just a dm away let er rip
Hello community,
Starting to layout a plan can someone recommend a solid ph/nutrient meter? Ive had some experience with the bluelab combo meter, i have heard that people who have used commonly have 2-3 meters just to detect any variation and get an average.
I know that the meter is perhaps one of these most important tools in a growers toolbox.
Peace and love yall thanks for your time.
P.s. this would be a personal indo setup, if thats relevant
So, I may get a lot of push back, but if your growing in soil, you can get away with el cheapo ph meter. I’d actually suggest starting in soil before moving to anything else.
If you find a good nute mix, you don’t even really need to worry about ppm’s. Just start light and work your way up.
I’ll say from personal experience, less is more. K.I.S.S., etc.
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Blue lab ph doser
Blue lab connect
Blue lab anything is generally quality
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I havent ph’ed in years… just grow in some good soil. Get yourself a worm bed, a bokashi bin and start recyling ur extra food scraps. Go out and pick all your nutrients from the wild and ferment it, i havent had any sort of data reading on my grows in a couple of years, just organic, natural and KNF based.
I use a compost tea almost everytime i feed and have well water that pumps through blumat carrots, they keep a perfect moisture level in my soil, its kinda stupid proof lol
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KISS is the best motto to follow when growing. I grow in soil and don’t use a single liquid nutrient. Only basic organic inputs each cycle and plain water and microbes gets some of the darkest bud I’ve ever seen. I don’t ph anything, just straight tap to dirt and enjoy the fruits. Doesn’t get much easier than growing with a rich dank soil
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Blue lab is what I use. But you have to calibrate it. I use fox farm soil too… great results…
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Blue lab and hannah are good brands for hydro ph meters. The probe meters for soil are pretty awful. I don’t think a person growing in soil or pro mix needs a meter unless your tap water is one extreme or the other in ph.
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It’s actually waaay easier than you think. There is a lot of info out there but at the end of the day it will still grow very well especially if you get a good strain for your environment(indoor, small tent, large tent, little smell, etc etc etc)
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Wow thank you all for your input.
@Thetetraguy would you have any recommendations for a legit soil that can be sourced in Southern California?
@SpringCreek i will look into fox farm thank you 
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You can get a good seed starting mix off amazon. And I like the happy frog soil from fox farm. They have an ocean forest that people like but it can also burn your plants. With a good soil you won’t need to feed too much but I’d still look at organic fertilizers to mix in when you water to give to your plants 1 one time a week or so and later on down the road you could look into top dressing with organic fertilizers then your own soil mixes and making your own fertilizers. The plant will tell you when something is wrong but it’s a weed so it will grow pretty easily.
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fox farms soils are lacking in my opinion. Most if not all commercial soils I’ve bough come loaded with fungus gnats. I stopped buying dirt for this exact reason and just recycle it each time now. That said, when I first started growing I was using fox farms happy frog with good results (other than gnats).
About 5 years ago I bought some bulk dirt from a local nursery and just continued to add compost, worm castings, rock dusts, etc every few cycles and it’s been going great. Still using the same dirt from 5 years ago, plants have never been better.
I can get amendments at the local greenhouse for far cheaper than a bag of soil will cost.
Electricity aside, I spend maybe $50 per year on growing supplies.
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Agree with clouds fer sure, I use bagged dirt still, but gnats are almost always a problem.
And recycle your dirt too, I didn’t before, I thought it took a huge effort, but I took his advice on recycling and am happy. I don’t use amendments as he does, but my nutes work well enough for a minimal amount of money.
Keep the kiss principle in mind for your grow, it’s easy to go overboard thinking your helping things, but really you’re not. That my best advice for a small personal op.
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The FG are plenty with fox farm dirt. I still use ffof, and have been for 6+yrs. FF reps admitted they put hyposasis miles (good beneficial bug) to eat the fg. They look like a spider mite, but move 10x as fast.
And my nute line is technaflora. Its 6-7 bottles, but works for me.
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Anybody ever try strawberry fields from ff?
Also, when I do need dirt, it’s either ff happy frog or roots organics.
I’ve read good things about technaflora.
I use mega crop personally, granular nute that’s hard to overfeed with.
Keep asking questions man, you’ve found a subject we’re all happy to share information on.
A lot of guys here are killing it on their ops, take advantage of their advice
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oh yeah i forgot about roots dirt. I was buying their 707 for a while years back because it was fairly cheap compared to FF and you got like 3ft^3 of it vs like 2 or whatever you get with FF. The gnats suck with 707 too though, almost worst than FF in my experience. I found it grew better bud on its own. (I wasn’t amending then or using nutes either).
Not sure if this is around for everyone, but there are many “soil builders” out there in your local nursery that work absolutely amazing for recycling your spent soil.
Each cycle I mix in around 40-50% of something like that, then some bone meal/high phosphorus bird guano. Once or twice a year I toss in some rock dust (azomite, soft rock phosphate, greensand, gypsum, some other random stuff I have that I can’t remember off hand).
The dirt I have going has been used for over 5 years now… Beats the hell out of the days when I’d have to find ways to dispose of it.
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