First indoor grow, have a few issues, help would be great! :)

[smokeymcpot]

Okay, this is my first indoor grow, pretty confined closet set-up, growing with HPS bulb. Basically I read somewhere that you could grow in straight Vermiculite, which I have, and the plants are about 2 weeks past sprouting.. Just wondering about the yellowing and kinda slight brown spotting. Tried using a very dilute Miracle Gro plant food once or twice, maybe that's the problem..? Very new to this, so any advice would be great..

 

Edited November 3, 2008 by smokeymcpot

[ijustdontcare]

u shouldnt use straight vermiculite that stuff is shit. Repot it in perlite, coco or soil looks like its been overwatered just repot and use water for a while dont over feed it only needs one lite feed a day

[smokeymcpot]

hey cheers, appreciate the hasty reply.. I had a feeling the vermiculite idea was a bad one.. but with all the different soil brands out there I wasn't sure which one to go for.. any advice on a soil brand I should go for.. all the grow guides on the net seem American and hence American soil brands.. any decent aussie equivalents? And repotting.. should I just basically dig a hole in the top of the soil and plant what I'm guessing is the root mass or ball with the vermiculite straight in.. then water with a ph balanced mix.. or go a little weak miracle-gro solution, or just leave it once it's been repotted?

[TheTreeBoundRat]

IMO the better medium is straight coco. Vermiculite holds way to much water and cant breath. Good luck and welcome Smokey. RR

[smokeymcpot]

Hey, appreciate the advice and the welcome riverrat, look forward to becoming a regular poster I'm sure.. .. I've done a little searching round.. looking at posts.. working things out.. or at least trying to.. Basically I've read that a worm castings and coco peat mix is a good way to go, and reading up a little on the worm castings, it looks like they're a great source of nutrients etc. probably go with this.. but I guess at the end of the day it's all about experimenting right? Either way, appreciate the advice, and have a great night!

[WantDaChronic]

vermiculite can be grown in, its just a fussy bitch compared to other mediums.

personally i think your problem is using miracle grow. that nutrient was designed to be used on soil for starters and more importantly when it was made cannabis wasnt even a consideration...what you need is a hydoponic nutrient, something like canna, dutchmaster, etc. which was not only designed for use in mediums other than soil, in most cases they were made with cannabis in mind too.

 

When it comes to soil lots of aussie growers will swear by the dynamic lifter brand. its meant to have alot of nutrients and be a high quality soil in general that will keep plants going for a while, but the reality is that no single brand of soil will give the plants everything they need. eventually you'll have to buy nutrients and while you could get away with using miracle grow for those plants, i would recommend using a better one like canna terra or virtually any coco specific nutrient at 1/2 strength

 

so my advice to you would be to spend $35 or so on some really good nutrients. it might seem like a big investment, but the end result will speak for itself when you pull 5-10x what you would using shitty nutrients

[smokeymcpot]

Appreciate your response chronic.. Searching here and there on the forum, I kinda struggled to find a decent soil medium listed, so that's a great help.. and as for the nutrients, I'll have more of a look into it, basically I think it's more of a case of total inexperience, so thanks, appreciate great forums like this, people in the know with speedy replies.. thanks again

[smokinjoe]

I'd be inclined to flush her on the next watering, and possibly with a weak dose of epsom salts in the water.

 

What do you intend to transplant her to?

[LOGGER_KING]

most strains these days have been force fed in hydro set ups,......like most vegies these days ,,,they cant eat up heaps of nutrients'''''I would mix a good potting mix or even better, a planting mix with a few other things and feed it every week with a good nute(not Miracle Gro ).........Miracle Gro has a great name ,but thats it,,,,,i still have a box in the shed from about 10 or more years ago...its the worst i have used....................this way if there not getting something from the weekly dose they can find it from the soil

[smokeymcpot]

Appreciate the extra advice Smokin and Loggerking.. to answer your question first Smokin, I'm considering transplanting into a mixture of both worm castings and coco peat (any advice on this would be appreciated, is this a good option for an indoor closet grow? after doing a little reading, seems so..) and I thought I might go with either Canna Terra Veg for the nutrients, or I think they do a dedicated coco nutrient too.. though again, a little unsure of which to go with as it's basically a worm-castings (which I presume is basically nutrient rich soil) AND coco peat mix.. ie. which nutrient do I go with.. canna terra veg = soil nutrient, or canna's coco A+B = coco peat? Again, any help would be greatly appreciated, and thank you again those who've replied with advice.. cheers!