Cheap soil help

[Growinfo2323]

Hello this is my first ever grow. my friend has his medical card but cant grow where he is so im his caregiver. This initial grow is mostly for experiance so i am going cheap and will then upgrade my equipment.
Grow info,
ive built a 2ft x 2ft box 3ft high. Will be using 8-26watt cfl's. General hydro florabloom gro and micro nutes.
Im growing 2 autoflower nothern light plants.

My question is im just using plain cheap potting soil as ive heard you dont want mg with time released nutes. Is there anything cheap i should add to the soil to help. Key word cheap. Or will it be ok by itself until i start with the nutes. Im starting from seed.

Thanks for any advice

 

[Asbestos4u]

You get out what you put in. If you can’t get down with that concept, stick to buying your meds from a club…

No disrespect intended.

 

[Growinfo2323]

You get out what you put in. If you can’t get down with that concept, stick to buying your meds from a club…

No disrespect intended.

Advice...yes
Helpful not exactly. To the best of my knowledge clubs are not legal in michigan.
As the post says this is my first grow, for exp.
Ive never grown and I dont smoke. Im a total newb ive done a bunch of reading but nothing replaces experiance. Just trying to help a friend out he pays 3 bills an oz. once I get the hang of it all im asking is for enough to cover my expenses and power. In return I get a new hobby.

So im looking for helpful advice. Like add this or add that or there is no way to substitute good soil. If you cant get down with that concept dont post.

No disrespect intended.

 

[sealed138]

Buy a small bag of earthworm castings, and a small bag of bat guano. If it seems "muddy" (won't drain well) you can add some perlite. That should help.

 

[Growinfo2323]

Thank you sealed

 

[TheCheshireCat]

hmmm as far as cheapo dirt goes i used to like to use omri version of black gold soil back in the day these days you want to make sure you get the omri version , the one w/ the orange / yellow flower on the bag and maybe even toss in an hand full of cheapo organic veggie fert or worm castings what ever ya like.... and yer pretty much good to go till it out grows the pot.... but really for just a couple bucks more you could have so much better dirt with a MUCH bigger spectrum of different kinds of goodies in it. I like to mix a few commercial soils together with organic soilless medium and i add tea brews to the mix , but everyone has there own little mix you will find yours :D .

 

[Growinfo2323]

Thanks for info Cat

 

[beast]

been growing and still getting better!

I use mg soil flushed !!! add perlite/i use pur mineral pur filter for ALL watering this keeps out unwanted minerals /even in well systems... and goes on fascet / PH ALL your water.. I use lemmon juice to lower my ph for all watering 6.4-6.8 use no less then 3 gal. buckets/ your girls will like as much room as posible to spread her roots/ i also seen a huge difference adding co2 to your small area i really like EXHALE home grown co2 bags....take them out of box and sit in room ...no fire or elec. needed/ I use a ph & fert. meter to adjust before watering, youll feel like a chemist! / if you use a soil blend with time release fert., i would flush plenty with PHed water,no fert. at this time,check soil for ph before u plant, start them right/if sticking to cfl,s remember that 6500k good for veg.(day lite) & 3000-3200k for flowering(soft light) give both for color mix to mostly flowering light near end/ fert. will drive you nuts all kinds out there and aditives/ if going for auto,s only , i used 5-10-5 on mine since they go into flowering within weeks if sowing,switch to a flowering fert 1-8-4 to 0-10-8/ dont over water & FLUSH!!! ive learned lot in this site & you will too. also I use sweet(BOTANICARE)AND SUCANANT PURE CANE sugar at most to all waterings..flush at end 2x bucket size for last two weeks with phed water sugar and sweet only allow to dry some and flush again& again YOU WILL NOT BE SORRY flushing takes out fert. & nutr. for sweet smelling & tasteing bud ,or your bud will be harsh & crackle & pop & fiss from the left over nutrs./ keep in total darkness for at lease 24 hours - 48 hours before harvest........... BEST OF LUCK !
BEAST

 

[OctoberDee]

Buy a small bag of earthworm castings, and a small bag of bat guano. If it seems "muddy" (won't drain well) you can add some perlite. That should help.

ˆˆˆˆAgree

I'd say next time skip that miracle crap. Good organic soil is cheap from like a local garden store and so are worm castings and perlite. These should be staples to your process. Mix the soil and perlite 50/50 then add some worm castings. Too much worm castings is not that good, use just about a quarter to your 50/50 soil and perlite. Also you can make teas with worm castings and bat guano which is a great organic fertilizer in veg and flower. Save your friend and do him/her justice, use all organics and no MG stuff (it's poisonous and geared toward a lazy gardener). Also, buy a large CFL bulb and just use that one (), maybe supplement with 1 or 2 26w CFLs. 8 26 watt CFLs in that tiny space is gonna cook your plants, they'll produce too much heat. Make sure you have a little air blowing with a little desk fan. That and water, you should be good. I wouldn't expect too much out of that tiny space but might as well rock it.

You can check out my little space if you want:

 

[bckushinator]

cheap soil=big problems with ph ....ive lost a few plants due to the fact i bought cheap ass soil.. if you absolutely have to ..make sure you check ph alot ...adding dolomite lime to bring up ph if needed and other products for down..and also adding perlite keeps the soil nicee

 

[MI_MMMP_420]

fox farm ocean forest and happy frog mix. My plants love it