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I've seen a lot of people (across social media platforms) make the same mistake I personally made when I started growing, and that is thinking that any soil will be good enough. The idea that heading down to BenBell and picking up whatever they've got is a good idea because "I'm still starting out". In reality, starting out with a good soil will make you see how great growing can be, instead of wondering what's wrong and trying to diagnose the problems that come from bad soil. If I had a PSA to give the new growers it would be: AVOID HEAVILY BARKY SOIL/BARKY POTTING SOIL Particularly avoid the Culterra mixes you find at your local gardening stores. While these bark filled mixes will work for a lot of plants, cannabis is not one of them. They are inherently acidic and the bark causes excessive nitrogen in the soil. The result is that you're left with plants which are getting burnt from the nutrients while being unable to absorb them because of the acidic nature. The result is plants that show both deficiencies and burns in early life, and rarely grow bigger than a ruler. There is a striking similarity between almost all of the plants which are unlucky enough to be placed into these mixes. I've grabbed some other people's images from social media just to show how uniform the problems tend to be. Invest in good soil! You're investing money into beans, don't waste that money by putting them into bad soil.

First test press. Used some under mature (long story) Dutch Passion Blueberry. Was probably 3g. The resulting goo can be dabbed but for vaping you need to liquify it (awaiting).

Waazzzzup! So considering my other grows have come to an end, might as well start a new grow diary! I have the following Ethos strains which I am busy growing out: Inzane in the Membrane, Grape Diamonds, Mandarin Cookies & Early Lemon Berry. I also have Zweet OG, Mystery Cookies and Citradelic Sunset which I shall be growing later on. Most of the ones I am growing have now been put into flower, so the boring veg part has at least been cut out! Some were started from clones, some from seeds. Plan on using some STS as well so every plant is from a different seed in essence. First off, the Early Lemon Berry. This is the clone I got, thinking of actually using it to get pollen from as I dislike the way it has been growing and I have not done any training on it. Excuse the burnt leaves at the bottom, it's from a pyrol & neem spray. The Lemon Berry which has been grown from seed, probably going to put into a 20L pot and use this one to bear the seeds. I started it in soil and have since transplanted to coco & perlite. Have mainlined the plant, will probably start doing some LST as well to ensure a flat canopy. So far I am not very impressed with the Early Lemon Berry, growth seems to be slow but hopefully it shines in flower and the bud is worth it. Next up is the Grape Diamonds, I have literally just put the one into flower tonight (19 November) and boy oh boy I am loving this plant so far! Growth has been amazing and explosive. I know @Master_G pulled an awesome amount of bud from his Grape Diamond. The colour which came through on his was also super sexy and extremely frosty! Cannot wait to harvest! The Grape Diamond plant I will be using to get pollen from: This is one of my Mandarin Cookies which was grown from clone, she will just be giving me bud. No seeds on her, I have another 2 Mandarin Cookies being grown from seeds of which one will bear seeds and the other give pollen. Also very nice growth and an easy plant to work with so far, although from what I have seen from @Master_G's one he had in flower... does not appear to be anything too special - I guess we shall find out come harvest time though. This one shall be referred to as Mandarin Cookies #1 Put her into flower on 8 November. Next up is a strain I have been wanting for a while, Inzane in the Membrane! The growth on this plant is really explosive, more so than the Grape Diamond. Very nice thick stems, easy to train and the rated THC % is spectacular at 30 - 35% on average, obviously depending on how well you grow her and the pheno. Put her into flower 15 November.

I'm still convinced it's the soil bud, compare it to the others who have used that type of soil here: You'll see what I mean. And you'd be surprised what a difference you'll see in something like Freedom Farms or Organics Matters or Jamie's Garden Shop soil... It's not the cheap seeds either - here are some of my Bulk Seed Bank R60 autos from B&B. No failed germination issues with them either. But remember, no matter the breeder - autos are fussy as hell and require a lot more 'ideal' conditions than photoperiods if you're going to be happy with the results in many cases. But these are the same cheap genetics that people hate on and I found them great for the price.

Please take a pic in normal light Sent from my VTR-L09 using Tapatalk

Or you can get exactly what you looking for on Ebay Hi-Yield Dusting Wettable Sulfur - 25 Lbs. for R370...shipping is only R10k with UPS Worldwide

Rate the plants are looking peachy Just added in the nutes, some EM Pro Soil and Cal Mag. Going to let them continue to do their thing and update as they go pH 5.5, 400ppm, 3/4 strength nutes Lefty Righty

True but autos have earned a place in our community. Many scenarios people just can't grow photos. Like right now for instance... If I needed bud asap, I would grow a couple 60 day autos. Or if my yard was heavily light polluted by street lights or neighbours lights I would have no choice but to grow autos. The flip side to being put in this position would be you probably gonna have mediocre end results. Although some breeders are putting crazy thc numbers on their autos so who knows maybe someone on this forum is gonna meet up with a Fire pheno and show us all something new.

I'm gonna get flack for saying this but if you keep going for autos your chances of duds are higher as well.

Fully concur! If you're not buying a commercial soil tried and tested with cannabis, then you need to mix your own. Like @trichomechaser says these commercial potting soils are loaded with bark plus they're not nearly as aerated as a good cannabis soil should be. Culterra and Garden Master potting soils are everywhere. Stay the hell away from them. I don't know how it is nowadays but when I was in the cape I used to mix Doublegrow potting soil with coco, some vermicompost and perlite and that did really well as a starting platform for the plants. The doublegrow soil was much less "barky" than the others

School fees..

Nexus and Wenkem are the first companies who come to mind.

This is popular with commercial organic wine grape farmers and is readibly available, although I am not sure what the smallest quantity the "gif smouse" are selling.

Very interesting. It might be similar. At that price it's worth a buy. Thanks dude.

Well you could do it often like every other day with great results. I use to alternate, some days I use my standard nutes other days calmag. And then atleast once every 2 weeks hit her with a silica spray. Just remember your leaves are very sensitive. They cannot handle what the root zone can. So go with mild solutions. Nowadays I just don't have the time to do it all often enough. The few sprays that I make sure I carryout are silica atleast 2 times during veg. Triacontanol once a week or so. IPM 2 weekly or so. I spray kelp a day after a heavy pesticide spray. And then the last spray I do is on around day 10 flower and is a nice heavy copper soap spray. The product I'm really interested in trying is called wetable sulphur. It's used a lot in the states. It's basically a pesticide that kills almost everything and is not systemic. But every time I go ask for it at a nursery I get told there's no such thing.

Bought seeds from@Cannabist Recieved last week all popped. Sent from my VTR-L09 using Tapatalk

Seeds are too volatile by nature for anyone to really guarantee. It's a part of nature that some seeds won't germinate. Most experienced growers will agree. Especially if you have breeder packs. A sealed Buddha Seed is a Buddha Seed regardless of where you buy it. The other problem is that people never want to accept their mistakes. B&B gets plenty of people furious over failed germination yet they wet the paper towels twice or three times a day, drowning them. If a local seed bank were to guarantee germination they would be out of business soon as their order numbers picked up because of those situations. Not saying you are germing wrong, but even a few degrees too low in your germ environment and you'll see problems. Winter germination is a bitch without a heat mat for example. B&B could have probably comminucated better, I think that came down to one person running things. There's some additional staff now so there should be better/more helpful communication.

I got some fungus gnats in my seedling mix from Freedom Farm. I got it sorted pretty easy but yeah it's no good buying contaminated soil

They must love you for foliar feeding them. Add a little Epsom salts to the water, give them a treat. And when you really feel like spoiling them add some kelp to the spray.

And the best way to know when to water your plants is still the weight test. Feed her when she's light and you will have explosive growth.

@Nikkel beautiful plants brother. I would just get rid of the leaf miners cos they can get out of control. Remove the leaves they in already and try get some neem or something and do preventative spraying

I agree completely!! Soil makes a world of a difference, it is well worth spending money on some good soil. Although often soil is not without its faults as well, not all batches of soil will be the exact same. I believe there has been a bad batch of Organics Matter soil going around. Others have previously had issues with Freedom Farms soil burning plants and being full of Fungus Gnats. Bio Leaf (meant to be inert coco) having a stupidly high EC I have personally had a good experience with Organics Matter soil and have not been affected by the bad batch, although some friends of mine have been.

Hey there, I help out Biltong and Budz with their orders. I've popped around 40 seeds that I've received from various breeders through B&B, and while not all have germed, about 92% have. Last 2 batches (20 seeds) have had 100% germination success. I realize I may come across as biased, but I only want to help you determine where your problem lies. Biltong and Budz don't breed their own seeds (think there was 1 pack that they did), so whatever else you buy (unless a local breeder) is being imported directly through the seed banks you'd buy from if you ordered internationally. The seed banks that carry them don't really have control over the viability of the seeds, it's all about picking seeds from a quality breeder, more so than the seed bank. The issue here is 100% the mediums you're using, not sure about the other 2 but when I started growing a few years back I made the mistake of using a soil like that and had the exact same issues with my plants. It isn't the genetics, it's the soil in this case. Avoid barky soil you find at garden shops, cannabis does not do well in it at all! Avoid barky or woody soils. They all stunt in exactly the same way, and look like the plant in the image. Barky soil is typically very acidic and also quite hot. That is why you see what you do here, a plant that has both deficiencies and burns.

This is the first I've heard of any store bought soil that's unusable indoors

The man knows his strains. LoL Sent from my FIG-LX1 using Tapatalk

Week 5 of flowering and veg So far the flood light only veg seem to be bushing out nicely, just realized my timing not great as that my flowers still have about a month to go..... They are gonna be HUGE! lol

Good day, I can confirm that the blondie leaf boy turned hermie and was chopped. Cheers vir eers.[emoji16] Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

I don't think it is the seed bank selling the seeds that is the problem. I just think that some feminized seeds have an issue in general sprouting. But sometimes you can just see that the seeds you got is kak no fault of the people selling it. I suggest sticking with reputable seed companies like Green house seed, Dinafem, RQS and Humboldt if you are a beginner grower. I have never had an issue with their seeds. Also try to buy popular seeds that would not have sat in someone's fridge for 6 months to a year. Sent from my VTR-L09 using Tapatalk