Trouble reading today's article? Click
here: Issue #278 - Sunday, August 13, 2017 Dear Fellow Grower,
In today's issue... - Learn about the three most common cannabis grow mediums, soil, soilless (coco) and hydro!
- Should you add perlite to your potting mix?
- Ready to increase your growing knowledge? Check out our link guide of growing tutorials!
- This weeks
Trophy Pics reveal the inside of an impressive grow room using both LED and HPS grow lights!
Nebula Haze & Sirius Fourside (founders of GrowWeedEasy.com) "The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself."
~Franklin D. Roosevelt
What's the Best Growing Medium?
by Nebula Haze |
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Introduction to Cannabis Grow Mediums
When talking about growing marijuana, what is a "grow
medium"?
A growing medium or grow medium is what you're growing your cannabis roots in, whether that substance is soil, perlite, coco coir, Rockwool, vermiculite, water, etc. Your marijuana plant will thrive as long as the roots have room to grow and have consistent access to fresh
water, oxygen, and the proper nutrients in proper levels. There are a variety of ways to satisfy all these needs of a weed plant while growing, and each has their own pros and cons!
Every Grow Medium Must Help Roots Get What They Need:
Water, Oxygen and Plenty of Nutrients Best Growing Mediums for Marijuana
The three main types of grow mediums for marijuana plants are soil mixes, soilless mixes and hydroponics (water). Let's do a quick breakdown of each one, along with the pros and cons for marijuana growers! Soil or Compost
Soil or compost is one of the most popular growing mediums for marijuana plants because it is natural, easy to use, and available everywhere.
Good cannabis soil
naturally contains at least some amount of nutrients, which means it will provide the nutrients your plants need for at least the first few weeks of life
.
Example of Great Cannabis Soil If you decide to grow cannabis with soil, try using sterilized, loose, non-peat based potting compost. Often these are listed as an "organic potting mix." I recommend soil mixes with at least 20-30% of a
soil conditioner like perlite (little white rocks in the soil). This will provide drainage and keep higher amounts of air/oxygen in the soil, which causes cannabis plants to grow faster.
Plants in soil grow a
little slower than in coco or hydro, but soil-grown buds tend to have a stronger smell/taste. Although using a standard soil potting mix and giving nutrients in the water gets results similar to coco, using amended and composted living soil tends to produce buds with a powerful and complex scent/taste profile.
Example of Amended and Composted Living Soil - Just add water! With living soil, a colony of microorganisms in the soil creates an ecosystem that mimics the best-of-the-best soil in nature. The nutrients are slowly broken down from organic sources and delivered
directly to your plant roots. For some reason, plants grown in this type of root environment tend to produce very strong-smelling buds. One thing that's really great about living soil is you usually don't need to use any added nutrients or pH your water.
As long as you repot to fresh soil
right before your plant starts making buds, you just add water and let the soil do the magic! The biggest downside to living soil is that plants tend to grow a little slower than with other grow mediums, and some people don't like the smell of the composted soil, especially in the house.
Soilless Mediums (Coco Coir & Perlite) Soilless potting mixtures that are composed of inert (non-soil) ingredients like coco coir, perlite, peat moss, rockwool and
vermiculite can be a great choice for growing marijuana.
When growing in a soilless medium, you can treat your plants almost the same as if growing in soil. The main difference is you feed all their nutrients in the water (hydroponically). As a result of your plants getting nutrients delivered directly to their roots, you will often get quicker growth and higher yields than
growing in soil (where the roots have to seek out nutrition).
Another advantage of growing in a soilless mix over soil is that you are less likely to run into problems with overwatering or bugs.
Although there are many different possible soilless ingredients, the most popular potting mixes for cannabis
contain significant amounts of coco and perlite. This combination seems to work especially well for growing cannabis. As a result of coco's growing popularity, other types of soilless mixes (especially the peat-based ones like Pro-Mix) have become far less common in cannabis grow rooms over the years.
In fact, I strongly recommend beginner growers start out their plants in a coco-based soilless potting mixture, and I have
written a detailed tutorial on how to grow 4-7 oz. of marijuana using coco coir for first-time growers.
Note: Even when it comes to soil mixes, you still often see both coco and perlite in the ingredient list, because they help
improve the overall properties of the soil.
I have personally found coco/perlite to be the most straightforward and forgiving growing medium for indoor cannabis, and over the years I've also seen that coco growers seem to be the least likely to run into problems during their first grow!
Coco coir is how I started growing, and I recommend it to anyone :) Here's me during my first grow with my coco-grown plants:
When people are talking about hydroponics, they're usually referring to growing your cannabis with the roots sitting directly in water. The most popular style of hydroponics for cannabis plants is known as
Deep Water Culture (a.k.a. DWC), and it has a very popular variant known as "bubbleponics" or a top-fed Deep Water Culture (DWC) system.
DWC is one of the few types of hydroponics that can really support huge plants. Other types of hydroponics (for example NFT or Aeroponics) have a difficult time growing plants as big and nutrient-hungry as cannabis.
Example of cannabis roots growing directly in a solution of nutrient water Two hydroponic cannabis plants in the vegetative stage Example of flowering DWC cannabis plants. They grow so quickly that they can quickly take over your grow room! Hydroponics can be really scary, but I've seen so many first-time growers get great results with hydroponics. The most important thing to remember is to follow the instructions and always get a root
supplement like Hydroguard. I love hydro. After growing for several years, I think it may be my favorite grow style. You get the fastest growth and most control over nutrients of any grow medium! By the end of a hydro grow, you may find yourself with huge masses of roots!
Should You Add Perlite to Your Soil? |
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A common soil amendment for cannabis plant is a substance called perlite. It looks like little white rocks and can be added to soil or coco coir to improve the overall air-holding capability and drainage ability. It's not a requirement for cannabis growth, but it's so useful that most recommended coco and
soil mixes contain at least a little perlite.
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If you're looking to expand your cannabis growing knowledge, check out our Resources Guide! |
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To Ms Nebula Haze & Mr Sirius Fourside,
I do owe you a lot, though I know we will probably never meet for me to repay the both of you. I guess all there is left to do is to say thank you.
Your ability to share
your knowledge has been invaluable to me and countless others.
Thank you again,
Doug |
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Who Runs This
Newsletter? |
Nebula Haze:
I'll be honest with you, when I first started growing, I struggled. Now, it is my mission to
make it easier for new growers to get started as well as help advanced growers get bigger, better yields with less time and money. We are updating and adding articles every single week and our goal is to eventually build a comprehensive growing resource so anyone and everyone can grow if they want to! If we all share the knowledge there's more buds in the world for everyone :) |
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Learn which seed sources are personally recommended by Nebula Haze |
Sirius Fourside:
Sirius Fourside is a hobbyist grower who has gained the bulk of his experience growing in water as a medium (deep water culture, bubbleponics).
"Growing cannabis can be a relaxing hobby in and of itself, but it also saves you money and keeps you from having to deal with shady characters. Cannabis is much easier to grow than people give it credit for, and growing in water
doesn't increase the difficulty much, if any. But whether you want to grow in water, coco, or a different medium, we'll show you how easy it can be!"
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