Scarred4life's Budget Grow

[Scarred4life]

Hi folks, after reading through lots of these threads, I've found lots that show how to get great results with lots of brands of additives and amendments. Many that say things without addressing why the expected results will occur. Over the years, and far too many failures, I've developed an easy, affordable method that is showing beautiful, dependable results without emptying the old bank account. I'll try to be as detailed as I can be without drowning you in too much information.

This is a fully organic grow. The very first thing you must do long before any seed hits the soil is going to be to cook your dirt. It'll need to sit, undisturbed for 6 - 10 weeks. Here's a quick run down.

Easiest and cheapest soil I've found is sungrow pro mix. Link: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Sunshine-3-Cu-Ft-Sunshine-Mix-4-with-Myco/5005472633

Nutrients: Espoma garden tone. This is enough ferts for many many plants. Comes complete with all the microbes you'll need. Apply at 1 cup per cubic foot.
Link: Espoma 27 lbs. Organic Garden Tone Herb and Vegetable Fertilizer 100520770 - The Home Depot

Dolomite lime. Supplies calcium and magnesium. Apply at 1/2 - 1 cup / cubic foot.
Link: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kentucky-Green-Pelletized-Lime-40-lb/5013033353

Gypsum. Supplies calcium and sulfur. 1/2 - 1 cup per cu/ft. This link is not the brand I've got, apparently Lowes is sold out. I usually use Kentucky green. Any Gypsum will work, I try to get straight some come laced with other things.
Link:

40 lb. Pelletized Nutrasoft Gypsum 53140 - The Home Depot

Pavestone's Pelletized Gypsum is a great soil conditioner, improving or rebuilding soil so it is more usable, and can be used to maintain soils in peak condition. Pelletized Gypsum is often used as part

www.homedepot.com

Worm castings. The most essential amendment you can add. Full of goodness and beneficial bacteria. Apply at 2 - 3 cups per cu/ft.

Alfalfa. Supplies nitrogen, lots of organic material for the microbes to feast on. Also supplies Triacontanol that stimulates plant growth and development. This hormone aids in the development of lateral branches, resulting in larger, healthier plants with more bud sites. It also contributes to fruit size and flavor, leading to amazing results. I don't waste money buying little tiny boxes of Alfalfa meal. For cost effectiveness I've found that the local feed store is a great resource. Instead of 20 bucks for a box of meal. I got a 50 pound bag of Alfalfa pellets for $22. The pellets work great, are fully organic and are easy to work with.

Azomite. If you haven't looked into it, you should. Volcanic dust from Utah. Provides 72 trace minerals. Everything a growing plant craves. You can also get this for much less at feed stores. Apply at 1/2 - 1 cup per cu/ft.

Bone meal. Supplies calcium and most importantly, phosphorus. Apply at recommended rates per cu/ft.

Epsom salts. Completely optional. Additional source of magnesium and sulfur. Use sparingly, 1/4 cup per cu/ft. Any salt can have an effect on flavor in the end, so you don't want to overdue it.

OK, get yourself a tarp, or tub, or whatever you want to mix in. Mix everything up dry, it's much easier to get an even mix with no clumps dry. After you are satisfied with your mixing, start wetting it. Moist, not wet. Spray and mix, getting everything, must activate all those microbes to break down the organics. Cover it so it will stay nice and moist. Now it cooks, for 6 - 10 weeks. The longer the better. The longer you wait, the more the organic components will break down and become plant available.

OK, that is step one. I'll start step two in a bit. Need to go hit the bong and my fingers need a break. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

 

[Scarred4life]

Step 2. Learn. You've got 10 weeks to learn why we supply the things we do. If you've started growing, you know about npk. The macro nutrients. But there are so many more things that are not considered macro, but are ESSENTIAL for optimal growth. Calcium is king. It is quite literally the bricks the plant's cell walls are made from. Magnesium is the key element in chlorophyll. It's kind of crazy, but magnesium takes the place of iron in chlorophyll, otherwise it would be blood. So when you have a magnesium deficiency, the plant literally cannot make it's own blood. All of the "micro" nutrients are absolutely essential.

The big hurdle in my mind was learning two laws. The law of minimums: Liebig's law of the minimum - Wikipedia
The scarcest resource dictates growth potential.

The law of toxicity. It's basically when you hear people say less is more. For everything good that you can give your plant, there will always be an upper limit on each ingredient before you end up at toxic levels.

There are so many different ways to grow these beautiful plants that you can never learn it all. One of the very best resources I've found is Garden Talk on YouTube. Mr. Grow It is amazing and his guests run the gamet from beginners to actual scientists. Dr. Bugby being one of the best ever resources to go to for real knowledge. There are tons of growers to watch, Mr. Canucks Grow is great.

For step three, I'll go into environment and ways to cut down costs for getting temps and humidity under control.

 

[2Water]

Step 2. Learn. You've got 10 weeks to learn why we supply the things we do. If you've started growing, you know about npk. The macro nutrients. But there are so many more things that are not considered macro, but are ESSENTIAL for optimal growth. Calcium is king. It is quite literally the bricks the plant's cell walls are made from. Magnesium is the key element in chlorophyll. It's kind of crazy, but magnesium takes the place of iron in chlorophyll, otherwise it would be blood. So when you have a magnesium deficiency, the plant literally cannot make it's own blood. All of the "micro" nutrients are absolutely essential.

The big hurdle in my mind was learning two laws. The law of minimums: Liebig's law of the minimum - Wikipedia
The scarcest resource dictates growth potential.

The law of toxicity. It's basically when you hear people say less is more. For everything good that you can give your plant, there will always be an upper limit on each ingredient before you end up at toxic levels.

There are so many different ways to grow these beautiful plants that you can never learn it all. One of the very best resources I've found is Garden Talk on YouTube. Mr. Grow It is amazing and his guests run the gamet from beginners to actual scientists. Dr. Bugby being one of the best ever resources to go to for real knowledge. There are tons of growers to watch, Mr. Canucks Grow is great.

For step three, I'll go into environment and ways to cut down costs for getting temps and humidity under control.

Awesome write up, my quest for a cheap growing medium has leg me to down to earth premixes and roots organic. I find it has about the same as what you're making without me having to store a bunch of different boxes/bags. I'll definitely be paying to attention, love where this is going!.

 

[Scarred4life]

OK, step 3.

Environment is a hard one to tackle. Simply because we all have different places we are starting from. Determining the optimum conditions is easy, we can look those up. Changing the environment you have available to you is a little trickier. Are you in a wetter climate and need to focus on super effective humidity control? Do you live in the desert and need to run a humidifier constantly? Air conditioning or heater? There are so many variables. Not to mention lots of ways to waste money. One of the first things you should check on is your power company. See if they have peek hours. For example, we used to have two meters, they could turn off the air conditioner for peek times. Many of you have the same, it's pretty common. So we called and asked them about pricing plans. Turns out that power companies charge way too much to almost everyone. Surprise! We got on their peek hours plan. From 7 pm to 11 am it's about half the rate, I think it's drops down to 11 cents /kwh from 22 /kwh. So we changed all of our major usage to off peek hours and our bill dropped almost in half!

Lighting is of course the center of your garden. Now that you've got a bit of a handle on the cost of your electricity, let's not just waste it for nothing. Learning proper light levels for the stage of your plants is important. No point in running your lights flat out over a seedling. Everything you do in your indoor grow is going to bleed energy. Becoming the most efficient you can in the garden will increase your return on investment. That translates to the equipment purchases you make as well. Most folks will spend hundreds of dollars on a light that is complete overkill for the space they have available. My flower room has four 150w quantum panels with ir and uv. Samsung and osram diodes. I got each panel for $58.64. So I ended up with a fully height adjustable 600w array for under $250. Veg has two 240w bar style with ir and uv, got one for $139 the other for $108. When light shopping, learn how to read a ppfd map and why it's important. Other things like fans, if you shop for grow room fans, they are expensive. If you shop for wall mount fans, all the sudden you have a huge selection that is about half the price. Shop savvy. Shop in bulk if you can. There is no right way. You make the rules, if you are satisfied and it works for you, run with it.

The last thing I'd say is don't think you have to have it all perfect to start. If you can get it close, you can grow. Learn the bare minimum basics. A place to hang your light and an oscillating fan is all you need to start. A light tight flowering space is a must. Lots of folks buy tents, they can get expensive. I built my flower under my basement stairs and threw up some false walls in the other corner of the basement to make veg. Painted everything white, a 5 gallon bucket of maintenance paint is $40 at Lowes. My rooms have been an ongoing project for years. My doors are a frame with a sheet of drywall. Weather stripping is your friend. Was trying to remember when I first started, I think it was 2015. I just ripped out the old nasty tile floor and poured an inch of concrete slab 4 months ago. I'm constantly figuring out something else to improve. Getting humidistats to turn your exhaust fans on and off saves a lot on power. Got them for $20. There are always ways to trim the fat. Don't run your lights full blast, move them closer!

So, be frugal, be smart. Use the knowledge you've gained in step 2. Step 2 is ongoing btw!

OK, step 4 will be growing your beautiful girls. I'll be back.

 

[Scarred4life]

OK, I'm ready to start step 4. Just a couple things I need to address as I continue.

I completely forgot to mention SMART PLUGS. They are a real game changer when you are looking for an affordable easy timer. I got 4 for 20 bucks, all my timers covered. You'll want the 15amp ones, not the 10a. We tend to pull too much power for the crappy ones.
Questions may arise about whether this soil is too "hot" to start seeds in. I waited a week to continue this thread just to take this picture:

They pop right up. If you are worried about it, you can always save some of the "clean" soil before you mix in all your amendments. That way you have no worries about burning your lovely little beans. OK, next, how I prepare my solo cups for my babies.
I've seen lots of folks that cut slits, or poke holes in the very weak cups. I hold a nail in some vice grips and get it nice and hot with the torch to melt holes. Makes them look clean, no rips or tares. Reusable with a good wash until you inevitable break them. I'm all about reusing everything I can.

I'll be starting a grow journal soon to demonstrate my entire process. For now I'll just be writing it out.

Once you have seedlings, your lights should be at around 25% between 12-20 inches from the canopy. This is budget grow, if you have a reliable light meter dial them in! They don't stay in the solo cups long. Once the leaves are protruding over the sides of the cup they are ready to go into their bags. If its an average 8 week flower, they get a 7 gallon bag. If it's a longer flower they go into a 10 gallon. Volume is very important.
This leads me to an aside. I'm sure most of you know the term organic, but what does that mean? I much prefer the term "living soil". Although we do not use a true living soil like the earth herself. As organic growers our intent is to replicate those conditions to the best of our ability. We will never be able to reproduce the availability of resources or the diversity of microbial life within our mediums. The initial cooking our soil goes through is essential for the microbes to digest the insoluble elements of the amendments we have supplied. The term organic refers to the process of life breaking down organic and inorganic matter to plant usable form. Generally, we have been taught to allow our plants to dry back in between watering. When grow in living soil it is essential that it remain moist at ALL times. The entire point is to make the most hospitable environment you possibly can for the microbes in your dirt. If they dry out, they either die off or go dormant, we don't want that at all. We strive for the balance, nice and moist at all times, but never water logged. Which, finally, brings me back to volume. If you only have a 3 gallon bag, its going to dry out quite quickly. By growing in a larger volume you give the plant a bank of moisture to draw on if you miss a watering or 2.

This being a budget grow, I have left out Mykos, this next step would be when you'd sprinkle the roots.

Alright, we're ready to bag our babies. You'll want to fill your bags roughly an inch below the top, making sure to give it a few good drops to get rid of any voids. Make a hole, drop in the solo cup, plant and all. Deep enough that the level of the soil in the cup matches the soil level in the bag. Pack the soil snuggly around the cup. Take the solo cup out, remove your seedling from it, and plop her into the perfectly formed hole you have created for her.

Water her in. Not drenched, enough to get her seated properly.

The next step is very important!! Do not ignore. MULCH your soil. Here is what I use: Straw Mulch
Not only does mulch help insulate the soil and cut down on your watering, but it can also feed your plants and create a healthy environment to attract friendly insects, fungi, and bacteria into your garden. Its very much akin to adding a layer of armor on top. It will allow your plant to extend feeder roots all the way to the surface of the soil, as we top dress throughout the growing cycle they are essential.

Ok, that's it. I never test anything. No PH'ing my water. no testing runoff. I run an air-stone to evaporate off the chlorine from the tap water. I cannot speak to your water quality, that is of course your arena to wrestle in. Just clean water is all they need.

From that point, feeding is simple. The soil you built will sustain her for at least the first 6 weeks. After that apply: 1/2-1 cup of garden tone on a 30 day schedule if you choose to veg longer. Pre flower top feed: 1/4-1/2 cup each of the dolomite lime and gypsum and roughly 1/4 cup azomite should be applied along with 1-2 cups of garden tone. Return to the 30 day feeding schedule through flower. Generally once, but if she's an 11-12 week flower, you'll want to time your second feeding so she'll be running out of gas when she's naturally starting to fade. Garden Tone says its lifespan is 4 weeks, plan accordingly. 1-2 cups of worm castings and a small handful of alfalfa (15-20 pellets) should be added with every top dressing.

That is the entire grow. Near the end, maybe 3 weeks out, I'll give them a little PK boost. I use Morbloom for an easy, quick boost. Applied at label strength.

When my rooms cycle in about 3 weeks I'll be starting a journal. Hope to see you following along! If you have questions, please ask!! I'm sure there's something I've forgotten to mention.

 

[Scarred4life]

I should add that your soil is completely reusable. Reamend at half measurements from the initial cook and let it cook again. I always have at least a runs worth of soil ready and waiting. At some point you will need to add in aeration as perlite breaks down over time. There you go, easy, cheap, and almost maintenance free. Tweak it to your hearts content, there is always room for improvement. But if you want to grow great weed on a dime, this will get you there. Never stop growing!

 

[Azimuth]

Hey @Scarred4life , great write-up!

I'm doing a similar type of minimalist grow, but I'm sourcing everything from my yard.

I hold a nail in some vice grips and get it nice and hot with the torch to melt holes. Makes them look clean, no rips or tares. Reusable with a good wash until you inevitable break them. I'm all about reusing everything I can.

I do the same with solo cups and 1L take out containers to build my SIPs, but I use a soldering iron to make the holes. Super efficient and I find that melting the holes actually makes the cup stronger as opposed to using a drill bit which weakens the structure.

I'll take a seat over in the corner.

 

[Scarred4life]

I should add that your soil is completely reusable. Reamend at half measurements from the initial cook and let it cook again. I always have at least a runs worth of soil ready and waiting. At some point you will need to add in aeration as perlite breaks down over time. There you go, easy, cheap, and almost maintenance free. Tweak it to your hearts content, there is always room for improvement. But if you want to grow great weed on a dime, this will get you there. Never stop growing!

I have been corrected, perlite doesn't decompose. I think it just gets worn down and doesn't work the same. So to be more precise, it doesn't break down, it gets worn out. Just wanted to be as accurate as I can.