ive ordered some fresh seeds (mandala safari mix) which should be here tomorrow. im getting a 125w envirolite and reflector this weekend. because im spending so much i have to cut back on something and thats the fertilizer i managed to nick a fresh bag of miracle gro compost it says it will feed plants for 3 months.
my question is:
1: is the PH in miracle gro neutral.
2: should i still mix that perlite stuff or other moisture retaining ingredient.
3: will miracle grow feed "tomato plants" for 3 months and should i add any extra nutrients.

Well done! You are on the way!

So now you get down to the trickier bit... Growing in soil is great for the new grower - it's much easier initially and produces great quality.

However....

It may take you a while to find the right kind of mix. It always helped me to try and remember what I am trying to achieve rather than treat each problem separately.

So, what you want is a substrate which will hold the plant up, while providing the correct amount of nutrients and aeration.

1) Holding the plant up

It may seem obvious but this is one of your main concerns. As your plant matures (and grows more tomatoes) it will become top heavy, you need a decent foundation to keep it up. This means a solid _base_ i.e. not too much perlite and a decent pot.

2) Nutrients

This is what most people get hung up on and where they make most mistakes.

Remember, you want to keep your plants fed for about 2 months, after that (depending on how long the strain needs to flower), you should be leeching the soil so all those elements don't end up in the final product. When you pull it out of the ground there should be no neuts left.

The balance of neuts and ph levels I honestly forget, but they are handily written on the back of your soil packet There are plenty of places on the web to find the optimal levels. To modify what you have to the optimal - use some vermiculite, ph balancer or top up with some off the shelf neuts. Vermiculite is basically a substrate which comes with no nutrients in it.

The key to all this is: if you make a change to what the plants are fed, it will take them about a week to show the result so, as always, be patient

3) Aeration
Roots need air - if your mix is too stodgy it will have no air in it - that's what the perlite is for.

Remember to prevent the roots from growing out of the bottom of the pot by lining with a mat and some (washed!) gravel)

Somebody help me remember what that stuff in you can buy in a chemist that you add to the water to help aerate it.... H2O3 or something?

So, that's a quick brain dump for ya, hope it helps.

The Webguy

cheers that did help but im not so happy using my weed budget to buy light god i need some smoke.

by the way have you heard of lowriders they seem a good idea from seed to bud in 8weeks small plant but will grow under any light cycle.

Glad I could help, don't worry - you are on the way to the top of the food chain, you will save all that money in the future

Cheers for the tip - had never seen them before!

Though I would say - they do look damn small - looks like you would barely get about 1.5g (dry) of *cough* tomatoes per plant .... that's not really much!

Personally I would stick to the more conventional strains.

yes they do look small however if ur an impatiant cunt like i am then its probably a good idea. im thinking i mite get a packet of lowryder seeds cuz i cud have them done in a couple of months. what do you think would happen if i crossed them with a proper strain.

Haha getting a bit ahead of yourself already!! I have never tried to cross plants but good luck to you.

My advice would be to concentrate on the construction of your veg and flowering rooms first - make them as good as you can first - it's hard to make improvements when you keep walking on tomatoes and it will end up wrecking your head

if i have one envirolite will it help if i add a couple of flouresecent(i no i cant spell)tubes and all other bits of lighting i can find under a 250w envirolite how many plants will i be able to grow and get a decent harvest off

flouros (I can't either), wont do much for you other than in veg stage.

I recommend you build 2 compartments, one small one big. In the small one put your flouros and small plants (24 hour day). In the big one put your decent lamps and big plants (12 hour day/night)

http://starlitesy...k/shopping/?id=21

see the 400w top lamp not sure what type it is but is it worth the money to get one of those instead of fluros what would you recomend i could maybe put my seedlings under fluros but will it make a big difference to my harvest could you recomend the best light on that page (starlite is my local growshop)

Well I am a bit biased here as I used SuperNovas myself!

It's all down to what kinda of space you have - you need two lightproof containers with sufficient ventilation to take the heat and not burn the house down!

REMEMBER! Do NOT electrocute yourself / overload sockets / burn the house down!!!

the one thing i find confusing about the starlite site you may be able to explain it id u go to complete systems a 400w bulb and reflector is 75 but the reflector and bulb seperatly add upto 40 what do i get extra with complete system?

Probably the ballast - the ballast converts the power for your light. Not 100% sure if they are required but it's what I had.

ballast? (excuse me for being a grow virgin) if thats not required then i can get a good light and reflector for the same price as an envirolite im growing in a medium cuboard painted white and sterilized what is the fire risk? do i need some sort of waterproofing as i no water and electricity dont mix i heard that with the hotter lights you have to leave them at the top of your growroom.

The Envirolites are great for seedlings, but not so good for budding - there is a new envirolite 250W which is supposed to be very good which a little bird has told me will be available on potseeds in the new year - as we want to make sure all you indoor growers of tomatoes have the best possible equipment.

Concentrate on making your grow room safe and well constructed. If you hammer it together it will leak light from the veg room to the flower. The more you spend on your set-up and the greater care you take, the better the results will be, and you'll have lots of lovely valuable tomatoes.

Check out the archives on this site from my old agony uncle page for lots of growing tips, I will be adding more pages over Xmas - there was actually several hundred questions, and hey - who knows, I might even write some new ones if some more decent questions come in.

Regards,

Dr Hemp.

As usual - the Doctor speaks the truth - the more time you spend on your grow rooms the better the crop. You need light, heat and airflow, if you don't have that right you are screwed from the start.

The ballast is a little box that goes between your light and the wall socket (that little black thing in the supernova pic on that site u posted below)