Quote Originally Posted by headshake
there are a lot of factors that go into indoor growing. soil is one of the least hard to make. i grow in miracle grow, or any other cheap soil that's available when i'm out and don't have any problems.


-shake
Shake, cmon man. You don't think that soil is a hard decision or important factor? I'm on quite the opposite end of the spectrum here, I feel that if you have a good soil, MOST of the other problems noobs experience become less likely.

Shiloh- What's your goal and what are you willing to invest? Do you think that it would be better to spend the cash on soil now, and KNOW that you are starting with something that works, or would you like to skimp the soil now, and spend it somewhere else in haste trying to correct a ph lockout or nute burn later on?

My thought is if you have a nice balanced soil with some sort of PH buffer in it, and it comes in around 6.2 - 6.6, it will forgive you in many ways down the line.

It's been my experience around here that the most common noob problem centers somehow around SOIL based issues. Once in a while it's something environmental, but more often than not it's using soil that is to quick to become toxic to MJ. By that I mean it can't buffer nutrient solutions well, thus ending in some funky plant deficiencies down the road.

I think you should buck up now and shell out the dough for something good now. It'll make any troubleshooting down the road easier. There are many different alternatives to FF soil also, look around at some of the grow logs on here and see what people are up to.

BTW, if you do go with FF soil, don't be fooled. You can absolutely still kill plants with FF soil. If I were to ever use it again, and I won't, I would most certainly cut it 50/50 with something inert like their Light Warrior. Ocean Forest was a little "hot" for my liking.