Organic soil mix I can buy in the UK?

[plantsman]

I really wan't to grow fully organic and want to make a great peat free soil mix.

At the moment i'm buying organic compost and mixing 60% of that with 20% perlite and 20% vermiculite. I think its workin OK but I have had all sorts of problems althoug I dont think it was with my soil...?

I use Canna Flores for flower and BioGrow for veg. I also use Nitrozyme and BioHeaven, as I said I had a few problems. I believe they are all organic (certainly says so on the bottle!) and I use them sparingly due to the food in the compost.

Anyway, I dont want to buy the ready made stuff in the hydro shop cos it all comes with peat. I'm gonna start mixing in a bit of coco coir but what is the alternative?

It would be FANTASTIC if an experienced UK grower would give me their mix. I'm a nooby to organics, so be gentle if I'm being naive...

Thanks

 

[VerdantGreen]

hi plantsman, i am not the most experienced weed grower here but i am a professional organic gardener.

i would steer clear of the peat free organic composts in the uk as they are too coarse and water retentive for cannabis - you may get away with a little of it in your mix.
i find the best way is to mix your own from the different components - you will find plenty of good recipes on this board.

i use 2 parts of peat or unfertilized coir
2 parts good quality topsoil (westland is ok)
1 part perlite (not vermiculite as this also hold water and isnt necessary in this mix)
1 part mushroom compost or worm castings
5g of dolomite lime powder for each litre of soil mix.

then add some organic ferts depending on what you have - chicken manure pellets, guano, blood, fish & bonemeal, seawead meal etc

you want something with a high P value for flowering and a more balanced one for veg .

great thing about organic is that it's hard to overdo it!
but as a rule i add ferts for cannabis as about half the prescribed rate (including cannabis ferts)

hope thats helps - feel free to ask more questions if you need to.

 

[smokin 2 live]

or just try out some micreal grow organic, than if ya want, add your adments..
S2L

 

[VerdantGreen]

or just try out some micreal grow organic, than if ya want, add your adments..
S2L

i bought some of that and thought it was the coarsest, wettest compost i have ever had - each to his own

if you want a ready mix i would go for 'new horizon' peat free compost or grow bag but then i would still add some perlite or sharp sand to it as it is quite wet.

 

[plantsman]

Thats wicked. So I would never have thought of just buying topsoil and making my own that way. I had, for some reason, fixated on having a pre-mixed soil based compost in there.
I really like mushroom compost as I am also a professional gardener and have been wanting to try it out for some time, so well reminded! I also have a ton of blood, fish and bone. My only question is...:
Should I still use liquid ferts too? You say have something high in P for flowering and balanced for veg. Can I not just use the same soil mix but change the liquid ferts depending on which stage the ladies are at?
Thanks in advance

 

[SuperConductor]

Check out organiccatalogue.com loads of ingredients to mix our own stuff or ready made mixes and very cheap delivery.

 

[VerdantGreen]

if you start with a nice rich mix you dont need to use too many liquid ferts,some seaweed and maybe some bloom fert from halfway through flowering. i like the plants to fade a bit as they finish because i believe you get better smoking and taste that way.

if you know about plant nutrition in general you dont need to use specialist cannabis fertilizers. i prefer to get my supplies from regular garden shops, plenty of good ones online.

 

[plantsman]

yeah, this is what I could never work out with cannabis growing. There seems to be all these amazing ferts but I have always wondered why it couldn't be acheived with normal organic food. I guess it can.
This must be the easiest, cheapest and nicest way to grow. It'll also be good fun trying out different mixes to see what works best for me.
Splendid, thanks Verdant.
Mutual UK gardener love in full effect on ICMag

 

[VerdantGreen]

yeah, there is a tendancy to turn cannabis growing into some kind of rocket-science i guess because there is a lot of money to be made out of specialist nutrients etc - im sure some of them work just great too.

its a very special plant - but at the end of the day it's just a plant, and a very easy one to grow at that!

good luck and let us know how you get on.

 

[neongreen]

Check out organiccatalogue.com loads of ingredients to mix our own stuff or ready made mixes and cheap delivery.