BEST Soil Mix, Whatcha got???

[hubcap]

im with iron lion (from zion?)
anyways...
the basic '3 part start' is pretty good base mix that will need few, if any, amendments. imvho.
ive run many a strain in this basic 3 part mix with great results. it really is a 'LOW' maintainance meduim.


-Fox Farm Ocean Forest
-Fox Farm Light Warrior
-Perlite
(ive even substituted coco for perlite with good results, as well.)

some amendments that are usually on hand (but rarely get used) are:
-fish emulsion
-kelp extract
-peruvian seabird guano (P/K)
-earth juice grow
-earth juice bloom
-earth juice catalyst (aka expensive molasses. grammies is a GREAT substitute....grandmas molasses...many threads and testimonials on it. dissolved brown sugar works, as wel,l as a substitute.) also, earth juice, if not used within a few months, should be rotated with fresh stock. imo.


something to keep in mind tho...
the fox farm ocean forest soil mix tends to compact pretty quickly with waterings, so, perlite fills the role perfectly.
without it, the soil can get pretty hard, pretty quick; impeding root growth.

other than that its pretty worry free. in my experiences with it.


good luck.






-cap

 

[DimitriKing]

id love to try that foxfarm soil but it isnt available in my country.. neither is promix, that said the plagron and plant magic are both great soils, i'd personally like to get away from expensive soils altogether and build my own from scratch, would save so much money in the long run..

 

[B. Friendly]

id love to try that foxfarm soil but it isnt available in my country.. neither is promix, that said the plagron and plant magic are both great soils, i'd personally like to get away from expensive soils altogether and build my own from scratch, would save so much money in the long run..

see if you can get it through amazon.com, that's how i order alot of stuff. Gotta be some online sourch you can get it through and mailed to you, even if you have to do like ups mailing to a local ups store???

 

[hubcap]

id love to try that foxfarm soil but it isnt available in my country.. neither is promix, that said the plagron and plant magic are both great soils, i'd personally like to get away from expensive soils altogether and build my own from scratch, would save so much money in the long run..


making your own compost pile is a great, and cheap, alternative to buying expensive soils. i recommend them whenever and wherever one has about 4 square feet of yard and throws out food scraps.

while, yes, it does take some time to set up and actually become *soil* the added time 'cooking' will ensure the organic goodness is in a state that readily 'uptakeable' for your plants.

there are tips and tricks when dealing with a compost pile, but, this will take us off topic. but there are threads on it.

-cap

 

[B. Friendly]

any good amendments people use for their mix? Mineral deposits, silica's, humates...

 

[hubcap]

mycorrhiza.

 

[B. Friendly]

thanks for the above Dimi
Any other amendments peeps?

 

[B. Friendly]

looking for soil mixes, amendments, unique minerals and deposits????????
Any help appreciated

 

[FunkBomb]

Here is a $10 soil mix you can get from Lowes. I use tap water and Botanicare nutrients as well.



-Funk

 

[B. Friendly]

thanks funk and hub
any other good amendments, minerals, soils??????????????

 

[osoloco69]

1 bail promix
1 big bag fox farm chunky perlite
3 bags worm castings
1-2 Cups High N guano
1.5-2.5 Cups High P guano
2-4 Cups Kelp meal
4 Cups Greensand
4lbs Rare Earth(GH) or use Fulvic acid when fertilizing
4lbs Diamond Black(GH) or use Humic acid when fertilizing
1 Bag Tarantula (AN)
1 Bag Piranha (AN)
2 Cups lime(add while checking soil PH as castings have different PH, and more may be needed)
5 Cups diatomaceous earth(use dust mask and gloves)

Best way to do things is pour them on a 12'x12' tarp. Mix by hand and then use the tarp to mix the soil. I like to use 3gal bags and transplant from either .5gal or 1gal bags. I would feed with H20 on the first 2 waterings and after that you should be straight to start adding fertilizer. 3rd watering fertilize at 50% and full strength after that. The DE will keep soil bugs away. Hope this helps.

Iguana Grow and Bloom are the best organic nutes I have found. I have previously used- GH, Botanicare, Earth Juice, Roots, Humboldt, Foxfarm, and Canna.

 

[BORNaSMOKER]

3 parts peat
2 parts topsoil
2 parts coco
3 parts perlite
1 part mushroom compost
1 part wormcasts

dolomite lime 5g/litre
N guano - 4g/litre
P guano - 4g/litre veg, 8g/litre flower
Rock phosphate 5g/l
rock potash 5g/l
seaweed meal 5g/l

the bat guano amounts change a little with strain. for instance the Blueberry has less N guano in the mix - but that standard mix has worked for pretty much everything i have grown and i just refine it a little as i get strains dialled in.

feeding is often not necessary but i use biobizz bloom sometimes if i think they need it and molasses at 1 teaspoon/gallon a couple of times in late flowering. bear in mind i also use big pots for the cab size - 4 gallons each atm

(from VerdantGreen, best, cheapest mix I have ever seen!!)

See his results for yourself!!

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=2415192&posted=1#post2415192

http://icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=148736

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=166899

 

[B. Friendly]

whole lotta great infotainment

 

[osoloco69]

In Hawaii for short season-
1part black top soil from the area
1part compost made of fish, banana leaves, fruits and veggies, egg shells, and seaweed.
1part sand with good broken up shells
1part small lava rock so Pele can get high too!

This is the Kama'aina mix.

 

[Mike Seed]

I've been thinking about trying a soil mix after my first return to hydro-growin. However, after reading this soil forum I am going to try a mix that looks solid by blazeoneup, he posted this soil mix in this thread: http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=158105

The soil mix I use is the following

1 bag foxfarm ocean forest
1 bag foxfarm happy frog
1 bail bcuzz hydro mix
1&1/4 cup blood meal
1&1/4 cup bone meal
4 cups earth worm castings
3/4 cup of powdered lime
20-30% chunky perlite

Important
Mix it really well, When you think its good mix it some more!

The thing about the soil mix posted by blazeoneup is that the only thing it requires is water from start to finish. That makes things extremely simple and attractive when considering any size grow.

 

[Puddin'tane]

I found I personally didn't like so much bone and blood meal in my flower mix, but I amend FFOF heavily for veg and it works great. I pretty much all water from start to finish too.

 

[Mike Seed]

I found I personally didn't like so much bone and blood meal in my flower mix, but I amend FFOF heavily for veg and it works great. I pretty much all water from start to finish too.

Does the bone and blood meal make the mix too hot in your opinion?

 

[Lazyman]

My mentor swears by Canna Bio Terra soil (which is pre-amended coco, with wormcastings etc) and he mixes it with Bokashi compost. I think any mix of:

Peat
Coco
Vermiculite
Perlite
Well-rotted compost

Mixed with any of the following:
Bat guano
rotted Rabbit manure
chicken shit or steer shit

as well as:
Dolomite lime
Kelp solids
topsoil
Blood and bone meals
Bokashi or mushroom compost
Compost or manure teas

and some water crystals (As needed, mainly for outdoor grows) you can custom tune your mix for any particular strain or garden, BUT, it would be beneficial to run one strain so you can learn what it likes.

That said, I don't like a lot of soil amendments because it's too hard to flush most of them out if something goes wrong or the plants don't like it. I'm not gonna sacrifice an entire crop because I used a cup of blood meal when only 1/2 was needed. I'd rather use a more inert media and add hydro nutes I can control, flush and change on the fly. Something that is very hard to do with built-in amendments. Just my $.02

 

[CostaRicaSensi]

I got this mix from someone and altered it a bit:

Half a bail of promix
2 bags of Miracle grow Organic Choice
Half a bag of Worm Castings
20% perlite
1 cup bone meal
1 cup blood meal
3/4 cup powdered dolo lime (pellets ground in coffee grinder)
1/2 cup guano

mix it up, water it, let it sit a week.

nothing but water in veg and flower and your girls will be healthy and green. I let my water sit out for 24 hrs too.

This is all organic, but I am open to adding some sort of non-organic nute towards the end of flowering to boost the yield. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

 

[B. Friendly]

everybody has given top notch info