Need new soil mix

[Bullfrog44]

Last year I had a great year growing, and loved my soil mix. I would change a couple things, for example:
Take out the EWC and add 1-2" at top soil once planted.
Roots organics have been good to me, but they hurt my pocket book. I would love hear how I could make my own base soil, that would be equal to RO for much cheaper.
Bump up the Pumic and/or rice hulls.

The other thing I want to get away from is planting half base soil and half "supersoil". I think that your more fertile soil should be on the top, as that is where the microbial life lives. So instead of 50/50, I would want to mix up all my soil at one strength.

Last years soil recipe as follows:


8 bags of Roots Organics green bag. (12 cubic feet, but really more like 10.5)

1 cubic foot of earth worm castings. Or 50 lbs
5 lbs steamed bone meal
5 lbs bloom bat guano
5 lbs blood meal
3 lbs rock phosphate
3/4 cup Epsom salts
1 cup sweet dolomite (lime)
1/2 cup azomite
2 tbsp powdered humic acid
8 cup alfalfa
8 cup kelp meal
1.5 cubic feet of Pumice.

 

[northstate]

That mix seems pretty nice Bullfrog. Are you using the leftover mix/holes? If so I would look into adding some more soft rock phosphate, bag of stutzmanns chicken manure(4-3-3), gypsum, fishbone meal and then mix it up well and water with EJ catalyst or a nice home made compost tea and let it sit for three weeks, dont re-mix and then off you grow! That is a solid base to start with though. There is a company that is in Portland that C.Coot turned me on to called Concentrates Inc. they are really cheap for Alaska Peat and tons of other things. Hope this helps.NS

 

[Bullfrog44]

I am keeping and using the old holes and soil, however I am upping the pot/hole size by almost double. I will also be adding a few plants to the mix this year, so I will be needing more soil.

 

[FunkBomb]

Your soil mix sounds like an effective one. If you're looking to cut costs on the base, I would suggest mushroom compost. It's less expensive, you can buy it in bulk if you'd like, and it has what plants want. I've used it in containers and in the tilled beds and it's never let me down.

-Funk

 

[Bullfrog44]

I did a search for mushroom compost around me but found nothing. I did however find compost for as cheap as 25$yard, and as much as 92$yard. I am having problems finding peat moss around me as well, Lynso has a product called "Ligna Peat Amendment" (http://www.lyngsogarden.com/index.c...tegory=SOILS&categoryid=70538&productId=70863) Not sure if the two are the same?

 

[schwagg]

i'd definitely go with a nice compost. mix all together and amend, you should be good to go. you had beautiful plants last year, can't wait to see this year!

 

[SmokeyTheGrower]

i'd look for a soil mix with a base of good compost and peat with lots of amendments and perlite. Too save money on nutes all you need is some compost,ewc,and guanos for topdressing and teas.

 

[vonforne]

You are using what is close...........What can you get from the feed store?

Why are you not re-cycling your soil?

Is there a Napa auto parts near by? If so pick up some 8822 and add that to the mix similar to perlite.

I would loose the blood and bone meal if you can.

V

 

[Bullfrog44]

You are using what is close...........What can you get from the feed store?

I can get almost any bulk items through a commercial garden store. No feed stores but almost the same thing

Why are you not re-cycling your soil?

V

I am, but I am adding beds, pots, and topsoil to existing area. The area's I am not touching will get the no till approach.

Is there a Napa auto parts near by? If so pick up some 8822 and add that to the mix similar to perlite.


V

Yup, got a Napa within 2 miles. I will pick some up soon at take a look at it. It seems very fine however.

I would loose the blood and bone meal if you can.

V

What are substitutes for these products and at what rate?


Thank you.

 

[onelung09]

why lose the blood and bone in the first place i just mixed a blood bone and kelp mix is this a bad mix ?

 

[supherbb]

why lose the blood and bone in the first place i just mixed a blood bone and kelp mix is this a bad mix ?

With an outdoor grow these ingredients could cause problems with animals. They can smell the blood/bone and will come after it, even digging up the space around your plants.

 

[trichrider]

isn't that a bit high in nitrogen values with all that bone, blood, and alfalfa meals? that would be my reason to discard the blood...

good growing!

 

[Bullfrog44]

With an outdoor grow these ingredients could cause problems with animals. They can smell the blood/bone and will come after it, even digging up the space around your plants.

No problems with that, this is a back yard grow.

isn't that a bit high in nitrogen values with all that bone, blood, and alfalfa meals? that would be my reason to discard the blood...

good growing!

This is exactly what I want to know. The soil mix last year was used more as a super soil mix. SS mix is when you have a base soil on top and the super soil on the bottom. This means that the super soil is probably a little too strong for a 100% mix.

 

[Jakearoo]

You can almost always find mushroom compost for free. Just Google search for the nearest mushroom farm. They almost always give it away and sometimes will even load it in trucks for free. We have full dump truck loads delivered for the cost of the trucking. All plants seem to love the stuff. You can mix it with whatever soil mix you use in rather large ratios. I have used as much as 50% mushroom compost and the plants are happy, happy.

 

[Bullfrog44]

People keep recommending mushroom compost. Mushroom compost really is not great for cannabis. Mushrooms tend to have lots of pesticide residues and has a very high salt content. I want to save money making my own soil mix, WITH HIGH QUALITY MATERIALS. Thanks for the advice however.

 

[h.h.]

I have thousands of unpaid workers making my soil. Put them boys to work. Start pumping the manure and the fiber. I use palm and yucca in my bins. Bark may be a better choice up there.Coco if you have to. Cover it with worms and castings, let them work through it, turn it over and make them do it again. You might have to break it up by hand as it goes along but it's the last thing to break down and makes a good base. I reward them with powdered kelp and the best of scraps and most of the egg shells. Alfalfa would be a good thing in small increments. You don't want to heat it up, especially if you're already using manure. Put your DE in there as well. Harvest it as a well finished vermacompost rather than as ewc. Judge it by texture. I shake mine through a piece of diamond lath. It's pretty much complete.

I end up top dressing a bit of nitrogen in the beginning, once the plants are started. I prefer not to add it to my mix.
I also top dress the bone meal. That's where most of the activity is. While the supersoil embraces the same concept, it is too rich for some young seedlings. The roots of the maturing plant also have little reason to venture into the less rich subsoil. You see people plant trees, mixing a lot of mulch in the hole, the roots grow in a circle and the tree suffers until it dies. Your soil should be consistent throughout the root zone.
Let it get established a couple of weeks, 2 or 3 sets of leaves, and then top dress.

 

[Bullfrog44]

So no advice on a NEW soil mix then fella's?

 

[h.h.]

Just the same ol' mixes that have been used for years.
What are you looking for?
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/grd/2853256788.html

 

[Jungle.Microbes]

I just mixed up a batch of the following. Can't tell you how it works because this is the first time with this mix. I'm shooting for a somewhat hot, but highly mineralized soil, very rich in calcium.

~4cuft (28 gal): used happy frog / roots 707 mix

2cups: blood, bone, bloom guano, greensand, lime (97% CAC02), azomite

16cups: EWC

8cups: mushroom compost

1cup: gypsum

1.5cup: Soft Rock Phosphate

~.5cup mycorrhizae

stored in a 32 gal trash can, watered with 2gal plain tap water that sit out for a day.

I'm letting it cook for a month and then will use it on a couple of plants and see the results.

 

[guest2012y]

This is outdoor?..?.?..What I would do outdoors...

Lets say you start with a 1 bail of peat...just regular ol' peat moss.

To that add...

1 cubic foot EWC
4 cubic feet pumice
2 cubic feet vermiculite
1 cubic foot coco coir
1-2 cubic foot compost

10 cups glacial rock dust
16 cups N gauno
16 cups fish bone meal
16 cups kelp meal

This is also where you add all those goodies like Azomite,green sand,comfrey,etc....optional.
1 gallon pyrophosphite clay..or ANY clay that is powdered....also consider the possible amount of clay in the native soil.
4 cups powdered dolomite...or the 3-way lime mix I use ( 1x gypsum,2x oyster shell,1x dolomite)...for the peat. Consider the ph of the native soil and adjust as well.


NOW...take all that and mix 50/50 with the existing native soil from each hole....mix well...fill holes...good to go. Somewhere in August you'll want to start feeding teas.

My two cents,...and what this is what I do.