soil mix using bunnings products

[DU420]

Hey all, I thinking of starting up a small greenhouse at the end of this year and I'm looking for some input on a soil mix using just bunnings products. I haven't actually come up with a recipe yet so if anyone can give me a basic idea of what I should be looking for I'd appreciate it, I'm thinking something along the lines of 40% organic potting soil, 20% compost, 20% sphagnum peat moss,10% perlite, 10% vermiculite, dolomite lime(1 tbsp per gallon medium), dynamic lifter(don't no how much yet). I'll be starting from clones and be using 5L and 10L pots as I don't want anything bigger than 4-5 ft as it won't fit in my greenhouse. Thanks in advance.

 

[High Country]

Bunnings is a pretty good choice...it's generally cheaper because of the high turn over and lot's of ingredients to use. They also sell a variety of hydro nutes. I tried them once but they are not as affective as the normal hydro nutes. I had to use twice as much to get to my desired EC level.

I am not sure on the mixes you can come up with but I'm sure Bunnings has everything you need.

SOME OF THEIR POTTING MIXES ARE NOT TO BAD FOR CLONING IN EITHER

 

[DU420]

Hey HC nice clones I was going to pick up some of their seed raising mix for cloning whilst I was in there. Any way I was going to try and stick to the premium products if I can to ensure a quality soil mix its just the percentages I wanted double checked and if there was anything I've missed that a good soil mix should have. I'll be adding some gogo juice at the beginning of the grow to help with the soil biology and add microbes.

 

[High Country]

I've used their standard potting mix in the past and just added water. No problems.

Sometimes I add hydro nutes...and they go gangbusters.

See if you can find Tom Hill's soil mix. He's the soil man.

 

[ilegalalien]

Amgrow's new earth potting mix is a good base product, it's dark and rich unlike
many other cheap potting mix that are mostly pine fines.
5 bucks a bag is pretty good for 25 litre but adds, such as perlite and verm are
exy at bunnings as they sell small 10 litre bags at premium $$
For cheaper larger bags go to a plasterboard supplier , they are open to the public
and not scarce in populated areas.

 

[DU420]

Good stuff I'll have to check out that earth potting mix, I think that's one of the problems with my current grow is to much pine bark in the mix( fucking cheap hortico) it was the best unammended potting mix I could at bunnings at the time.

 

[Guest50138]

This is the stuff you want to be using ! you might want to consider using a coco mix instead of the perlite once you got perlite blowing around your yard it hard to get rid off! also if height is a problem use 30lt rectangular recycling drums and cut a few holes in them for drainage this also allows the roots to tap into the ground you can tip the shit out off your plants to keep them from getting too high, put in your dynamic lifter months before you plan on planting and give it a chance to break down before you plant This plant was grow in a 30lt recycle drum and was under 4 ft and yielded a pound and a half

.

 

[DU420]

Thanks oldman nice plant so i can use a bigger container I was told in a 10L pot in good soil a sativa will average 6ft and an indica will average 4ft hence the chosen pot sizes. I take it that's a bunnings product?

 

[Guest50138]

Yes its a Bunnings product, a 10 lt pot is a bit small in my opinion, even shallow beds made on the ground might suit what you want to do ..tipping the plants is the way to manage the height rather than strangling them in small containers, small pots will limit the yield dramatically , even sativa's that I tip dont get over 5-6 ft in height..if your going to take the risk and grow a plant or two you may as well make it count for something, in the eye's of the law a 1 once plant is the same as a 1 pound plant, in a greenhouse I would expect to grow out plants with a couple of pound each so 2-3 plant should keep you in smoke for a year with a relatively small amount of risk BTW those compressed blocks off coco from Bunnings need to be flushed with a lot off water to remove salt deposits from them before using, or buy the certified stuff from your local grow shop Cheers and best off luck..its all in the planing..what are the clones you got?

 

[Guest50138]

This is Mr Nice ASH it would have been a 3-4 mt plant if left untipped (sativa dominant hybrid ) they were about a 1.6 mt high by tipping them.so its not so much the pot that limits the height more the tipping.

 

[DU420]

Yes its a Bunnings product, a 10 lt pot is a bit small in my opinion, even shallow beds made on the ground might suit what you want to do ..tipping the plants is the way to manage the height rather than strangling them in small containers, small pots will limit the yield dramatically , even sativa's that I tip dont get over 5-6 ft in height..if your going to take the risk and grow a plant or two you may as well make it count for something, in the eye's of the law a 1 once plant is the same as a 1 pound plant, in a greenhouse I would expect to grow out plants with a couple of pound each so 2-3 plant should keep you in smoke for a year with a relatively small amount of risk BTW those compressed blocks off coco from Bunnings need to be flushed with a lot off water to remove salt deposits from them before using, or buy the certified stuff from your local grow shop Cheers and best off luck..its all in the planing..what are the clones you got?

Thanks oldman, I know I've pulled chunks of salt the size of a kingswood out of those coco bricks in the past so they always get flushed with about 100L of water. Well my clones will be of my bcbigbud and dinafem shark attack seedlings once there grown up if I don't manage to kill them before then, there in the infirmary if you want to go check out the mess I've made of them so far. Under the title "have I murdered my seedlings".

 

[DU420]

This is Mr Nice ASH it would have been a 3-4 mt plant if left untipped (sativa dominant hybrid ) they were about a 1.6 mt high by tipping them.so its not so much the pot that limits the height more the tipping. View Image

Just to clarify tipping and topping are the same thing right?

 

[Guest50138]

Just to clarify tipping and topping are the same thing right?

Yes exactly the same thing..and I saw you seedling in the infirmary.. growyourboat probably answered your questions on that one..I start everything in coco nowadays and transplants into dirt once they are thriving it takes the guesswork out off it and the seedling seem to love coco Happy Trails M8

 

[DU420]

Yes exactly the same thing..and I saw you seedling in the infirmary.. growyourboat probably answered your questions on that one..I start everything in coco nowadays and transplants into dirt once they are thriving it takes the guesswork out off it and the seedling seem to love coco Happy Trails M8

What so you reckon they need feeding to hey Hmmmm oh well that's two to one on give em some food I might go feed em...

 

[Guest50138]

What so you reckon they need feeding to hey Hmmmm oh well that's two to one on give em some food I might go feed em...

M8 my own personal experience with Aussie potting mix's are that once something starts going wrong its very hard to recover, your problem is either to much or to little, whats your feeling on it? what I would do if that seedling was mine is I would carefully transplant that into coco and feed it at an EC off .9 nothing else and a 18 hour cycle under the hps it should recover within a week unless you know for sure what went wrong with that soil mix your only guessing ! have you checked the ph off the mix? I've had a poor outcome most time once something started to go wrong in potting mix transplanting into coco has saved me heaps off times in similar circumstance

 

[DU420]

M8 my own personal experience with Aussie potting mix's are that once something starts going wrong its very hard to recover, your problem is either to much or to little, whats your feeling on it? what I would do if that seedling was mine is I would carefully transplant that into coco and feed it at an EC off .9 nothing else and a 18 hour cycle under the hps it should recover within a week unless you know for sure what went wrong with that soil mix your only guessing ! have you checked the ph off the mix? I've had a poor outcome most time once something started to go wrong in potting mix transplanting into coco has saved me heaps off times in similar circumstance

Well mate I think i over thought this grow my first test was just one WW seed that I paid little attention too and didnt feed until cotyledons died were as this grow I started off with probiotics and root stimulants and got alittle over my head I think. I've flushed them now so I'll let them be for a bit and hope for the best. The soil ph is 7 and when I flushed with water ph'd 6.5 the run off was 6.7 so that didn't seem too dramatic...

 

[DU420]

Does anyone use compost for their indoor soil mix?

 

[taslicker]

Debco

Debco

Debco organic potting mix.

+ with some blood n bone, crushed dynamic lifter, a little potash and a dash of dolomite. in a 25 litre grow bag.

 

[DU420]

That sounds good for my outdoor mix but if I tried that on my bonsai Mums they'd turn into godzilla mums... So will the potash just stay dormant in the soil until the plant needs it during flowering or do you have to repot?

 

[taslicker]

That sounds good for my outdoor mix but if I tried that on my bonsai Mums they'd turn into godzilla mums... So will the potash just stay dormant in the soil until the plant needs it during flowering or do you have to repot?

Yep the mums could get going but you could try smaller post and weaker lights to hold them back a bit.

The potash will stay awhile provided you don't do any heavy flushing.
I use it as a general purpose soil mix for indoor and out.

I'm not a fan of expensive additives. I use this mix on my greenhouse tomatoes in pots. Works a treat with them. The potash improves the taste of the tomatoes.