outdoor soil mix (experienced growers only)

[davidjwest]

can i use espoma bone/blood meal, plant tone, and green sand at the full recommended dose/amount.... or do you have to cut it down? I'd think yes

and how important is it to mix and let sit your soil long before you plant into it?

thanks

 

[talktosamson]

How big are your containers? That will make my awnser differ. How much soil at a time are you planning to amending?

 

[davidjwest]

espoma organic blood/bone, plant tone... full strength?

espoma organic blood/bone, plant tone... full strength?

can i feed with espoma organic blood/bone and plant tone at full strength/ full suggested amounts?

 

[talktosamson]

in a 10 gallon pot, not without some time to cook, in a 200 gallon pot, yes you can without much time to cook. Same deal on amount of soil. If your amending 20 gallons of soil, no not without some cooking time. If your amending 200 gallons of soil, probably ok to just mix it up, water it in and plant.

 

[davidjwest]

sorry i didn't reply ....because of the bit at the bottom of your peice... i know realize that's a disclaimer. get it.
thanks for your help. i pre mixed fert into my soil at suggested amounts. this hot mix will be at the bottom 2gals of a 7gal bag.

 

[talktosamson]

sorry i didn't reply ....because of the bit at the bottom of your peice... i know realize that's a disclaimer. get it.
thanks for your help. i pre mixed fert into my soil at suggested amounts. this hot mix will be at the bottom 2gals of a 7gal bag.

That may be ok then. I'm always in favor of putting a little hotter mix or extra food at the bottom of a bag or pot, so by the time your plant reaches that depth instead of getting sad and root bound, it finds an extra set of food to propel it through the last stages of flowering. In plastic pots I've been known to coat the bottom of the pot with molasses and then sprinkle on a granular fertiliser on it before I mix the soil in, same idea just slightly different method.

 

[davidjwest]

that sounds good....

 

[davidjwest]

the soil was dry, (outdoor grow) to heavy to move wet. then, i added water once i was ready to transplant (on location)... and mixed it all up as best i could. there was a lot of perlite and vermiculite but the drainage was horrible as i pour the water in.

* is this because the soil was going from completely dry to wet and hadn't established any wicking ability yet.. or is that a sign i needed to use more perlite/verm? i found it hard to get the perfect moisture, with out it being too heavy or sludgy.

*any advice on adding water to soil, and how wet you should get it? -the consistency? yada yada

my mix (minus fert):
4.5 parts perlite/vermiculite
7.5 parts base soil
3.5 parts humus/cow manure

 

[talktosamson]

New soil or soil that was once used does often take a second to learn to retain and drain water, as well as settle into the new pot/hole. I just got a bunch of new soil delivered and its trying to run off and pool up in weird spots, but that foes away after a few good waters. In my grows I always use the general rule if 10%. For a 10 gallon pot, I water one gallon of water or food. My 200 gallon pots get 20 gallons of water/food.

 

[davidjwest]

i did about a half gal water to 7 gal soil. its tough mixing it on-site in bags. we're gonna get a good rain soon and i think that should help establish a good moist soil. it seems like plants react 2times better to a good rain rather than a manual watering.

hows my medium to perlite/verm ratio look?