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Thoughts on feeding my semi-soil

Klompen

Klompen

Active member
I am running my current grow with a mix that is the following approximately:

2 parts perlite
2 parts vermiculite
4 parts coir
1 part peat

This has a random mix of Epsoma and Jobes fertilizers in it, but only just left over partial bags. The overall amount is not huge.

What I am wondering is if I should be treating this more like hydro. The pH is 6.7 or so and I am doing this all drainless right now, but will be switching to grow bags soon.

Here's my trifoliate Summer Breeze for an example. The top has a bit of yellow like its just not getting enough nitrogen. I am not sure if I should keep waiting because of the low temperatures at night lately. I'm debating giving them a bit of dilute urine, but I wanted to know what everyone thinks of this mix and how to feed it.....


 
T

Tguy42

New member
I would mix in some lime and worm casting the lime for calcium and worm casting for nitrogen or any fish fertilizer hope this helps btw good luck on your journey
 
h.h.

h.h.

Active member
Veteran
I’d keep up with the Espoma for now just to keep it simple.

Mix some garden soil in water then use the dirty water while the fines are still in suspension. That’ll add clay and minerals.

Optional:
AACT if you can to make up for lack of compost. Fermented plant juice.
 
Klompen

Klompen

Active member
Totally forgot to add that I mixed in a few cups of silicon dioxide crystals(kitty litter crystals) for water retention and added silica. I also mixed lime and gypsum in with the random Espoma and Jobes fertilizers. I think I am pretty good on pH stability. Is 6.7pH too high for this mix though?

Right now I am running this stuff in 18oz party cups, but I am currently doing it drainless. Should I be making these drain? I know some folks swear by drainless, but I have never done it before and am only doing it now because I haven't had the time to cut holes in all those cups(I have a lot of legal gardening I am trying to work on too right now).

I have some pretty intense mycellium forming on the cocoa mulch. I know all those random fertilizers have various beneficials added to them, but I am not sure what fungus it is for certain. Doesn't seem to be hurting the plants though. I have just never seen mycellium this thick outside of the few times I have grown shrooms.
 
Klompen

Klompen

Active member
I used to make AACT religiously. The grow I used it the most on was the best grow I ever did. I really don't even know where my tea brewing stuff is, but I will be doing teas again as soon as possible.
 
h.h.

h.h.

Active member
Veteran
If you have mycelium growing, using AACT may be somewhat redundant. Others may disagree. I generally just use it when dealing with somewhat sterile soil. Somewhat the same with fermentations.

I often use Espoma in the fermentations for the added bennies. I’m not familiar with Jobes , other than seeing it on the shelf.

I’ve never tested pH. When I add fermentations, it drops way down, gradually working it’s way back up. I watch the plant.

Drainage depends on the percentage and type of salts in your water. There can be a build up that should have the occasional flush. It may or may not matter. The drainage holes are mainly insurance against over watering.
 
Microbeman

Microbeman

The Logical Gardener
ICMag Donor
Veteran
When I did that type of thing, I used the cheapest soluble 20-20-20 in the store; drainage for sure.
 
Klompen

Klompen

Active member
SamsonsRiddle said:
Was your coir rinsed? looks like it could be from salts in the coco.
Click to expand...

I did rinse it a few times, but I could probably flush them again if that would help. I am using pet store coir. Its not ideal but I got a really lucky deal because of a price screw up on the store's website and ended up with a ton of it(by my standards anyway).
 
Klompen

Klompen

Active member
Yeah I probably lost a seedling or two to some salts I missed here and there. I had a couple of odd wiltings that made no sense, but otherwise my grow is thriving and I am honestly completely in love with this mix as a grow medium. I will say that starting seedlings in this mix has been a bit iffier, but as said above that might be salts because its very random which ones have issues. I have a few dozen bag seed seedlings going now for my outdoor and they'll be going out in the very near future. Here's a shot of my plants as of yesterday...



This is the healthiest grow I have ever had overall and so far this mix is really performing great.
 
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