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a list of a few different popular soil mixes

there are a few super soil mixes floating around the web that people use. just add water and go formulas. the most popular are revs tlo soil mix, subcools and moonshinemans.. i also added one by a guy named lumperdawgz from another forum just because i respect his knowledge on organics and i dont think rev, subcool or moonshineman know half of what he knows so i figured his mix is the perfect base to work form. also added a mix ive been making recently after using revs mix for a while.. its been a lot better for me, less muddy, better drainage, just awesome. in the future ill probably work on using less amendments and see how it works.

if youre growing a lot of plants or using very large pots, making your own soil will save you A LOT of money, i couldnt imagine buying 10-20 bags of ffof at $20 each. and it will save you more money and time by not using nutes, or phing, just add water and some teas. ive always grown hydro and i experimented making my own soil just for my mothers and it worked out so good ive never looked back. these plants just stay so healthy, green and happy the whole way through, no fixing deficiencies and figuring problems out constantly, having to buy different bottled nutes to fix the plants.. and the buds are so tasty and perfect. a lot better imo. so i suggest everyone should try one of these mixes.

SUBCOOLS SUPER SOIL MIX

8 large bags of a high-quality organic potting soil with coco fiber and mycorrhizae (i.e., your base soil)
25 to 50 lbs of organic worm castings
5 lbs steamed bone meal
5 lbs Bloom bat guano
5 lbs blood meal
3 lbs rock phosphate
¾ cup Epson salts
½ cup sweet lime (dolomite)
½ cup azomite (trace elements)
2 tbsp powdered humic acid

REV'S TRUE LIVING ORGANICS SUPER SOIL MIX

TLO Mix 2011 Supernatural Version 2.1 BY: THE REV
Master Soil-Mix Recipe

BASE MIX
2 gal Quality Organic Soil-mix (or good organic recycled soil mix)
2 gal Thoroughly Rinsed Coir (coconut fiber)
2 gal Perlite (small nugget size)
2 gal Earthworm Castings (fresh earthworm castings, and/or fresh compost works too)
AMENDMENTS
1½ cup Grow or Bloom ‘Pure’ by Organicare (or 1 cup 5-5-5)
½ cup Greensand
¾ cup Ground Oyster Shells (1 cup if no crushed oyster shells)
1½ cup Crushed Oyster Shells (optional)
½ cup Dolomite Lime (powdered)
1 cup Prilled (pelletized) Fast Acting Dolomite Lime
¼ cup Blood Meal (and/or High N Bird/Bat Guano 12-8-2 N-P-K if flowering 1/8 cup of each)
¼ cup (heaping) Feather Meal
1 cup un-steamed (granular) Bone Meal (like Whitney Farms brand)
½ cup Bulb Food (3-8-8 as one good N-P-K example)
¼ cup Soft Rock Phosphate (powdered)
½ cup (heaping) Gypsum (powdered)
½ cup Kelp Meal
4 cups (heaping) Composted Steer Manure (this inoculates your mix with specialized bacteria and primo organic matter)
½ cup Azomite granular (add an additional ¼ cup greensand if no Azomite)
1 cup Humic Acid Ore granular (like from Down to Earth brand)
1 cup Alfalfa Meal (or 2 cups pellets – make sure pellets are all organic no additives)
½ cup Rock Phosphate Granular (optional)
1 cup (heaping) organic rice (important for the good fungi in this soil-mix)

This mix should be moistened (Do not get it soaking wet!) with chlorine free water, and turned over every few days, for about 15 days before use. This is what I call “cooking” your soil, and letting it get pretty dry before use, is fine. The nutrients don’t evaporate or anything, so no worries there, per storage over time. If this soil-mix turns out to be too hot (powerful) for some reason, just cut it with good bagged organic soil until you get the strength your environment and genetics demands.
I find cooking mine for about 30 days works the best for me, but I have often used it sooner, like at 2 weeks, and just remember the warmer it is outside wherever the soil-mix is at, the faster the cooking processes will happen. You can use a pH meter (soil pH meter) to tell when it is done cooking too. I wait until it is in the 6.2 – 6.8 range, which normally takes about 2 weeks, because as it kicks off cooking the pH will often be very low, like around 4.9 isn’t uncommon when it first starts to cook.
ONLY FOR USE WITH PURE WATER SOURCES, LIKE REVERSE OSMOSIS, RAIN, OR DISTILLED WATER. DO NOT USE WELL, TAP, OR SPRING WATER WITH THIS RECIPE.
This soil-mix is meant to be used along with the spike and layer TLO dynamic, and while it is quite capable of standing alone, it works supernaturally when you add the spike and layering dynamics.

Killer Spike Blends...

Spike #1 vegg
½ cup blood
½ cup steamed bone meal
½ cup high N bat/bird guano
½ cup feather meal
½ cup kelp meal
1 tablespoon ground oyster shell (optional)

Spike #2 all-purpose/flowering
½ cup feather meal
¼ cup bulb food 3-8-8
¼ cup soft rock phosphate
½ cup steamed bone meal
½ cup high P bat/bird guano
½ cup kelp meal
1 tablespoon ground oyster shell (optional)

- Revski​
 
MOONSHINE MANS MIX

"Lookin good....the mix is super simple...you can use it from seed to flower it just doesnt need the dry ferts (peace of mind) early on.....Watering is the Key to this mix...overwater and youll see all sorts of weird "nute def" poppin up....let it dry completely and the probs disappear......the Current mix goes a lil sumthin like this...

(bag of each)
bag of Ocean Forest
bag of Planting Mix (guano/castings)
bag of Light Warrior
bag of Black Gold
1 Coco Brick(small brick)
1 cup peace of mind (for flower)
2- 5 gal buckets worth of perilite....
And the LARGE Chunky Perilite...RULES....small perilite packs down over time ...the large perilite creates huge air pockets for the roots to grow through....over the last 3 yrs anytime I have gone back to the small diameter perilite my plants SUFFER and yeilds diminish.....You have to try the stuff to understand and even then you may not comprehend (like me) the benefits the large core perlite makes.....great stuff....
Romulator has been usin my mix for a couple of yrs now and he is like me always tinkering and tweakin the mix...but in the end its the core 3 bag fox farm mix that makes this shit work....
my only "additives" Id tell anyone to try would be "Fish Mix" from biobizz for a lil boost in veg and Advanced Nutes "Moter Earth Super Tea" for a lil boost on day 25-30 for LARGE plants ......But honestly the mix dont need nuthin....
Keep up the good work....."

Moonshine


LUMPERDAWGZ MIX (lumperdawgz is at another site and is an expert on organic growing)

I start of with Sunshine Organic Growers Mix which consists of 40% organic peat moss, 30% organic coir (washed and inoculated with trichoderma spores), 10% perlite, 10% vermiculite and 10% pumice (medium size). The reasons that all 3 are added by the manufacturer has to do with the CEC (cation exchange capacity) of these 3 aeration amendments. The soil is ph adjusted with dolomite lime and is treated with organic yucca extract as a wetting agent.

This is a professional 'soilless mix' for the nursery plant industry. All of the products used are the best available.

BTW - Sunshine Mix is manufactured by Sun Gro Horticulture which also manufactures Black Gold products (their consumer line) and some other products that appear at Home Depot and Loews, etc. Sunshine Mixes are generally available in the Western US and ProMix is manufactured and distributed in the Eastern US. There is no difference between the 2 products if you're comparing apples to apples.

To the soil I add 25% organic compost, 1 cf. of pumice or rice hulls and that's the basic soil

To that I add 1 cup (per 1 cf.) seed meal (equal parts of canola, cottonseed, flaxseed and alfalfa) to replace the bloodmeal ('N') and organic fish bone meal (4-20-0) to replace the bonemeal in the original LC Mix.

I add about 1.5 cf. of glacial rock dust to the soil mix. This is important because the fungai use the exudes created by the bacteria (a slime is produced) that are 'mainlined' into the root hairs from mycorrhazie attached to the root hairs.

About 1/4 cup of kelp meal and 1 tablespoon of mycorrhizal fungus to each 5 gallon pot and I sprinkle about 1/4 cup of neem seed meal as a top dressing.

That's it other than applying aerated compost teas at the beginning of the veg cycle and then again at the beginning of the flower cycle (a high-fungai tea facilitates the take-up of phosphorous). Just water and I hit them with a foiliar spray of fish enzyme and seaweed extract 1x a week and neem seed oil 2x times a week through veg and the first couple of weeks in the flower cycle to prevent mites and powdery mildew.

It works without any burning, stunted growth, whatever. Just add water. This soil costs me less than $6.00 per cf. to put together.

LumperDawgz

SLAUSON SUPER SOIL (i put together a soil mix based off of a couple other ones ive done, just took the pieces from each one that i liked)

one bail pro mix bx (3.8 cf) 70% peat moss 30% perlite
one bag coco coir (1.7)
or one bail of canadian peat moss (3.8cf) one bag of coco coir (1.7cf) and a bag of perlite (1.7cf) instead of the promix
two smaller bags of earthworm castings (1.7)
1 small bag of pumice
7 cups ff peace of mind or organicare pure
2.5 cups fast acting pelletized lime
1.25 cups blood meal
1.25 cups feather meal
5 cups fish bone meal
2.5 cups bulb food
1.25 cups soft rock phosphate
2.5 cups kelp meal
5 cups alfalfa meal
12 cups steer manure

and if you can find these and want to add some extras then these are perfect but i dont find them all mandatory.

2.5 cups greensand
5 cups oyster shells
2.5 cups dolomite lime
2.5 cups gypsum
2.5 cups azomite
2.5 cups epsom salts
5 cups humic acid ore
1 cup high nitrogen bat guano

sprinkle mykos at the bottom of the root hole in each pot

let cook for 20-30 days or more. water with chlorine free water and turn every day to every few days. cooks faster in the sun. fills up a big kiddie pool. no nutes necessary, just water and a few AACT's. once at beginning of veg and once at at beginning of flower or every third watering. teas have ewc, alaskan humus, alfalfa meal, kelp meal, seaweed extract, fish hydrosylate, humic acid, mollasses

if anyone else has their own soil mix feel free to post it up.. or if you have experienece with any of these, let us know how it went for you.

thanks.​
 

guest2012y

Living with the soil
Veteran
.....gotz to love lumperdagz stuff......just found a smartpot with the Coot's mix in it that sustained a NL#5 x Haze he gifted me that produced 3000 seed without ANY additional supplemental feeding.
 

VerdantGreen

Genetics Facilitator
Boutique Breeder
Mentor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
good stuff, will be useful to many people

but what i dont understand is that nearly all these mixes start off with a bagged 'complete' organic soil mix and then add stuff.

if you're going to go to all the trouble then why not use proper raw materials at the start like peat, perlite etc ?
 
good stuff, will be useful to many people

but what i dont understand is that nearly all these mixes start off with a bagged 'complete' organic soil mix and then add stuff.

if you're going to go to all the trouble then why not use proper raw materials at the start like peat, perlite etc ?

exactly!!! thats what i realized after follwing lumperdawgz..

why am i starting off with an already made bag of soil? i dont know why rev doesnt realize this and make a new one from scratch. as much as hes supposed to know.

once i started with just a mix of mostly peat and then coco, perlite and ewc the mix got way better. wayyyy better. at least start with a pro mix.

moonshines mix isnt really a mix, its just 3 premade soil bags.. sometimes i think fox farm paid him to promote that mix. easily the most expensive one at $20 each bag. i wouldnt ever use it. im surprised i see so many people using it.

subcools seems legit but i wouldnt use that much blood meal. i would suggest lumperdawgz mix and maybe add the amendments from revs mix.. thats basically what i do and i cant think of a better mix.

hope this helps some people out there.
 

ixnay007

"I can't remember the last time I had a blackout"
Veteran
I'm guessing it's easier to find those ready made mixes than it is to find good quality peat?

The idea is something easy to make, consistent, and hopefully available near you.

That's my 2c.
 

BurnOne

No damn given.
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I'm guessing it's easier to find those ready made mixes than it is to find good quality peat?

I can find Premiere or Farfard peat almost everywhere in western NC. Premiere makes ProMix. Any Canadian Sphagnum Peat is high quality and great for growing.
Burn1
 

ixnay007

"I can't remember the last time I had a blackout"
Veteran
I can find Premiere or Farfard peat almost everywhere in western NC. Premiere makes ProMix. Any Canadian Sphagnum Peat is high quality and great for growing.
Burn1

Good luck finding it in Italy :)

Sometimes, the pre-amended stuff is easier to find, and you can be fairly sure of the amounts of nutrients in em.
 

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