how do you grow in soil?

I've used hydro and soilless for a long time. A friend recently asked me about switching to soil, of which I realized I know zilch..

Hydro/coco are straightforward to get into. In fact, they're very easy. In soil, what exactly do you feed? Teas? do you feed during veg? What do you feed in flower? do you amend the soil with anything? how do you fix deficiencies?

Out of boredom in the past, I've taken bag seeds and placed them into beer cups full of my $1-2 potting soil and the plants looked amazing. A dark healthy green—the color you miss when you begin using coco. Never went passed 1-2 weeks in veg though.

fox farm - sunshine #4 and etc are soilless soil! treat em like coco. its an inert medium. nothin to it.

I followed a recipe for soil that you can use from veg through flower only adding water. Its called the moonshine mix and I started using it five years ago. I've tried other soils with teas, but I didn't get the same results. I think people could easily learn to dial in teas.

Organics is really simple. You have micro life in the soil. You feed the micro life, they eat and break down the nutrients into simple forms, and the plants absorb them. You don't have to worry about PH or measuring nutes or anything. Just add the plants and they grow like hell.

I grow in homemade compost consisting of lots of grass clippings, dry leaves, straw, garden waste, kitchen waste, wood ash, sawdust and soil from all indoor/outdoor grows gets recycled in compost also.

I have two 6x6 compost bins I built myself. I screen compost into those big RubberMaid-RoughNeck containers and stack them in a shed or in closet to mellow out before use.

When I'm ready to use it, I mix peatmoss and perlite in parts and water for most part ferting with mollasses or fish emulsion every now n then, but other than that its just water. My compost is better than store bought bags of $20-30 ripoffs.

I use Fox Farm ocean Forrest soil mix really organic and great neutral medium. With this your Ph of your soil will consistently be the same as the ph of your water which is very helpful for me. Also to combat deficiency in soil if its a nutrient lockout problem were salts build up and could make your soil acidic or stop the plant from taking in any nutrients then you would flush with 2 times the size of your pot. Now ive been using advanced 3 part system now for the past 6 months and its been pretty good using equal substances of all throughout veg and flower.

so why are you switching from coco to soil? usually its the other way around.
i grow in soil and i always thought it was pretty easy. i think coco is a tad harder,but i could be wrong as i've never tried it. the most important thing is either buying a good soil mix, or making your own. for ease, i use fox farm ocean forest and happy frog, and mix the 2. I have added worm casting and some perlite in the past,but its not necessary at all. for seeds i use fox farm light warrior.

the ocean forest and happy frog come with nutrients in it, about 2 weeks worth, so i do not feed my plants anything serious(just seaweed and maybe calmag) until after 2 weeks of them being in soil. for veg you have a few options to feed... fish emulsion, bat guano, or combined one(like fox farms grow big(6-4-4)) all of those have nitrogen,which is what they need most in veg. i use a combination of those 3, in light doses. the fish emulsion is nice because it will not burn(but stinks pretty bad)
in flower you want to use a nitrogen feed the first week and maybe the 3rd. then you want to use something like fox farms tiger bloom(2-8-4). there are many brands besides fox farm, thats just what i use, but they all have very similar products for different stages. i also use beastie bloomz(0-50-30) and cha ching(9-50-10), once a week from the 3rd week to 3 weeks before harvest. then i do some molasses for a week,and then flush for 2 weeks or more.
good luck

edit: i forgot to mention, i also use drip clean once i start flower. this product is supposed to do something where your plants will not absorb the salt buildup from the nutrients. you only need 1ml per 3.5 gallons

i love sunshine4 and additional dolomite lime. wormcastings help alot.i do lots of composting and add it to. then the soil becomes alive and the magic starts to happen.i wouldnt ever consider going back to hydro

I use B'cuzz Pro-Mix right out of the bag and Jack's Classic fertilizers - All-Purpose in veg and Bloom in flower - and feed with every watering. I don't know of anything easier and more foolproof.

Simon

Check this out. https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=112662 it is a very good place to start.

Having started out in Hydro I treat my soil as I did my hydroton. It's basically a support structure for the root system that I can add nutrients to. I feed every other watering throughout veg and flowering cycles.

GreatLakes THC

VEG
Use Sunshine #4 straight. Water in with powdered myco. Fertilize with aerated wormcasting compost tea and 20-0-0 dry fertilizer.

FLOWER
Use Sunshine #4 mixed with FF Marine Cuisine, watered in with a powdered myco. They'll be jammin. Administer aerated wormcasting compost tea, 20-0-0 mix first 3.5 weeks. Then switch to 5-10-5 Age Old and a sweetner. Then at week 5.5 add shooting powder for two weeks to finish. Stop 5-10-5 by week 6.5 to 7. Keep sweetner going until end including flush.

This has worked for over a decade.

I think a good beginner soil would be this:

1 bag Fox Form Garden Soil (not the potting mix)
1 bag EWC
4 bricks of Coco Coir
4-5 handfuls of Garden Lime

Pretty simple and hard to mess up in my opinion. All you need to do is water for the first month then you can start feeding light grow nutrients until the bloom phase.

Feed high P bat guano/kelp/molasses during flower and you'll have amazing flavors and aromas!

Buy some good soil like Fox Farm, Dr. Earth, or make your own with compost or peat moss as the base. Get a good veg and bloom fertlizer (dry or liquid) and apply every other watering after the first two weeks of veg. It is that simple.

-Funk

ffof with 20 %wormcastings and a little perlite 1 Gallon then in flower i feed with psg tea this mix has me smiling ear to ear sometimes I just sit and stare at them lol

1 Bag FFOF
3 gallons earth worm castings
3 gallons perlite
1/4 - 1/2 cup dolomite lime. I dont really measure i just know

Feeding every watering
Maxi bloom 6.5g
cal/mag 3 ml
Black strap 1 tsp
Dry Kool bloom 1.25g 1 watering week 5 and week 6
I like to do a 2 week flush. But to each there own.

The key to this whole thing is R/O water.