I think it’s essential to know what your plants need out of soil & nutrients; why they need what they do;& how to give it to them.

Understanding that your plant has different needs through-out it's life cycle will help to understand & identify why a "one mix & nuet it' will give poor returns

I am on my 3rd soil mix & I am on a quest for the perfect soil mix for me; it must have a pH of 6.3- 6.5 & have a lot of aeration

Please post your current soil mix & try to name products;

My current compost mix is 'cooking' in a large plastic tub; & in 11 - 3 gal tubs with plants in them / I have a few in 1 qt-ers started in another soil & a few yet to move to 3 gal pots from 2 1/2 qters - (1 qt - 2 1/2 qt - 3 gal)

I am now using;
1 c.ft. Of Miracle grows new Organic potting soil
1/2 c.ft at wallmart "Expert perfect' pot soil
1/2 c.ft of Jeff's all organic soil
1 bag of pure sphagnum peat
2 cups "Espoma" Blood Meal
3 cups 'Espoma' Bone meal
1 cup of Sulfate of Sulfur
1 1/2 cups of Sulfate of potash (cannabis is a P hog but needs it more during the begining of flowering)
4 bags of Shultz perilite
1/2 bag of new 'Espoma' Soil perfector (U should try these- they work great & are forever reusable)

This gave me a pH of 6.5 – I am hoping the sulfur will lower the pH a bit as we go to give a bit of a pH drift & work the pH to 6.3

In the next few grows I am going to play around with my soil mix & put to work what I know about ferts & soil & then learn what suits my Canna-Meds & my taste diet the best.

Please post your recipe:

(ps. Ag vocation school is paying off)

[daltron]

Hello all;

For me, for a 35gal mix, I start with 2 bale's of Fox Farms Ocean Forest or
a bale of Pro Mix,
either one is good and can be found at most hydro shops.

[Of late I prefer the Pro Mix and keep the FF O Forest just for seedlings]

The Mix:
Blood meal or alfalfa meal for the N [prefer the alfalfa meal for more trace elements]
Bone meal for the P
Kelp meal for the K
33% worm casting's
25% perilite for drainage {sometimes add more when potting if needed}
Greensand or Rock Phosphate [{ I pre-fer the Greensand} this is slow release and hence may only need to be mixed in with every other mix.]
Diatomaceous earth {helps to kill soil bugs and their larva}
Dolomite lime to adjust the Ph if needed
PotAsh to adjust the pH if needed

I use the red plastic dixie party cup as my measuring cup [which equals 2 cups] :
to start I add 2 red cups of each alfalfa meal, bone meal, kelp meal, greensand and diatomaceous earth to the soil, EWC and perilite mix.

I use 2 rubber Maid 50 gal container's for mixing and cooking of my soil....I built a frame work with 4 wheels.....I set the tubs on these dolly's....making them them very easy to move about....

Mix well ......


Lightly wet down, cover and let stand for at least 2 weeks. You know your soil is good and is ready when you take the cover off and smell that deep rich earth scent from your soil. Test soil pH....and adjust if needed..... cover and wet if needed.....finish cooking 2 more weeks....




When my grow is finished as long as there was NO problem's ie, bugs, mold, pH nute lock out.....etc....collect back as much of the soil as possible while minimizing dead root mass from going into your re-mix. You will get some small pice's of root mass that's ok , just avoid the bulk of the root mass.

Replace the missing soil with some good compost, spaghnam peat moss, earth worm casting {this I what I prefer with some peat moss}

Each strain has just a little different requirements for nute's
so watch your plants, if they show a shortage on something add a little extra to the remix for the next grow.....Listen to your plants they will talk to you !!

I feed with Earth juice grow and bloom if they need a little extra then I mix into the earth jucie some of the Pure Blend grow or bloom.....Note: Pure Blend not the Prue Blend pro.

Once going into flowering I will use G.H. Big Bloom just the one time in the first 2 weeks of flower. Also once during the first 2 weeks of watering I will mix in one capful of Superthrive / gal for one watering.

Everthing I use is all organic which is what allows me to re-mix and re-use my soil AS LONG AS THERE WAS NO PROBLEMS. If there is a problem toss it.....

My soil mix is a constant work in progress and thus is open to change but this is my base mix...

so far I am proud of my mix it gives me root balls that look like this after 25 days....



and bushy plants like this NRS...K-2.....10 days into flowering....




daltron

Why the wal-mart soil Fred? Aren't you mixing chemical fertilizer in with all your good organic stuff?

[lord siva]

Fredster what size bags of perilite do you use. I mix about 1/2 a bag into 3 cf mix of soil.
For every 3 cf of soil i add the mentioned amount of perilite 2 cups each of blood, and bone meals as well as PlantTone from epsoma. Thats all.

Originally Posted by Caprichoso

Why the wal-mart soil Fred? Aren't you mixing chemical fertilizer in with all your good organic stuff?

I only used 1/2 a bag of 'Expert" (1/4 of the mix) & that was because it was recomended / I will more than likley drop it as I can tell a BIG diff. in soil quility in both Jeffs & M.Grow NEW organic (nice soil) / & out of the bag - both were a bettert looknig & better areated soil - with a lower pH. (i am turning into a organic pH nut & check every add)

I really like the Espoma products.
Soil Perfector (try it youll like it)
Bone meal
Blood meal
Garden sulfur
Sulfate of Potash

I keep a soil test running at all times & checking the pH this AM it has drifted to 6.3 - I couldn't ask for any better than that. :smile:

Thanks Cap; I am always willing to listen to the voice of experiance

Plants are showing almoast no transplant shock & will get a dose of B-52 & Voodoo Juice on the next water-feed / the soli they came out of was +7 & I was always using a pH down soultion in my feed-water mix - now I just make sure my feed soultion is at a pH of 6.3; & that is making it much easier and with a more stable pH drift

PS. Caprichoso; I am with you on M.Grow / thay were making ferts for the public before we were born & it's a STONER falicy that MGrow is a bad product / if I get the results I want - MGrow organic soil will become my mixing medium.(we don't have a hydro shop in my town of 175,000 = I would like to start one)

I will check the size bags of perilite / Wallmart garden center resealabel bags / i like a LOT of perilite & mix in the Esmopa soil perfector rocks for great areation. (you can reuse the rocks)

Thanks Daltron = keep them comming

A work in progress

I am using for the 1st time trying to do it right with soil outdoors
FF OF for one strain, Black gold for the other both organic. usually i just used any ole PS just thru it in a pot or in the ground and watered every now & then. But not this yr.. no no no. im going to do it right hopefully been reading alot of soil threads.. anyway peace..

sack

I am mostly organic, my dirt mix for bloom is as follows:
5 gallons: Sta-Green All purpose potting mix (as it contains the basics - composted forest products, peat moss, perlite, wetting agent, water-holding polymers, small amount of inorganic ferts)
1 gallon: Worm Castings
1 gallon: Mushroom Compost
1 gallon: Vermiculite
1 gallon: Composted Cow Manure
4 gallons: Perlite
1 gallon: Coco Fiber

1 tbls per gallon of the following ammendments:
Greensand
Gypsum
Lime
Epsom Salts
High P Bat Guano
Bonemeal

I also add 6 tbls Bloodmeal, 2 tbls Triple Super Phosphate, 4 tbls Water Holding Polymers, 8 tbls Rock Phosphate, 8 tlbs Kelp Meal, 8 tbls Compost Activator and I sprinkle each new planting hole with mychorrizae. I add other stuff I cant remember right now. With the additional bacteria and fungus I have found that I do not need to let my mix "settle", instead I can use it right away. And of course the ingredients will vary with availability.

I generally veg until the plant is 3-4 weeks old then transplant into ~1 gal square dollar store pots and place into a SOG "flood table" 25 plants per 1000 watts in a 4x4 area. I use a very strong transplant solution for their first bloom watering that includes Earth Juice Grow and Bloom, Gel Mychorrizae, Hormex, bacillus bacteria, FF Big Bloom, FF Tiger Bloom, EJ MicroBlast, EJ Meta-K and Liquid Karma. I then simply fill the table with water once or twice a week depending. About midway through bloom I will give them one more half dose of Hormex and a half dose of Tiger-Bloom to fill them out. Some bagstrains I come across are touchier than others, but I rarely burn a plant with my methods.

I pull down 25 - 32 plants a week averaging between 12 and 24 ounces per crop dry weight, depending on strain. I have found that turning the plants over to 12/12 earlier is helping add more weight and less stretch. I will soon be on a tight, one-two week veg time.

I don't use Promix or reuse my soil anymore. I believe one, the other or both have brought gnats into my grow. They are harder to get rid of than spider mites! I dont see any visible plant damage, but the buggers are a huge nuisance! Really though, anything I use could have brought them in, I just can't get rid of them...

[TheSpruceDeuce]

ive got some gnats too. I think the lil fuggers just kind of come with high humidity veg and clone areas...thats where i see them... they arent in my flower chamber from what i can tell. I use promix and fox farm and bat crap and all kinds of other things that may or may not have had some gnat eggs in them. if thats the case, i hope they arent from damn peru or anything!

Originally Posted by TheSpruceDeuce

ive got some gnats too. I think the lil fuggers just kind of come with high humidity veg and clone areas...thats where i see them... they arent in my flower chamber from what i can tell. I use promix and fox farm and bat crap and all kinds of other things that may or may not have had some gnat eggs in them. if thats the case, i hope they arent from damn peru or anything!

I had em bad in my bloom area. I got so fed up that I did a soil drench with pesticide. Thousands of dead gnat maggots were floating in the flood table.

But they are still here... resistance is futile. I'm buying a bug zapper!

Good recipes I've collected and created my mix based on:

UNK:
Start by pouring a gallon of potting mix onto a potting bench. Add 1 tablespoon each of blood meal for nitrogen, kelp for trace elements, and greensand for potassium; then add 2 tablespoons of bone meal for phosphorus. Mix it all together and you're ready to plant.


TICKS:
Basically Organic mix with ProMix HP as a base. The ratios used for mixing are 50 Litres of Promix combined with with 25-35% wormcastings, 15% Shrimp compost, 750 ml of Bat guano and a cup of Bone & Blone meals. This renders aboot 85-95 Litres of grow mix.


SUPER SOIL MIX:
Original Recipe, as it was given to me.

1 Bale sunshine mix #2 or promix
2 L Bone Meal - phosphorus source
1 L Blood Meal - nitrogen source
1 1/3 cups Epsom salts - magnesium source
3-4 cups dolmite lime -calcium source & pH buffering
1 tsp fritted trace elements
1/2 - 1 bag chicken manure (steer, mushroom, etc) - nitrogen & trace
elements

- Mix thoroughly, moisten, and let sit 1-2 weeks before use.

Revised Recipe, after several failures due to bad manure sources, I now use the following recipe. Results have been excellent and the clones seem to take off right away instead of having a slow growing settling in period.

1 Bale sunshine mix #2 or promix (3.8 cu ft)
8 cups Bone Meal - phosphorus source
4 cups Blood Meal - nitrogen source
1 1/3 cups Epsom salts - magnesium source
3-4 cups dolomite lime -calcium source & pH buffering
1 tsp fritted trace elements
4 cups kelp meal.
9kg (25 lbs) bag pure worm castings

- Mix thoroughly, moisten, and let sit 1-2 weeks before use.

Substitutions

- The original recipe was a success, but I simply needed to experiment. In addition, sometimes not all ingredients were always available. Therefore, here are some possible additions and/or substitutions:

Blood & Bone Meal - when trying to cut costs
Kelp Meal - contains over 62 trace minerals. Good supplement for reducing the manure content to speed availability of soil.
Worm castings - excellent source of micro nutrients.
Bat guano - excellent for top dressing a week into flowering.
Seabird guano


BOGS - Feeding and Mix
I use Wal-Mart Continuous Feeding formula potting soil with 5-10% perlite added for aeration and drainage. I add 2 cups of bone and blood meal to every 10 gallons of soil. I feed Pure Blend grow in veg and I transplant 3 times. Starting in 1 qt pots then 2 gallon pots then 4 gallon pots.

I transplant to 4 gallon pots when going to flowering. At this time I give a strong dose of foxfarm bloom liquid bat guano product, 2/3 cup to a gallon. This is a one time heavy nitrogen feed as transplanted and going into high light flowering room. (all HPS 35 watts/sq.ft.)

Often I let them flower until sexed before the final transplant and nitrogen treatment. It doesn't burn them and they shoot in the first 2 weeks of flowering a lot. Capturing this growth "shoot" as I call it is the key to big buds IMHO. Health and vigor is maintained by lots of continued rooting through flower.

I also use some CO2 in flowering and some superthrive once or twice while in flower at a very weak rate. In flower I feed the first half of flowering with Pure Blend Bloom which has half strength nitrogen compared to their vegging formula. Then the second half of flowering I use Earth juice Bloom to feed as it has no nitrogen and my pots still have some.

SubCool taught me to premix my earth juice bloom 20 hours in advance to reduce its acidity and this has helped me feed more without burning them.

My Basic Tips... BUSHY’S GROW TIPS FOR BEGINNER INDOOR GARDENERS -- By BushyOlderGrower updated 5/2001

Soil Mix is easy get Sam’s Choice, Magic Earth with fertilizer (.09-.06-.05) in already and mix 2/3 cup of blood meal and 2/3 cup of bone meal into each 3 gal pot. By adding 2 tablespoons of dry lime to mix you help flowering and avoid over-acidity. Wal-Mart has this kind and it is cheap! Many prefer to use 5 gallon pots. You should add 10% perlite for good air to the roots and good drainage.

Stir and plant seed into this, fill pot well and wet well first time, we will supplement with organic fertilizers later. Black Gold is best gro mix but heavier soils are better than lighter ones. Shultz pro mix is expensive but highly recommended, Black Magic has also done well for some expert growers. I like Wal-mart continuous feeding formula soil

GROWDOCS SOIL MIX:
Per 100 liters/2 bags
60 gram seaweed meal
60 gram bone meal
120 gram blood meal
80 gram Guano Peru
20 gram trace element
40 gram lime/kalk
3 liter worm casting
12 liter Perlite