[Mrkline006]

With my last post about pricing with super soil [cant make it right now so id have to buy] i may just go soil. My question is, good easy recipe for a beginner? How far will it gom do i need to add nutes during veg/flower? Id like to go organic so ive been looking around and my mind is just over welmed. Could use someobe to walk me step by step? Or point me to something...

This will be my 3rd grow. 1st grow was coco and turned out well. 2nd grow never got off the ground. Now im building my grow room and have space to do so on a scale i want. I plan on going with 4 to 6 planta flowering at a time while about that many veg while adding in clones. Im thinking 5 gallon fabric? Only doing around a 5 to 7 week veg.

[Lester Beans]

Hi Mrkline,

This thread has all the info in the world. Most importantly soil recipes in the first few pages.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=53792

If you are on a budget, find some Promix, or equivalent, and get some bottled nutrients like Botanicare, Fox Farm, or Earth Juice.

Water feed water feed water feed water....etc

Mix nutrients and then adjust pH to 6.5-.6.8.

Make sure when not feeding, to pH water to correct level as well.

Following this method you can be assured some degree of success, gain experience, and then tweak a soil recipe to your liking.

Best of luck!

[Mrkline006]

I was hoping to stay away from anything bottled.. if need be than okay lol... Thats why I wanted to attempt Super soil, but with the added cost, and still possibility to need added nutes I dont see the point at this time (till I can make my own super soil)

[Mrkline006]

I have kinda went over the beginner one and read up... lots of it just sounded like gibberish to me LMAO.. my first grow i went Coco/perlite and just used Jacks 3/2/1 system, was pretty dummy proof...

[slownickel]

I would steer you away from a super soil. They never dry out. I made up a mix at buildasoil that a bunch of folk are liking, it is much lighter, dries out quickly and has enough Ca and P in it to get you started. You will have to fertilize though! Which is a good thing! And it is not hot and will easily take seedlings as the conductivity is low.

[Mrkline006]

Ill check that out.. Thanks

[GMT]

Trick is to veg in a container around 1/3 of the size of the flowering pot/tub. Repot and flip on the same day. This will allow the lazy growing style of grow without the need for bottles.
You'll do better with added bottles but a lazy grow followed by adding one bottle at a time, allows you to see the diff that bottle makes before moving to the next one.
If you aren't using any silica though, (a £5 bottle rather than a £50 bottle like the feeds) you will want to multi top the plants in veg. Otherwise you may get bud rot in the cola, which on a large single cola plant is heartbreaking.
If you are comfy with how much to water, go with no drainage holes, no point in washing the goodness out. Stay away from bulking agents like perlite, it just takes up room.

[bigbadbiddy]

Just run coot's mix, it doesn't get any more basic and I have had great results with it, only slightly adjusting it over 2 years.

Basically you mix a basic foundation consisting of equal parts (for simplicity, can adjust these ratios according to your environment later on):
- Peat moss
- Perlite
- Earth Worm Castings

All 3 are very inexpensive. This is your basic soil mix.

You amend it with the following (how much of each depends on how much basic mix you have, look at the thread where clackamas coot's mix is explained, I think it was already posted above):
- Kelp meal/powder
- Bonemeal
- Bloodmeal
- Dolomite Lime

Thats it.

This mix will get you through flower fine.
If you want to kick it up a notch, it is highly recommended to add whatever rock dusts you have available to you. The most famous one is Azomite. But any glacial rockdust will be a good adition to your mix.
I personally like to mix in neemseed meal because I like to think it helps with combating pests.

For amounts/ratios, again, read the thread that was posted above.
To give you a start though:
I make basic soil batches of about 13 gallons.
I amend them with 1 cup each of:
- Kelp meal
- Bloodmeal
- Neemseed meal

And 2 cups each of:
- Bonemeal
- Dolomite lime


I have started top-dressing my pots with fresh earth worm castings in between grows and have experimented with mixing mycos straight into the soil as well as different calcium sources like oystershell flour.

The basics, listed above, are what is most important and all of it is cheap.

If you want to go cheaper, I think there is only one way to do so and that is using the LUCAS Formula with Maxibloom.

But even with this very basic soil mix, you will blow any cannabis grown with LUCAS out of the water, at the very least terpene-wise.

/Edit
Yeah the link Lester Beans posted is the one you should check out. LC's mix is coot's mix.

I use that one, slightly adjusted. The only thing that could be remotely pricey is the kelp, blood and bone meal. Everything else is really, really cheap. You will find out though that as an organic soil grower, you will start wondering what you could throw in there that would benefit your plants. Spoiler alert: Most expensive additives do more good than harm and the best you can do for your soil is likely raise your own worms and make your own worm castings along with making your own compost (bokashi is really good for organic soil).

Oh, speaking of which:
Adding worms to your soil can do wonders as well! I skipped them 1 grow and the second I added them and they make a big difference.

[GMT]

Man some of you make things so hard. Just buy a bag of organic potting compost at your local builders supplies store. A 20 litre bag is a fiver and they did the mixing for you.

[bigbadbiddy]

If coot's mix is complicated then I don't know what's simple...

Besides:
He said cost is a factor and he wants to get away from bottled nutes.

Getting away from bottles, trying to cut cost along the way only to go to premixed soil bags where you don't know what's in them and pay more for than mixing it up yourself seems like bad advice to me.

Also:
I have ruined an entire grow because I threw in some store-bought premixed soil. Most do not come pest-free and the quality control on these soil mixes is not what you'd expect.