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Soil vs. Soiless

M

MJane'spoontang

Member
Hey everyone,

What is the difference between soil and soiless?

I am currently running a mix of peat, compost, and perlite. It sure as hell looks like soil, it says potting soil on the bag, but according to some of the recipes on here this mix would fall into the soilless category. I was just wondering...
So what's the difference? What pH should I be running 5.8 or 6.5?? Help?
 
Hammerhead

Hammerhead

Disabled Farmer
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I would say that's a soil mix. you would should use 6.5-6.8. I use sunshine mix#2 Canadian Sphagnum peat moss • Coarse Perlite • Gypsum • Dolomite Limestone with FFOF and FFLW with more lime and other supplements. I keep and reuse my Soil so all of this is my compost. What is in your compost?
 
M

MJane'spoontang

Member
I'm still not quite getting it. So if the nutes are applied to the soil then it's considered soiless? So basically the only way to have a real soil grow would be to use the soil from outside? That doesn't make any sense.

Take this for example...

LC’s Soiless Mix #1:
5 parts Canadian Spaghnam Peat or Coir or Pro-Moss
3 parts perlite
2 parts wormcastings or mushroom compost or home made compost
Powdered (NOT PELLETIZED) dolomite lime @ 2 tablespoons per gallon or 1 cup per cubic foot of the soiless mix.
...Wal-Mart now sells worm castings.

So I understand that there are no nutrients in this mix but once you add in the nutrients would it then be considered soil? What pH would you feed this mix at? Please help me understand.
 
M

MJane'spoontang

Member
I'm still not quite getting it. So if the nutes are applied to the soil then it's considered soiless? So basically the only way to have a real soil grow would be to use the soil from outside? That doesn't make any sense.

Take this for example...

LC’s Soiless Mix #1:
5 parts Canadian Spaghnam Peat or Coir or Pro-Moss
3 parts perlite
2 parts wormcastings or mushroom compost or home made compost
Powdered (NOT PELLETIZED) dolomite lime @ 2 tablespoons per gallon or 1 cup per cubic foot of the soiless mix.
...Wal-Mart now sells worm castings.

So I understand that there are no nutrients in this mix but once you add in the nutrients would it then be considered soil? What pH would you feed this mix at? Please help me understand.
 
EZlistener

EZlistener

Member
you wanna be going soil ph with that mix, 6.2-6.8
dunno wot libby is on about, 5.8 is for hydro, rockwool, hydroton balls/clay pebbles
 
EZlistener

EZlistener

Member
when i grow soil i use canna terra pro plus and it dont look like soil either, not the conventional soil anyways
if you purchased it in a bag as soil then it is soil, been cleaned and whatever the company that made it does to it
different brands use different mixes is all
canna terra pro got perlite in it but not as much nutes as pro plus also they look totally different but both are soil
soil ph 6.2-6.8
 
overmind1632

overmind1632

Member
Why has everybody been saying then when one is using a soil less mix, the pH should be like Hydro? I was pretty sure that even in a soil less mix, the pH should still be the same as a soil grow.

Could some explain this in more detail?
 
aloneinthewoods

aloneinthewoods

Member
MJane'spoontang said:
I'm still not quite getting it. So if the nutes are applied to the soil then it's considered soiless?

So I understand that there are no nutrients in this mix but once you add in the nutrients would it then be considered soil? What pH would you feed this mix at? Please help me understand.
Click to expand...

no it it will allways be a soiless mix but the worm castings an compost confuses me as they are a soil mix ??? any mix that contains no nutes could be considered soiless mix the nutes are essential in a soiless mix more of less from the start of your grow a normall soil mix will not need feeding for a good few weeks

soilless mixes can contain / perlite verm coir peat clay pebbles

soil mixes can contain / compost castings loam
 
killa-bud

killa-bud

Active member
Veteran
i think soiless refers to the lack of micro-organisms in said substrate...


if the plant could survive in the mix without adding anything,it could be consederd a soil (not a fact,i'm assuming)
 
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richyrich

richyrich

Out of the slime, finally.
Veteran
I have a question about Canna's BioCanna line. They have a product called Bio Terra Plus. Contains:

High quality peat
The peat that is used is the best quality that can be used and is only found at a few places in the world. The longer fiber structures of the peat in BIO TERRA PLUS are in contrary to cheaper versions much lighter. Being much lighter is a absolute advantage for the plant.

Bark
The bark we use has special characteristics. Low quality bark can often be the cause of negative moulds. The one used in BIO TERRA PLUS has a anti-septic characteristic!

High-quality coconut
In BIO TERRA PLUS there's also use of coco's fiber, actually the best Coco is used: CANNA COCO.

The website claims that it is charged with organic nutes, but I have used this in the past and the nutes run out after a week. When the organic nutes run out you have to go bottle feed. Now at this point would you consider this soil-less since there are not more organic nutrients. All that is left is coco, peat and tree bark. From what you guys are saying that is a soil-less mix. So, my take is this straight out of the bag is a soil but quickly becomes soil-less. The website says it is a soil but if you have ever bought a bag, on the back it states that it is a soil-less medium.

Right now I am using this again and I am having lock outs at a ph of 6.5. I am going to drop to 5.8 since I now consider this a soil-less medium and should feed accordingly.

Any thoughts or suggestions? This product is tricky and they want you to buy their feed line which claims you don't have to adjust ph. But I am using botaincare an other lines so I need to adjust. I need the sweet spot.
 
K

Kush09

Member
It seems that some people are confused about what soil and soiless are.

-A soil mix contains nutrients already in the soil, such as worm castings, fertilizers, compost, etc. (example - Fox Farms, Miracle Grow)

-A soiless mix does not contain any nutrients at all. You have to add the nutrients to your waterings. This allows you to control exactly what the plants are getting. (example - Sunshine Mix, Pro Mix)

If you add worm castings, compost, nutrients to you soiless mix, it would then be considered soil.
 
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richyrich

richyrich

Out of the slime, finally.
Veteran
Kush09 said:
It seems that some people are confused about what soil and soiless are.

-A soil mix contains nutrients already in the soil, such as worm castings, fertilizers, compost, etc. (example - Fox Farms, Miracle Grow)

-A soiless mix does not contain any nutrients at all. You have to add the nutrients to your waterings. This allows you to control exactly what the plants are getting. (example - Sunshine Mix, Pro Mix)

If you add worm castings, compost, nutrients to you soiless mix, it would then be considered soil.
Click to expand...

I am not confused. Did you take a look at the web link I posted. Canna has this product that has a charge of the following organic nutes:

Bio Terra Plus has been pre-fertilized with certified, organic ingredients such as bone meal, bat guano and a variety of trace elements from natural sources.

There is so little in there that your plants would starve after a week.

So question:

Say canna didn't put these organic nutes in this product. Would it then be considered soil-less?

From what you all are saying; coco, peat and tree bark with no organic nutes would be soil-less. So, what would be the difference with this product since they put so little it's pointless. I can tell you right now ph 6.5 is not working.

And to make this more confusing. Canna calls this product a soil on their website but on the bag itself it says its a soil-less medium. They need to stop confusing people.

Anyone else want to share their thoughts or possibly their experience with this product.

I am going to assume this product is soil-less and act as the organic nutes are not there. Treat is like coco or pro-mix (which is straight peat moss).
 
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richyrich

richyrich

Out of the slime, finally.
Veteran
Well I guess I can answer my own question. Talked to canna and they confirmed to treat the medium as soil-less. 5.2-6.0 ph range depending on stage of growth.
 
Dr. G

Dr. G

Active member
richyrich said:
Well I guess I can answer my own question. Talked to canna and they confirmed to treat the medium as soil-less. 5.2-6.0 ph range depending on stage of growth.
Click to expand...

dude thats way too low for soil less

my promix gets fucked under 6.0

ive been feeding at 6.3-6.5 this run and all is perfect

stiches guide is wrong please dont fuck up 5 grows like i did listing to that guide
 
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