Aging Soil Before Use

F

FirstTimer

New Member
I have been reading about organic soil cultivation and one thing that I read was about wetting your soil and letting it age for at least two weeks before using it. This gets the micro-herd going and gives the buffers time to activate. What are you guys's feeling about letting your soil age before using it? Do you do it?

I didn't do this with my current grow and I noticed that my plants took a long time to take off once transplanted in to "fresh" soil and placed under 1000MH.
Could it be because I didn't age the soil?

FirstTimer
 
I have an organic soil silimar to fox farm. It consists of finely screened, composted fir bark fines, perlite, worm castings, real topsoil, redwood peat moss, chicken manure, and sand. pH balanced with dolomite and oyster shell limes.

To this I added Perlite, worm castings, kelp meal, Rare Earth, Plant Success, Sub-Culture, and Lime.

I transplanted straight into this mix and the plants seemed to just stop growing for at least week. Then they slowly started to pick up and now they are going crazy. After reading about the aging of the soil, it kind of got me thinking that maybe it took the microbs in the soil about two weeks to really get going and all of the ingredents to start reacting together to balance the soil out.

I mixed up the same soil and put it into big tuperware containers things with the lid on loosely and watered it with molases water just til its moist. I keep it moist and mix it up every couple days. I just planted some new clones in this aged mix yesterday so I will let you know if I see any difference.

FirstTimer
 
Sounds like a great soil mix FirstTimer. If I was a plant I'd want to dig into some of that goodness. Be interesting to see how the clones like such a rich soil....

Peace
MC
 
It is true that some growers recommend preparing yor soil mix up to 3 week in advance before using it on plants. This allows the microbes and bacteria in an the organic mix to colonize the soil. However, when using fungus, it benefits mainly from direct contact with the plants roots and should be added just prior to planting.
 
MC, Compared to my last grow these plants are loving this mix. They are Way bigger. I should have a much nicer harvest this time around.

RooRman, I added the plant success for aging which has fungus in it. I also use Earth Nectar and Earth Ambrosia when I transplant for flowering.

I'm waiting for approval on my pics.

FirstTimer.
 
How many plants? How much soil did you end up making? What are the measurements of the additives you put in the soil? My next grow is going to be a SCRoG Organic and I'm trying to think of things I'm going to need to buy when I move in to the house when I get back from summer break.
 
How many plants? How much soil did you end up making? What are the measurements of the additives you put in the soil? My next grow is going to be a SCRoG Organic and I'm trying to think of things I'm going to need to buy when I move in to the house when I get back from summer break.
Click to expand...

I have 16 plants flowering in this mix and I have about 30 small clones in cups in this same mix that was aged 2 weeks. The flowering plants were planted in fresh soil. I will show pics when approved.

This is what I add to each 2 cubic foot bag of organic soil.
Add Perlite until soil is nice a fluffy.
a couple of handfuls of worm castings
a couple of handfuls of organic kelp meal
a couple of handfuls of organic garden lime
a few handfuls worth of sand
2-3 Tablespoons of Rare Earth
sprinkle in some Plant Success not much because it has ferts and soil is already very rich
Maybe an 1/8 teaspoon of Sub-Culture, probably not quite that much. Stuff is expensive and you only get like an ounce of it.

I mix up three or four bags worth per grow. I put it in tuperware container things and keep it moist and turn every few days to get oxygen to the microbs and what not.
 
This is what the clones looked like two days before flowering.
I planted them in the fresh soil and they didn't grow for at least a week under a 1000MH.
They were vegged under a 250MH for at least 10-14 days. Then I noticed a little tiny bit of new growth and flipped the light.

3-6-2007_105.jpg


Here they are now. This is day 20 of 12/12.

Hawaiian snow are on the left. they have been tied way down once already. The rest are a mix of Great White Shark and S.A.G.E..

3-7-2007_004.jpg


3-7-2007_007.jpg
 
Woohoo they are looking good FirstTimer.. You're going to looove what the benefical fungis and microbs do for your plants.. Your buds are going to taste soooooooo good! :adore: :adore:
 
aging soil, or as other compaines like to call it, cooking. they do this because a. its either to acidic and needs time to breakdown, or there are seeds in the soil and are irradiating them. or if they think theres a blight in the ground.

yes yes, not bad at all, i see some stretching, the inner nodes are pretty far apart, but not to bad, next time you should see about droppin that beast a little closer.
 
MC, Thanks. I can't wait to taste them. :bongrip:

Dank, I wish I could get it closer. I had it about 18" away but I had little heat stress on one of my Sharks so I had to move it up. Probably 18" now. But I am running 1000W in a 4x4x7 cabinet. Funny you should mention acidic ph and the needing to break down.

I mixed up a fresh batch of soil today, same mix listed above. Out of curiosity I tested the ph. 5.1 :hmmmm: Got me thinking. I had about three 5gallon pots worth of the aged soil left over. Measured the ph. 6.1 :allgood: sounds like a great flowering mix too me. :cheesygrinsmiley: I am guessing that my plants stunted in the 5.1 soil for a week and that is why I saw no growth that week. It took 1-1.5 weeks for the buffers in the soil to activate and the microbs to get going. Once this happen the plants exploded with growth.

Obviously this is pretty crappy test. Only my second grow too, so I really don't have much to compare too... :cheesygrinsmiley:
 
well, you know your doing good if ur plants havent died, so your one up on that one. if i were you i'd spend 60 bucks and get the vented hood and vent the sum-bitch out the top of the cabinet with a squirrel cage fan, or inline works great too. you'll be glad you did, with it, you will be able to vent all the heat from the bulb, thus droppin it further down on your plants. but if your broke, i'd like to ask where u got the 1000watter :D haha
 
Dank, I'm running three cage fans. One fan is hooked to a Carbon filter and it sucks air from the top of the cabinet to the outside. I cut a 6" hole in the side of the cabinet and hooked some duct to that so air is sucked from the outside of the cabinet through the hood and to the outside as well, That way it is bringing cooler air through the hood instead of the warmer air in the cabinet. Cooling the light bulb better. The other fan is on the out side of the cabinet blowing air from in the room into the lower part of the cabinet. The room stays about 70 degrees. About 12" below the light stays about 80-90. All ducting is 6" but the flanges are 4". You see any way of lower temps with this set up?

FirstTimer.
 
Just thought I would post an update. :cheesygrinsmiley:

Couple shots inside the cabinet.
Left Side.
3-29-2007_006ww.JPG


Rigth Side.
3-29-2007_004lllll.JPG


This shot is all Hawaiian Snow.
3-29-2007_002qq.JPG


Hawaiian Snow.
3-29-2007_009aaa.JPG


S.A.G.E.
3-29-2007_007ssss.JPG


Still have at least 30 more days on the Sage and Hawaiian Snow. There are 5 Great White Sharks hiding in there and they have about two weeks left.

Thanks for looking.
:peace:
 
Thanks! I owe a lot of my success to this site and all the people that have been so helpful. Keep up the good work! :adore:

I have noticed two phenotypes with each of the three strains.

Sage - One has very fat and chunky buds. It is also a shorter plant. The other has long tall buds, which are also very full. Both are Big yeilders.

Hawaiian Snow - One has LONG skinny buds and LOTS of resin. The other has fatter hairy buds and less resin. Both are going to a big yeilders too.

Great White Shark - One plant is very tall and the other very short. I think the taller one is going to go a week or more longer than the short ones. Smoke report of this to come in the next few weeks.

FirstTimer
 

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