Hello all, I'm planning and getting started on the guerilla grow I'm doing next year. I'm in the northeast of the US. I've picked out most of my spots already, they seem to have decent soil, clay/loam in most of them with a couple spots more clay, and one really sandy. It's going to be my first time growing, and since it's going to be a guerilla grow, I'm definitely not trying to spend alot of money, so I have been looking mainly at lowes, home depot, ace, etc. I've heard of cops sitting around the hydro stores here to follow the "suspicious" people home, amd I'm not taking any extra chances. The better looking soil I have found for a cheaper price so far is Dr. EARTH'S Pot of gold premium potting soil. (I thought about mixing my own but I have not been able to decide on what percentages of what to use that comes out to cheap and not have horrid reviews). So, has anyone used the dr earth's? Should I amend it? What with? Should I just mix my own? Any good pointers on good brands from big business stores? I was planning on using around 40% of the native soil, at least at the loam/clay spots, do about 2'x2' holes. Any help would be greatly appreciated, going to be turning this into a journal once I get seeds started.
Anyone with tips on Dr. Earth's?
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I don't use Dr. Earth and I don't know how many plants you want to grow, but calculate the amount of soil you need to fill those holes even if you use half native soil. BTW, outdoor plans will send roots out many feet in every direction. I'd mix my own soil and add a time-release fert' if I was going guerrilla. Something like Promix HP with Osmocote would let them go months with nothing but water.
I've used dr earth premium soil for only 1 indoor grow. I found it to be super heavy locking in moister which ended up causing mold and other issues. I don't know anything about growing out doors though. Maybe the things I found faulty would work better outside.
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I'm planning on doing around 75 plants so I'm not trying to buy lots of promix. It was my first thought but it would add up to way more than I want to spend. I think I'm just going to mix up some peat moss and perlite with some dried ferts(I'm going to be digging holes next week and start mixing my soil to fill them very soon after so I was thinking of mixing a bit more of a higher nitrogen fert at first so that it can even out a bit more by the time I plant). I'm not sure if that is as good as of a plan as it sounds in my head, but with 75 plants needing at least 1cu ft of soil brought in, I need to try and stay in my budget range. I plan on most of the holes being only around 2 cu ft(bigger for the harder dirt areas) with as I said about half of the native soil where it is a viable alternative to mix in too.
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That's what I was kinda thinking, figured I'd probably need to add in more perlite. So I've kinda jumped around using that because if I needed to add to much more in to make it lighter, those few extra bucks add up. It wasn't to hot was it? I've read a few people having issues with it burning their plants. Is the reason you only used it once because of the moisture issues?
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This must of been about 2 or 3 years back since I tried dr earth. Now that your asking if it was to hot for the plants I do remember it was. I went back to the store explaining the situation. They suggested I start the plants in dr earth seedling starter mix something along those line. It was good for cloning as well. I ended up buy some perlite and peatmoss which I still have a ton of left to soften the premium soil up with.
I was growing auto's when using this soil you should know that. Outdoor plants are much stronger in resisting things like mold and bugs from what I've picked up around this forum.
Could you have soil delivered to your address inside of a store close by? If so, I'd suggest roots organic. For 45 dry litters it cost me $12 and some change for a bag.
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I found a good substitute for peat and other potting soils locally. IDK if you will have a source, but here we can buy composted sawdust and pumice by the yard for about $30. The pumice not only lightens the soil, much like perlite, it also adds mineralization. The sawdust needs to be many years old so it is completely composted. Otherwise it is not good to use. It looks a lot like peat moss that has been broken up. It was a great, inexpensive solution for my outdoor grow this year.
Sawdust on the right with a little of the pumice hidden behind it. Getting ready to mix the two.
400+ gallons of home brew potting soil
It works!
