Building A Better Soil: Demonstrations & Discussions Of Organic Soil Recipes

Hi there everyone :o)

Im completely new to this site, and every other site for that matter. Ive been sitting here for half an hour now and still havent been able to figure out how to make a post on the forum. So if anyone could be so kind and maybe quickly tell me how to do it, i would really appreciate that.

Ive been surfin around the web for 2-3 years now, contemplating about making my own grow. Even bought some stuff that ill be needing like LED lamps, pots, seeds, etc. But ive just never gotten started. Had a gf awhile back that postponed the growing idea, but now that she's outta the picture i might aswell get started. I decided a while back, after alot of reading, that growing organically would be the best way for me to grow. Or at least I think so, ive never grown before, this will be my first time.
I think i got everything mostly covered. Except for the soil preparations. This is where i have a few questions, that im hoping the people in here could answer me on in an easy way for me to understand :D

I have 2 450w flowering LEDs
4 automazars
4 autowhitewidows
8 15L pots with alot of air holes all around it (to stimulate root growth i was told)

(dno why really that i wrote that down, i just did)

OK, so when it comes to money, it really isnt an issue for me. Im no millionaire but i have enough so that i dont need to spare money wherever i can. And i also want "the best of the best" so i could get the most out of my product. When i read the different recipes on soil making im left wondering: the best soil is the soil with most ingredients? the more the better? like, i see some of the "core" ingredients going into the soil over and over, but there might be some different ingredients in another recipe. In other words: If i want my soil to be awesome, i should just put in all different kinds of ingredients (that are named in the recipe). So that it contains all kinds of good shit? Im very bad at this, i know, this is my first forum post all my life actually, so please bear with me!
I also am a bit mystified what to do with the soil after youve put in all the ingredients. when you "cook" it. I live in a cold country, so i would need to do this inside my house when doing it. And im wondering about how the room temperature should be when cooking it. how long does it need to cook?

a few months back i made a shopping list on amazon over different items. i would have bought them,but im still unsure if i need em all. maybe some of the things on the list will fuck up the soil for some reason. im gonna list them up here now, and im hoping for input on the list. either if some of the things will fuck up the entire soil or if they really dont do nothing good. IF the list is good. and you recommend me buying the items, maybe you could also tell me how to mix it in. with understandable shit like metres, kilos, grams:p not in fahrenheit and miles if you know what i mean :p

- Espoma garden lime soil amendment
- Organic Liquid Humic Acid concentrate
- 2lbs of Azomite
- Sunleaves jamaican bat guano
- Sunleaves peruvian seabird guano
- Sunleaves indonesian bat guano
- Dr. Earth Kelp Meal
- Dr. Earth Alfalfa Meal
- Dr. Earth Fish Bone Meal
- Dr. Earth Blood Meal
- Espoma Bone Meal
- Espoma Greensand soil conditioner
- Dr. Earth Bat guano
- Dr. Earth Premium Fish Meal
- Neptunes harvest, Crab Shell
- Earthworm castings organics
- Root RIOT! Turbo charged liquid compost
- Oyster Shell
- Feather meal
- Mexican bat guano
 
Hello burriedleaves, welcome to :420:

You have made a great choice joining us here. The community is full of helpful, mature growers with a wealth of experience and knowledge :)

Not knowing what resources you have available locally, chances are you can source much of what is needed cheaper closer to home :) There are all kinds of recipes here and elsewhere that work well, but the thing with organic soils is, recipes can be adjusted to what you have available to you :)

Check out the SoilScience link in my signature, it gives a basic description of what amendments are, why they are used and other information including what "cooking" is and why it is necessary. There is no recipes there, just information of the kinds of things that can be useful :)

If you have more questions, just give a shout :)
 
PeeJay said:
Pretty sure that Pro-Mix HP has perlite in it, Llama. I tend to add more aeration on top of what my base has as well, especially in the seedling mix.

My point is that, in my opinion, a well buffered base for a soil mix is a really good thing because we are largely growing in containers. They lack the near infinite leech field of that field grown plants have the benefit of. I take a lot of comfort from knowing that the companies who produce nutrient-neutral pH balanced soilless mediums do just that. I get to start with a clean canvass when I begin adding rapidly metabolized whole foods for plants to the mix.
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Hey there Peejay - all we get here where we live on the east coast is Promix BX - mycos, surfactant and peat moss that's it for ingredients. My post was an attempt to explain how to purchase the same EXACT peat moss at a significant discount since most of us here are building our own soil, I think it's not necessary to pay that kind of money for peatmoss. To buffer the acidic nature of peat moss all we need to add is a source of calcium of which there are many, OSF (oyster shell flower), crab shell meal, dolomite lime are but a few examples. Mycos by Mykes is the EXACT same myco that Promix adds in, again many of us already have our own supply and use aloe vera for the surfactant. There you have it....
 
I use ProMix HP with bio fungicide and mycorrhizea. It does indeed have perlite in it. (I specifically asked when I bought it an d the guy at the nursery said it did not. Shoulda read the label myself) I prefer a base without any additives but I can live with perlite and will actually add more to keep the soil from compacting.
 
PeeJay said:
BX actually has both vermiculite and perlite in it. Personally after trying it in my last mix I'm all about Klassman Deilmann K-1 if it can be located.
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I've never even looked at that brand before PeeJay. I'll check it out. Thanks for all the great discussion guys, and PeeJay, great info on the ProMix.

And a warm welcome to you burriedleaves. Were you trying to do a post, which you finally figured out, or were you hoping to start a new journal?
 
High All!
Quick note if you use Promix,
Lots of folks have switched over to FF's Lucky Dog that were using Promix. The Lucky Dog has everything Promix has but also has a big chunk of worm castings.
I don't use either, but thought you'd find it worth while to consider...
 
Fox Farm Lucky Dog is not available in my area. Pro Mix is.
 
cajuncelt said:
High All!
Quick note if you use Promix,
Lots of folks have switched over to FF's Lucky Dog that were using Promix. The Lucky Dog has everything Promix has but also has a big chunk of worm castings.
I don't use either, but thought you'd find it worth while to consider...
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Thank you Cajun. I wasn't aware of this product at all. I'm curious of the quality of the worm castings? So picky Susan. :laughtwo: I'll check this out. I have my lifetime supply of soil already in place, at least as long as I stay here that is. I can see where that would be real convienient. Hmmmm, I wonder if they did the mix to accommodate HB growers or LOS? Now I'm curious enough to go looking.
 
No real particulars on that FF Lucky Dog. Boy, you gotta appreciate the beauty of a marketing strategy with depth. Everywhere you go it's the same writer rehashed. Show some creativity. Come up with different voices at least. :laughtwo:

Bat guano was the only ingredient other than what I know is in ProMix. Interesting product. I'm gonna say living soil crowd. HB growers tightly control the makeup of their soil.
 
Not living soil crowd - no one I know of uses Guano in their mix. Not sustainable and there are way better alternatives for N, say Alfalfa meal for example or neem cake meal or Kelp meal ......I of course could go on...
 
bobrown14 said:
Not living soil crowd - no one I know of uses Guano in their mix. Not sustainable and there are way better alternatives for N, say Alfalfa meal for example or neem cake meal or Kelp meal ......I of course could go on...
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Kelp meal actually has a pretty insignificant amount of any NPK's. If anything it's generally highest in Potassium, but it's really used for it's micro-nutrients and growth hormones. I wouldn't add it with the expectation of getting a good N boost with it.

EDIT: If you want the K boost from kelp. A soluble kelp is better than kelp meal. Soluble kelp is made from dehydrating the kelp juices during the processing of kelp meal.
 
How do you all feel about pine fines? I have a soil company close enough that I am considering getting a couple yards of a garden soil mix. One thing they use is pine fines as a 'soil conditioner'.

Here's the web site...

Soils: Southern Nurseries

I'm considering the Holy Cow garden mix or the Survive & Thrive mix. They also have worm castings, mushroom compost and leaf mold by the yard. Would consider mushroom compost/worm casings (plus aeration) as a base mix.

Opinions are in abundance here. Lets here them!


One a side note, I made 'biochar' yesterday. Steam quenched and all.

:high-five:
 
Morning Heirloom :)

I had a look, either look like they would be good. Normally I would be wary of anything with a lot of wood fibre in it, wood fiber has a very high carbon content and needs a lot of nitrogen to break it down. Fresh sawdust in your soil in too large a quantity will rob your plants of the nitrogen to decompose.

Having said that, the soil you are looking at made by a nursery and having been sold for years, is probably well composted so there is no worry about the carbon content :)
 
Thanks TheCelt! I suppose I could further cook it to break down the larger matter. I live in hay country and have to mow my own (1 acre) lawn weekly. Sources of N are in abundance! It would get composted more anyhow after adding crab/neem/kelp/rock dust/oyster etc.
 
Hey mate, if you have the time to cook it more, by all means go for it :)

I buy 50+lb bags of alfalfa pellets from a local feed store, soak them and use them for soil amendment :) It usually takes between 2 weeks and a month before its cooked enough to use. I just test it with my hand, I put my hand deep into the bin its cooking in, if it feels cool, then its usually good to go :)
 
I am curious why the SubCool supersoil mix is not more popular than it is. Is it simply cost and ease of getting the materials, or is it something else? I get the impression from some people that they just don't like SubCool, but I missed all the politics surrounding him and don't understand what is going on, if his soil works as well as people say it does.

I am using full on Subcool super soil mix and methods in my current grow and built my base soil out of a commercial organic mix and compost from the city composting center. I do not use compost teas nor any other supplements, just plain water. I will topdress my plants in week 5 with more supersoil, but other than that, I am following his guidelines to the letter.

Am I shooting myself in the foot? Have I overlooked something vitally important? Please warn me now if I am going to get in trouble later on, because right now my plants look beautiful and I am not expecting any problems.
 
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