Mixing my own soil: pH advice needed

InTheShed said:
I don't really consider the soil I buy at Home Depot to be a living soil. If it was then all the LOS growers would just go buy some and use it like that. It's just humus-based, which probably lends itself better to creating a living soil.

Coco is hydro whether you add lime or not. It needs pH-adjusted nutes.
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naw it's not a big box. much more specialized. a lot of stuff for different ornamentals and sculpted type landscaping. rooftop gardens. a lot of indoor/outdoor watering systems too. they probably survive off corporate, they put systems and plants into hotels and stuff
 
InTheShed said:
Coco is hydro whether you add lime or not. It needs pH-adjusted nutes
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I stopped using the term soilless because I couldn’t really find a clear definition for it.

Bluter the realization I’ve come to with peat mixes is that they’re just not inert enough for me. There are all kinds of variables with the peat itself, and they really affect the nutrient mix. Add to that the potential variables with ph, and I've grown tired of dealing with it.
Would rather have a truly inert hydro medium or a true organic soil.
Maybe I’ll try hempy again... :laughtwo:
 
bluter knows a thing or two about hempy! :cheesygrinsmiley:
 
Weaselcracker said:
I stopped using the term soilless because I couldn’t really find a clear definition for it.

Bluter the realization I’ve come to with peat mixes is that they’re just not inert enough for me. There are all kinds of variables with the peat itself, and they really affect the nutrient mix. Add to that the potential variables with ph, and I've grown tired of dealing with it.
Would rather have a truly inert hydro medium or a true organic soil.
Maybe I’ll try hempy again... :laughtwo:
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peat just kind of throws everything everywhere ph wise. it's decaying forest and moss after all.
 
I’m starting to think that peat does OK for a one time grow with added granular nutrients. Like flower baskets in the village square type thing. But treated as a hydroponic medium with regular feeding of soluble nutrients, it’s just not reliable, at least for me. Or needs more in depth monitoring and testing than I can provide.

I’m currently splitting off into opposite directions. Started a LOS soil mix and I’m considering starting some coco or rockwool plants.

The OP is going to be real confused when he gets back...
 
Jayjayloi said:
I made the mix with compost, perlite, a bit of coco and peat and added dolomite lime.
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My first question is what kind of compost? Is it store bought or do you have a compost pile/bin where you roll your own? Secondly, what is the ratio of your mix?

Jayjayloi said:
im quite new to this side of mixing up your own stuff
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I just transplanted my 21 day old plant into a 1 gallon container. The mix I used was 1 equal part of: FF Happy Frog, Black Gold Natural & Organic potting mix, earth worm castings, and perlite. I also added 1/2 part diatomaceous earth and a heaping tsp of a pulverized calcitic & dolomite lime blend. I have used similar type soil mixes in the past with no problems. I use Mega Crop mixed in well water that has a pH of 7.4, with an alkalinity of between 120-140 ppm. I never check the pH of the nute solution or the soil. You should go read the below linked thread about whether or not you need to adjust your nute solution. Just the first post has a lot of good info in it. Good luck.

Do we need to pH adjust our nutrient solutions?

Greetings all! I recently had a running email conversation with the "Grower Services & Product Development Director" at ProMix (aka Premier Tech). I began the conversation by posting a question on their website, asking if I should be treating ProMix HP as soil or soil-less when mixing...
www.420magazine.com
 
@InTheShed hey mate I’ve just been reading through your thread about when you directly went to pro mix for information.
It’s great info but just confuses me even more.

the guy said pro mix is buffered correct me if I’m wrong 5.5 - 6

I previously used a company call bio bizz which is sort of similar but they have added worm casts and compost but there mix is buffered at 6.5 and is a soilless medium

It’s just little things like that , that throw me way off.

you also said earlier in this post that coco is hydro territory correct me if I’m wrong again, I’ve been reading so much and so many different comments. But why can’t coco be used in place of peat?

I started this post because I literally just wanted to make my own light mix of soil to start seeds and clones in and then after a 2-3 weeks when nutrients in the soil have been depleted either pot up to a more fertile soil or just use bottled Nutes.

I want to get into making my own because what we have here in the uk is not what you guys get in the states or Canada as are laws are still stone aged.

I have read every ones comments and have enjoyed the information and the post take over LOL so don’t think I’m just ignoring you guys it’s just a lot of info to sink in as a newbie
 
By the way I love soil and this is where I want to be but fuck me the more I read the more I seem I need to learn and I’m not talking about reading people’s opinions on forums as that’s just opinions.

I want to make my own from scratch not just cut up a bag of pre made soil and add some perlite and think in making my own.
 
What you posted sounds like it would be very good as a seedling starter.

I would be inclined to lower the pH of it a little bit though, since it’s more convenient now than later.

Just mix in more peat. Keep it moist and mix it well. Keep doing slurry tests until it settles at a level that you want. If you shoot too low then add more lime. The acidic peat and the alkaline lime just sort of balance each other out or reach an equilibrium.
 
Jayjayloi said:
By the way I love soil and this is where I want to be but fuck me the more I read the more I seem I need to learn and I’m not talking about reading people’s opinions on forums as that’s just opinions.

I want to make my own from scratch not just cut up a bag of pre made soil and add some perlite and think in making my own.
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The only time I tried growing with bottled nutes, I used the organic line from Canna. Unfortunately it didn't work well, I got too confused with the many opinions of folk who would say to only feed less than what is recommended as they'd say it was often too strong etc. Which resulting in my plant struggling with insufficient nutrients and a low yield grow.

After that I thought, sod it, and went for organic soil. I started with SubCools super soil mix and approach, but unfortunately I still had it in my head that it was easy to have excess so I deliberately made a lighter mix thinking I was doing good, and no surprise, it turned out to be far too light, which was another year's growing pretty much screwed up with a resulting pissy yield.

So here's what I think now, whether you go full soil, like making up a SubCool mix or a Coots mix, or whether you used bottled nutes, my feeling now is follow the instructions rather second guess. So if you want full soil, research a mix and follow the directions rather than stumbling along trying to put together a soil mix of your own.
 
Thanks man, I’ve got plenty of this soil made so I will mess about with this and see if I can get a more reasonable ph.
@Weaselcracker
@Stunger i don’t want admit that your right but I think you are, I’ve killed so many seedlings in the past three months and still my tent still looks in a shit state. I was suppose to have plants vegged ready for flower in January. It’s not March and I have 3 seedlings that are three weeks old and don’t look past one week a yellow gorilla glue that looks like death and has just started flowering and a Dina fem auto bubba kush that I planted a couple of days ago in my new soil mix. Hoping this might take off. I’m getting frustrated as fuck.

ive also just planted 3 zskittles and 3 pineapple punch and now thinking wtf have I done and should I just go to the store and get some pre made but then again I don’t want to just Chuck in the towel but fuck knows man
 
I don’t think your pH is bad, if it is at 6.9 it’s just a little bit high but still should be ok. Also from what I see and read cannabis can handle a wide range.

I am not a soil guy, but you should not be having trouble getting your plants through veg. Any basic bottled grow formula or basic soil mix should work.

In a plain peat/perlite mix I get the plants through veg using a little bit of rabbit manure and/or any number of grow nutrients I have on the shelf.

I just feed a bit more anytime the plants are getting pale. Or if they look too dark I reduce feeding for a while.

Flowering is when things get trickier. But really there’s no reason you should be having trouble with seedlings. This should be quite solvable. But we would need more info.
 
bluter said:
honestly thought a humus soil would be a living soil as it is organic processes which create it.

the term humus is used as a synonym for a living soil here. as in adding some humus to the garden. they are often used as top dress soils here as our base soil is clay and awful.

edit: it is also used as a term for a compost soil as well here.
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Actually no... Humus soil is not living, it is a collection of what remains after 3 very powerful humic acids convert the organics into a homogeneous clump of stuff that coagulates or holds together, and this is one of the main building blocks for that thing we call soil.
 
Emilya said:
Actually no... Humus soil is not living, it is a collection of what remains after 3 very powerful humic acids convert the organics into a homogeneous clump of stuff that coagulates or holds together, and this is one of the main building blocks for that thing we call soil.
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there are commercial sellers here that sell compost they call humus soil. it is not a brand name. it is a compost. they literally dig it out of a pile and shovel it into bags. will also deliver yards of it loose in the back of a truck. i'm not sure how that becomes a soil devoid of nutrients.

even a quick google shows humus as a compost product. what am i missing here em ?
 
Weaselcracker said:
I don’t think your pH is bad, if it is at 6.9 it’s just a little bit high but still should be ok. Also from what I see and read cannabis can handle a wide range.

I am not a soil guy, but you should not be having trouble getting your plants through veg. Any basic bottled grow formula or basic soil mix should work.

In a plain peat/perlite mix I get the plants through veg using a little bit of rabbit manure and/or any number of grow nutrients I have on the shelf.

I just feed a bit more anytime the plants are getting pale. Or if they look too dark I reduce feeding for a while.

Flowering is when things get trickier. But really there’s no reason you should be having trouble with seedlings. This should be quite solvable. But we would need more info.
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There veggin dude it’s just how slow they are growing. I don’t know if Im not just giving it chance by being impatient. My new philosophy going forward is just leave them the fuck alone and see what happens. If this time round the growth is slow again I have obviously done something really wrong. It’s just one of those moments I’m having where shit just isn’t going right but I will work it out
 
Jayjayloi said:
My new philosophy going forward is just leave them the fuck alone and see what happen
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i can't tell you how long my plants have vegged or when i flipped or nothing ... they tell me lol :p
 
bluter said:
there are commercial sellers here that sell compost they call humus soil. it is not a brand name. it is a compost. they literally dig it out of a pile and shovel it into bags. will also deliver yards of it loose in the back of a truck. i'm not sure how that becomes a soil devoid of nutrients.

even a quick google shows humus as a compost product. what am i missing here em ?
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I add humic acid to a compost pile to help turn the organics that are breaking down via microbes and everything else, into soil. Humus soil is simply compost that has gone through this complete process of first breaking it down and then converting it once again into actual soil without all the slimy stinky rotting stuff.
 
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