the soil recipe. simple version and complex version

M

MImedpatient

Well-known member
this is based on the recipe from the Square Foot Gardening book. the author, Mel B, recommends varying sources of compost by as many as possible, but you can be simple and use 1.
simple version
1/3 peat moss or coconut coir
1/3 perlite or vermiculite
1/3 bagged compost
this soil mix will likely need to be refreshed w/ a top dressing of homemade compost twice a cycle or more.
NEVER BUY BAGS FROM THE BOTTOM of THE PILE. THEY HAVE BIG OLE CENTIPEDS IN THEM, AND THEY EAT THE BUGS YOU PAY MONEY FOR. bad indoor decision

complex version
1/3 peat and coco coir blended together
1/3 perlite, vermiculite, and perlite sized lava rock blended together
1/3 homemade compost, super soil style. kelp, alfalfa, crab, vegetable and fruit waste, egg shells
then, you take the total volume of soil you made. add 1/5 that amount of activated bio char to it. this will bring you to over 40% aeration amendment, and increase the habitat for micro organisms by an incredible amount, which is the goal. more workers, less work for us.
thiis recipe can, in theory, go multiple cycles w/o needing reamending or remixing, or top dressing. but I never got to the point

the simple version is IMO often the most cost effective route to getting an organic garden set up, as by volume each of those ingredients costs less added together than a pre made potting soil made of the same ingredients

if that is too hard, then buy a product of the minimum quality of Fox Farm Ocean Forest, and blend an equal part new and old soil each time till your whole garden is on organic soil. it is easy simple, and can get you to a no till garden as soon as your wallet allows. it is not a cost effective road to take, but gets you to the destination of no till just like both those recipes will.


I always like to mention the commercially available option for DIY soil and fertilizers whenever possible. not everyone is DIY Savvy, Myself included. having a "standard" that every can use, and we can measure the quality of our DIY against is important.
 
MImedpatient said:
the simple version is IMO often the most cost effective route to getting an organic garden set up, as by volume each of those ingredients costs less added together than a pre made potting soil made of the same ingredients
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True. And don't forget to put on a mouth mask before throwing in the perlite. If you think smoking is bad for your lungs, inhale some perlite dust for a few minutes lol
And now we can at least do something useful with our stashes of mouth masks...
If you have a (clean) concrete mixer somewhere, it's a great help to mix larger amounts of soil.

betonmolen.jpg
 
I compost my soil after each run for +/- 2 months, leaving the roots and part of the stem in there. I put the soil in sturdy plastic bags and mix it with some compost, then close them off with tape and put them in a corner of the balcony where it gets +/- 4 hours of morning sun light. Once a week, I add 1l water to each bag and then after 2 months I start using it again to fill the bottom 2/3 of the grow bags. The upper 1/3 of the bag gets filled with new soil (similar to the simple version which MImedpatient mentions above).

I kept the potting soil bags to compost the used soil, they're great for this.
 
wisp said:
They are banning peat my end of the world.

I'm hoping that import won't be affected.


Do you use diatomaceous earth?
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Why? To protect the peated whisky producers? :)

I'm going to start using DE this season, as suggested by musashi..
 
High-mish said:
Why? To protect the peated whisky producers? :)

I'm going to start using DE this season, as suggested by musashi..
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I'm waffling again as I meant volcanic dust for added micro and macro nutes.

I guess DE would work the same being rich in silica, cal/mag

I'd prefer to give them extra silica for the added benefits.
 
wisp said:
They are banning peat my end of the world.

I'm hoping that import won't be affected.


Do you use diatomaceous earth?
Click to expand...
Diatomaceous earth is one of the rock dusts I like to feed my worms. its super fine, and helps thier basically gizzard type stomach work better. the volcanic rock dust or granite dust from stone masonry shops works for this aw well. the granite rock dust is also para magnetic. which facilitates chemical reactions in the soil. some volcanic rock dust is also paramagnetic. lots of what we think is benefits from minerals is the benefit of more efficient chemistry because of the minerals presence, and the plant may never take up any of those particular minerals as the timescale to break them down to plant available is longer than how long most of us have been growing.

well, if they ban peat, it is what it is. the complex version is just following the spirit of SFG's compost diversity, and applying it to the whole mix.
 
High-mish said:
Doesn't DE kill soft-bodied animals?
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when its dry it messes up some soft body insetsc yes. its biggest help for pests is that when dry, it gets in between the joints of hard body insects like ants, and scuffs up the carapaces softest spots, and allows them to dehydrate. when wet it doesn't do anything. except be a nasty paste on the soil. and if you are growing organically indoor correctly, your soil should never get dry enough for the DE to be dry enough to work for more than a few hours a week. I mix it into the compostables before I feed the worms usually. I often just feed the worms peat moss/coco bedding blended w/ dry garden amendments. like kelp, stinging nettle, and rock dusts.
 
Does anyone have any experience using river bed/bottom sand? Seems like it would be full of nutrients and microbes. I’ve recently started adding it to some of my soil mixes but can’t really comment any further yet.
 
kushumpeng said:
Does anyone have any experience using river bed/bottom sand? Seems like it would be full of nutrients and microbes. I’ve recently started adding it to some of my soil mixes but can’t really comment any further yet.
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Don't use it.
It's been flushed clean of everything and is therefore useless.
 
That strong odor is probably either bacteria or fungus.
That's why you almost never see plants growing right at the waters edge.
Some plants are acclimated to the funk and are okay with it (cat tails, reeds, etc) but most are not.
Sometimes you'll see a low area in a farmers field where the soil has obviously had standing water for most of the time....those areas always have smaller/sickly crops in them and the rest of the field is looking good.
I strongly suggest not using that sand/soil....but do what you wanna do, it's your crop.
 
n2ishun said:
That strong odor is probably either bacteria or fungus.
That's why you almost never see plants growing right at the waters edge.
Some plants are acclimated to the funk and are okay with it (cat tails, reeds, etc) but most are not.
Sometimes you'll see a low area in a farmers field where the soil has obviously had standing water for most of the time....those areas always have smaller/sickly crops in them and the rest of the field is looking good.
I strongly suggest not using that sand/soil....but do what you wanna do, it's your crop.
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Thanks n2ishun,
With all do respect I’m not afraid to grow using bacteria and fungus. Which is what lead me down this path in the first place.
My hopes are that this sand provides extra source of microbes, calcium, magnesium, and potassium in flower.
 
Kangativa said:
Hi Manivelle.....Glad u could use it, if you read through my making the compost u will see that I use a layer of sand to every layer of compost and when u are using a 90hp tractor, that is a lot of creek/river sand.
Putting sand with my compost is a major part of my mix.
Ill get around to bringing it over soon, but if you want to translate it to French, u are more than welcome.
Stay well !!
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A few years ago I helped out a guy that had serious issues changing over to soil from hydro.
I gave him my soil mix and kinda walked him thru some stuff to get him up and running to max efficiency.
You can see the whole thing here along with (probably) a few hundred to a few thousand pics showing exactly how well my soil mix works.

My 2nd soil grow

I am DONE with Hydro. The zillion gallon res changes, the changing nute plans, the leaking buckets, the making of water late into the night. The myraid of things to go wrong, the GD PH meters fluctuating and causing me grief, the constant run to the store for this or that. DONE!!!!! Today I did a...
www.opengrow.com
 
n2ishun said:
A few years ago I helped out a guy that had serious issues changing over to soil from hydro.
I gave him my soil mix and kinda walked him thru some stuff to get him up and running to max efficiency.
You can see the whole thing here along with (probably) a few hundred to a few thousand pics showing exactly how well my soil mix works.

My 2nd soil grow

I am DONE with Hydro. The zillion gallon res changes, the changing nute plans, the leaking buckets, the making of water late into the night. The myraid of things to go wrong, the GD PH meters fluctuating and causing me grief, the constant run to the store for this or that. DONE!!!!! Today I did a...
www.opengrow.com
Click to expand...
Can you share the specifics….

“Perlite

Blood Meal

Bone Meal

Bat Shit

Worm Castings

Epsom Salts

Dolomite lime”
 
Specifically ?
My personal mix is 1 large bag FFOF (fox farms ocean forest) and 1 large bag Fox Farms light warrior
Add ~about~ 1.5 cu. ft. of perlite
About 6 cups worm castings
About 3 cups blood meal
About 3 cups bone meal
About 2 cups bat guano (fruit bat if possible...the package will say)
About 2 cups dolomite lime
Maybe a cup of epsom salts

Everythings kinda about'ish since I really never measure.
Mix the shit till if feels like your arm is going to fall off.
Drink a beer or smoke a bowl
Mix some more.
Put it into a large opaque or *clearish* plastic bin with a lid and set it out in the sun for at least 4-5 days. (DO NOT skip this step)
It will sweat and the texture will change dramatically becoming a foamy kind of thing for lack of a better description...once you see it you'll understand.
Mix till arms fall off.
Use freely at this point.

You will need ZERO nutrients during a 10-12 week flowering plants life cycle, long term sats will need a flowering nute only once.
Tap water only, adjust nothing, straight from tap.

As you can see from that grow log I linked JetDro has a particular hate for anything fox farms so he subbed the base soil for SS#4 and Roots organic.
It should be nearly the exact same as FF.
I've also had luck with Miracle grow moisture control soil as the base....it's not quite as good, but it's close.
Walmart used to carry Sams Choice potting soil in a purple bag, it works every bit as well but I haven't seen it in years and think they stopped making it.

Specific enough ?
 
Yes, thank you n2ishun for taking the time to share the specific recipe. I like water only gardening.
Do you have any issues with any sativas being sensitive to the extra nitrogen? I’ve got some cuts that I have a hard time making happy indoors. Specifically band aid haze and simply irresistible.
 
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