Easy Organic Soil Mix for Beginners

Discussion in 'Growing Organic Marijuana' started by InTheGarden, Oct 2, 2012.

  1. Yeah, the tarp works well. Two guys can mix up 30 cf in an hour or so pretty easily !:)
     
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  2. I've read that all you really need is good compost (Bu's Blend) and good worm castings to grow... hoping to put that to the test :)

    If I'll be growing using strictly an equal mix of peat moss, pumice and (compost + EWC), how well would my plants grow with that mix?

    (Not looking for huge yields or super potency, growing for strictly positive effect, I don't mind lower potency).

    I have an organic worm bin I've been cultivating for the past 8 months, so I have a ton of worm castings.

    Just wondering about the ratios... For the compost part of the mix, should I do 50/50 mix of compost and worm castings? Or how should the worm castings play into the equation?

    I picked up 10 three-gallon fabric pots, want to run them alongside my 30-gallon no-till pots, and plant regular seeds. If I get males, they'll be easier to move to another location, and the females I can just leave. Want to start playing with making my own seeds
     
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  3. I am a firm believer in the fact that you need compost in addition to vmc. The 'fresh' compost will serve as a fresh food source for you soil life, while the vmc will provide nutrients in an already available form.
    I think 50/50 is a good place to start.
    good luck
    cheers
    os
     
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  4. #15004 RenaissanceBrah, Jan 13, 2021
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2021
    I have a bad feeling that running the base mix + only EWC is a bad idea... I would most likely get nutrient deficiencies, no?

    (My EWC used only 100% organic vegetable and fruit scraps, but not sure if that would make it nutritious enough).

    I'll just order some biochar from Buildasoil and use what I already have. Going to use the same recipe as I did for my no-till pots, worked out pretty well... though now they'll be going in grassroots 3 gallon pots (to grow more plants and sex them, move the males more easily):

    Base Mix (1/1/1)
    10 gallons Malibu's Bu's Blend
    10 gallons Canadian Sphagnum Peet moss
    10 gallons Pumice (or Lava Rock, or Perlite)

    Amendments (4 cups = 0.95 Liters) (1 cup = 0.24L)
    4 Cups Kelp Meal
    4 Cups Crab/Crustacean Meal
    4 Cups Malted Barley Powder
    2 Cups Gypsum
    4-6 Cups Basalt (1.42 Liters)
    6-8 Cups Activated Biochar (1.9 Liters)

    I know there's no Neem in there, I'm trying to grow without it. Worked OK on my 30 gallons, I was still able to keep the pests at bay.

    Is that a more solid plan? Or anything else I should do to avoid future problems?
     
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  5. I do believe he said the compost portion should have half compost, half vmc.
    At least that's how I understood it 18 months ago when I copied his recipe to start making my own soil (as close as possible).

    I think straight castings would be too muddy, and I add rice hulls, pine bark, and I make my own rice hull biochar for my worm bins. My castings are at least 20% airation, and probably 30tbh.

    In your first post above you had it real simple, a comparative grow. Castings/compost/airation/Peat. Now you have all these ammendments listed... I'm confused.
    I add neem to my worm bin, and it's just crawling with critters, I really don't think there are insecticidal properties with that mixed in your soil. I also top dressed with it a year ago, and noticed no difference with my bug population in my mulch.
    Now I use it for its N, and micros. A little diversity from straight alfalfa if you will.
     
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  6. Thanks Nosmatt - my 2 posts are different as I was asking if you can grow using simply those 4 ingredients, I remember a well-known member on here saying various times that that's all you really need, I can't remember who it was though.

    And then I decided I'll just stick to the tried and true methods after hearing you can sprout your seeds in EWC, and killing all of them lol.
     
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  7. I decided to switch my outdoor grow to all organic last season and used this method as a guide (didnt follow everything to the t though tbh) and it was one of my worst harvests. However i believe that was just due to the weather lol there was lots of smoke from nearby fires in september that was blocking so much of the sun for weeks you could look directly at the sun and it wasnt very bright at all behind the smoke. During this period it was around 100% humidity too and i had to cut down most of my stuff the last 10 days of september which is on the premature side :(. Very frustrating not getting to test the full potential of this switch to organic growing but there is always next time.

    Im not letting that scare me away from organics though (wouldnt even make sense i guess lol) even though i didnt have a good harvest the plants grew nice and big and were so healthy and stayed all green for so much longer into flower with most of them not showing much color in the leaves until the very end. It feels good to be growing organically and more in tune with how its all suppose to work naturally but the not having to mix a ton of nutes all the time is seriously awesome, that gets old quick. Thanks to the OP! im glad this thread was here to help give me a introduction to growing organically it was kind of overwhelming to jump into at first and i still have lots to learn i know.

    Ok so ive still got a my garden plots chilling since last grow season and i havent amended them or done anything anything (except a thick layer of mulch) its all outside so it is exposed to the weather and getting rained on etc. Any thoughts on how i should prepare the plots for this coming may?
     
  8. I amend my organic soil between sets with Chicken Manure and a bit of Sulfur powder. Some Kelp or Alfalfa meal and some fresh perlite to keep the aeration up.

    BNW
     

  9. Through the years I also reamend my soil between grows. Kelp, Alfalfa, Composted chicken manure and some Dolo. Whatever I have on hand for aeration, most time it's perlite always add a little more.
    This year I'm gonna let it ride. My soil is pretty dialed in right now. Last year I made my holes bigger and deeper so I could make kind of a Hugelkultur bed Hugelkultur gardening – Master Gardener Society of Oakland Time will tell if its gonna work.
     
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  10. Question about the aeration, how do you add aeration without disturbing the soil? Shouldn’t the soil not be disturbed?


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  11. I take the soil out of the hole. Maybe if you have a true no-till that might be true, up until now I really didn't have a true no-till soil IMO.
     
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  12. Same as Puff here. Most of my in-ground sites get contaminated with surrounding yard dirt so every other set I dig the hole out and freshen the contents. My big self irrigating planters are my true no-tills. Same soil has been undisturbed for about 5 years now.

    BNW
     
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  13. Thanks for the tips guys that was kind of along the lines of what i was thinking but since i am doing no till i am not going to be able to redistribute the perlite throughout the soil like has been mentioned and im curious about the amount of amendments i should put in, am i trying to put enough amendments to equal what i added per sq ft of this recipe (that seems like it would be too big and concentrated of a pile of amendments sitting on top) or should i just eye ball it and put a little layer of each amendment onto the soil?

    Do you think the holes sitting exposed to the rain all year will be a negative thing? Should i cover them?
     
  14. #15014 puffnstuff1960, Feb 6, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 6, 2021
    I only measured when I first mixed my soil, after that, I just eyeballed about half the amount I put in originally of whatever I'm reamending with, does that make sense lol.

    I only top dress right before I first plant in June with chopped up comfrey/compost and mulch. Then again just before flower with Comfrey/vermicompost and the last couple years I've been adding a good dusting of bonemeal, then more mulch. That takes me to harvest.

    ASFA covering your holes, I don't cover. After harvest is done I put a thick layer of chopped up leaves and hay over all my holes.
    That's all I do. This is 3 weeks to harvest. The lines you see are to keep my branches from breaking from the weight of the buds. 11lb, 8 plants. Best year in 10 years.

    20201003_093632.jpg
     
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  15. Sounds good, nice and simple! Thats a great looking crop!! and i really like how youve got the chain link up top making all kinds of easy places to hang those supports for the buds. Has that patch been all organic/no till for the 10 years? Is there anything you did different that might have made it such a good crop last season or maybe it was just the weather?
     
  16. #15016 puffnstuff1960, Feb 6, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 7, 2021
     

  17. Going to give it a go. This is only a portion of the materials pictures. Have much more in the garage. This project is getting a bit expensive, but being able to reuse the medium makes the investment well worth it.

    I am ready to try new things. Getting older, and lugging buckets full of heavy medium will soon be a thing of the past, I hope. I think I have about a 30 yard pile of used soil out back that I have recently converted to a berm for my shooting range! LOL

    Next investment: A compost bin or two.

    Thank you for this thread Ganja Girl and to everyone else for the "miles" of input.
     
  18. Yeah my initial investment for 1250 gallon cloth pots was over $500 for the soil and amendments that was six or seven years ago after that may be one or $200 per year in kelp and other atlas to refresh it still going strong


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  19. Sorry if this has already been asked/answered but what is the effect on living organic soil of "cooking" it for an extended period of time after mixing the ingredients? I made some back in November 2020 and just now getting around to using it. Does it need anything before I proceed?

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  20. Get it damp. If you have trouble hydrating it, use aloe or yucca or whatever tickles your fancy.
    cheers
    os
     

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