Base soil for SS

[bankcee]

what do you all think about this for a base soil for some super soil..

Let me know of any of you have used it. it seems to have a lot of nuts right out of the bag. and mycorrhiza.

http://www.groworganic.com/pvfs-organic-potting-soil-1-cu-ft-bag.html

 

[MustangStudFarm]

I think people over-think the base soil. I went organic and became a TGA"weed-nerd" and watched his youtube channel as I trimmed {250+ episodes}. He started big on fox farm then switched to Roots... He is a salesman. A company could make big money by having thier name in his recipe... He says to use a brand new bag for each grow, no recyling!

Dont buy the hype of supersoil. If you want to start with SS and move on as you learn, that would be cool. I just should not take a new bag everytime you fill a pot = $. It took me a while to understand what was happening.

 

[Smidge34]

This is the "base" soil I use with great success, learned from the pages right here on RIU and other sites. This is no big secret, lol.

For one cubic foot, or 7.5 gallons. I use a 5 gallon bucket and a cheap $ store kiddie pool to mix. Mix a half a 5 gal bucket of peat moss, a half a 5 gal bucket of perlite and a half a 5 gal bucket of earthworm castings. Add a cup of agricultural lime to counter the acidity of the peat and you have a nice little base mix for seedlings or cloning, ready to amend and cook for growing and flowering bigger plants.

 

[bankcee]

thanks

This is the "base" soil I use with great success, learned from the pages right here on RIU and other sites. This is no big secret, lol.

For one cubic foot, or 7.5 gallons. I use a 5 gallon bucket and a cheap $ store kiddie pool to mix. Mix a half a 5 gal bucket of peat moss, a half a 5 gal bucket of perlite and a half a 5 gal bucket of earthworm castings. Add a cup of agricultural lime to counter the acidity of the peat and you have a nice little base mix for seedlings or cloning, ready to amend and cook for growing and flowering bigger plants.

thanks fam for the response.. I figured that out on a grasscity forum. the 1/3 peat 1/3 perlite 1/3 ewc/compost and a cup of dolomite. but what is a good compost? what does a good compost consist of?

 

[MustangStudFarm]

Leaf and grass clippings for compost... Food scraps are for worms

 

[MustangStudFarm]

I was hoping that someone with more exp could help. I dont like to see a new member with a blank post! I ended up getting a library card lol. I needed some schooling lol.
I started out on SS and found Espoma brand fert. It has over 1/2 of sub's list and thier Bio-Tone has myc for $2 more. There is a thread about Espoma that is active right now.

I tell people to start a worm bin. It is crazy expensive to buy pre-made casting and it is inferior to home made castings... I started with a WormFactory 360 because I had $130 at the time. My wife cooks at home 90% of the time and we have plenty of scraps. Left over steamed veggies is common in my bin. People say no prepared food, but I only use water to steam. No butter or salt...

There are "sticky" threads, red thumb tacts, that you should visit. No-Till and Vermicompost. I ended up getting Teaming with Microbes and a whole stack of books from the library. If you like to learn, you will have fun with this.

 

[bearkat42]

I don't see why not. This is what I use and it works just fine.

http://www.target.com/p/ecoscraps-natural-organic-moisture-retaining-potting-mix-1-cu-ft/-/A-14903854#prodSlot=medium_1_6

 

[Dr. Who]

I do equal amounts of

EWC
Lava stone - those little white one's - Perlite floats to much (lol) But I have to use it every now and then.
Canadian Peat
Nice healthy compost or Potters Gold organic soil mix if I've run out of compost....happens.

That's my base......To that I add other things and get a SS that's water only and is recycled over and over..

Doc

 

[Mohican]

I tried some green scrap soil and almost killed my plants.

I am making earthworm compost now. In fact I am growing a plant in my worm bin:



Wood mulch is good, composted wood and pesticide free grass clippings are good.

I have been using Promix but it is expensive. I just tried a batch with Dr Earth and it is very woody. Drains too quickly.

 

[bankcee]

I went to a hydroponics store today and the ewc was 16 bucks for a 15lbs bag. can I find it cheaper? and if so am I losing quality in the less expensive stuff? also I'm unsure as to what is a 1/3 of a cubic foot in something like ewcs? I was planning on using a 5 gallon pot (half of that is a 1/3 of a cf) to measure my peat moss and my perlite but I wasn't sure if 15lbs would have been enough for 1/3 of 2- 7 gallon pots?

 

[Mohican]

I would get the bag or find cheaper. One you start using it you will get worms. You can also start your own worm bin and make it yourself with coffee grounds, banana peels, veggie scraps, fruit scraps, cardboard...

 

[bankcee]

I don't know where to begin with a good compost. like idk if I can make my own yet. cause I don't really understand how to do it.. lol appreciate all the the ideas though. I want something I can buy though for my first outdoor grow.

 

[Smidge34]

I have my own bins going now, but was recently in need of enough castings to make 12 cubic feet of base, so 4 cubic feet of ewc, and since my bins were new, I decided to buy it from the man I bought my worms from. Like you I was wondering about how much weight I would need per cubic ft of mix, since the castings weren't sold by volume, so I bought 100 pounds at $1 per pound and was glad to get them, as they are that important to my mix. Hell, they ARE the mix IMHO, though Greasemonkey's post about increases yields when blending compost and ewc for the humus portion of his base have peaked my curiosity. Anyway, assuming your bought castings have a similar moisture level, sufficient to maintain microbial life, for comparison sake, it took approximately 60 pounds of castings in my 12 cu feet of base, so approximately 5 pounds of castings per cubic foot or $5 per. Not a bad deal at all.

 

[bankcee]

so I can do the 1 part peat 1 part ewc and 1 part of perlite same day I plan to start my seeds? it only needs to cook after I added my amendments? and how long do you let that cook?

 

[Dr. Who]

4 weeks is safe....kinda depends on what and how much you amend.
Buy adding a compost or a premade soil for compost. Your adding more bio's and nutrition....not to mention the moisture retaining properties of the contents.

Doc

 

[greasemonkeymann]

I don't know where to begin with a good compost. like idk if I can make my own yet. cause I don't really understand how to do it.. lol appreciate all the the ideas though. I want something I can buy though for my first outdoor grow.

I suggest a good site that is for homesteaders, I learned sooo much from those crazy-hippies.
A compost pile is easy.
i'll give ya the rundown, since I don't have any cars to fix or customers to anger.
First you'll need a good 4 X 4 footprint, and LOTS of leaves, I highly recommend a shredder, it'll cut your compost time in half or more.
If I could do it all over again, i'd do it on a concrete slab...
cuz you'll be turning it with one of these. (see picture)
I layered about four inches of shredded leaves to about a half inch layer of alfalfa meal, kelp meal, crab meal, neem meal, fish bone meal, rock minerals, (langbeinite, greensand, rock phosphates, azomite) fish meal, and leftover bat guano.
You don't need to go that far, but I tell you, I am glad I do, you'll never have to "age" your soil, because allll the nutrients are already cycled and ready to go.
you layer four inches of "browns" , basicly leaves. and such, with "greens" the point of the greens is to add nitrogen in order to kickstart the thermophillic composting process.
after doing probably ten layers, like lasagna, then you can water it a lil, and cover it with a loose fitting tarp and give it like a week or so, then you turn it, you'll see steam, and feel the heat of it, that's good.
turn it once every 4-7 days, and it'll melt down into humus in about 8 months or so, maybe less if you do a good job turning and shredding the leaves.
I have grown herb since 1989, and this is the single most important aspect of growing quality organic herb.
SOOOOOO easy, wish I would have started this decades ago.
I grow beginning to end with no nutrients added unless you count the AACT, FPES, and SSTs.
best shit ever.
Keep in mind you must be patient, you can't get it much faster than about 6 months or so, maybe down to 4 if you are really diligent about turning and the temp are right..
If you have access to a lot of leaves you can replace coco or peat in your soil mix completely if you have pure leafmold, it takes like 14-18 months for that to breakdown though, but THAT stuff is some goooooood shit.

 

[MustangStudFarm]

I live in the woods and I have acres full of leaf mold. I would just have to harvest it. Could I also use this for the worm bin in place of coco? I would enjoy getting as much out of my back yard as possible! I am making a list lol. Biochar, compost, rotten wood, and worm bin can all come from my yard! That would not be on subcools list lol!

I am interested in the homestead website, I dont think that you actually said its name.

 

[Kind Sir]

I think people over-think the base soil. I went organic and became a TGA"weed-nerd" and watched his youtube channel as I trimmed {250+ episodes}. He started big on fox farm then switched to Roots... He is a salesman. A company could make big money by having thier name in his recipe... He says to use a brand new bag for each grow, no recyling!

Dont buy the hype of supersoil. If you want to start with SS and move on as you learn, that would be cool. I just should not take a new bag everytime you fill a pot = $. It took me a while to understand what was happening.

You waid the same thing to me. Thanks for being honest

 

[Comrade Dregnev]

This is the "base" soil I use with great success, learned from the pages right here on RIU and other sites. This is no big secret, lol. For one cubic foot, or 7.5 gallons. I use a 5 gallon bucket and a cheap $ store kiddie pool to mix. Mix a half a 5 gal bucket of peat moss, a half a 5 gal bucket of perlite and a half a 5 gal bucket of earthworm castings. Add a cup of agricultural lime to counter the acidity of the peat and you have a nice little base mix for seedlings or cloning, ready to amend and cook for growing and flowering bigger plants.

I followed this with the following exceptions: the 1/3 rd humus portion was 50-50 earthworm castings and composted, cow manure. And 4 cups Azomite

 

[Comrade Dregnev]

A few years back, small town traveling circus paid us a visit I got a trailerload of elephant poo. Added it to my existing compost heap.....WOW!