Joe goes organic

[Joe Blows Trees]

I've been sold on organics so I decided to mix up my own soil. Looking for some guidance as I begin this journey.

I've mixed up my base soil consisting of 2cu ft sphagnum peat moss (.10-.07-.05), 1cu ft of manure/compost (1.0-.5-1.0) and 1cu ft of espoma organic potting soil (no NPK rating listed).

I have kelp, bone, and blood meal along with greensand, garden lime, oyster shells, azomite, Epsom salt, rock phosphate, diatomaceous earth, and 4lbs of worm castings. I have some left over perlite and vermiculite for aeration but plan to get something else.

I want to mix in the amendments this weekend, but want to make sure I have what I need to make a good soil to start with. I'll be tweaking it along the way as I continue to grow.

I also have red wigglers I plan to put in the soil mix while its cooking.

I'm still trying to find alfalfa meal, neem seed meal, rice hulls or pumice, fish meal, and bio char. Hopefully the feed store may have some of the amendments I'm missing.

If you have some advice on the amounts of the amendments I should use with this soil mix or any additions or subtractions, please let me know. Thanks for reading and happy growing!

 

[green217]

I am going to be watching building a good soil is great, I take the easy way out with botanicare's bottled organic nutes and they perform great! I am switching back from salt based nutes GH Duo line to pro grow and pro bloom by botanicare.

 

[Joe Blows Trees]

The amendments ratio per cu ft:

Greensand 1/2 cup
Azomite 1/2 cup
Oyster shell 1/2 cup
Blood meal 1/2 cup
Bone meal 1/2 cup
Kelp meal 3/4 cup
Diameaticous Earth 1/4 cup
Epsom salt 1/4 cup
Rock phosphate 1/2 cup
Garden lime 1/4 cup
4 lbs of worm castings

 

[green217]

The amendments ratio per cu ft:

Greensand 1/2 cup
Azomite 1/2 cup
Oyster shell 1/2 cup
Blood meal 1/2 cup
Bone meal 1/2 cup
Kelp meal 3/4 cup
Diameaticous Earth 1/4 cup
Epsom salt 1/4 cup
Rock phosphate 1/2 cup
Garden lime 1/4 cup
4 lbs of worm castings

good list of materials needed to make the soil. But do you have to cook it? Or mix it all up add some water and flush a little bit and drop your rooted plant into it?

 

[Joe Blows Trees]

This mix is for my plants getting ready to flower in about 4-5 weeks and with the amendments I'm using, it's going to cook for atleast 4 weeks so they can break down. I'm also mixing up two more totes of this soil mix so I can have a nice recycling rotation through future grows @green217

 

[Joe Blows Trees]

I'm amending 4cuft total:

2cu ft sphagnum peat moss
1cu ft manure/compost
1cu ft espoma potting soil

So I'm going with:

1 cup oyster shells
1 cup Blood meal
1 cup diameaticous earth
1 cup Epsom salt
1 cup garden lime
2 cups Rock phosphate
2 cups greensand
2 cups azomite
2 cups bone meal
2 cups kelp meal

I've read that rice hulls break down so I was thinking about hydroton rocks(the red balls in cannabis soil mixes) as a replacement. Are they only sold at hydro stores or online?

 

[green217]

I'm amending 4cuft total:

2cu ft sphagnum peat moss
1cu ft manure/compost
1cu ft espoma potting soil

So I'm going with:

1 cup oyster shells
1 cup Blood meal
1 cup diameaticous earth
1 cup Epsom salt
1 cup garden lime
2 cups Rock phosphate
2 cups greensand
2 cups azomite
2 cups bone meal
2 cups kelp meal

I've read that rice hulls break down so I was thinking about hydroton rocks(the red balls in cannabis soil mixes) as a replacement. Are they only sold at hydro stores or online?

Pretty sure they r online too. S&H may be high though

 

[Joe Blows Trees]

Mixed in the amendments. I like the soil texture.

Added some worms so I have some fresh castings to go with the 40lbs already added.

I will add any other amendments by Sunday so it has a good 4 week cook time. It felt good and relaxing mixing up the soil. Started getting excited thinking about how the ladies will respond. I'll mix up the other two next weekend. Gotta order some more worms. Need some for the other two totes of soil and my compost pile.

 

[thumper60]

I've been sold on organics so I decided to mix up my own soil. Looking for some guidance as I begin this journey.

I've mixed up my base soil consisting of 2cu ft sphagnum peat moss (.10-.07-.05), 1cu ft of manure/compost (1.0-.5-1.0) and 1cu ft of espoma organic potting soil (no NPK rating listed).

I have kelp, bone, and blood meal along with greensand, garden lime, oyster shells, azomite, Epsom salt, rock phosphate, diatomaceous earth, and 4lbs of worm castings. I have some left over perlite and vermiculite for aeration but plan to get something else. View attachment 3600866

I want to mix in the amendments this weekend, but want to make sure I have what I need to make a good soil to start with. I'll be tweaking it along the way as I continue to grow.

I also have red wigglers I plan to put in the soil mix while its cooking. View attachment 3600854

I'm still trying to find alfalfa meal, neem seed meal, rice hulls or pumice, fish meal, and bio char. Hopefully the feed store may have some of the amendments I'm missing.

If you have some advice on the amounts of the amendments I should use with this soil mix or any additions or subtractions, please let me know. Thanks for reading and happy growing!

have u heard of kelp 4less check em out

 

[Joe Blows Trees]

Here are some of the plants that will be transplanted into this soil mix:

Hindu kush




Amnesia haze and og kush
The smallest one is a bubblegum


The Hindu kush along with a few other seedlings had an issue that caused the cotyledons and first set of true leaves to go pale and die off. They've all been transplanted now so hopefully they'll bounce back like the purple haze is starting to.

Purple haze

 

[green217]

Here are some of the plants that will be transplanted into this soil mix:

Hindu kush
View attachment 3603069



Amnesia haze and og kush
The smallest one is a bubblegum
View attachment 3603052

The Hindu kush along with a few other seedlings had an issue that caused the cotyledons and first set of true leaves to go pale and die off. They've all been transplanted now so hopefully they'll bounce back like the purple haze is starting to.

Purple haze
View attachment 3603061

I've been wanting to grow a strain for a while now, how long is the flowering on that particular purple haze?
Where did you get it from as far as Seed Bank?
And what breeder did that come from cuz there's a lot of purple haze out there

 

[Joe Blows Trees]

This purple haze is from ace seeds and it's flowering time is around 120 days purchased from MWS. I plan to get some more of the purple haze from a few other trusted breeders for a comparison.

 

[greasemonkeymann]

Mixed in the amendments. I like the soil texture. View attachment 3601500

Added some worms so I have some fresh castings to go with the 40lbs already added. View attachment 3601501

I will add any other amendments by Sunday so it has a good 4 week cook time. It felt good and relaxing mixing up the soil. Started getting excited thinking about how the ladies will respond. I'll mix up the other two next weekend. Gotta order some more worms. Need some for the other two totes of soil and my compost pile.

i'd add some more slow release forms of both potassium and nitrogen.
crab meal would be good.
It's also pretty light on nutrients man.
for 4 cubic feet
more minerals too, greensand is good, but doesn't do anything for at least a yr.
Ideally fish meal, neem meal, and crab meal would be what i'd go for.
It is good that you are using manure though, to help it throughout, but at that NPK rating it's pretty mellow

 

[Richard Drysift]

I'm amending 4cuft total:

2cu ft sphagnum peat moss
1cu ft manure/compost
1cu ft espoma potting soil

So I'm going with:

1 cup oyster shells
1 cup Blood meal
1 cup diameaticous earth
1 cup Epsom salt
1 cup garden lime
2 cups Rock phosphate
2 cups greensand
2 cups azomite
2 cups bone meal
2 cups kelp meal

I've read that rice hulls break down so I was thinking about hydroton rocks(the red balls in cannabis soil mixes) as a replacement. Are they only sold at hydro stores or online?

I've never added rice hulls...or even hydroton; supposed to help promote fungi but I find putting granular mycorrizea directly onto the roots during transplant is quite effective. I add powdered baby oatmeal to my cooking mix which does much the same...brown rice flour will work too; either is easy to find at any grocery store. I suggest adding some garden gypsum and pure humic acid both of which helps with absorption. As grease suggests something like crab meal would be good to boost npk...I like to use 5-5-5 happy frog fertilizer which contains crab and other meals mixed in- good stuff. I didn't see fish bone meal which is great for a P boost in flowering when they need it. Diatomaceous earth is great to add but maybe better used on top to kill gnats or any creepy crawlers plus adds silica. The only other suggestion I would make is to mulch the top layer of your pots which helps retain moisture.
Keep in mind all these dry amendments will take a very long time to break down & become available to the plants so you might need a couple of recycles to begin to see the benefits of all the stuff you are adding now. Having a worm bin is the best thing you can do right now to ensure a supply of fresh EWC in the future..compost is almost more important than adding amendments because they take so long to actually begin working & it's the microbes in the compost that really drive the whole thing.

 

[Joe Blows Trees]

Thanks @greasemonkeymann and @Richard Drysift for the advice.

I've been diligently searching for crab, fish bone, alfalfa and neem meal in my area with no success yet but I'm refusing to give up. I'll see if one of the hydro stores has the happy frog in case I have to get these amendments shipped to me. I almost bought some garden gypsum today when I picked up some more EWC, the last two bags too . I'll get some tomorrow.

I am using red lava rocks for aeration right now and I think until someone suggests something else I can pick up and try out, I'll keep using them. I've been unsuccessful finding rice hulls or pumice as well.

I'll pick up some baby oatmeal powder to add to the soil mixes(how much per cu ft do you add).

I now have 3 totes of soil cooking with the exact same recipe posted so if I add the same amount listed again would that be enough for the 4cu ft? Hopefully I can find the other amendments you guys suggested by this weekend so I can mix them in asap.

I did by 1000 red wigglers and 100 European night crawlers which are enjoying their new home. I also put some in each soil mix so that by the time I use them, I'll have fresh castings in the mix. I'll be ordering another thousand for my compost pile. I hope the worms are able to break down some of the amendments a little faster so they'll be easy to access by the plants.

Two of the soil mixes will not be used for atleast 4/5 months so hopefully they'll be much richer than the one I'm gonna use in about 2/3 weeks. I'd go 4 weeks if that would be best for getting more beneficial bacteria and microbial life going which will be better for the plants. I'll be using teas too. I'm sprouting popcorn and some cannabis seeds now to make seed sprout teas. I'm also going to do a compost tea.

I really appreciate the help you both offered as I'm excited to be going organic.

 

[Joe Blows Trees]

I will also add mulch to the top once I transplant them into their flowering pots. Any suggestions on a particular type of mulch which works well? Thanks.

 

[Joe Blows Trees]

After watching a YouTube video of subcools soil mix, I think I'll do a half and half of my soil mix, compost and EWC mix for this grow. That way my soil has longer time to break down before I start using it solo next time around. Thoughts?

 

[greasemonkeymann]

After watching a YouTube video of subcools soil mix, I think I'll do a half and half of my soil mix, compost and EWC mix for this grow. That way my soil has longer time to break down before I start using it solo next time around. Thoughts?

don't bother with any layering.
Trust me on that.
Subcools soil mix and technique are highly flawed in my opinion..
NOT saying you can't grow in it, just saying it's a flawed technique and soil mix

 

[greasemonkeymann]

I will also add mulch to the top once I transplant them into their flowering pots. Any suggestions on a particular type of mulch which works well? Thanks.

I love pure compost as a topmulch, you can also use shredded coco "wool".
I only topmulch when it's summer time to help keep the moisture in though

 

[DonBrennon]

http://www.tommytopsoil.com/products/mulches/muckers-mulch



This is what I'm using this run, I've used it before and it is awesome, it's actually cheaper than buying straw for me so it's a no brainer.
Last time i used it, the worms processed all the composted materials and I ended up with a really fine mulch of bark fines and rotted shreds of wood



These are no tills this run, 1.5" of fresh wormcasts mixed with amendments for a topdress, with about 1.5 - 2" of the mulch on top of that.............oh, I've added a piece of rotted log on top of the wormcasts as mulch as well. I tried this in my other room about 3 weeks ago and when I turn the log over there's always a group of worms and a myriad of bugs there, they seem to love under there.