If you only had 5 ingredients...

[slow_grow]

If you only had a total of 5 ingredients to build your soil with the requirement being that it provides everything a plant needs through bloom, what would they be?

Generally speaking of course. If a particular strain needed more X, then maybe a custom tea is brewed or one-off amendment made.

 

[HeadyYonder]

Well made, microbial diverse compost.

 

[Wetdog]

Pretty much all I use anyway. Three are purchased and two are homegrown. They are:
1) Homegrown vermicompost from my bins.
2) Homegrown comfrey. Mostly fed to the worms, but some gets topdressed or added to re-amends.
3) Kelp meal, bought in 50lb bags.
4) Neem cake/meal, bought in 44lb bags.
5) Steamed Bone meal, usually in 20lb bags.

That's pretty much it for amendments. I do add lime, but don't count that as an amendment, as it's used for pH buffering. Sometimes alfalfa meal and/or rock dust, but, if they don't get used no sleep is lost.

Wet

 

[Richard Drysift]

1) fresh EWC
2) 5-5-5 happy frog fertilizer
3) neem seed meal
4) composted chicken manure
5) jobes organic spikes; 2 per pot

There's my 5 if I was stuck on a deserted island but that's too limiting IMO...you need minerals too but they can be added in between harvests. The more diverse your mix the better; I like to add a lot of stuff in small quantities but you don't have to always amend with the same things every time; you can mix it up as you wish as long as the plants are happy; especially once your mix reaches supernatural status which takes about a year or so of recycling. Then you can pretty much just add compost & water to get a nice active container in the short run.

 

[Wetdog]

Kelp meal provides, if not all, then the vast majority of minerals and trace you need. Might be all, it's been a few years since I've really read into it.

Kelp is really amazing stuff and a "must have" for me.

Wet

 

[greasemonkeymann]

1) fresh EWC
2) 5-5-5 happy frog fertilizer
3) neem seed meal
4) composted chicken manure
5) jobes organic spikes; 2 per pot

There's my 5 if I was stuck on a deserted island but that's too limiting IMO...you need minerals too but they can be added in between harvests. The more diverse your mix the better; I like to add a lot of stuff in small quantities but you don't have to always amend with the same things every time; you can mix it up as you wish as long as the plants are happy; especially once your mix reaches supernatural status which takes about a year or so of recycling. Then you can pretty much just add compost & water to get a nice active container in the short run.

heh, you cheater, you can't count the happy frog!
theres a bunch of stuff in there!
Or the organic spikes!
Hmmm, I believe you are disqualified from the 2017 Chevy Corvette Grand Prize!
what?
there's no corvette?
oh..
well screw you guys then

 

[darkzero]

Kelp Meal 1-0-2, Crab shell 2-3-0, Bone meal 4-12-0, earthworm casting/red wigglers live, compost from worm bin (mix of fruit, ful humix (carbon/humic acid), reused soil)

 

[greasemonkeymann]

If you only had a total of 5 ingredients to build your soil with the requirement being that it provides everything a plant needs through bloom, what would they be?

Generally speaking of course. If a particular strain needed more X, then maybe a custom tea is brewed or one-off amendment made.

Assuming you can't count an amended compost (like 15 things in there)
i'd say
1. worm castings
2. comfrey
3. neem meal
4. kelp meal
5. fish bone meal

Honestly it was a toss up between the comfrey and crab meal...

If I can count compost, I can be happy with just 2 things, that and fresh comfrey.

 

[darkzero]

Assuming you can't count an amended compost (like 15 things in there)
i'd say
1. worm castings
2. comfrey
3. neem meal
4. kelp meal
5. fish bone meal

Honestly it was a toss up between the comfrey and crab meal...

If I can count compost, I can be happy with just 2 things, that and fresh comfrey.

you are right about that forgot lololol. If i couldn't use compost maybe ful-humix (carbon/humic acid) or blood meal 10-0-0 or even alfalfa meal

 

[Richard Drysift]

heh, you cheater, you can't count the happy frog!
theres a bunch of stuff in there!
Or the organic spikes!
Hmmm, I believe you are disqualified from the 2017 Chevy Corvette Grand Prize!
what?
there's no corvette?
oh..
well screw you guys then

My drill Sgt used to say of ya ain't cheatin ya ain't tryin...happy frog and organic spikes rule but oh well the vette uses too much gas anyway...

 

[vostok]

1: green grass

2: twigs

3: shit

4: heat

5: time


....easy and good luck

 

[Moe Flo]

1: green grass

2: twigs

3: shit

4: heat

5: time


....easy and good luck

For those 5 to work you need water.

H2o
Crabshells
Seaweed
Wood ash
Biochar

 

[Budddha]

Kelp
Crab meal
Bio char(mine has humic acid mixed in it)
Worm casting
Fish bone meal

Or home made compost and comfrey too( buts thats obviously cheating)

 

[iHearAll]

bokashi, pail, shitty outdoors dirt, mulch, kitchen scraps

 

[platt]

a fresh bag of cheap & professional peat based substrate.
micronized gypsum
a 3-2-3+5MgO soil conditioner
i would upgrade epsom salts to Mg + micronutrients
garlic extract powder form. Its a no no for outdoors no matter what regulations said, use with caution..once it enters into the food chain it could put down a dc douglas filled with bees

for 8 weekers i would go vibrant green to 6th week & fade fade fade

 

[Lightgreen2k]

I like this Game Let me Play..

So im assuming these are things to amend to the medium of choice.

Forest Humus
Alfafa meal
Azomite
Kelp
Certain type of Bacillus!

I need to add more but five...

 

[Bugeye]

You actually need 6:

Grand Funk Railroad Anthology
Stereo
Sunlight
Water (organic variety)
Sunglasses
Comfortable shoes

 

[Gabby1469]

Im a newbie to all this so i can only offer 10 cents worth .Throughout iv only used liquid seaweed , fish blood & bone and lots and lots of rabbit droppings dry and wet (first grow)

 

[Nugachino]

Bokashi, kitchen scraps, coco coir, soil. And fish + kelp emulsion.

Seems to be working for me.

 

[Freddie Millergogo]

1) fresh EWC
2) 5-5-5 happy frog fertilizer
3) neem seed meal
4) composted chicken manure
5) jobes organic spikes; 2 per pot

There's my 5 if I was stuck on a deserted island but that's too limiting IMO...you need minerals too but they can be added in between harvests. The more diverse your mix the better; I like to add a lot of stuff in small quantities but you don't have to always amend with the same things every time; you can mix it up as you wish as long as the plants are happy; especially once your mix reaches supernatural status which takes about a year or so of recycling. Then you can pretty much just add compost & water to get a nice active container in the short run.

Are you serious about Jobe's spikes? For grow or flower. Some dude said they are junk and cause hot spots.