home deopot soil recipe

rdo420

rdo420

Well-Known Member
Not saying this is the best or anything like that, it's just what I've been using for the last year or so and it's fantastic! Everything here can be had at home depot for $35. The only reason I'm posting this is because not everyone has a hydro store close by and ordering soil can be expensive. Most soils that cater to us are around the $20 a bag range plus shipping costs bring it up even further. I'm just assuming here as I never bought soil online. Subcools super soil is freaking awesome but a lot of the ingredients are something you'll only find at a hydro store or nursery as well. Also it makes ALOT of soil. This is just the every mans recipe for 4 3gal. pots. This will give you nice results. So....1 bag of Vigoro organic potting mix, 1 8qrt. bag miracle gro seed starter mix, 1/2 bag of perlite [4 qrt.s], 2 cups black hen, 4 cups epsoma bio starter plus, 1/2 cup bone meal, 3TBS. of fine granular lime [not pictured], and 4 cups granulated sugar [not pictured]. Add it all together, water, and let sit for a month turning it 3 times a week. Everytime you go to turn the soil and you see a layer of white fuzz on top don't freak, it's just your soil doing its thing. So there ya go anyone who has only a home depot around to make your soil. Just water until you chop for most strains. Easy peezy. Here's some grows with it. plants love it. Have a lot more pic.s but the RIU image uploader isn't working for me, hasn't in a long while.
 
DonPetro

DonPetro

Well-Known Member

We also went to HD when we started our organic journey. Not pictured is the Vigoro Black Earth and Premier Steer Manure. We cheated though and bought a huge bag of perlite and a bag of Botanicare Cocogro. Here is the recipe we used:
6gal bag black earth
2gal coco coir
2gal perlite
2gal fresh worm castings
Amendments:
2 cups dolomite lime
1/2 cup blood meal
1 cup bone meal
1 cup dry all-purpose
1 cup crushed eggshells
1 cup brown rice
5 cups steer manure
Mixed it up, moistened and cooked for a month.


Now we have expanded our inputs to include alfalfa meal, kelp meal, greensand and rock phosphate. Should see an increase in overall health.
Nice thread dude. Plants look great.
 

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rdo420

rdo420

Well-Known Member
Yeah that's real nice up there. I think it's a good idea for folks to put up what their mixes are for folks to try. When you walk into Wal-Mart or Lowes, home depot, the only options are miracle-gro or some other commercial variety. With those I found it's hit or miss. You could have an awesome grow with miracle-gro soil one minute but you get another bag for the next grow and it's way to hot or the ph is off, they're not consistant at all. At least in my expierence, so I just made my own. Another down side to the commercial pre-packaged soils are 99% have the ''feed for 6 months'' claim and they have those little fertilizer beads in um. If you encounter a problem and have to flush your just making the problem worse because the more water you add the faster those damn little beads start disintegrating. lol . Thank you for posting your mix up there bro, You could be helping someone tomorrow or 6 months from now when they get started growing. + rep.
 
DonPetro

DonPetro

Well-Known Member
No problem man. I was glad to see someone had made a thread like this and was showing results. Its a good jumping off point for peeps just getting into organics and find it a little overwhelming. Mixing up your own soil is fun and its exciting seeing what it can do. When you recycle and re-amend it only gets better.
 
B

Barbarajax

New Member
While shopping at Home Depot today I came across a new brand of potting soil that I have never seen before. Its called BGI Quick Draining Soil for Bouganvilleas "and other plants". Its a mixture of Pine Bark, Canadian Peat, Florida Peat and Dolomite. Anyone out there use this or hear of it? Im thinking it might be good for Epis and another cacti type plants.In the rainy season here in Florida we can sometimes get very heavy downpours, sometimes for days in a row so my Epis get really soaked. Hoping that this new soil might be just what they need. Any ideas for testing it out? Should I just repot one or two for now and see how they do? Do you think I need to add any perlite or anything else? Appreciate any and all inputThanks,Pat
 
hyroot

hyroot

Well-Known Member
I get bales of peat moss from home depot or Lowes $12 each
then then a few nutes from a hydro shop (vegan mix , kelp meal, neem meal). Then castings, compost, pumice or perlite, and rock dust from a landscaping supply or farm supply.

there's always good deals to find there
 
DonPetro

DonPetro

Well-Known Member
Hyroot, how do your veganic grows yield compared to say a soil mix also containing animal based meals as well as plant and mineral based amendments? Would you have maybe an average yield per gallon of soil mix? I ask because i am interested in doing veganics but worried about my yield taking a hit. I'm already on a small scale as it is.
 
hyroot

hyroot

Well-Known Member
DonPetro said:
Hyroot, how do your veganic grows yield compared to say a soil mix also containing animal based meals as well as plant and mineral based amendments? Would you have maybe an average yield per gallon of soil mix? I ask because i am interested in doing veganics but worried about my yield taking a hit. I'm already on a small scale as it is.
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this my first ever full vegan run. Everyone who uses these nutes have had unbelievable results. Also I stopped using guano , bone meal, blood meal 2 years ago. I was using crab meal, fish meal(sometimes), soft rock phosphate, rock dust, kelp meal, and neem meal. I always had good results. I like the new regiment more so far. Imo guano just makes the buds more harsh. I stopped using it because of pathogens. If I were to use guano or manure I would use composted cow manure or composted alpaca manure. They both have multiple stomachs and process differently than bats and what not. Making their manure probiotic. I have no plans too. I'm just sticking with vegan regiment.

with veganics just like living organics, yield depends much on the genetics. If you have a high yielding strain you will do fine. If you grow something like girl scout cookies. Don't expect much of a yield
 
DonPetro

DonPetro

Well-Known Member
When you say 'these nutes' are you referring to the Vegan Mix? Do you have more info or a link for this? Thanks for the reply btw.
 
hyroot

hyroot

Well-Known Member
MistaRasta

MistaRasta

Well-Known Member
What's up man? Didn't know you we're a soil guy. I'm one my self, I pretty much follow subs recipe with a few alterations.

It goes..
1.5 cu ft bag premium soil
7# ewc
1# forest humus
7oz blood meal
9oz bone meal
9oz bat guano
2 tbs Epsom salts
2 tbs azomite
4 tbs lime
1 cup kelp meal
1/2 cup alfalfa meal
1 cup marine cuisine
mix it all up, let cook, plant and bam! Dank.


you get those hellraisers yet rdo??
 
rdo420

rdo420

Well-Known Member
Hey what it do friend. Yeah they sent it out already, have a strong feeling they'll be in the box tomorrow. You get yours started yet?
 
MistaRasta

MistaRasta

Well-Known Member
Not yet, don't have them scheduled to go down for a little while. I got the chance to pick up some of his other gear, his face off bx2 and his grimace og, which won 3rd place in the San Fran cup I believe. Can't wait to see what I get from these genetics! Make sure you put up a report when you get em down and going so ill know what to expect.
 
green_machine_two9er

green_machine_two9er

Well-Known Member
MistaRasta said:
What's up man? Didn't know you we're a soil guy. I'm one my self, I pretty much follow subs recipe with a few alterations.

It goes..
1.5 cu ft bag premium soil
7# ewc
1# forest humus
7oz blood meal
9oz bone meal
9oz bat guano
2 tbs Epsom salts
2 tbs azomite
4 tbs lime
1 cup kelp meal
1/2 cup alfalfa meal
1 cup marine cuisine
mix it all up, let cook, plant and bam! Dank.


you get those hellraisers yet rdo??
Click to expand...
Hey quick question. I keep hearing about "cooking" these organic mixes, does that mean sit out under sun or is there some method I have missed. and as far as soil to start with any recommendations? should I use something like roots 707? any thoughts are greatly appreciated. thanks!
 
MistaRasta

MistaRasta

Well-Known Member
green_machine_two9er said:
Hey quick question. I keep hearing about "cooking" these organic mixes, does that mean sit out under sun or is there some method I have missed. and as far as soil to start with any recommendations? should I use something like roots 707? any thoughts are greatly appreciated. thanks!
Click to expand...

"Cooking" a mix is a literal term which refers to the breakdown of the ingredients put in the soil by bacteria and certain fungi so the plant can thrive. You cook a mix by mixing up all your ingredients with base soil(roots/ocean forest) set in containers or out in the sun and water. Let sit for 30 days and it's done cooking,fill 1/3 pot with cooked soil rest with normal base soil and there ya go. I never see any deficiencies of any sort using super soil. Just follow subs directions and you'll get dank, premium!
 
FresnoFarmer

FresnoFarmer

Well-Known Member
That miracle gro perlite has time released nutes, correct? why not buy therm-o-rock brand for 16 bucks for 2 cf?



It's at my HD near the houseplants
 
Mr.Head

Mr.Head

Well-Known Member
MistaRasta said:
"Cooking" a mix is a literal term which refers to the breakdown of the ingredients put in the soil by bacteria and certain fungi so the plant can thrive. You cook a mix by mixing up all your ingredients with base soil(roots/ocean forest) set in containers or out in the sun and water. Let sit for 30 days and it's done cooking,fill 1/3 pot with cooked soil rest with normal base soil and there ya go. I never see any deficiencies of any sort using super soil. Just follow subs directions and you'll get dank, premium!
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Subs mix has a tonne of stuff IME you don't need to achieve a good organic haul, but it does help for sure. Subs mix, even something close can be hard to achieve outside the USA.

Cooking is not a literal term at all, you don't need heat. You just need to let the soil sit, I have made perfectly effective soil indoors in a fairly cool environment, one that doesn't exceed 25 C and can go down as low as 16 c my soil was certainly never in contact with direct sunlight. This is something that scared me away from organics for a long time as I don't have an outdoor space to have a big soil pile, you can make perfectly fine soil in rubbermaid totes indoors, there is no need for heat at all. Heck half the time my soil was sitting under a open window mid winter, I re-amended and seen spring tails squirming around.
 
MistaRasta

MistaRasta

Well-Known Member
Mr.Head said:
Subs mix has a tonne of stuff IME you don't need to achieve a good organic haul, but it does help for sure. Subs mix, even something close can be hard to achieve outside the USA.

Cooking is not a literal term at all, you don't need heat. You just need to let the soil sit, I have made perfectly effective soil indoors in a fairly cool environment, one that doesn't exceed 25 C and can go down as low as 16 c my soil was certainly never in contact with direct sunlight. This is something that scared me away from organics for a long time as I don't have an outdoor space to have a big soil pile, you can make perfectly fine soil in rubbermaid totes indoors, there is no need for heat at all. Heck half the time my soil was sitting under a open window mid winter, I re-amended and seen spring tails squirming around.
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I'll beg to differ about it being a literal term. The middle of the soil should be around 100 degrees or so, where the bacteria are populating and breaking down the organic matter. Hence the term "cooking." The ambient temps don't play a role because just as most other living organisms they create their own heat. When put in certain temps/conditions the bacteria go dormant and stop populating. Probably why you think subs soil is too much.. I don't think it's enough to be honest. That's just me though ;)
 
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