Indoor soil mix advice please.

dingbang

dingbang

Active Member
Indoor SOG
Sensie Jack Herer Haze Pheno
rooted clones veg for 14 days avg.
bloom for 70-75 days
BMO fertz
RO H2O

Here are the ingredients I have to work with.
Organic mushroom compost 0.5 - 0.5 - 0.2
Black Hen composted manure 2.0 - 3.0 - 2.0
Fafard horticulture perlite
MG organic bone meal 6 - 9 - 0
powdered calcitic lime
bio-char


This is what I was planning on mixing:
6 parts mushroom compost
3 parts perlite
1 part composted chicken manure
1 part bio-char
2 tablespoons per gallon calcitic lime
2 tablespoons per gallon bone meal

I am trying to use the products that I currently have on hand due to a shortage of "hobby funds". My local hydro shop doesn't even carry soils and Home Despot only has very limited selection of Miracle Grow and Scotts Products. I try not to order anything online (no paper trail) but if its absolutely necessary, I will.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.



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hydrohead

hydrohead

Member
Well man if you dont want too buy anything else I would go with what you have but add more chicken manure but make sure too let it all sit for a while because fresh manure can burn plant roots.
 
DaveCoulier

DaveCoulier

Well-Known Member
Your soil mixture will have poor drainage and aeration from so many finely sized particles. Perlite isn't gonna help as much as you think. The macro-pores the perlite creates gets clogged up by the finely sized paticles from the manure and compost. If at all possible see if your home depot has Natures Helper Soil conditioner. Its what I use and its only $4-$5 for a 40 pound bag.

5 parts that, 1 part compost/manure mixture, 1 part perlite will give you much better aeration and drainage. I can't say much about the bio-char. I dont know how finely sized the particles are. Ive been looking to purchase some but the only stuff Ive seen has an npk of 7-3-3.

2 tablespoons of lime seems excessive. I use mushroom compost, and it already has lime added to it, so I use one teaspoon per gallon instead. If your compost doesn't have lime added, I still would go with 1 tablespoon.
 
dingbang

dingbang

Active Member
Thanks guys for taking the time to respond, I really appreciate it.

hydrohead said:
Well man if you dont want too buy anything else I would go with what you have but add more chicken manure but make sure too let it all sit for a while because fresh manure can burn plant roots.
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The manure has already been composted and should be good to go, thanks.

BladesOfGrass said:
your only going to veg for two weeks? you might want to leave out the manure then
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I only veg for two weeks to limit the vertical growth but this pheno of Jack Herer really seems to soak in the nitrogen weeks into flowering and composted chicken manure is high in phosphorus, potassium and trace....so you think it may be too much nitrogen though. I thought the plants wouldn't absorb what they didn't need and excessive nitrogen wouldn't really be a factor. What are you thoughts?




 
DaveCoulier

DaveCoulier

Well-Known Member
Your plants will absorb what they need, but too much nitrogen encourages the plant to continue vegging. I dont know if its too much or not. You're flowering for 10-11 weeks so having some extra nitrogen for the first couple of weeks of veg will help keep your plant green and healthy through flowering. If it was a shorter flowering time, Id probably ditch it though.
 
dingbang

dingbang

Active Member
DaveCoulier said:
Your soil mixture will have poor drainage and aeration from so many finely sized particles. Perlite isn't gonna help as much as you think. The macro-pores the perlite creates gets clogged up by the finely sized paticles from the manure and compost. If at all possible see if your home depot has Natures Helper Soil conditioner. Its what I use and its only $4-$5 for a 40 pound bag.
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I checked Home depot and they don't carry the Natures Helper brand locally, too bad. What are the main ingredients of their soil conditioner? Isn't it pine bark?

DaveCoulier said:
I dont know how finely sized the particles are. Ive been looking to purchase some but the only stuff Ive seen has an npk of 7-3-3.
Click to expand...
I didn't even know they gave bio-char NKP ratings! I make my own from pecan and oak chips.


DaveCoulier said:
2 tablespoons of lime seems excessive. I use mushroom compost, and it already has lime added to it, so I use one teaspoon per gallon instead. If your compost doesn't have lime added, I still would go with 1 tablespoon.
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A few other people mentioned the same thing about the lime so I will probably just use 1 TB per gallon. Are you using the Nature's Helper brand of mushroom compost? I only have access to the Black Cow brand and it's OK but I did get some gnats with some of our indoor house plants.

Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it. I may take a 1.5 hour drive tomorrow in the other direction and see what they have in the town south of me at Lowes. I'll let you know what I come back with if anything.
 
DaveCoulier

DaveCoulier

Well-Known Member
dingbang said:
I checked Home depot and they don't carry the Natures Helper brand locally, too bad. What are the main ingredients of their soil conditioner? Isn't it pine bark?

I didn't even know they gave bio-char NKP ratings! I make my own from pecan and oak chips.

A few other people mentioned the same thing about the lime so I will probably just use 1 TB per gallon. Are you using the Nature's Helper brand of mushroom compost? I only have access to the Black Cow brand and it's OK but I did get some gnats with some of our indoor house plants.

Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it. I may take a 1.5 hour drive tomorrow in the other direction and see what they have in the town south of me at Lowes. I'll let you know what I come back with if anything.
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Yep its partially composted pine bark fines. Im glad you dont have it there because Ive apparently got a gnat infestation now from the stuff. Pisses me off. Its the only place that has the type of pine bark around here I need. Looks like ill be getting some sticky traps and sand now.

Theres a company called Vee-Go Bio-Char that makes it. Im not sure how it has an npk either when every other bio-char ive seen has no npk. I guess they add fert to it or something.

Im not using the natures helper mushroom compost. I bought a bag and it was horrible. It had an awful chemical smell to it, so I returned it. Im using Black Kow SMC as well. I had no gnat problems with mine though.

Before making that drive, check their website and you can check the availability of products at the town you are going to. Save yourself a potential wasted trip.
 
GreedAndVanity

GreedAndVanity

Well-Known Member
coco coir! atleast 30% you will be stoked! you will probably want to make a tea on the side for a little extra something in flower if you use coir though.
 
dingbang

dingbang

Active Member
GreedAndVanity said:
coco coir! atleast 30% you will be stoked! you will probably want to make a tea on the side for a little extra something in flower if you use coir though.
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coco coir would be great if i could get it locally which i can't. i can get roots organics soiless but to expensive for as many plants as i have to sog.
 
GreedAndVanity

GreedAndVanity

Well-Known Member
There are many sources for coco coir. They may not have it for soil in your area but it is commonly used as reptile bedding as well. They generally have dehydrated bricks of it at most pet stores.

Just make sure to rinse pet store coco thoroughly.

Shipping coco can be an okay experience as well because it weighs next to nothing. The brick will turn into 6-8 quarts of coco if you can find em and cost like a buck fifty.

One of those bricks weighs like a pound a piece.
 
dingbang

dingbang

Active Member
GreedAndVanity said:
There are many sources for coco coir. They may not have it for soil in your area but it is commonly used as reptile bedding as well. They generally have dehydrated bricks of it at most pet stores.

Just make sure to rinse pet store coco thoroughly.

Shipping coco can be an okay experience as well because it weighs next to nothing. The brick will turn into 6-8 quarts of coco if you can find em and cost like a buck fifty.

One of those bricks weighs like a pound a piece.
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Thanks GreedAndVanity. Would it be OK to mix the coco coir with the amendments that I already have?
 
GreedAndVanity

GreedAndVanity

Well-Known Member
OF COURSE!

Lol, I would not suggest it otherwise.

When you look at your mix you are suggesting it looks to provide two things with out providing the third essential component of a soil or soiless mix. When mixing SOIL you want to provide nutrients, water retention, and aeration. With your mix you are providing plenty of material which would provide nutrients, as well as perlite to make your medium penetrable by water. You need something in order to hold onto the water which coco coir will provide better then just about anything else you can think of.

The way I would anticipate your current mix working is that you would water and the medium would transform into a healthy dark looking soil mix into a dark hard block that would not take on water without extreme coaxing.

When plant I want something that is light and airy yet holds water well and doesn't compact much if any over time. I personally prefer to add hydroponic nutrients rather then rely on the breakdown of naturally produced nutrients which I mixed in myself. The breakdown of nutrients is more variable then when something is mixed specifically for the purpose.

Then when you are done dump all of the left over soil after you pull the tap root into your local compost bin and let them benefit from your awesome soil mix!
 
dingbang

dingbang

Active Member
GreedAndVanity said:
OF COURSE!

Lol, I would not suggest it otherwise.

When you look at your mix you are suggesting it looks to provide two things with out providing the third essential component of a soil or soiless mix. When mixing SOIL you want to provide nutrients, water retention, and aeration. With your mix you are providing plenty of material which would provide nutrients, as well as perlite to make your medium penetrable by water. You need something in order to hold onto the water which coco coir will provide better then just about anything else you can think of.

The way I would anticipate your current mix working is that you would water and the medium would transform into a healthy dark looking soil mix into a dark hard block that would not take on water without extreme coaxing.

When plant I want something that is light and airy yet holds water well and doesn't compact much if any over time. I personally prefer to add hydroponic nutrients rather then rely on the breakdown of naturally produced nutrients which I mixed in myself. The breakdown of nutrients is more variable then when something is mixed specifically for the purpose.

Then when you are done dump all of the left over soil after you pull the tap root into your local compost bin and let them benefit from your awesome soil mix!
Click to expand...
Thanks G&V, after your suggestion I did a lot of reading on coco coir last night and it seems perfect and your right, my compost bin could benefit from some coco coir.:lol:
 
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