Diesels Down & Dirty Soil Adventure

Diesel840

Diesel840

2025 Circle of Excellence
Has anyone else seen how outrageous the prices of bagged soil have become and how quickly that they inflated! 😱😱. Even local soil mixes are going up, let alone my precious Ocean Forest and Happy Frog. Inspired by the indominable @Mr. Brown I have decided to cook my own soil :). I have been wanting to make my own soil for a very long time and am so excited to be cooking up my first batches :love:! I'm aiming for a living super soil, something very rich with everything a resonated powerfully pungent flower might desire. I'll be cooking it inside a 27 gal tote. The base is a bag of Ocean Forest making up 45% of the mix with 7.5 gallons of castings, 3.75 gallons perlite, 2.5 gallons inoculated biochar, 1 2/3 cup insect frass, 3 1/3 fish bone meal, 3 1/3 cups kelp meal, 1 2/3 cups langbeinite, 1 2/3 cups oyster shell flour, 3/4 cup Azomite. I am going to sprout a few 1010 trays of microgreens and rip those up and add to it for the cook. I will brew a 24-hour aerated tea when ready to mix then let it cook for a month or two. I need to pick up some more castings and get some new air stones for the tea. The plan is to use this soil for the SSHf2HZAC testers. A super soil for Super Silver Haze, I can't wait!
 
I made used "Super soil" 10 0r so years ago, found it a very easy way to grow.
The reusing of said soil became a problem without proper testing, so i switched back because at the time it would of been cheaper to use bag & bottle apposed regular soil testing... Might be different now..

Good luck Diesel.
 
Yep, I used to pay $13 for Happy Frog (2CF) and $15 for Ocean (1.5CF), now they are both $30/bag! Though, a store here had the Ocean on sale for $15/bag 2 months ago- I grabbed 10 bags. How do they regularly sell it for $30/bag now but then are able to put it on sale for $15? The price of diesel? A fkn rip. At the new inflated prices for FF products, I recently switched to Pro-Mix HP. I picked up 3 bags (3.8CF) at my local Ace Hardware store for $55 each. Compressed medium, I have yet to see once broken up, how many pots will be filled. And, as living soil, it's the kind of soil that will easily be reusable.

mu
 
musashi said:
Yep, I used to pay $13 for Happy Frog (2CF) and $15 for Ocean (1.5CF), now they are both $30/bag! Though, a store here had the Ocean on sale for $15/bag 2 months ago- I grabbed 10 bags. How do they regularly sell it for $30/bag now but then are able to put it on sale for $15? The price of diesel? A fkn rip. At the new inflated prices for FF products, I recently switched to Pro-Mix HP. I picked up 3 bags (3.8CF) at my local Ace Hardware store for $55 each. Compressed medium, I have yet to see once broken up, how many pots will be filled. And, as living soil, it's the kind of soil that will easily be reusable.

mu
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Years ago we raised 1000's of potted perennial flowering plants annually.We used Pro Mix exclusively.Nothing else compares.All of Pro Mix's competitors suck.$55 bucks a bag is a good price.I've seen it going for $90.I use 2/3 Pro Mix and 1/3 rabbit manure for my ganja plants.Pot 'em up and stand back and watch 'em grow. You can't beat Promix.You get about 150 U.S. quarts per bale once fluffed up.Takes water readily and even if left to dry too much never hardens where it won't take water.
.
 
The last 10 years things have become super expensive. I only ever paid £10 for dirt per sack 40-50litres. At times you be oils get bit cheaper. I used to nip to the grow shop 2-3 times a week and get a few bags and I stored them up in the grow gaff. I have some pro plus coir and all mix from
before 2018 back in the uk.

Last 10 years I’ve been working to move away from dependence on the grow shop. I promise you won’t look back Diesel.

I like the idea of Low till not No till.

It helps to have a lot more than you need just in bloom. So if you need 60-70 litres of dirt per light per run you really need probably 200 as you will have to have some cooking while some is blooming and some is vegging. Bonemeal and other slow release things gypsum and other things a while to become active.

I use pots bigger than you need media volume to be able to do some serous top dressing incase you have any issues in a long grow.

Your mix sounds great. I personally would cut the perlite out and have Peat or more biochar at different sizes or pine bark. Perlite is a bulk additive.
 
Ray said:
I made used "Super soil" 10 0r so years ago, found it a very easy way to grow.
The reusing of said soil became a problem without proper testing, so i switched back because at the time it would of been cheaper to use bag & bottle apposed regular soil testing... Might be different now..

Good luck Diesel
Click to expand...
Thanks Ray. I think I'll love the results, once I get dialed in. I plan on changin the recipy for subsequent rins with the same soil, make aure I don't over do some with them building up, over time. Thanks for the heads up and kind words.
musashi said:
How do they regularly sell it for $30/bag now but then are able to put it on sale for $15? The price of diesel? A fkn rip. At the new inflated prices for FF products, I recently switched to Pro-Mix HP. I picked up 3 bags (3.8CF) at my local Ace Hardware store for $55 each. Compressed medium, I have yet to see once broken up, how many pots will be filled. And, as living soil, it's the kind of soil that will easily be reusable.
Click to expand...
I wonder the same thing myself, Mu. Soil, fuel, food, food, electricity it's crazy. Makes me wish even more, that I had some land. I hope the new soil alternative works out well. Let us know!

Coney said:
B.T.W.--- Rabbit manure is THE most prized garden fertilizer.It's available on E- Bay.I raise rabbits so I have an inexhaustable supply
Click to expand...
Must be pellets, everywhere! Lol


Mate Dave said:
Your mix sounds great. I personally would cut the perlite out and have Peat or more biochar at different sizes or pine bark. Perlite is a bulk additive.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip. I'll look into those for subsequent runs. Hopefully I didn't overload it. 😅
 
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