Discussion: Making the best soil for Marijuana at home!

[Vanamill]

Hi guys, it's getting to the stage where I have to start getting some fertalizer ready for my Medicine Men and SSH's. I really want to make some top quality soil myself, specifically for Marijuana. Although I'm sure 90% applies to all plants.

I'm no expert, but if you guys could cover the most essential nutrients for Cannabis and easy, quick and efficient sources of them, we can formulate something. I'm currently using Dynamic Lifter and some regular Potting Soil, but I don't really know much about it. I'd rather start from scratch and have a nicely formulated mix that wont have too much Nitrogen, and not enough Potassium etc.

So to start it off, what are some good sources of the following in the average home or shop:

Nitrogen: Manure of some sort?
Potassium:
Phosphorous:
Magnesium:

 

[gertbfrow]

I'm a big fan of soil so I'll let you in on what I use.

First of all you want a substrate thats high in nitrogen and low in potassium, that will give you better chances at females. You will end up transplanting anyways so save the high potassium mix for when your going to bloom! Seedlings and small and all vegging plants need nitrogen and lots of it.

After using many homemade mixes for many years I've come to dread mixing all of it together, its messy and nasty. I used to use all the organic adamnents but have found that fox farm ocean floor soil really does have almost everthing you need in it. I said almost but its so much nicer adding one or two things, or in my case just top dressing than mixing 5-10 different ingredients, just to end up with something that at best is as good as ocean floor. It also smells wonderful.

I use perlite for the bottom 1/4, then ocean floor for the middle 1/2 and then I top off with earthworm castings for the top 1/4 layer. I just pour until it fills, I dont pat down because i want it as airy as it can be.

You can make awesome soil yourself but its really a pain and a bitch and you can go through all the trouble just to find out that you didnt mix your soil enough and that its not homogeneous. Or ph issues.

The above referance is what I use now and it works like a charm. I'm using this just for starting seeds and seedling growth, for blooming I would transplant with the same mix but line the root hole with high potassium guano.

Beneficial bacteria is awesome to use on soil. I'm currently using hygrozyme and it works really well I found this out when pulling an unwanted seedling and finding the roots were coated with beneficial bacteria!

Also make sure you dont skimp on nutrients and additives, they can make a huge impact. I use alot of stuff. For seedlings I use hygrozyme, rootroids, superthrive, and age old kelp. For small to medium veg plants i use all of those plus age old grow fert and bio cozyme.

For blooming i use hygrozyme, a 0-50-10 chemical fertilizer, age old bloom, humboldt nutrient's honey es, humboldt county nutrients purple snow maxx, and superthrive.

When I flush with plain water i still ad hygrozyme, it eats up all the built up salts and it does make the plants grow faster, no lie.

So just make sure to start super light on the fert's and the additives and slowly ratchet the doses up, because you dont want to give full blast of anything to seedlings or young plants. They respond better when you slowly build up levels.

I also just make tiny holes in the containers and fill them with the seeds. I never use paper towels or anything, just straight into the soil (or cube) and kept moist until they grow out and I have 98% germ rates everytime. I think that ppl mess plants up by transplanting such young seedings. Some ppl fudge it up.

If thats any help, it works great for me.

 

[BotanicalBill]

I pesonally use a peat-based base (Pro-Mix HP to be specific), then add in a cup or so of lime per bale (compressed 3.4ish CF blocks), a couple cups of kelp meal and maybe a half cup of epsom salts, and if I have it handy as much worm castings as I have handy (anywhere up to a 20 lb bag, you can't really overdo that stuff) but the castings don't seem to be a necessity. I then make guano teas using differing ratios of High P bat guano, and peruvian seabird guano. it's a litle more work to make a batch of tea once a week or so but the results I've seen since going with this method have been outstanding. If you're trying to do a more complete soil mix that requires mainly just watering most of the way through the grow I'd suggest doing a google search for "Vic's Super Soil" and see if that suits your sneeds.... I used to use that with much success for quite a few years...

To be more specific to your question..
easily found sources of potassium are bone meal.. blood meal for nitrogen.. epsom salts for Mg.. i'm not sure what people use for Potassium.. Oddly I've never had to think of it, I guess it's in everything else that I was already using throughout the years..Kelp meal is great for micronutrients..

peace
BB

 

[Joe King Park]

Uk Blend - Canadian Blend

Depending On Geographical Area
Canada ; Sunshine Mix #4 ( It Has More Perlite Than #3), One Bale
Add 1/3 Perlite To Bulk Up Mix And Improve Drainage
10% Worm Castings
Blood And Bonemeal ( 2 Mugs Of Each )
One Mug Of Hydrated Lime

Mix Well On Tarp And Bucket Up

U.K ;
Since The Price Of " Designer Soils " Has Skyrocketed , Including A £15.95 (per bag) Delivery Fee , I Now Source My Soil Locally And Mix It To The Same Ratios As Bio Bizz Allmix ; Who Happily Reveal Their Formula http://www.biobizz.nl

Wormcastings Are The Only Product I Need To Order From Afar ( Across The Border )
JKP

P.S ; Rarely , But Becoming More Common Are The Mess Ups By A Certain Hydro Supply Company ( I Only Ordered And Paid For One Bag For My June Planting Of MNS Early Haze )

 

[Vanamill]

I pesonally use a peat-based base (Pro-Mix HP to be specific), then add in a cup or so of lime per bale (compressed 3.4ish CF blocks), a couple cups of kelp meal and maybe a half cup of epsom salts, and if I have it handy as much worm castings as I have handy (anywhere up to a 20 lb bag, you can't really overdo that stuff) but the castings don't seem to be a necessity. I then make guano teas using differing ratios of High P bat guano, and peruvian seabird guano. it's a litle more work to make a batch of tea once a week or so but the results I've seen since going with this method have been outstanding. If you're trying to do a more complete soil mix that requires mainly just watering most of the way through the grow I'd suggest doing a google search for "Vic's Super Soil" and see if that suits your sneeds.... I used to use that with much success for quite a few years...

To be more specific to your question..
easily found sources of potassium are bone meal.. blood meal for nitrogen.. epsom salts for Mg.. i'm not sure what people use for Potassium.. Oddly I've never had to think of it, I guess it's in everything else that I was already using throughout the years..Kelp meal is great for micronutrients..

peace
BB

Thanks for your input! I'm basically looking for a quick and easy method to "make" some really efficient Cannabis fertalizer. Only putting in what I need and making sure I have a good balance (or at least know exactly how to control it) of the necessary nutrients.

Here's what I have come up with. Ideally, if this is viable, I plan to stick it all in a big container of some sort, hopefully get worms going in it (to add vitamins) and then use it to either heavily fertilize my plants (if they can handle it) or even use it to add to already balanced fertalizers to boost them up as much as I can (without locking the plants).

Blood Meal - Pure dried blood, VERY high in Nitrogen (APPROX 35% of Fertilizer)

Bone Meal - VERY high in Phosphorus, little bit of Nitrogen (APPROX 40% of Fertilizer)

Wood Ashes - VERY high in Potassium, has a lot of Calcium (need during Flowering), apparently LOWERS ACID/INCREASES PH of the soil (APPROX 25% of Fertilizer)

 

[gertbfrow]

Wood Ashes[/B] - VERY high in Potassium, has a lot of Calcium (need during Flowering), apparently LOWERS ACID/INCREASES PH of the soil (APPROX 25% of Fertilizer)

I would try something else as if your just using plain ole' wood ash you could risk ph problems. Plenty of organic substutes, seabird guano, bat gauno....

Just remember to keep your seedling mix high in nitrogen and low on phosphorus

 

[Vanamill]

I would try something else as if your just using plain ole' wood ash you could risk ph problems. Plenty of organic substutes, seabird guano, bat gauno....

Just remember to keep your seedling mix high in nitrogen and low on phosphorus

Oh right, so I should look for some "guano"? Does it have much else but Potassium? I could tweak this mix for each different stage of the plant, so for example; less phosphorus when they are seeding, more Phospherus and Potassium when they are flowering etc.

Otherwise is there anything beneficial I could add to the soil which would in general help neutralize the PH a bit. Like, Lime gets the Acidity up, so Toothpaste would drop it - but obviously I wouldn't use toothpaste.

 

[BudBo]

I got a ? for all you more experienced soil makers

last year was my 1st grow n i made my own simple mix of Peat perlite and castings wit added bone n blood meal n dolomite lime

it seemed like once i started feedin the plants on the surface wit the bone n blood meal they started gettin attacked by flies rats n my boys dog

they seemd to b attracted to the blood n bone n was smelling n diggin in the soil since we grow outdoors we can't really stop rats from coming from dif houses

Has anyone had any animal n bug problems using bone n blood meal?

 

[BotanicalBill]

I have heard that blood meal attracts various critters. When I used the vic's super soil for years I never had an issue with my pets(dogs or cats) or rats but I did always seem to have fungus gnats in those days.. They were annoying more than anything I never attributed it to ingredients in the soil at the time but perhaps it was.... Have you walked into your room before and seen rats hanging out eating your soil? That would freak my shit out.

 

[BudBo]

My main problem was rats n flies but the dog did fuk up my blue cheese by diggin alil hole in its pot....

since i grow out doors i've never seen the rats jus chillin ther but i here them in the bushes n i've seen them running away once i've scared them i'm kinda worried bcus i'm goin to b takin my 1st clones next season haven't really seen anything bout rootin clones outside but it mite b my only way to do it

 

[BillyBueno]

I agree with being careful with using hard wood ash it can bring PH up to around 10 if your not careful.
I've used many differnt soilless mixes and have found that this mix works great for "me".
2 Parts peat
2 parts coco
1 part perlite
1 part worm castings. you'll need to figure out about 1 cup of lime per c.u. ft of soilless mix. Happy soilless recipe experimenting to ya!

 

[gertbfrow]

Oh right, so I should look for some "guano"? Does it have much else but Potassium? I could tweak this mix for each different stage of the plant, so for example; less phosphorus when they are seeding, more Phospherus and Potassium when they are flowering etc.

Otherwise is there anything beneficial I could add to the soil which would in general help neutralize the PH a bit.

Oh yeah they make tons of differant gauno's, the differance in location of the gauno determines the NPK ratio. Take for example Sunnyleave's Peruvian Seabird Guano that has 9-9-2, while Sunnyleave's Indonesian Bat Guano has a NPK of 0-13-0 (good for blooming). Just make sure to use the right amount its hard to over do organic fertilizers.

Personally I'm a life long fan of the k.i.s.s. method, once you get a few grows under your belt you'll realize that its just cheaper and easier in the long run to use tried and tested methods of success. I reccomend jorge cervante's grow bible it contains a wealth of soil info and everything else you could know.

 

[BotanicalBill]

I've always been convinced that you can do a whole run with just using peruvian seabird guano and bypass the bats. The peruvian when I'd use it on tomato and basil plants just by itself always made for very happy plants. I've always meant to just try some peruvian, kelp, and some epsom and see if there's any difference vs. a mixture..
For what its worth what I do now tea-wise is
Per 5 gallon bucket of water
Veg
1/2 cup peruvian seabird
1/4 cup high P bat
a handful of worm castings
pour in some KelPak
add a pinch of epsom

For flower I just reversed the high P bat (using 1/2 cup) and peruvian seabird (1/4)
I threw in a tablespoon of molasses every now and then in flowering too, just to see if
it did anything good or bad.
Bubbled it with an airstone for at least 24 hours, stirred it up and applied at full strength
the first application, then i'd refill the bucket with plain water and let that mix with whatever happened to be laying around the bottom of the bucket from the first application, then use that diluated version a couple days later, then do that one more time with an even more diluted version.. By then most of the guano and such was out of the bottom of the bucket and I'd start over.. so I was going back to a full strength dose about once a week.

I'm doing that same formula again on a new run with 12 or so different strains (Flo, SDxNL, NHS, CMass, SSH, LUI, LUIxF13, F13, Alpha Diesel, Purple Rhino, BCGA Orange CrushxWhite Rhino), and every single one of them looks kick ass.

I didn't use any other additives, boosters, etc.. It was the first time I'd used teas exclusively and my Early Haze test thread shows the results of them..

Good luck!

 

[stanky bud]

is there a soil mixture you can use that you don't need to use additional fertilizer through the grow process? Just one mix and nothing else.

 

[Grover Sativa]

Just buy pro mix from biobizz. it is better than any fert you will make. they are professional and make marijuana fert for a living. you don't!

It comes in pellet form. Just mix it with your soil.

As for soil - again, just buy light or all mix from biobizz (or fox farms or whoever...) professional soil is better than your home mix. guaranteed. it costs me 10GBP for 50 litres and you can grow a lot of dope in 50 litres of soil...
I used to mix my own but it IS a pain in the arse and ends up costing almost as much. You KNOW it won't be as good AND your missus will be screwing when she sees you've filled the bathtub with mud, again....

Don't fuck around or be a skin flint. Buy the professional stuff and move on. Quick easy done. Spend your time with your plants, not mixing mud.

Whatever soil you use you will help it out with enzymes (i use bio heaven, which promotes natural growth of enzymes but others just add enzymes ready produced....) and molasses during flushing helps the organics recover from the flushing process for the next use (you do re-use your soil, right? - just remove old roots, add pro mix ferts and bump up to original volume with new soil. Water well and leave for as week...)

Harpin proteins will massively help your soil organics, too (as well as promoting all manner of positive biological reactions in your plants...) I use HALO as a foliar feed (spray on the underside of the leaves, too - this is where respiration occurs. Foliar feeding will promote MASSIVE boosts in vitality but watch for bud rot towards the end of the flowering cycle...)

 

[Grover Sativa]

JKP - hire a van, drive to a civilised country and buy a shed load of decently priced all/light mix.

Take it back to Wild Wales and sell it to the growers there for a small profit. The money you'll save on cement mixers and tarpaulin alone will be worth it - and you get to visit a decent country, too.

(Actually, I love Wales and think it to be the second prettiest country in Europe, behind Cyprus and I have a love for Snowdonia that is special. I have been going back since earliest childhood. Picked a shit load of don mushrooms in the valleys, too. hehe.

All of that shouldn't stop me teasing you, though, Sheep-o!!! )

Honestly, I hope you are well. Take care, Dude.


GS

 

[stanky bud]

Could I use something like Fox Farm Ocean Forest through the whole grow process without having to add extra stuff except maybe some perlite or lime?? Fox Farm also sells this stuff called Happy Frog Soil Conditioner. I wonder if i can just use this and some perlite or vermicilite.

 

[sativalvr]

I use fox Farm, both Happy Frog and Ocean Forest, I mix some extra perlite, vercumilite & peat. I buy a small bag of both perlite and vercumilite, and a 4 qt bag of peat, mix the Happy Frog and Ocean Forest with this and store it in sealed 5 gl buckets until needed. I do not use lime or other amendments except for nutes during the grow.

I use to mix all my own soils and such when I was growing outdoors and my early indoor grows, however, I find it cheaper and more cost efficient to just buy a good soil and add a little here and there to make a little better to my liking.

 

[stanky bud]

I use fox Farm, both Happy Frog and Ocean Forest, I mix some extra perlite, vercumilite & peat. I buy a small bag of both perlite and vercumilite, and a 4 qt bag of peat, mix the Happy Frog and Ocean Forest with this and store it in sealed 5 gl buckets until needed. I do not use lime or other amendments except for nutes during the grow.

I use to mix all my own soils and such when I was growing outdoors and my early indoor grows, however, I find it cheaper and more cost efficient to just buy a good soil and add a little here and there to make a little better to my liking.

what kind of nutes do you use during the grow process?? I'm looking for a mix that I dont need to add any nutes through the grow process except maybe a little bloom fert or somthing. My last grow I just used some Miracle grow organic with some perlite and worm castings, but this wasn't good enough.

 

[PatrickStar]

http://mrnice.nl/forum/showthread.php?t=38

Here are some tried and true recipes for getting started in organic growing. These are just a starting point that have proven to be successful for myself and many others. Pick one of the first two soiless mix recipes for your grow medium. Then, choose a nute recipe that will work best for what you have available.

Enjoy...

Here are two very good organic soiless mixes...

LC’s Soiless Mix #1:
5 parts Canadian Spaghnam Peat or Coir or Pro-Moss
3 parts perlite
2 parts wormcastings or mushroom compost or home made compost
Powdered dolomite lime @ 2 tablespoons per gallon or 1 cup per cubic foot of the soiless mix.
...Check the link in my sig line below for cheap earthworm castings. Free shipping in the USA. (Except Alaska and Hawaii)

Or, if you use Pro Mix or Sunshine Mix...
LC's Soiless Mix #2:
6 parts Pro Mix BX or HP / Sunshine Mix (any flavor from #1 up)
2 parts perlite
2 parts earthworm castings
Powdered dolomite lime @ 2 tablespoons per gallon or 1 cup per cubic foot of the soiless mix.
If you use a 3 qt. saucepan as “parts” in the amounts given above, it equals about 1 cu. ft. of soiless mix and you can just dump in a cup of powdered dolomite lime.

Now for the plants organic food source

RECIPE #1
If you want to use organic nutes like blood, bone and kelp...
Dry Ferts:
1 tablespoon blood meal per gallon or 1/2 cup per cubic foot of soil mix
2 tablespoons bone meal per gallon or 1 cup per cubic foot of soil mix
1-tablespoon kelp meal per gallon or 1/2 cup per cubic foot of soil mix or Maxicrop 1-0-4 powdered kelp extract as directed
1 tablespoon per gallon or 1/2 cup per cubic foot of Jersey Greensand to supplement the K (potasium) in the Kelp Meal and seaweed extract.
Mix all the dry ferts into the soiless mix well and wet it, but don't soak it with Liquid Karma and water @ 1 tbs./gal. Stir and mix it a few times a week for a week or two so the bacteria can get oxygen and break down the bone meal and make it available. And don't let the mix dry out, keep it moist and add water as needed. It'll also have time to get the humic acids in the Liquid Karma going and the dolomite lime will be better able to adjust the pH of a peat based mixture too.


RECIPE #2
If you want to use guano in your soil mix...
Bongaloids guano mix
1/3C hi N guano per gallon
1/2C hi Phos guano per gallon
1TBS Jersey greensand per gallon
1TBS Kelp meal per gallon


RECIPE #3 (My favorite)
If you want to use guano tea and kelp...

Guano Tea and Kelp:

Seedlings less than 1 month old nute tea mix-
5 tbs. Black Strap Molasses
1-cup earthworm castings/5 gallons of water every 3rd watering

Veg mix-
1/3 cup Peruvian Seabird Guano (PSG)
1/3 cup High N Bat Guano (Mexican)
1/3 cup Earth Worm Castings (EWC)
5 tsp. Maxicrop 1-0-4 powdered kelp extract
5 tbs. Liquid Karma
5 tbs. Black Strap Molasses
@ 1-cup mix/5 gallons of water every 3rd watering.

Flowering nute tea mix:
2/3 cup Peruvian Seabird Guano
2/3 cup Earth Worm Castings
2/3 cup High P Guano (Indonesian or Jamaican)
5 tbs. Maxicrop 1-0-4 powdered kelp extract
5 tbs. Black Strap Molasses
@ 2 cups/5 gallons of water EVERY watering.
You can use queen size knee high nylon stockings for tea bags. 3 pair for a dollar at the dollar store. Tell 'em you use them for paint strainers. Put the recommended tea in the stocking, tie a loop knot in it and hang it in your tea bucket. The tea should look like a mud puddle. Agitate the bag in the water vigorously. An aquarium pump and air stone will dissolve oxygen into the solution and keep the good bacteria (microherd) alive and thriving. Let it bubble a day or two before you use it. If you find you are making too much tea and having to throw it out, use 2 1/2 gallons of water and cut the nute amount by half.


RECIPE #4
Three Little Birds Method
40 gallons used soil
4 cups alfalfa meal
4 cups bone meal
4 cups kelp meal
4 cups powdered dolomite lime
30 pound bag of earthworm castings . . .
That’s the basic recipe . . .
However we also like to use
4 cups of Greensand
4 cups of Rock Phosphate
4 cups of diatomaceous earth


RECIPE #5
Fish and Seaweed

For veg growth…
1 capful 5-1-1 Fish Emulsion
1 capful 0-0-1 Maxicrop liquid
1 gallon H2O

For flowering…
1 tbs. Neptune’s Harvest 2-3-1 Fish/Seaweed
1 gallon H2O


RECIPE #6
And finally Pure Blend Pro...
Pure Blend Pro veg formula for hydro/soil and Pure Blend Pro flower formula for Soil. Simply use as directed on the label. It's a stand-alone fertilizer. That means, everything you need is already in there so don't let the guy at the hydro store try to sell you something more.


And now for some more good tips...

Organic pH issues

I hear a lot of people asking or talking about the pH of their organic soil mix or organic nute solution and how they might correct or adjust it. pH in organics is not an issue like it is in synthetic growing.
The best place to settle the pH issues in organics is within the grow medium. A medium rich in humates (humus) is the place to start. Humates work to "buffer" the pH of organic mediums and the nutes you pour (or mix) into it.
Humates come from compost, worm castings and bottled humus. If you use a peat based medum, use dolomite lime to raise the pH of the acidic peat. Dolomite should be used in any soil or soiless medium to provide magnesium and calcium. But since we are talking about pH here, I'll mention dolomite lime's pH correction benefits.
A medium of coir has a pH near neutral (or 7.0). But humates are still neded to allow uptake of organic nutrients that are outside a near neutral pH range.
With an active medium rich in humates you can pour in nutes like Pure Blend Pro, Earth Juice and guano teas with pH anywhere from 4 to 9 without worry. The humus will allow the nutes to be taken up through the roots, even at such an extreme pH reading.
So throw those pH meters away folks and enjoy the ease and safety of organic gardening.

Chlorine tap water

Just a word of caution for you organic heads out there...
If you are tapped onto a municipal water supply that uses chlorine to kill bacteria in the water, it'll do the same thing to the bacteria (microherd) in your organic food source.
Always bubble your municipal water in an open container (5 gallon bucket) for 24 hours before adding ANYTHING organic to it.

Flushing

There is absolutely no reason to "flush" organic nute solutions from your soil mix. Meals like kelp, bone and blood along with worm castings and dolomite can't be flushed from your soil mix anyway. If you use guano and seaweed, try using plain water or worm casting tea for your last watering or two so the plant can use up what's left in the soil. But drowning your soil with water isn't necessary.

Burn1

Recipes #1 and #2 are 'just add water'.