Getting back to growing

[Metatron]

I did some grows back in 2018 and because of life I've had to step away. Back then I mixed an amendment blend, mineral blend, and lime blend. I can't find anywhere in my notes on how much to add to a base soil mix, can anyone recommend anything?

This was based off Clackmas Coot's recommend mix back then and I've yet to find the original post in my bookmarks or search feature. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks

 

[flylowgethigh]

Ye old Bible: https://www.icmag.com/forum/marijuan...cling?t=241964

1/3 fluff, 1/3 drainage, 1/3 compost. Then add minerals and other goodness.

 

[St. Phatty]

Sounds complicated.

Do you have access to natural soil, like from a forest ?

 

[Fitzera]

This was originally posted by dank.frank I believe. I use it as a guide.

 

[TanzanianMagic]

This is an older article, however if anyone reads this and needs a fast supersoil recipe:

1. Base mix

Mix 1/3 each of perlite, worm castings and light mix.

Any cannabis brand is good enough - Plagron, Canna, Biobizz. The worm castings are expensive, however that's balanced out by the perlite and light mix, which are very cheap. Also, you can make your own worm castings if necessary.

Add 2 tablespoons of Maerl/magnesium lime per gallon to the base mix. This prevents a lot of pH, magnesium and calcium issues.

Before that:

Preparations

- Take the perlite, put it in a tub, fill with warm water and let it stand for at least 10 minutes. Then scoop up everything that floats and use that, give it a last rinse. The remaining water will have the consistency of wallpaper glue (if anyone remembers that). Obviously not something you want in your mix, because the fine perlite dust turns it into cement over time.

- Before or after mixing, put the mix into a tub with water, so it can hydrate over several days. Basically everything that is bagged and dry benefits from being put in water for a couple of days.

2. Supersoil

Take 2/3 of your base mix, and mix in the dried ingredients. You should be looking for the full range of nutrients. Many of these will have multiple nutrients, so it are fewer ingredients than first appears.

Nutrients required are: N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Si, Micronutrients.

N - high N bat guano, alfalfa meal/pellets, worm castings, blood meal, feather meal.
P - bone meal, high P bat guano
K - wood ash, vinasse, Lambs quarters
Ca - bone meal, Maerl (magnesium lime), gypsum
Mg - Maerl (magnesium lime), espom salt
S - epsom salt, garlic, gypsum
Si - seaweed, silica clay, sand, stinging nettles
Trace Elements - seaweed, lava meal, various rock dusts

Basically, if you have worm castings, bloodmeal, bonemeal, maerl, woodash, molasses, seaweed and gypsum, you have most of what you need. Seaweed and molasses (unsulphured) can be bought at the local supermarket. Worm castings can also be made into a worm tea.

Amount: mix 2 tablespoons per gallon of each and mix. Then add 20% perlite by volume. Otherwise, the mix becomes unpenetrable for roots.

3. Use

This mix is ready for use after about a month. One way to make sure it's ready is to use a cheap soil pH meter. If the pH is below 7, it is still processing the nutrients. Also, don't be confused by anyone using the groovy word 'cooking'. Other than room temperature, no external heating is required.

Also, watering with sprouted hempseeds fermented with sugar and water will speed up the process by adding sugars. It also does many other great things.

Using the same process, this year I'm trying out homemade seaweed (samphire) with molasses dissolved in warm water, for the flowering stage. Fermented for at least a week, however the longer the better.

4. Alternative

You can use or make your own compost. Plants already contain the nutrients needed to grow them. They need fermented sugars and/or time to be extracted. Nutrients and energy can be added to leaf compost by adding food scraps or the above amendments. And the nice thing about compost is that you can always compost in place. Just slightly cover new foodscraps with soil, and build soil while you're growing. Or grow a cover crop and work those into the compost before the next planting. And bury the remaining parts of the hemp plant that are left after harvesting or pruning.

An extensive book on composting:

"The Complete Compost Gardening Guide: Banner batches, grow heaps, comforter compost, and other amazing techniques for saving time and money, and ... most flavorful, nutritous vegetables ever.", by Barbara Pleasant.