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soil mix, please critique

G

Guest

-2 parts Miracle Gro "Organic Choice"
-1 parts Black Kow manure
-2 parts perlite
-1 part verm
-1/2 tbs blood meal per gal of soil
-1/2 tbs bone meal per gallon of soil
-garden lime
-maybe powdered seaweed (sushi wraps)

If the black kow is not available than the miracle grow will be 3 parts instead of 2


any suggestions?
 

sproutco

Active member
Veteran
I hope "garden lime" is dolomite lime. Why do you have to have nutrients in the soil to start off with. Going to leave you guessing what they are doing and when they are starting to run out. Better to just add dolomite lime and gyspum then add npk + micros in your fert water or tea. Directions for making a soilless mix are in my signature.
 

Suby

**AWD** Aficianado
Veteran
-skip the manure (black/white or otherwise :D)
-make sure it's dolomite lime
-skip the vermiculite, just use perlite 3 parts
-sushi wraps are almost better than nothing, just skip it and buy a bottle of liquid seaweed, it goes very and is good for wetting the mix
-compost your mix 2 weeks covered and in a dark place

S
 
G

Guest

See what fucked me up was the part about the supplements, the bone meal, blood meal, etc,etc.. I want to go organic, and thought I should nute the soil beforehand. The lime I got is epsoma "garden lime".

And I thought vermiculite was so you didn't have to water as often? And downsides to it?

Also, perlite is out of stock/out of season here now, so I cant find it.

AS for the seaweed I have a bottle of maxicrop powder already too.
 
O

OHenry

The simplest way to go organic is using ProMix HP soil and simply feed with Earth Juice Grow/Bloom. Much easier to flush in the end, better tasting buds, and simpler to control ;) Good luck. Oh
 
G

Guest

The miracle grow potting mix is already ph'd. It may break down later in the grow but it won't require the lime. It also is already ferted. I had to use it once in a pinch. Its not a bad mix it just the MJ uses all the ferts up really quick. You don't want the black kow in during budding. It is a little heavy on the N. If you can't find the promix, Scotts potting mix in the yellow bag just has a little phosphorus added and is also ph'd. Depending on where you get it there may be bark mixed in. A little sift through a screen will remove it. The Scott's mix will also become acidic after about 6-8 weeks growing in it. More than likely a loss of lime than the peat breaking down or both.
 
G

Guest

It's not regular miracle gro potting mix, it's "organic choice" all it has is a little nitrogen, no osmocote or anything. Not sure about the Ph though.


Fuck it, I gues I'll just use the miracle gro organic and perlite by themselves, and fert during watering using just fox farm grow big/beastie bloomz, and some molasses. Personally that sounds like straight up neglect to me, but I can't figure this shit out anymore due to a zillion different opinions on what to do and not do. Hope the plants grown like that will be at least worth smoking. And here I was all optimistic about some top grade shit, HA.
 
G

Guest

graythumb,

Yikes. Doesn't sound like you're having any fun at all. :joint:

FWIW, I've used the Miracle Grow Organic Choice before and didn't like the results at all. It needs tons of perlite added, went sour quickly and I had problems with salts building up.

There are ways around all of that (perlite, more lime and frequent leaching), but I think there are better soils available.

Good luck.
 
G

Guest

The soil is already bought, it's the only I could find with no added ferts in it. So I guess I'm just fucked then. I got about 1/4 bag of regular fox farm planting mix, I could mix that in, might help a little bit. And I could add some old fox farm soil that was used once before. Including the spent soil, the fox farm would probably would be like 1/6 of the total soil though (not includ. the perlite in that figure of course). Might do a little help if at all. No grow shops around, fox farm costs $45 a bag to get it shipped here. There is a grow shop 2 hours away, but they want $25 a bag, and then I gotta add gas mileage on top, I couldn't even afford $25 a bag of soil in the first place. I did it that once for a microgrow, with 70w. And it was the largest expense of that "grow".

This "hobby" is really stressful, I'll tell you that much.



Oh, and final verdict on the "organic choice", lime or no lime?

Hope this doesnt turn out like shit. Hopefully I can start a active compost pile even though it is already cold here, for free soil in a few months. And I could make a small worm bin in the basement. But I guess I'm just fucked for now. Better than mexi-brick though, hopefully anyway, fuckin miracle gro "organic choice". After I bought it someone said it was composted chicken shit and wood shavings, basically the floor litter from chicken coops. I was trying to quit smoking but I gotta go to the store to buy some cigarettes now, ha. I need em for this site. Not that y'all aren't a help, it's just this shit is hard as hell to me. Mainly cause I can't afford fancy shit like Fox Farm soil and the like and I'm not gonna do hydro, on personal principle.
 
G

Guest

Well I decided to save up some more money to drive to that shop and get a couple bags of fox farm, I could at least replace half of the MG "organic choice" soil. I just gotta put everything off for a few weeks, which sucks so greatly, but I don't want bullshit plants to smoke
 
G

Guest

I bet you could use the MG to cut the FFOF, to save a few bucks. You might want to sift it first, through a screen to pull out all the big chunks of wood.

Good luck. Try to have fun!

.c.
 

sproutco

Active member
Veteran
graythumb said:
Also, perlite is out of stock/out of season here now, so I cant find it.
Have a garden center order you some. It may take several weeks. They just add it on to there regular shipment of supplies. Who knows. Tell them to order two so another grower gets a big bag. Perlite does not go out of season.
 
G

Guest

Uhhh, yeah it really does man. When it gets to freezing temps (winter) a lot of the plant places and nurseries here actually just close down for the whole season. Perlite is NOT available here right now. Trust me, I've tried to find some.
 

sproutco

Active member
Veteran
You need to find a better garden center. Plants are sold year round. So is perlite because its desirable for houseplants that are popular to enjoy in cool weather when everything is brown and dull outside. I have driven one way 70 miles to get supplies. Sometimes plant growing requires extra effort.
 
G

Guest

pertilite is also a building material and is much cheaper as such I purchased 2 cubic yards for 11$ on sale from 21$ you will need to wash it and sort it a little . I screen it with net bags to remove the dust. It is the same pertilite called pearlite.cheaper cheaper.....
 
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