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which soil is best for MJ?

aridbud

automeister
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Are you going to grow IN the earth, using containers??

Least expensive way....DIY

1:1:1:1:1

Equal amounts

1 bag manure
1 bag compost
1 bag vermiculite
1 bag sand
1 bag top soil
1/2 bag peat

Add blood/bone meal or you can spend more $$ buying micro organizims.

Did that for YEARS ....no problems!!


Others will chime in to add/delete certain ingredients.
 

stoned-trout

if it smells like fish
Veteran
depends on local soil, are you looking to amend soil or replace it in a hole...or containers..... I never bring in sand as it adds weight
 

dank.frank

ef.yu.se.ka.e.em
ICMag Donor
Veteran
So many factors to consider based on this question - one of the biggest ones being how dry / arid is your climate and what sort of water retention you need your medium to have. Are you going to be able to water easily or is this a more guerrilla grow situation??



dank.Frank
 
C

Cep

^^^ Like he said. Give us environmental details. Also, what do you hope to accomplish? If you're growing small plants most bagged soils like Black gold or fox farm brands will work. If you are planning for larger plants you will need to add dry amendments to a base mix.
 

aridbud

automeister
ICMag Donor
Veteran
..... I never bring in sand as it adds weight

Yeah, I live in a semi arid climate....sand helps, esp w/ clay or sandy loam soils....always worked for us.

Guess we need to know what type of climate & soil for the best possible answer. I just HATE paying for FF/HF if I can help it.
 

dank.frank

ef.yu.se.ka.e.em
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Well, if you are trying to grow smaller plants - I would put 10-12" plants outside around late June / early July...

I'd make sure to give them about 10 gallons of soil each. I'd dig holes 1' x 1' x 15" deep = that equals roughly 10 gallons.

I'd use about 30% native soil, 15% EWC, 30% peat moss and about 25% aeration material:


So for each hole / plant:

3 gallons native soil
1.5 gallons EWC
3 gallons peat moss
2.5 gallons aeration material (chunky perlite, permatil, small lava rock, etc)

To that I'd add:

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]1/2c alfalfa meal
1/2c dry molasses
1c kelp meal
1c blood meal
1c bone meal
1/2c seabird guano
2tbsp Sul-Po-Mg
1/2c azomite
1/3c dolomite
1/3c gypsum
2/3c oyster shell flour

1/4 tbsp BioVam
1/4 tbsp BioAg Vam


[/FONT] I'd also buy some soil moist crystals - and soak about 1/4 c of those directly in an EWC tea or something like Liquid Karma and allow them to fully expand / swell. I would then add them to the soil while wet - AFTER I had already mixed in all the dry amendments thoroughly, right before filling the hole.

I'd then cover the area around the plants with about an inch of loose hay as a mulch / cover...

Just a rough suggestion based on what you say you are hoping to achieve...and assuming this is a more guerrilla type grow, seeing as you haven't really provided us with enough information to give you the "best" information...



dank.Frank
 
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dank.frank

ef.yu.se.ka.e.em
ICMag Donor
Veteran
So what I am saying - if you want the "best" soil - you have to make your own...

And any time you use such a definite word as "best" you are going to get a million different opinions.

What I listed isn't essentially what I'd call "best" but are things that are relatively affordable and easy enough to come by locally and with a bit of online searching and ordering...



dank.Frank
 
Well, if you are trying to grow smaller plants - I would put 10-12" plants outside around late June / early July...

I'd make sure to give them about 10 gallons of soil each. I'd dig holes 1' x 1' x 15" deep = that equals roughly 10 gallons.

I'd use about 30% native soil, 15% EWC, 30% peat moss and about 25% aeration material:


So for each hole / plant:

3 gallons native soil
1.5 gallons EWC
3 gallons peat moss
2.5 gallons aeration material (chunky perlite, permatil, small lava rock, etc)

To that I'd add:

1/2c alfalfa meal
1c blood meal
1c bone meal
1/2c seabird guano
1c kelp meal
1/3c dolomite
1/3c gypsum
2/3c oyster shell flour
1/2c azomite
1/2c dry molasses

1/4 tbsp BioVam
1/4 tbsp BioAg Vam

I'd also buy some soil moist crystals - and soak about 1/4 c of those directly in an EWC tea or something like Liquid Karma and allow them to fully expand / swell. I would then add them to the soil while wet - AFTER I had already mixed in all the dry amendments thoroughly, right before filling the hole.

I'd then cover the area around the plants with about an inch of loose hay as a mulch / cover...

Just a rough suggestion based on what you say you are hoping to achieve...and assuming this is a more guerrilla type grow, seeing as you haven't really provided us with enough information to give you the "best" information...



dank.Frank

Nello Frank, the climate is a bit arid, bit not that much, forma plants Luke purple, cheese, is this setup good?

Sorry forma late answer
 
I'd like to get a good harvest, but the plants shouldn't ne more higher than 1.70m and how to let them be that high?

Then do you suggest making Holes or growing in pot ?

Think forma that year i'll buy a soil, but i just copied the Frank guide to my documents :)

Is better a light or all mix?
Which brand do you suggest? I'm in Italy, so one that i van buy here...

How much should the holes be large?

Which fertilizers brand do you suggest? I prefer organics than mineral :!

Thank you guys.
 

dank.frank

ef.yu.se.ka.e.em
ICMag Donor
Veteran
That entire post will work just fine for any of cannabis plants... but mostly given the size projections that you wanted. If you were growing bigger plants, then certainly things would change a bit...but given the goal you were after, then that would work perfectly.

The one thing you didn't really answer is if you are going to have access to water on a regular basis or if it was more of a guerrilla type grow. If you can water without concern, then I'd not worry about the soil moist crystals - but if you are unable to water them frequently, then those will be a must, especially in an arid climate...

Because the climate is arid, I'd suggest making holes - the ground will help keep the heat off the roots and slow down evaporation rates...as will adding that layer of hay as a mulch around the base of the plants...

In regards to height - putting them in holes will obviously give you a more room to grow the plants - but also putting them outside at the time frame and size I suggested (late June / early July at about 10-12" tall) will get them outdoors with minimal veg time but should get them out in time to stretch properly - which will allow you to achieve your yield goals - and unless you are growing pure sativas that have 3-4x stretch - you will have no problem keeping them under 4 ft.

The hole size was in the original post - but in case you missed it 1ft x 1ft and 15 inches deep. The slightly deeper hole will also help with water retention in the arid climate.

I'm not going to recommend a particular brand of fertilizers as I don't live there and have no clue what you have available to you - but between a local hydro store, hardware store, garden center, animal feed store or a farm supply - you should be able to find all those ingredients. The only thing I suggested that were particular brands were the mycorrhizae - and those you can google by name and order online. Everything I suggested is organic.

If you are going to change the media suggestion to something different - just remember that cannabis plants prefer a lighter soil with high porosity and air exchange for the roots...



dank.Frank
 
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One2Lurk

Member
I'm going to grow outdoor..
This is my first grow and i would like to know which soil is best.

Thanks
frank

I wanna grow a medium plant , atleast 100gr per plant.. what do you suggest?

Virtually anything you manage to "finish" will produce that easily outdoors. Tough to recommend much without a clue to your growing season avg temp, rainfall, lattitude etc.

Nello Frank, the climate is a bit arid, bit not that much, forma plants Luke purple, cheese, is this setup good?

Sorry forma late answer
This last post just makes me feel old. I have no clue what the hell you mean. Is English your native language? Is this the result of some translator, or do I need some prune juice and a dirt nap? So far it looks like your responders here have put more thought into your grow than you have.

Frank, I'm curious; is the "recipe" you listed a generic starting point, or a proven "solid" performer? I'm considering cooking up some "living soil" in the not so distant future. And I promise to read and research any links to such info.

With a Lil good info from the OP your looking at more like 400+grams
 

dank.frank

ef.yu.se.ka.e.em
ICMag Donor
Veteran
No, that amendment recipe will work fine for about every 1.5 cu ft of any peat based medium you use...it's not just a random suggestion.

I can certainly be viewed as a "starting" point - as there are many more things you can add to a medium to make it more biologically diverse - but that one, as I stated earlier is a cheap, efficient, fairly easy list of ingredients to track down - type of list...

You can get a better idea of what I mean by reading this post:

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=258168

And that will also answers some of the questions you asked in Marlo's WoW thread as well.

You could also just go to the organics forum and look at BurnOne's "Organic for Beginners" thread or you could follow the advice given in the ROLS threads...or any number of other threads. There is certainly more than one way to grow with organics...all of which can get you to the finish line with some degree of success...



dank.Frank
 

dank.frank

ef.yu.se.ka.e.em
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Look into a cement mixer - or compost tumbler.

The other more obvious answer is to rent a bobcat or a mini excavator.

Or get to work with a shovel and some tarps...what doesn't kill you makes you stronger! ;)



dank.Frank
 

MikeChapman22

New member
While you need to consider lots of factors in choosing the type of soil and preparing it, the first thing to keep in mind is which medium you are growing the plants in.

If you making holes for smaller plants in the ground, you should mix native soil, EWC, peat moss and aeration material. Decide the amount and concentration of each depending upon how many plants you have. But if you are using containers, mix equal amounts of compost, manure, vermiculite, sand, top soil and peat. For best results, consider adding bone meal or microorganisms!
 
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