Anyone have a good soil mix for fresh clones?

I was just thinking peat/aeration and castings... thoughts?

Try coco. You ll never go back to peat... justbstraight coco. Im sure your castings are fine, what i mean is i just use straight coco no perlite or vermiculite or anything like that.

I am a recent convert but im just loving the stuff...

Thai_Lights said:

I was just thinking peat/aeration and castings... thoughts?

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My second fave ^^. ~9 parts peat, 1 part castings (my VC is super dense), ~40% perlite and a bit of lime to match volume of peat.

My absolute fave is un-reamended used mix. I use this for fresh clones, cloning medium, starting seeds, for anything needing a very mild, but full of life, medium. I've yet to find anything that works as well.

Wetdog said:

My second fave ^^. ~9 parts peat, 1 part castings (my VC is super dense), ~40% perlite and a bit of lime to match volume of peat.

My absolute fave is un-reamended used mix. I use this for fresh clones, cloning medium, starting seeds, for anything needing a very mild, but full of life, medium. I've yet to find anything that works as well.

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Hey wet,
How much lime would you say? Also a side question would you feed casting/kelp/molasses teas right away after transplanting?

Or what if I used sunshine 4 with EwC would I still need to add lime?

I just use spent unamended soil for clones and seedlings. If you plan an using sunshine mix with worm castings you don't need to add lime but I would throw in some extra perlite. Always add granular mycorrhizae in the hole directly touching exposed roots when you transplant.

Would you say I would have faster growth using the ewc and sunshine 4 opposed to unamended soil?

Thai_Lights said:

Would you say I would have faster growth using the ewc and sunshine 4 opposed to unamended soil?

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In my experience, no. Spent unamended soil, for me, always does better than any freshly made stuff. I'm sure Richard Drysift would agree.

Spent unamended soil is not bereft of anything, it's just that the amounts are much smaller. The microherd is fully established throughout the mix and everything is readily available.

No experience with Sunshine#4, but with straight peat, I'll add a tsp-tbl of pulverized lime to each gallon of peat for seedling/fresh clone type mixes since only a couple - 3 gallons is made. Now, I make sure to set enough spent mix aside for spring seed planting and cloning. Usually, 3 - 5gal buckets to be on the safe side.

Wetdog said:

In my experience, no. Spent unamended soil, for me, always does better than any freshly made stuff. I'm sure Richard Drysift would agree.

Spent unamended soil is not bereft of anything, it's just that the amounts are much smaller. The microherd is fully established throughout the mix and everything is readily available.

No experience with Sunshine#4, but with straight peat, I'll add a tsp-tbl of pulverized lime to each gallon of peat for seedling/fresh clone type mixes since only a couple - 3 gallons is made. Now, I make sure to set enough spent mix aside for spring seed planting and cloning. Usually, 3 - 5gal buckets to be on the safe side.

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If I apply a tea to the clones when they first go into the 1gal wouldn't I be establishing a microherd? Would adding ewc work better then straight peat/aeration?

Thai_Lights said:

If I apply a tea to the clones when they first go into the 1gal wouldn't I be establishing a microherd? Would adding ewc work better then straight peat/aeration?

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Thought I answered the EWC thing in my first reply. 9 parts peat to 1 part EWC.

Use the tea to moisten the mix after making it. I wouldn't be putting anything on fresh clones other than just water. Once they are established they are better equiped to handle inputs.

I have a question for you guys, I was tired of using a shovel mix everything with, so I made a 55 gallon drum that will spin with a hand crank. My question is how many revolutions it would take to mix thoroughly, 20, 50, 100 what do you guys think?

Lol.... Just crank that bitch.

Thai_Lights said:

Would you say I would have faster growth using the ewc and sunshine 4 opposed to unamended soil?

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Compost will be fast, as well as the likely best for the most difficult seeds etc.. I also like to use pure soil, about 2 years old, amended but not for a long time, screened to be a bit finer. I also find that helps speed. But most important is probably high humidity in the very beginning.

Weedy willy said:

I have a question for you guys, I was tired of using a shovel mix everything with, so I made a 55 gallon drum that will spin with a hand crank. My question is how many revolutions it would take to mix thoroughly, 20, 50, 100 what do you guys think?

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probably a turn per gallon should do, but you can always check and go by look and feel, that'd be best I think

Thai_Lights said:

If I apply a tea to the clones when they first go into the 1gal wouldn't I be establishing a microherd? Would adding ewc work better then straight peat/aeration?

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I would sprinkle some ground fungal food on some old compost soil that was screened and once thats got a nice light living fungal mycelium network expanding, then I'd fold that in gently and repeat.. thats all the inoculating you need to do. I'd save teas for until you see new growth personally, I think Wet's right, even though clones are the age of the mother, they could use some establishing.. what I wouldn't be opposed to though Is a dunking station, I usually have one thats sterile, a light garlic/chili/frass/neem or pest fighting mix, then a dunk in clean water, then inolucalte in a healthy gentle active AACT, etc etc...

In short, a quarantine / foliar regime can supplement for a lack of root system uptake if outside pests or something worry were an issue.