Amendments? Any great soil suggestions? (experienced gardeners only please)

I'm always afraid of erring on the side of soil thats too hot when i'm mixing this with that. I'm about to buy some foxfarm ocean forrest... i'm thinking about cutting it by 20% with generic. any thoughts or experience with this soil? any tips on how to make a healthy awesome soil? is there a technique for portions of n-p-k and how much you'll want of each? I guess i'd like a soil that feeds throughout the whole grow... that doesn't burn my 1 month olds in the beginning. this is the general vibe of what i'm thinking. thanks

ffof base
perlite
peat moss
blood/bone meal
bat gauno
worm castings
kelp

you really should check out the organics section, its heaven there

I use FFOF and can personally vouch that it DOES NOT burn your seedlings or clones....the FFOF will last you one month before any feeding is needed... from there you can add compost/worm castings for veg and any fertilizer high in P combined with molasses for flower...all will time-release And are relatively hands free...however to amend your soil you need about 2 weeks before planting bc stuff like bone/blood meal or manure need time to decompose...I use only compost, grass clippings, and lime once a year to amend my raised beds then use worm castings, chicken manure, and bat guano during the season to help them along...my raised beds are full of worms and beautiful loamy soil

thank you both very much. i was hoping i could amend the soil for a three month feed. but i'll have to adjust after a month which is fine.

what about "organic garden compost manure" which is 1 - 1 - 1 mixed with bone meal, perlite,...the usual. at what point in your mixing could you over do it; is this a very proportions-sensitive type thing as far as n - p - k goes?

I need proportions to make 20 cuft... could you oblige?

PS... last post in regards to timewasmoney1

What other local soil do you have available to you? Do you have Epsoma available? Once you answer those I may be able to give you some proportions provided you can source the ingredients. keepm green dirrtyd

If you can get it...Check this out..Less expensice than F.F. F.F. is a good product, but you pay a premium for their name.

http://www.ebstone.org/13_planting_bale.php

yeah i can get espoma... budget is crucial...need to keep it low. if i can avoid ffof i'd prefer it... by mixing my own concoction. horse manure is available. your thoughts on "vital earth" soil?

no places that sell that awesome soil round here.... but thanks for the link

Dont go organic if budget is tight. Or full blown organic

you can go ffof and worm castings. Then fish oil once a week while watering. Nutrients id say get an organic line and stay away from inirganic

(i dont believe in inorganic crap)

What inside vital earth and where are you growing your backyard or what? You may beable to mix vital earth and epsoma and come up with something good.GL

I don't really do the organic thing, but why don't you try some actual time released nutes. I've used $8 osmoscote from walmart and also used fox farm American pride (currently) and they produce excellent results.

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While I've yet to plant and this being my first outdoor grow, I thought I would share what my plan is:

Base
8 42.5L bags of Miracle Grow organic crap (I had to cheap out somewhere...) For 8 holes. I will use this soil as my base. Distributed evenly in the base soil I'll add:

- 15lbs of worm castings (I think I need more. Opinions please?)
- 1 bag of Espoma blood meal, large bag (For Phosphate[P])
- 3 bags of manure/hummus for Nitrogen[N] and Potassium[K] (I forget exact size, somewhere around 25 or 30L)
- Perlite (I don't know how much I will use exactly, I bought a large bag and am just gonna eye it out)
- Mycorrhizae powder (Following directions on bottle)
- 1lb of Azomite
- 1 1lb Coco couir brick ( I don't think this is really going to do anything, it might be too small a ratio)


Top Layer

- 8 bags of Fox Farm Ocean Forest
- Perlite (As needed)
- 1lb of Azomite
- Mycorrhizae powder (Following directions on bottle).
- 1 lb Coco couir brick

The plan is to just let the Ffof do it's job for the first month or so. Not adding anything except maybe super thrive when I transplant them. In that time, my base layer will have had enough time to break down all nutrients into the soil. The roots will then grow into the base soil which is primed and ready to go.

can i use garden compost manure 1 - 1- 1 for a base or something of that nature. ...anyone?

agreed.... sorry so late on the response... couldn't find your reply. def organic. looking for a cheaper base material. could espoma "garden mix" make a base.

espoma garden mix
perlite
worm castings
cowmanure compost
peat
dolomite
blood/bone meal
garden tone
bat guano .5 - 13 - .2

-then, feed every three weeks with "organic neptunes harvest" fish and seaweed fert 2 - 3 - 1
- and, ff big bloom .01 - .3 - .7
- lastly, foxfarm tiger bloom 2 - 8 - 4

your thoughts.... and, need help with proportions.

davidjwest said:

yeah i can get espoma... budget is crucial...need to keep it low. if i can avoid ffof i'd prefer it... by mixing my own concoction. horse manure is available. your thoughts on "vital earth" soil?

Click to expand...

I've used epsoma for years, both indoors and in-ground...do not add it to any pre-fertilized medium such as FF.

I also make my own promix, which is about as cheap as it gets...then I tweak it a bit.

2 Parts Sphagnum Peat
1 Part aged compost, such as moo-nure found at Home Depot for $3
1 Part Perlite
Epsoma plant-tone as directed
1/2 cup dolomite lime per gallon of the above medium, also cheap as hell and very important to adjust your ph up.

I have dozens of pics here using the above...here's a more recent one:

finally ratios... love the simplicity.... thanks

so i'll be ok with espoma "garden mix" base
perlite
so on...?