My first mix

So I couldn't follow the recipe to the T, I think I'm close enough. Ill post below and would love some input.

I went with halving the ingredients since I don't need that much soil. I was unable to get Roots soil so I made a substitute for the base. Its called Gardner's Gold, its organic of course. Ingredients are...
Fir Bark Fines, Forest Humus, Peat Moss, Perlite, Composted Chicken manure, worm castings, guano, Kelp meal, Oyster Shell and Dolomite lime.

Its missing some ingredients that are in Roots. I used roughly 5.25 cubic feet of that with about 1.75 cubic feet of organic "Just Coir" (Black Gold). I added some pumice as well and I used 20 quarts of worm castings. Another ingredient in Roots I was lacking that I was able to grab was feather meal, so I added just under a pound of that to he mix.

My numbers are as follows
Bone Meal - 3-15-0
Rock Phosphate 0-2-0
Blood Meal 13-0-0
Guano 10-3-1 (was unable to find "bloom" guano, but I figured it was better to have it than not.
Humaric Acid Powder w/ potash 0-0-10

The place in town that had Azomite would only sell it in 44# bags so I bought a pound of Glacier Rock Dust for .40. Was told it was just as good if not better.

Id like to know if you all see any problems with the substitute soil I used and if my numbers are lacking in any areas. Perhaps low on K? Thanks for all feedback given.

Pictures are just for fun...

If you need help finding soil in the SF area let me know & shoot me a PM

I can help

Thanks

T

NorCalTransplant... meaning I don't live there anymore. Plus I've already mixed! Thanks for the offer though.

So... anyone think I'll need to add anything or should this mix be good to go?

its really high in nitrogen and lacking in p and k.From what i see in those pics u definately need more perlite a lot more!! a better choice than that high nitrogen bat guano would have been to just double down on the bone meal.

Yeah I was thinking the same thing about the perlite, should be ok to mix when I plant or should I dump and remix for "cooking", PH is really the only thing that would change a bit right? Would adding more bone meal at this point make the soil "too hot"? Am I just going to have to supplement during bloom? Maybe I should go with 1/4 -1/3 and not half in my grow bags since the nitrogen is so high? Thanks.

Mycorrhize, I feel like I'm missing out on this Benie and it might be important. Any suggestions on how I would add it to my present mix? Thanks.

*I can get this stuff by the pound near me, wonder how much I need? Hmmmm.....

I found some 0-13-0 Guano at the same place. Going to dump everything out and throw that, and some Mycos in there as well. Should be set. If anyone cared.

NorCalTransplant said:

I found some 0-13-0 Guano at the same place. Going to dump everything out and throw that, and some Mycos in there as well. Should be set. If anyone cared.

Click to expand...

that seems to be the most practical solution!

You need dolomite. Dolomite if very very important for balancing your ph. I forgot mine once and had some peat based sunshine mix #4. My ph was 5.5 at week 2 and I had lockout at just the wrong time. That doesnt get skipped anymore....

GH

Dolimite Lime was added. I followed the recipie perfectly other than what I originally posted. Thanks though!

Keep in mind that Roots has a lot of coco in it which doesn't go sour like peat does. If your base soil is peat based and not coco based like Roots, it would be wise to add dolomite lime @ 1/2 to 1 cup per cubic foot instead of 1 cup per entire batch like with the Roots based recipe.

Also, in addition to what I already mentioned, if your base soil is indeed peat based and doesn't have a lot of coco in it, I would add some kelp meal for some K. Coco naturally gives off a significant amount of K and if your base soil doesn't have a lot of coco like Roots does, you may end up deficient in K.

I did add 1.75 cubic feet of coco to about 5.25 cubic feet of my base soil. My base soil does have kelp in it but you think I should add some more? With that also in mind do you think I should add that much more Sweet Lime to the mix? I'm heading to the fertilizer store shortly to get some 0-13-0 Guano and some Mycorrhizal, let me know if I really should get some more kelp. Thanks.

Honestly I couldn't tell ya if that's enough coco to make up for it. I'm not sure exactly how much is in Roots vs. your mix. The kelp meal couldn't hurt as long as you don't over do it. And if your base soil is peat based, yes I would recommend 1/2 - 1 cup of dolomite lime per cubic foot to keep it from going sour on you.

Ok, I added about 2#s of bloom guano (half mix), a little more pumice I had, and a bunch of perlite to make it look more like a mix. I also took the .5 cubic feet of coco I had left and blended that in. As far as the lime goes, I added another 2 cups. So I'm 3 cups of lime on just under 6 cubic feet of my stater soil with another 2 cubic feet of "just coir". I mixed in just under a pound of Mycorr. Couldn't find much of a guideline on how much of that stuff to use so I winged it.

At this point this is no longer subcool's recipe, hopefully the organics will be kind. I'm not too worried about it. Im going to use 1/3 in my grow bags instead of 1/2 just in case this mix is too strong and top dress if they need it. I think I'm going to find Roots somewhere for the top part unless anyone thinks that's a bad idea. Now I've got a month to get my gear and room in order. Thanks everyone for responding.

if possible u might want to try one pot out at full strength and see what happens. not putting enough super soil in sucks. get a clone pop it in a 1 gallon and in three weeks transplant to a 7 or 10 gal with 50 percent super soil. from my experience, either the plant can handle the hot or it cant. percentage of ss in a pot is only relative to the amount of food a plant will need to finish.

That's a great suggestion. Thanks.

Roots is never a bad idea. Just get some nematodes to go with it, lol.

Your mix looks good. The only thing that jumps out at me is that it seems really high in nitrogen. But the only way to find out is to grow in it.

I didn't get the kelp meal since the smallest bag was 35 bucks for 3.5#s. Couldn't justify it. It was 1-1-17, Am I gonna be short on K? Maybe a kelp tea or something right before flower? I know sub has said if you add anything to his mix you'll burn the plants but I'm into my own mix at this point. Only way to know for sure though is test it like you guys have said. Thanks for the help.