Soil opinions/suggestions

Just arrived today. Excellent reviews on their EWC, but limited reviews on the soil.

Seems at least like a good start. I believe it will do well.
Has anyone used it?
Anything I absolutely need to add? (Noob)
Better to use perlite or something else for drainage?
I'm considering 5 gallon fabric pots (I only have 1 & 3 gallon atm).
Should I use larger... 7? 10?
Going to be three - five plants in a 4x4 tent.

I'm in no hurry to begin, so it can "cook" for as long as necessary if I need to add to it.
If so, what would be the best way to store it? Would a big tote be good? Crack the lid?

I'm not ready to learn teas & such yet. I was considering 1/3 SS under 2/3 soil (seems to be the common way. Should I adjust the ratio to allow a good shot at seed to harvest? I will germinate in a solo cup and transplant into fabric pot.

I'm most likely going to mess this up, but I would be thrilled if y'all could walk me thru this just a bit.

Thank you for reading.

I've never used Worm Castings personally. I could be wrong, but I thought a small scoop of that stuff is all you need.

I'm a big advocate for adding extra perlite to the soil. I fill my pots with a 1/3 perlite and 2/3 soil mix. But, I don't add anything else to the soil aside from nutrients delivered via pH adjusted liquid nutrient / water mixture.

I prefer to plant the seed in the final pot. The rule of thumb I personally follow for pot size is 1 gallon for each month of life I expect to have the plant for. But, most people advocate for transplanting Photoperiod plants into increasingly larger pots and the plant grows. There are advocates for final pot planting for Auto-flowering plants out there, though.

I think fabric pots are great. They offer excellent airflow, protection from plants getting root-bound, excellent drainage, and handles that help you move the plant around (super useful). To top it all off, they are washing machine friendly.

If you plant in that you will regret it

Jjgrow420 said:

If you plant in that you will regret it

Click to expand...

What are you basing that on?
These plants are going on two weeks since I potted them with the soil I bought.
Feb 6

Today

I'd say it's working pretty damn good. And zero regrets.

Preliminarily, I'd say it's pretty good soil.

Ukulele Haze said:

I've never used Worm Castings personally. I could be wrong, but I thought a small scoop of that stuff is all you need.

I'm a big advocate for adding extra perlite to the soil. I fill my pots with a 1/3 perlite and 2/3 soil mix. But, I don't add anything else to the soil aside from nutrients delivered via pH adjusted liquid nutrient / water mixture.

I prefer to plant the seed in the final pot. The rule of thumb I personally follow for pot size is 1 gallon for each month of life I expect to have the plant for. But, most people advocate for transplanting Photoperiod plants into increasingly larger pots and the plant grows. There are advocates for final pot planting for Auto-flowering plants out there, though.

I think fabric pots are great. They offer excellent airflow, protection from plants getting root-bound, excellent drainage, and handles that help you move the plant around (super useful). To top it all off, they are washing machine friendly.

Click to expand...

It's not worm castings. It's their brand of super soil. I said that up there ^. There's 25% perlite mixed in. I set it up on a swick system because I suck at watering. No need for nutrients and much more simple than adding chemicals.

These plants suffered, but I believe they are doing better than they would have been.

Ulf said:

What are you basing that on?
These plants are going on two weeks since I potted them with the soil I bought.
Feb 6
View attachment 4821397
Today
View attachment 4821398
I'd say it's working pretty damn good. And zero regrets.

Preliminarily, I'd say it's pretty good soil.

Click to expand...

They look pretty good. Your going to need to add dry amendments, ewc and a lil perlite pretty soon though.

Hollatchaboy said:

They look pretty good. Your going to need to add dry amendments, ewc and a lil perlite pretty soon though.

Click to expand...

Noted.
I figure there might not be enough food to finish flower, but I'm a noob so yeah... They may not get to their full potential without amendments, but they might. Y'all know better than I do. I'm hearing ya. I really am, but I have to see how it does so I can learn for the next round.
I knew I should have added more perlite. I hear it would help wick the water better. Especially since this dirt is made heavy. I got anxious lol.

Do your thing man. No better way to learn, than to do it. I respect that. I've never heard of that soil so I can't comment on it. Also I'm kinda starting out organic but I believe I've heard to their a lil bit of everything in the soil as far as amendments. Ewc, compost, grokashi, build a soil craft blend. all good stuff.

Ulf said:

Noted.
I figure there might not be enough food to finish flower, but I'm a noob so yeah... They may not get to their full potential without amendments, but they might. Y'all know better than I do. I'm hearing ya. I really am, but I have to see how it does so I can learn for the next round.
I knew I should have added more perlite. I hear it would help wick the water better. Especially since this dirt is made heavy. I got anxious lol.

Click to expand...

With a heavy composted soil you almost cannot add too much perlite. The SS mix you have looks like a good base soil but you can add more to it so it sustains your plants long term with just plain water and the occasional compost tea.
I would put some of your SS base mix in a tote bin and add perlite along with some coco coir and maybe vermiculite; good soil conditioners. For a dry slow release fertilizer consider adding some chicken or cow manure along with kelp meal. Fish bone meal is another amendment I would not do without; good for bloom phase. Some crushed oyster shell in your mix directly will help buffer the ph. Get some granular mycorrhizae to add into the hole at each transplant; assists with absorption and makes for very healthy plants. You can always add in more worm castings and/or brew up a simple compost tea to keep the party rocking.
How much of each to add? Things that are inert like perlite/coco you can go kind of heavy without detriment but with fertilizer and amendments you should try to pick a small easily measured unit like 1/2 cup per cu ft. You want to add lots of things in small quantities; diversity is important.
Your mix will need more things after the first harvest like minerals which will help re-buffer the ph after recycling; learn about recycling your soil and aquire whatever inputs are needed in the meantime.

Richard Drysift said:

With a heavy composted soil you almost cannot add too much perlite. The SS mix you have looks like a good base soil but you can add more to it so it sustains your plants long term with just plain water and the occasional compost tea.
I would put some of your SS base mix in a tote bin and add perlite along with some coco coir and maybe vermiculite; good soil conditioners. For a dry slow release fertilizer consider adding some chicken or cow manure along with kelp meal. Fish bone meal is another amendment I would not do without; good for bloom phase. Some crushed oyster shell in your mix directly will help buffer the ph. Get some granular mycorrhizae to add into the hole at each transplant; assists with absorption and makes for very healthy plants. You can always add in more worm castings and/or brew up a simple compost tea to keep the party rocking.
How much of each to add? Things that are inert like perlite/coco you can go kind of heavy without detriment but with fertilizer and amendments you should try to pick a small easily measured unit like 1/2 cup per cu ft. You want to add lots of things in small quantities; diversity is important.
Your mix will need more things after the first harvest like minerals which will help re-buffer the ph after recycling; learn about recycling your soil and aquire whatever inputs are needed in the meantime.

Click to expand...

@Ulf Listen to this guy, he knows his shit. Very knowledgeable with organics.

Richard Drysift said:

With a heavy composted soil you almost cannot add too much perlite. The SS mix you have looks like a good base soil but you can add more to it so it sustains your plants long term with just plain water and the occasional compost tea.
I would put some of your SS base mix in a tote bin and add perlite along with some coco coir and maybe vermiculite; good soil conditioners. For a dry slow release fertilizer consider adding some chicken or cow manure along with kelp meal. Fish bone meal is another amendment I would not do without; good for bloom phase. Some crushed oyster shell in your mix directly will help buffer the ph. Get some granular mycorrhizae to add into the hole at each transplant; assists with absorption and makes for very healthy plants. You can always add in more worm castings and/or brew up a simple compost tea to keep the party rocking.
How much of each to add? Things that are inert like perlite/coco you can go kind of heavy without detriment but with fertilizer and amendments you should try to pick a small easily measured unit like 1/2 cup per cu ft. You want to add lots of things in small quantities; diversity is important.
Your mix will need more things after the first harvest like minerals which will help re-buffer the ph after recycling; learn about recycling your soil and aquire whatever inputs are needed in the meantime.

Click to expand...

Gotcha. I am in the process of getting supplies to make a living super soil. I will add these suggestions to the list.

Ulf said:

Gotcha. I am in the process of getting supplies to make a living super soil. I will add these suggestions to the list.

Click to expand...

Good luck to you.

Richard Drysift said:

With a heavy composted soil you almost cannot add too much perlite. The SS mix you have looks like a good base soil but you can add more to it so it sustains your plants long term with just plain water and the occasional compost tea.
I would put some of your SS base mix in a tote bin and add perlite along with some coco coir and maybe vermiculite; good soil conditioners. For a dry slow release fertilizer consider adding some chicken or cow manure along with kelp meal. Fish bone meal is another amendment I would not do without; good for bloom phase. Some crushed oyster shell in your mix directly will help buffer the ph. Get some granular mycorrhizae to add into the hole at each transplant; assists with absorption and makes for very healthy plants. You can always add in more worm castings and/or brew up a simple compost tea to keep the party rocking.
How much of each to add? Things that are inert like perlite/coco you can go kind of heavy without detriment but with fertilizer and amendments you should try to pick a small easily measured unit like 1/2 cup per cu ft. You want to add lots of things in small quantities; diversity is important.
Your mix will need more things after the first harvest like minerals which will help re-buffer the ph after recycling; learn about recycling your soil and aquire whatever inputs are needed in the meantime.

Click to expand...

Do you think I should throw away the soil I'm using once this grow is complete or go ahead and recycle?
Asking because I originally had them in Miracle-Gro in one gallon pots, and I don't know if that will phuck it up?

Never throw soil away. Keep building upon what you have. Long ago when I had a different login here which I have forgotten and accessed this website through AOL dial up internet (billed hourly) I grew a single Maui wowwie plant with nothing but some shitty potting soil and a box of miracle grow. The bud tasted kinda funny and I picked it too early but I sat back & rolled a big joint as I watched LA burn on tv.
The plant was green and healthy right to the end but I knew nothing about flushing or anything else. You can grow decent plants even with MG although whatever you feed eventually gets deposited into the flesh of the plants. This is why wine grapes are slightly different from region to region; it is the soil composition (ie mineral content, ph, etc) and amount of moisture in a given season that governs the quality/flavor profile/sugar content of the fruits.
Any soil can be made into super soil. It is the presence of sweet compost that makes your regular old dirt into supernaturally active soil. Compost, namely worm castings, is what drives the soil and is the single most important ingredient in any mix. The bellies of earthworms contain most of the microbes needed to decompose organic matter and make it available for absorption. Mycorrhizae fungi does the rest.
So to get started with building your soil add up to 1/3 worm castings and sprinkle some granular mycorrhizae in the hole at each transplant. Myco needs to be touching the roots to attach to them; you’ll notice the difference once the mycorrhizae bites on to the root system. Plants will be praying to you in homage.
I have used the MG nature’s care organic soil in my veggie garden with success and even added some to my own weed plant mix. If it is the stuff that has those slow release pellets full of MG it’s not safe for a living soil grow unless already spent. If its well rinsed you’re good. Soil never depletes; it just becomes inactive. Adding compost recharges it, fertilizer adds potential nutrients, minerals buffer ph and assist with absorption.