Help create local mix soil

[baxbax]

Hello, its time I am searching to create best soil mix with my local soil ingredients i search and find some ingredients to mix my own local soil but i have a question how and how much should i mix them to make semi super soil with right ph range

i have this ingredients : coco - peat moss (white peat) - perlite - worm castings - compost - bat guano -
Epson salts - azomite - dolomite lime - humic acid -

I find this ingredients from here :
Super Soil

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i know i should first make a base soil and add some ingredients to fix ph and etc ...
My idea for 80 litre of base soil is : coco- peat moss- perlite -compost


for other ingredients i dont know how much should i use worm castings bat guano epson salt azomite dolomite lime and humic acid to fix ph and etc of this base soil

question ) can I add simple clay soil or i should not use it ?

Any idea

 

[Farang]

I'm surprised that the corporate set hasn't pounced on you. apparently, there are only certain brands of ingredients which are allowed.

like you, I blend my own. I don't have a choice, but perhaps you do.

I had zero luck with coco and have avoided it like the plague since. I don't have/can't get compost, so I don't have an opinion about that, but I use all of the same ingredients you have (mostly) and a couple of others.

I'm not about to brag about my success; there is a good reason for that. still, I can offer a bit of my experience and turn you loose.

oops. white peat moss? that's for orchids, I believe. you want spaghnum (black) peat moss as your base. I would add some biochar, if you can find any reasonably. because of where I am, burnt rice husks is readily available. the peat has a relatively low pH and the biochar will help raise the pH plus the carbon is beneficial in general for plant health.

according to a couple of Ag University papers I read, you can use up to a 1:1 ratio of peat to biochar. I wouldn't. I went for 30% biochar and I think that's plenty, but I'll have to judge that as things progress. past efforts only had minimal biochar in the medium.

the biochar is also a substitute for Perlite, according to those same Uni papers. I'm currently down to 10% Perlite. and that's my basic mix this time: 60% peat, 30% biochar and 10% Perlite.

I hand mix in 10 liter batches. to that blend, I added in only 1 Tbsp each of Humic acid (raises and/or stabilizes pH), Dolomite lime (stabilizes pH close to 7/ can raise or lower pH), bat guano (lowers pH as any high N product would), bone meal (can lower pH), sulfur (also tends to lower pH). I've run far higher percentages of various combinations of these and have concluded that it's pretty easy to over load your medium to no benefit whatsoever.

I've also decided that you can really overdo it with worm castings. for the last couple of grows, I've been reducing my manure blend substantially. I pre-mix chicken and worm at a ratio of 4:1. to my 10 liters of medium, I added three Tbsp of my manure blend. any other nitrogen rich food required will come in the form of teas.

my experience says that worm castings retain water far longer than the plants want. there is a lot of microbial activity from the castings, too. this is generally a good thing, but I feel that you can actually have too much of a good thing. the chicken releases water far faster (IMHO), has far more phosphorus and nitrogen available to the plant and may degrade into inert material faster than worm. (some ag major will jump all over me for that assumption.)

I quit adding Epsom salts to the medium quite a while back. if and when the plants require any, I dissolve it in water and feed it to the plants roots. for the most part, it isn't necessary to ever use Epsom salts, but it's an old gardener's solution to too many ills and the myth continues that it fixes everything.

that's just the beginning.

once I've blended up my 10 liters with all the added stuff, it is then wet down with Activated Essential Microorganisms and placed in a more or less light proof plastic bag (the used peat bag) and cooked for as long as possible before use. the longer the better, to a point, I suppose. if I don't get 3 months of cooking in before I germinate my first seeds......... I've read other people cook it for a year. I've never gone that long, but fail to see why that couldn't work.

have to add that I buy my peat in 50-70 liter bags, depending on brand. I refill them with my soil at about 40 liters/bag and close the bag up. it's not entirely light or air proof. I don't think that's terribly important, but many of the ingredients need some time to break down before the plant roots get to it and slowing down the exposure to air and light while adding as much heat (natural sunlight) as possible seems to do the trick. the more material and heat and the less air and light, the better, the same as mulch, if you can generate you own.... and I turn them weekly. somebody is going to say that's too much work. it's what I do.

in the end and if I had access to all the politically correct corporate soils.....I'd skip the whole project and go the easy way. you might consider that, particularly if you were thinking of starting a grow in the next few weeks.

 

[baxbax]

I'm surprised that the corporate set hasn't pounced on you. apparently, there are only certain brands of ingredients which are allowed.

like you, I blend my own. I don't have a choice, but perhaps you do.

I had zero luck with coco and have avoided it like the plague since. I don't have/can't get compost, so I don't have an opinion about that, but I use all of the same ingredients you have (mostly) and a couple of others.

I'm not about to brag about my success; there is a good reason for that. still, I can offer a bit of my experience and turn you loose.

oops. white peat moss? that's for orchids, I believe. you want spaghnum (black) peat moss as your base. I would add some biochar, if you can find any reasonably. because of where I am, burnt rice husks is readily available. the peat has a relatively low pH and the biochar will help raise the pH plus the carbon is beneficial in general for plant health.

according to a couple of Ag University papers I read, you can use up to a 1:1 ratio of peat to biochar. I wouldn't. I went for 30% biochar and I think that's plenty, but I'll have to judge that as things progress. past efforts only had minimal biochar in the medium.

the biochar is also a substitute for Perlite, according to those same Uni papers. I'm currently down to 10% Perlite. and that's my basic mix this time: 60% peat, 30% biochar and 10% Perlite.

I hand mix in 10 liter batches. to that blend, I added in only 1 Tbsp each of Humic acid (raises and/or stabilizes pH), Dolomite lime (stabilizes pH close to 7/ can raise or lower pH), bat guano (lowers pH as any high N product would), bone meal (can lower pH), sulfur (also tends to lower pH). I've run far higher percentages of various combinations of these and have concluded that it's pretty easy to over load your medium to no benefit whatsoever.

I've also decided that you can really overdo it with worm castings. for the last couple of grows, I've been reducing my manure blend substantially. I pre-mix chicken and worm at a ratio of 4:1. to my 10 liters of medium, I added three Tbsp of my manure blend. any other nitrogen rich food required will come in the form of teas.

my experience says that worm castings retain water far longer than the plants want. there is a lot of microbial activity from the castings, too. this is generally a good thing, but I feel that you can actually have too much of a good thing. the chicken releases water far faster (IMHO), has far more phosphorus and nitrogen available to the plant and may degrade into inert material faster than worm. (some ag major will jump all over me for that assumption.)

I quit adding Epsom salts to the medium quite a while back. if and when the plants require any, I dissolve it in water and feed it to the plants roots. for the most part, it isn't necessary to ever use Epsom salts, but it's an old gardener's solution to too many ills and the myth continues that it fixes everything.

that's just the beginning.

once I've blended up my 10 liters with all the added stuff, it is then wet down with Activated Essential Microorganisms and placed in a more or less light proof plastic bag (the used peat bag) and cooked for as long as possible before use. the longer the better, to a point, I suppose. if I don't get 3 months of cooking in before I germinate my first seeds......... I've read other people cook it for a year. I've never gone that long, but fail to see why that couldn't work.

have to add that I buy my peat in 50-70 liter bags, depending on brand. I refill them with my soil at about 40 liters/bag and close the bag up. it's not entirely light or air proof. I don't think that's terribly important, but many of the ingredients need some time to break down before the plant roots get to it and slowing down the exposure to air and light while adding as much heat (natural sunlight) as possible seems to do the trick. the more material and heat and the less air and light, the better, the same as mulch, if you can generate you own.... and I turn them weekly. somebody is going to say that's too much work. it's what I do.

in the end and if I had access to all the politically correct corporate soils.....I'd skip the whole project and go the easy way. you might consider that, particularly if you were thinking of starting a grow in the next few weeks.

I am so thankful for your support and sharing your experience .

I had some grows with pure coco and perlite results was awfull never grew taller then 3 set of leaves. in my last grow (last year) i used back peat and clay soil 30 30 and 20 coco and 10 perlite it was growing very well untill my main stem rotted competly Not root rot - But main stem rot just near top soil - Please help
this year i will start some plants with your mix and see results - in my location i think biochar calling active carbon they are same ?
im kind of noob in mixing right dosage . as u say i should mix 60 % of black peat with 30 % of powdred active carbon and 10 percent of perlite ? for 10 litre of this mix i should use how many tsp of humic acid / dolomite lime and bat guano - i cant find this bone meal here() and how much worm casting

regards

 

[Farang]

way back in the 70's we all put activated charcoal in our ornamental potted plants, but I don't think you want 30% in your mix.

it seems each region has its own variety of biochar. Google it and locate something locally. it ought to be cheap, so if you run into something high priced, walk away and continue the search.

best of luck!

 

[santb]

Keep it simple.. Use 1 bucket of coco, 1 bucket perlite. Half bucket compost. Quarter bucket worm castings. Small handful of: guano, lime, azomite. Half handful of epsom salts. Maybe half bucket of your local soil, but not if you have pests in your area. Especially if you want to grow indoors.. Avoid clay soils.
Add water while mixing to ensure a total mix of ingredients; when you are finished it should be moist and sponge-like in you fist. Allow this mix to sit covered somewhere for 2-4 weeks minimum and keep warm and moist, not wet.
You want good free drainage in pots for marijuana; perlite is excellent for this. Coco is great if it is HIGH QUALITY. It will hold some water but allow good drainage.
That is a good place to start that will be good for roots. You can experiment from there. Just watch your water. MJ likes to dry out a bit between waterings, so in this mix you might need to check every 2-3 days at least.
Check by weight. When freshly watered, the pot will be heavy to lift. Water when the pot is light weight and easy to lift, but before the leaves start to droop.. Repeat or alter this depending on bucket size to get how ever much you want...
Good luck!