need help with soil asap!

[listen2marley]

need help with soil please
hi everyone. i need some help. its pretty sad but im legitt so broke right now i cant afford any potting soil. is there anyway to make just regular dirt good enough to grow with? or i got an old pile of like leafs nd dirt nd acorns and stuff from raking this time last year. any help would be greatly appreciated because for the first time ever i have some real strains and not just bag seed. i have 1 lowryder auto flower and 1 femanized the doctor and i really want to atleast get the non autoflower going asap so it can grow to its full potential (any one ever tryed "the doctor" strain and if so how is it? easy to grow good quality? bonza seed gave it to me for free when i bought the lowryder). so if anyone has any suggestions or any info that can help me out im all ears. thanks and hope to hear from someone soon btw i live in western ma donr kno if that matters at all.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Re: need help with soil asap!!

The real problem is getting a suitable PH value of the growing medium which ideally should be between PH 6 & 7 for soil/compost grows.

Going to far either side of PH 6 & 7 may well cause nutrient lock outs etc & eventually lead to deficiency of some other nutrient or other !


You may need to do some research...

Local bed rock of area may suggest PH of garden soil like chalk/lime stone will show an alkaline nature for example.

Home made composts will have a PH value also & most of that is normally suitable which also can be used to buffer PH value of the soil all of which will contain low/trace values of macro & micro nutrients to some degree


Other wise you may go slap happy & see how things pan out ?

A little bit of research goes a long way btw

 

[Antics]

Re: need help with soil asap!!

You mentioned that budget is an issue right now, are you set up with all the other equipment? Lights? exhaust fan? exhaust filter? oscillating fan? PH tester? nutes? magnifier to check trichomes for harvest?

Using outdoor soil should always be sterilized first, or you'll be bringing in outside plants, and bugs.

 

[listen2marley]

Re: need help with soil asap!!

i am doing an outdoor grow so i dont need lights and stuff. i did buy a grow kit that came with like 10 different nutes for all stages of growth. i dont have the strips to test ph so i didnt know if there was some easy trick like mix dirt grass and leafs or something easy along those lines

 

[daTenshi]

If you are looking for ways to enrich your dirt you can use the forum search engine and look for compost tea recipes, plenty of results

 

[Antics]

Ok growing outside changes things up.

You'll still really need a PH tester. Digital is best to use in this case, as they're much more accurate than the analog meters. Although analog meters can be used, their accuracy is hit and miss. As for test strips, not many people use them, but I'm sure they can probably get you by if used correctly.

You'll also really need a strong magnifier/microscope. 30x minimum, 60x is even better. There isn't much sense in going through all the work in growing Cannabis, if you don't know when the right time to harvest will be. This is the last tool you'll use to complete your grow, so you don't need it immediately.

But to answer your basic question, YES you can grow in compost, but most use it only as an amendment to soil, not as their sole growing medium.