Need help with soil please

[listen2marley]

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.

 

[canadarolls]

Interesting state of affairs L2m.
Leafs and acorns no....
Regular dirt you say? Wheres it from?
Anything is possible.

 

[labexperiment]

You can use soil from outside if you are totally desperate, but you risk the chance of insects. The deeper you dig to get your soil the less chance you have of getting insects, also you can bake the soil in your oven at 450 degrees for 1 hour per gallon of soil to kill any pods or larvae. This will also kill the bacteria which is beneficial to the plant, but its a starting point and maybe someone else will be able to chime in here and continue helping.

 

[PeytonManning]

Agree with lab experiment. Bake the soil real good. But i would probably water it with a very very light dose of nutes after baking, so that way the soil will have some decent properties to it.

 

[canadarolls]

Now what household materials could take the place of perlite?
Im inclined to believe compaction issues will become prevalent.

 

[labexperiment]

How about using compost pre baked and throw in a couple of worms to eat the compost and dig through the soil to leave airpockets?

Although baked worms are delicious please do not bake them this time.

 

[canadarolls]

Got my vote lab.
I was thinking if finely divided styrofoam cups.
With the budget here homemade nutrients (however they will be created) should foster the wrigglers.

 

[Conradino23]

I'd pass on baking, man, unless it's the right baking Go to the nearest meadow, look for stinging nettle, horsetail, chamomille or aby other nitrogen-liking weeds. Dig underneath, remove the roots by shaking, and collect the soil in a bag or a bucket. Then check if you can keep coffee grounds (nice, mild fertilizer of PH 6.8-7.0 if it's composted), egg shells (Ca), banana peel (P & K), cucumber peel (extremely rich in P), and other stuff. Try to cut your soil with these amendements and some sand, and shreddede leaves. Now you can start growing

How to make homemade fertilizers and compost we're gonna talk when you leave square one