my situation is i have a very good spot that gets direct sunlight most of the day. The problem is it would be too expensive and too much of a bitch to buy enough soil and lug it all to my grow area for the size I would like to do.(15-20 plants). what could I add to the soil to get it either up to par or almost up to par wiith soil u find in stores. BTW my soil type is more clay than sandy, and kinda dark brown, not quite black. Living in Ohio if that helps. Any info on making my soil more fertile and nutritious for my plants would be great.
Next best thing to buying soil
- Thread starter yang_city
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Akornpatch
Well-Known Member
You need to break up the clay with sand, sterile manure/compost, and other organic amendments. Even tho the clay retains moisture well, it doesn't leave any space for the roots to grow or get oxygen.
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Akornpatch
Well-Known Member
yes, the sand will help break up the clay. So will the organics...i.e. manure, compost, potting soil, peat moss, etc. while providing nutrition.
RangerDanger
New Member
As a general rule the more unrestricted soil a MJ plant has, the bigger and better it will grow.
I know it's a drag carrying hellishly heavy potting soil around.
What I'd do is open the bags at home and empty them out on a tarp to dry the soil out. This greatly reduces weight & volume, making transporting much easier. I'd put the potting soil back in the bags, put a bag or 2 in my frame pack and hit the trail. Once at my grow site I'd add water.
One area I planted in for years involved a 6 mile r/t between my grow site and van. I'd sometimes make 2 trips a day, 5 days a week for a month to get all the soil out there.
And equally hard was digging holes.
It's easy to dig holes in a your backyard. But out in the woods it's a different matter. Sometimes it would take me several hours to dig a hole 3'--4' across & knee-deep.
A viable alternative is to grow in planters. The superior type of planter is called a pulp pot, made from recycled cardboard. You might have to special order these, but any nursery that carries fruit tree's usually has them. Get AT LEAST the 7-gal. size, bigger is better.
No matter how tired I got I always kept my eyes towards the prize, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow--boxes and boxes of phat sticky buds. That kept me going.
Potting soil is MUCH better than sand, and potting soil loaded with organic nutrients is the best.
Look at it this way--the more time and expense you spend, the more you will get back in return.
I know it's a drag carrying hellishly heavy potting soil around.
What I'd do is open the bags at home and empty them out on a tarp to dry the soil out. This greatly reduces weight & volume, making transporting much easier. I'd put the potting soil back in the bags, put a bag or 2 in my frame pack and hit the trail. Once at my grow site I'd add water.
One area I planted in for years involved a 6 mile r/t between my grow site and van. I'd sometimes make 2 trips a day, 5 days a week for a month to get all the soil out there.
And equally hard was digging holes.
It's easy to dig holes in a your backyard. But out in the woods it's a different matter. Sometimes it would take me several hours to dig a hole 3'--4' across & knee-deep.
A viable alternative is to grow in planters. The superior type of planter is called a pulp pot, made from recycled cardboard. You might have to special order these, but any nursery that carries fruit tree's usually has them. Get AT LEAST the 7-gal. size, bigger is better.
No matter how tired I got I always kept my eyes towards the prize, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow--boxes and boxes of phat sticky buds. That kept me going.
Potting soil is MUCH better than sand, and potting soil loaded with organic nutrients is the best.
Look at it this way--the more time and expense you spend, the more you will get back in return.
Racefan
Well-Known Member
One huge alternative to heavy bags of potting soil are compressed bricks of coco coir. It expands to more than 5 times it's own weight and size and 1 brick weighs about as much as 1 bag of soil. It's like carrying 3 to 4 bags of soil compressed into one and dried out.
