Outragedplutos TLO Master Soil mix

[Outragedpluto]

Hello everybody and welcome to my True Living Organic soil thread. Im going to document and let you all follow along with my creating of The Rev's Master Soil Mix 2.1. So without further ado lets get started!!!!!


To start off here are the ingredients i have used in my soil. Some of these ingredients were bought in a pack from the website True Living Organic Soils. Really good product but iffy on the customer service. I got everything i ordered and its great quality but they have never responded to any of my emails with questions about using their product. Any ways good stuff.

You are able to buy the base mix of amendments for The Revs Master Soil. This 5 pound mix includes Feather Meal, Bone Meal, Bat Guano, Blood Meal, Kelp Meal, Mineral Rock Dust, Alfalfa Meal, Humate, Rock Phosphate, Oyster Shell, Greensand, Dolomite Lime and a High Quality Organic Rice. All of these ingredients can be kinda pricey to get. Especially when you only need 1/2 cup but can only buy a 5 pound box of it. This mix will make up to 30 gallons of soil if you make it a less potent blend. The mix i am going with is 3/3/3/3 ratio where as 2/2/2/2
is the full strength Master Soil Mix. I am going for a slightly less strong blend that will give me a little more soil too.

I then bought Fox Farm Happy Frog soil as my base soil mix. The only little problem with this is that you do not want to use things with spaghnum peat moss because it will make the ph drop a bit more during composting. Luckily there are a lot of ph balancers in the soil builder mix. Added 3 parts this

Next i mixed in earthworm castings. Got these from a local nursery. 3 parts this.

Added 3 parts perlite to the mix.

I got some Botanicare CocoGro coco coir. You want to make sure to get well rinsed coco coir. The excesive sea salt in fresh coco coir can do some damage to a TLO garden. This brand is at least rain rinsed for 2 rain seasons ensuring low salt content. Added 3 parts this.

I mixed this up in a tough bin that i added some drain holes in the bottom to let excess water escape so i do not get any anaerobic bacteria. I had a 5 gallon bucket setting outside collecting rain water. Sprayed the mix with this to get things going. I have the bins setting outside where it gets about 6 hours of sun a day to get things warm without baking the hell out of it lol. I am going to let this cook at least 30 days to get things nice and composted. I will mix up the mix every couple of days adding rain water when needed.

So to break this all down here is the mix i did:
3 gallons Happy Frog soil
3 gallons Perlite
3 Gallons CocoGro Coco Coir
3 gallons Earthworm castings
1 x 5 pound Bag of Master Soil Mix 2.1 Soil builder


Thank you everyone who has stopped by

I will continuously update on the soil adding some pictures soon and lots of TLO information.

 

[CronicHempHog]

Cool Brotha im gonna see whats the what here on going on

 

[COorganics]

Subbed

 

[Outragedpluto]

Cool Brotha im gonna see whats the what here on going on

Thanks for stopping by. As soon as work allows me to have some time i will get on and get some more information on here.

Subbed

Thanks CO for stopping by!!! good to have you guys here!!

 

[Outragedpluto]

Alright everyone here is a pictorial of what i have done so far!!! I had to wait to get my last ingredient. For some reason there was not a single store in my area that carried coco coir. So i had to order it online to have it shipped to me. I finally got it all mixed together. So the start date for cooking is today, April 14th.

So to start off, when ever you are working with organic items like bat guano and other manure it is key to have a respirator. Even perlite dust is very irritating to your lungs. I made sure to get a mask that is rated for mold and lead dust. This will give you the protection you need with out getting a haz-mat suit or something.

Now for my base ingredients for the mix. For the soil base i use Fox Farm Happy Frog. I love Fox Farm soil!!! I know that people have some issues with it but for the price and the quality, its worth it to me. Also its very easy to find in my area. Unlike ProMix which i have yet to find. As i said before the only downfall to using Happy Frog is that is has sphagnum peat moss, which will make my ph drop during the cooking process. But i am not to worried as this mix is pretty good at balancing its own ph.

Then i have the perlite. This is probably one of the more important parts of this mix, because it keeps the soil from compacting together and gives great areation, which cannabis loves!!! Another great benefit of perlite is that it acts as micro hotels for the bacteria and fungi that is so important to TLO growing.

Now we have the earthworm castings. This is another very important ingredient due to the fact that it has all of the microbiology that is needed in your soil. This was by far the most expensive part that i had to buy. Shit is expensive!!! Like almost $30 for the 3 gallons worth that i needed for the mix!!! Which is the very reason that my next big project is getting my earthworm farm going so i have an endless supply of castings.

And the last main ingredient is the coco coir. This stuff is key to the soil. It is a great ph buffer to keep the soil from dipping to low in ph. Also as it breaks down it releases potassium, which cannabis LOVES!!! Lastly it holds a lot of water for its size, so its great for planters. Always be sure to use perlite when using coco coir, as the coir does not aerate the soil very well. Always be sure to get coco coir that is very well rinsed to remove excess salt. The brand i got is monsoon washes for at least 2 seasons to ensure lowest salt content.

Then comes the Master Soil 2.1 Mix builder. This is the stuff that makes this special. Adds all of the micro nutrients needed for super growth. This mix contains the following: Feather Meal, Bone Meal, Bat Guano, Blood Meal, Kelp Meal, Mineral Rock Dust, Alfalfa Meal, Humate, Rock Phosphate, Oyster Shell, Greensand, Dolomite Lime and a High Quality Organic Rice.

Take all of the ingredients above and mix together. The full strength mix calls for 2 gallons each of soil, perlite, earthworm castings, and coco coir and mix with the soil builder. For the sake of making more soil and not needing full strength i mixed 3 gallons of each. This is actually quite labor intensive. I am definitely getting a tarp to mix this up next time, because doing it by hand in the tub is pretty hard. Took me a good solid 30 minutes of hand mixing to get it all even. But i am excited just by the looks of it now. Nice black color with lots of organic matter to be broken down over the next 4 weeks or more.

Well there is a pictorial description of making my soil. The rev says that the mix should stay i around 60 degree ambient temperature to keep things going strong, so that is my goal!! This is going to be fun to watch the soil break down and turn into Master Mix!!! And to make this a little more fun i picked up this soil test kit to add a bit of science into the mix!!

Thank you everyone for stopping by!!! if anyone has any suggestions please chime in!!! I would love for some input. I am new at this soil making thing.

 

[COorganics]

Nice, looks like u did all your homework

 

[Outragedpluto]

Nice, looks like u did all your homework

Thanks man. And yea, i have done some serious reading lately on the topic. Like, A LOT of reading. I just got 4 more books on the subject that i am working thru.

 

[Outragedpluto]

And little update on things. I had to move my bins into the garage. Our lovely great lakes region weather has been epically horrible. It was 70 the last week and then dropped to 28 last night with 3 inches of snow, then 20 tonight!! Damn cold weather is slowing my cooking down, I am wanting at least 60 degrees. But just move it in for a night and i think my colony will survive!!!

Thanks for stopping by!!!! Have a wonderful day!!!!

 

[CronicHempHog]

I use 2 of those books your showing I use others also but marijuana botany ive read
about 30 yrs ago the first time lost the book but now I have a kindle version
and the moonsign book I like to follow the date when to germinate seeds and cut grass
it does work I have noticed the taproots growing faster at time when the book says to plant
then at other times when you shouldnt be planting
one other book I like is marijuana garden saver fyi since it looks like you do the book thing like me

 

[josh223]

Subbed.

 

[Outragedpluto]

Alright, well now that the soil has had about a week to start things going, even though it has been a super cold week, time to do my first soil test. I will be checking for N-P-K and the PH of the soil.

The First test here is for Nitrogen. It is showing that i am right in the middle of the range.

The next one is Phosphorus. Looking to be very low on this.

And here is the Potassium test. Looking to be on the medium high to high side of things.

And for the PH. This is very high. Not to shocked, as the mixture has not really started to cook yet. Its been way to cold to get anything started.

Now this is the first time i have ever done this so these results may be a little off. But i did follow directions to a t so it should be close. The soil definitely looks and smells awesome. has a nice consistency with a rich earthy aroma. Nothing "stinks" in it.

Thank you everyone for stopping by and hope you have a super Green Friday!!!

 

[COorganics]

Great documentation here Pluto, thanks for that man.
This dirt is gonna blow your mind I predict.

 

[Outragedpluto]

Great documentation here Pluto, thanks for that man.
This dirt is gonna blow your mind I predict.

Thanks man!!!! I sure do hope so. Since i cant grow plants right now, i can legally "grow" the dirt for now. Gives me something to do. I get to bored without my hobby lol!!

Thanks for stopping by!!!