premixxed living organic soil?

OKLP

Well-Known Member
Good way to get your feet, umm, dirty. To start mixing your own can take some dough. To get a pound of each of the amendments could run you $15-30 for each amendment. I looked at that supplier when I was first researching TLO, but I'm in Canada...
 

Just paranoid

Active Member
yeah this will be my first soil grow so i dont want to buy a bunch of bags of ingredients till i know soil is for me..would i need something like happy frog soil for the solo cups? im thinking id use this soil for when i transplant into final pot.
 

OKLP

Well-Known Member
Yup, something with no or very few amendments for cuttings and seeds. Sounds like you're on the right track. Once established, teas, and especially AACT Actively Aerated Compost Teas can be added along the way for nutrient boosters. You can also "side dress" once in their big pots by adding just a bit of worm castings, alfalfa, or totally organic fertilizer.
 

RetiredMatthebrute

Well-Known Member
25 bucks for 4 gal of soil seems pricy. you can order the stuff online and make a much larger batch for a fraction of the cost.

if your insistant on buying this soil i would go for the 4.5 cu ft for 80 bucks plus shipping..it may run you a bit over 100$ but you will get way more than buying 4x4 gal for 100$ with free shipping.
 

Tranquileyes

Well-Known Member
I'm not sure what your desired results are, but if you plan to go from start to finish in an amended soil mix in 2gal pots, you may not like your results. You may produce the finest smoke you'll ever encounter, but not much of it..

You're currently in DWC so the mindset is different. In DWC you're regulating all nutes to keep plants happy and productive, but the plant will consume those nutes whether it needs them or not. Organic soil on the other hand entails building the nutrients into the soil beforehand, in the form of dry organic amendments, which are broken down by microbes and used by the plant as needed.

You must not view these dry amendments as you do the bottled nutes you're accustomed to. These amendments are not 'slow-release' alternatives to synthetic liquid nutrients. These amendments are alive. When you build soil, you're quite literally creating microscopic microbial life that will interact with whatever is planted into it. Basically, you are creating a living environment for your plants to live in that will work to fuel your plants with what they need, and fight off the bad guys that threaten them.

Alternatively, synthetics contain salts that kill off all this life in soil by dehydration, while providing the nutrients in an available form that is forced upon the plant. I'm not into synthetics, I was when i started, but if you use them you do all the work via distributing measurements of nutes, vs organics where the life in the soil does all the work for you. I personally dig this because I have more time to focus on other aspects of the grow instead of constantly following feeding schedules and diagnosing/battling deficiencies.

Root space is not important in synthetics, so long as you keep the nutes coming. In organics you want to make sure you're providing the plant with enough living material and plenty of room to stretch it's legs to interact with the microbial life, which in my experience requires a 7 gal pot minimum (I use 10's and found 5's to be insufficient, but many swear by the 7's). Even with tea supplementation, a larger pot is necessary to make it worth your while. A tea should not be viewed as a nute either, when a tea is brewed, many microbes are born, which you then add to your soil to stimulate the life within. It's a good idea to add a tea or two to your soil in the weeks or months leading up to planting to stimulate microbial life, microbes will begin to break down the nutrients into a form available for plant consumption.

Up front cost might be more than synthetics, but contrary to the bullshit you read online, a well made organic amended soil will be viable for at least 2 runs without re-amending, the second run is usually better in my experiences, as the life in the soil is in full swing, and post harvest feeds off of decomposing roots. Im talking in the same pot with nothing done other than removing the previous plant, creating just enough room to fit another. I have found removing the harvested plant, adding a top dress of fresh amended soil, watering it down with a compost tea, and letting it sit for a few weeks allows for some root decomposition, resulting in very happy girls that often outgrow the one prior. Reusing soil is all very controversial, especially using that particular technique, so please accept that information as a fellow growers observations, and not fact or common practice.

This is a long answer for your question, but I hope it serves as an example of how in depth organics can be, and not always a 'this or that' / 'right or wrong' hobby. Similar to lighting, ventillation, electrical work, irrigation systems, etc.; Organics is one of the many obscure aspects of growing you may have thought you'd never find yourself dabbling in, but you just might find a passion for it at the end of the day.

Good Luck on your journey no matter which path you choose :peace:
 

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
I'm not sure what your desired results are, but if you plan to go from start to finish in an amended soil mix in 2gal pots, you may not like your results. You may produce the finest smoke you'll ever encounter, but not much of it..

You're currently in DWC so the mindset is different. In DWC you're regulating all nutes to keep plants happy and productive, but the plant will consume those nutes whether it needs them or not. Organic soil on the other hand entails building the nutrients into the soil beforehand, in the form of dry organic amendments, which are broken down by microbes and used by the plant as needed.

You must not view these dry amendments as you do the bottled nutes you're accustomed to. These amendments are not 'slow-release' alternatives to synthetic liquid nutrients. These amendments are alive. When you build soil, you're quite literally creating microscopic microbial life that will interact with whatever is planted into it. Basically, you are creating a living environment for your plants to live in that will work to fuel your plants with what they need, and fight off the bad guys that threaten them.

Alternatively, synthetics contain salts that kill off all this life in soil by dehydration, while providing the nutrients in an available form that is forced upon the plant. I'm not into synthetics, I was when i started, but if you use them you do all the work via distributing measurements of nutes, vs organics where the life in the soil does all the work for you. I personally dig this because I have more time to focus on other aspects of the grow instead of constantly following feeding schedules and diagnosing/battling deficiencies.

Root space is not important in synthetics, so long as you keep the nutes coming. In organics you want to make sure you're providing the plant with enough living material and plenty of room to stretch it's legs to interact with the microbial life, which in my experience requires a 7 gal pot minimum (I use 10's and found 5's to be insufficient, but many swear by the 7's). Even with tea supplementation, a larger pot is necessary to make it worth your while. A tea should not be viewed as a nute either, when a tea is brewed, many microbes are born, which you then add to your soil to stimulate the life within. It's a good idea to add a tea or two to your soil in the weeks or months leading up to planting to stimulate microbial life, microbes will begin to break down the nutrients into a form available for plant consumption.

Up front cost might be more than synthetics, but contrary to the bullshit you read online, a well made organic amended soil will be viable for at least 2 runs without re-amending, the second run is usually better in my experiences, as the life in the soil is in full swing, and post harvest feeds off of decomposing roots. Im talking in the same pot with nothing done other than removing the previous plant, creating just enough room to fit another. I have found removing the harvested plant, adding a top dress of fresh amended soil, watering it down with a compost tea, and letting it sit for a few weeks allows for some root decomposition, resulting in very happy girls that often outgrow the one prior. Reusing soil is all very controversial, especially using that particular technique, so please accept that information as a fellow growers observations, and not fact or common practice.

This is a long answer for your question, but I hope it serves as an example of how in depth organics can be, and not always a 'this or that' / 'right or wrong' hobby. Similar to lighting, ventillation, electrical work, irrigation systems, etc.; Organics is one of the many obscure aspects of growing you may have thought you'd never find yourself dabbling in, but you just might find a passion for it at the end of the day.

Good Luck on your journey no matter which path you choose :peace:
Very, very good information here, I always like it when someone new adds a helpful post.
Something that stuck out to me is priceless advice, and that's "not always a 'this or that'/right or wrong hobby" extremely wise advice, soooo many different ways to grow killer herb, and everyone has their own cherished techniques/beliefs/additives/spiritual dance/whatever. After you get past the intimidation factor, growing good herb is remarkably simple, not complicated. You can MAKE it complicated, but it doesn't need to be.
The advice on how much soil is good also, I always use 10 gallon smartpots, and even still with the mychorrizae I use, the plants are a huge wad of roots when I harvest. ALWAYS good to use too much, t=rather than not enough.
good contribution to this thread, it's not commonplace, sadly.
 
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