Best soil for a broke man?

AKA Big Boss

AKA Big Boss

Well-Known Member
I'm pretty broke. Don't want to fk around buying really expensive soil and all the amendments especially since I'm just trying out soil. I want a more simple system than coco beacuse I'm going to have much less free time.

So any recommendations for a site that sells FFOF cheap or other cheap alternatives are appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
 
ChefKimbo

ChefKimbo

Well-Known Member
Lowe's Sta-Green Flower and Vegetable Soil.

Perlite for extra drainage.

Jacks 20-20-20 all purpose dry fertilizer(I use Megacrop)

Cheap Epsom Salt for extra Magnesium.

Use tap water for the added calcium.

Just my 2 cents.
 
AKA Big Boss

AKA Big Boss

Well-Known Member
ChefKimbo said:
Lowe's Sta-Green Flower and Vegetable Soil.

Perlite for extra drainage.

Jacks 20-20-20 all purpose dry fertilizer(I use Megacrop)

Cheap Epsom Salt for extra Magnesium.

Use tap water for the added calcium.

Just my 2 cents.
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Thank you.

Can I use crab meal as substitute for the mega crop ferts? I also have flora trio nutes and CaliMagic calmag if needed.

I'd prefer the meal to deal with any insects I also heard diatomacious earth is good insecticide but not sure if it's just for dusting the top soil or actually mixed in.
 
ChefKimbo

ChefKimbo

Well-Known Member
Well if you anticipate an insect problem, or you just plan on overwatering, I guess you the DE.

As for the nutes,

Wait a minute I thought you said you were a broke man?!?
 
AKA Big Boss

AKA Big Boss

Well-Known Member
ChefKimbo said:
Well if you anticipate an insect problem, or you just plan on overwatering, I guess you the DE.

As for the nutes,

Wait a minute I thought you said you were a broke man?!?
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I am. I have been growing with coco (still am) and GH Flora Trio is cheap as chips (14 bucks or less on eBay) so I have a decent amount on hand plus claimagic was cheap for a big bottle.

So is the crab meal acceptable to replace the other ferts?
 
MATTYMATT726

MATTYMATT726

Well-Known Member
Mega crop has 2 free samples. 230 by using the code on their site and a special code from AFN(auto flower network). It's a 1000 gram dample and the code is AFN. I'd get them both. Plenty of nutes for a couple of grows.
 
dubekoms

dubekoms

Well-Known Member
You add mega crop to water and water it in. Start low with young plants and work your way up as they get older, I never needed more than 5 grams per gallon.
 
dubekoms

dubekoms

Well-Known Member
If you use a synthetic fert the cheapest medium to use imo would be peat perlite soilless mix like promix hp or sunshine #4 mix. Compost isn't needed. Add nothing to it except maybe some perlite if you get the promix bx, all you'll need besides that is mega crop and calmag.
 
AKA Big Boss

AKA Big Boss

Well-Known Member
dubekoms said:
If you use a synthetic fert the cheapest medium to use imo would be peat perlite soilless mix like promix hp or sunshine #4 mix. Compost isn't needed. Add nothing to it except maybe some perlite if you get the promix bx, all you'll need besides that is mega crop and calmag.
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Well like I said I'm trying to get a set it and forget it system going because coco is starting to get tedious. So I'd rather just use soil and not have to fk around with mixing nutes so often.
 
dubekoms

dubekoms

Well-Known Member
Ah I gotcha. Well then I would suggest a bag of promix and a bag of compost\ewc mixed together with some extra perlite.

Add an all purpose organic fert like down to earth biolive, garden\tomatoe tone or whatever floats your boat around 1 cup-1 1\2 cups per cubic foot. Kelp at 1\2 cup a cubic foot would be great but the ferts should already have some in it. Don't forget lime to help keep the soil buffered. Some rock dust would be good but it's not needed. If you can start a cheap worm bin that would help save on compost in the future
 
Budzbuddha

Budzbuddha

Well-Known Member
As @ChefKimbo mentioned there are other mixes that won't break the bank and do need extra ( maybe perlite ) AND are amended quite well ..... From the bag.

Another is Dr. Earth organic veg / garden plant mix ......
This is a great one I have been using as of late. It has kelp , fish , bone , feather meal ,
ecto and endo mycorrhizae, dolomite lime , peat moss AND COMPOSTED GREEN WASTE.

Right in the bag .......I do recommend adding perlite only , as it compacts a bit .
There is NO NEED TO ALTER this mix with more things ... Use this and a proper nute line and you are straight ... No guessing.

Plants love the shit.

Dr. Earth is available at Home Depot at a good price.
Their nutes are good too and recommend Flower Girl for flowering.
They have nutes in liquid AND powder ( which I like for shelf life ).

I still use the soil on the right but also like this Dr.Earth too.

image.jpeg
 
AKA Big Boss

AKA Big Boss

Well-Known Member
Budzbuddha said:
As @ChefKimbo mentioned there are other mixes that won't break the bank and do need extra ( maybe perlite ) AND are amended quite well ..... From the bag.

Another is Dr. Earth organic veg / garden plant mix ......
This is a great one I have been using as of late. It has kelp , fish , bone , feather meal ,
ecto and endo mycorrhizae, dolomite lime , peat moss AND COMPOSTED GREEN WASTE.

Right in the bag .......I do recommend adding perlite only , as it compacts a bit .
There is NO NEED TO ALTER this mix with more things ... Use this and a proper nute line and you are straight ... No guessing.

Plants love the shit.

Dr. Earth is available at Home Depot at a good price.
Their nutes are good too and recommend Flower Girl for flowering.
They have nutes in liquid AND powder ( which I like for shelf life ).

I still use the soil on the right but also like this Dr.Earth too.

View attachment 4136494
Click to expand...
Thank you I may go with that. However not adding crab meal means more chance for soil dwelling pests....
I'm not sure how well diatomacious earth will work.
 
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