And how long to cook this soil mix?
No cook time required actually, whether you use peat or coco! The organic amendments in Clackamas Coots/Cornell University's soil mix are not "hot". Neem, Crab, and Kelp Meals are all very light ingredients that are more than plenty to grow amazing plants of any sort. They aren't "hot" like other organic amendments such as, but not limited to Alfalfa Meal, Blood Meal, Bone Meal, Feather Meal, and pretty much any kind of Guano.
What makes an organic amendment "hot" is essentially how quickly it decomposes. Things like Alfalfa and Blood Meals or Guano will start decomposing pretty much immediately, and at an incredibly rapid rate. A compost pile that decomposes at such a high rate is capable of producing temperatures between 130-160F! If anything in your soil mix is composting at such a rate that it's producing those temps then you'll literally fry your roots. This is why people refer to amendments as "hot" or "that can burn".
Other ingredients decompose at a more slow and gradual pace, and these are the ingredients that won't cause burns/damage of any sort when used.
As you (and others) may or may not know, "cooking" soil is simply letting things decompose.
We "cook" soil for one of two reasons; 1) To deal with ingredients that are "hot" and 2) To build up a microbiology with various fungi and bacteria.
In the recipe I posted, none of the ingredients are hot at all. So you don't need to "cook" the soil for this reason because the ingredients in that recipe are very light and don't decompose at such a quick rate that it's going to produce 140-150 degree temps in your root zone. So this isn't an issue with the soil recipe I posted.
The other main reason people will "cook" a soil is to get the microbiology going, right? Well, it sounds logically enough at first and makes quite a bit of sense to want to cultivate a microbiology before planting anything into said soil. However, the thing to consider is that your compost should already have that amount of microbiology in it already! So if you have to "cook" your soil just to produce a decent microbiology then your compost input was likely garbage tier quality.
I've used this soil mix for the last 5-6 years now and see no reason to use anything else. In the long run, this soil is not only cheaper than everything else you can find, but it also produces the best results. The thing to consider is that it is absolutely imperative that your compost input is of the highest possible quality. Your soil can and will only be as good as the compost in it. It's just like with anything else; crap in, crap out. Quality in, Quality out.
I've never had to cook it, ever. There's no need because the compost I use is the best quality I can source, and I don't use organic amendments that require "cooking".
Unfortunately, not everyone is in a position to make their own compost. If it's a possibility for you in your particular situation, definitely look into it! Making your own compost and/or worm castings will produce the best results. However, if you can't make your compost you do have options but it's gonna cost you unfortunately. Don't buy worm castings unless it's from a worm farm you're personally visiting to pick them up. All the worm castings you find online are pure garbage and a complete waste of money. Look on Craigslist or something to find someone with a farm that is selling excess compost. When I lived in California I had a worm farm right down the street, they'd fill a 5g bucket for me for $15. If you can't find that, look into SunGro's Black Gold Compost, it's ~$7-$8 per cuft but it's not the best quality unfortunately. It's a lot better than most of the stuff on the market, but it's still mediocre. The best option of Coast of Maine's Lobster Compost, but it'll cost you ~$25-$30 per cuft online. Pricey, but well worth the money. You may even be fortunate enough to have a store that supplies it, if you don't have to buy the Lobster Compost online it typically retails for $10-$15 per cuft.
HTH.
I really agree with some of the people on here that are saying DWC is the easiest. That was what I used first and I had zero regrets. That being said, if you're wanting to use soil, rather than mess with Fox Farm Ocean Soil and having to mix stuff up, you could always order their Happy Frog soil mix and use it by itself.
Regarding meters, when I grew via DWC I never once used an EC meter, only a pH pen. I couldn't afford it for the first cycle. After having much success with that, I decided not to get one and really never had any major issues. Sure, there were some spots here and there, nothing drastic. Worried about root rot due to higher res temps? Get some hydroguard.
Why DWC? Because you're new to growing and the number one blunder that any new grower makes, and anyone in here will back me up on this, is that they over-water their girls when growing in soil. Over-watering isn't an issue regarding hydro. And what's the easiest, most noob-friendly way to do a hydro grow? Why, DWC of course.
To be fair, anything you put a lot of research and effort into should get you some good results. Don't be afraid to ask questions,
AND REMEMBER: when using nutes, less is more; it's better to underfeed than to overfeed.
Best of luck.
DWC can look intimidating, but I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said. Both soil and DWC are simple, yet complex for their own reasons. You're definitely right that people will typically experience better results in hydro then they will in soil for the reasons you described. The main hurdle is that setting up a DWC can seem rather intimidating at first, and it can have a higher start up cost than soil. However, as you said, you will get good results if you take it easy on the nutes and don't love them to death. As you pointed out, watering is something that most of us fuck up even still.
I do believe that soil is capable of producing the best results, however I also believe it's more finicky/tricky to deal with than a DWC or Coco grow. It's very tough to actually fuck up the watering in a DWC/coco grow. Soil though? Too much or too little water at any stage of the grow will produce problems of some sort down the line unfortunately. The main reason people recommend soil is because it's "plug and play" with nothing else required but planting a seed/clone into it. DWC/Coco requires maintenance and nutrient schedules.. but it truly will produce the best results for a novice trying to gain experience. That's why I recommend Coco (I believe some people use Coco even for DWC if I'm not mistaken?), it's totally foolproof and because of this it will allow you to get experience in everything else such as how the plant grows, what deficiencies/problems look like, what kind of growth to expect, and so on and so forth. Once people are armed with this knowledge after having a few grows under their belt, then tackle soil by all means. But in my experience, most failed new grows tend to be soil.
