Help with Soil Analysis Results

Deadneck43

Active Member
I'm sure you guys can help me. Been growing indoors for a few years now and after reading up on organics I decided to give it the ol' college try. I used the thread below to build my soil, the only changes I made were using FF OF and native soil for my base, because I live in the sticks and that is all I could get my hand on at the time. As far as the rest, I used the same recipe and did not deviate as far as I know (although I had to have screwed up somewhere).


So I let it marinate in some big trash cans for a couple of months, I popped some beans and once they were up and going I transplanted them into the soil I had mixed up. Let me tell you, they did horrible. Everything grew slowly and the plants just got to the point that they were doing so badly that I scrapped the grow and went back to my old ways. So in the meantime, I sent a sample off to get tested because I have a bunch of the stuff mixed up and I want to use it since I have a chunk of change wrapped into it. The results (posted below) really were surprising to me but I could see why my girls did so terrible, everything is out of balance. pH is good but most of the nutrients are either too high or too low, not much in the optimal range. What do I need to do to get this into a usable range? Any help would just be fantastic, thanks!

Soil Screenshot.png
 

youraveragehorticulturist

Well-Known Member
You could add more Inert stuff like aeration and peat moss to dilute or water down the nutrients that are too high.

Then you could find a way to add more micronutrients to bring up the levels of nutrients that are too low.

Maybe you could try Flushing some soil with a bunch of water to run-off excess water soluble nutrients.?
 

Toka416

Well-Known Member
Yeah chart shows what id expect, just cause ffof is full of nutrients. How much fox farm to native did you use? Anyway, the recipe prob assumes your soil is empty of nutrients. Ffof could be used alone with good results. Native soil is what you should test and start there. Then talk to people who know organics and build it up to optimal. Id say work with the soil you got and make it better.
 

weedstoner420

Well-Known Member
I think the "optimal" levels in soil tests are geared more towards field soil, which will probably be much less nutrient-dense than the "potting mix" you'd use for container plants. Anytime I've seen one of those soil tests for an indoor potting mix, the levels are way off the charts across the board.

That being said, you could probably add some micronutrients to balance things out. Maybe something like the BioAg TM-7 would work...?
 

Deadneck43

Active Member
I did 50/50 on the native soil to FFOF. We have a lot of clay in our soil and I was using what was leftover from when they put in a new septic field at my house, there was basically no topsoil in what I used. There's still a big pile out there, I could probably add more to dilute it. I can see where I got it too hot because of the OF and the clay probably didn't have many micronutrients in it. Adding something inert like peat moss sounds like a good idea as well, thanks for that. I'll also look into those micro nutes. Thanks for the advice guys, I really appreciate it!
 

Toka416

Well-Known Member
I did 50/50 on the native soil to FFOF. We have a lot of clay in our soil and I was using what was leftover from when they put in a new septic field at my house, there was basically no topsoil in what I used. There's still a big pile out there, I could probably add more to dilute it. I can see where I got it too hot because of the OF and the clay probably didn't have many micronutrients in it. Adding something inert like peat moss sounds like a good idea as well, thanks for that. I'll also look into those micro nutes. Thanks for the advice guys, I really appreciate it!
Sounds like a good plan. 50 50 mix might work or mix it weaker and top dress with your hot mix after you see how strong it is. Bumping up the micros sounds good too but then im no pro. Good luck!
 

Deadneck43

Active Member
Sounds like a good plan. 50 50 mix might work or mix it weaker and top dress with your hot mix after you see how strong it is. Bumping up the micros sounds good too but then im no pro. Good luck!
Thanks! I got some organic peat moss this week and ordered the 4 micro nutes that I was lacking. Going to mix everything up this weekend. I'll keep the thread up to date as my grow progresses. Appreciate the help all.
 

keep it real.

Well-Known Member
I'm sure you guys can help me. Been growing indoors for a few years now and after reading up on organics I decided to give it the ol' college try. I used the thread below to build my soil, the only changes I made were using FF OF and native soil for my base, because I live in the sticks and that is all I could get my hand on at the time. As far as the rest, I used the same recipe and did not deviate as far as I know (although I had to have screwed up somewhere).


So I let it marinate in some big trash cans for a couple of months, I popped some beans and once they were up and going I transplanted them into the soil I had mixed up. Let me tell you, they did horrible. Everything grew slowly and the plants just got to the point that they were doing so badly that I scrapped the grow and went back to my old ways. So in the meantime, I sent a sample off to get tested because I have a bunch of the stuff mixed up and I want to use it since I have a chunk of change wrapped into it. The results (posted below) really were surprising to me but I could see why my girls did so terrible, everything is out of balance. pH is good but most of the nutrients are either too high or too low, not much in the optimal range. What do I need to do to get this into a usable range? Any help would just be fantastic, thanks!

View attachment 5227700
I came across your post while doing some research for my own analysis and noticed our optimal ranges are different.. 6A4D0F7E-097A-488F-A710-DC49897306EB.png
 

keep it real.

Well-Known Member
Yes! Thank YOU for posting this! My test was done while the plants were finishing up. Giving me an idea of what was used and what was left. But I still kinda feel like I’m re-amending blindly haha.
 

Deadneck43

Active Member
Diluted my soil with some sphagnum peat moss, added in some micro nutes that I was short on, tossed in the last bit of FF soils that I had, threw in some dolomite lime, and mixed really well. Then put in my planters and got started. A little more than a month into veg and things are going well. I had to start feeding some organic cal-mag but outside of that, the girls are doing really well. Thanks to the guys that posted, it helped.
 
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