Newbie needs advice on soil mix

Hi all
I am new grower.I have very limited access to organic material used in grow guides and books. I will mention what I have available as grow medium and fertilizer. You tell me What's the best mix for me to grow on? Take into account that I have no experience growing anything. I have no PH / EC meter or RO machine. Think very treditional. I'll explain everything so u guys can better assist me.
Here is my set up for young seedlings clones and plants in vegetation period:
It's (1 w 0.4 d 2 h) meters closet with 4 fluorescent lamps at 20 watts each and a computer fan for air circulation. I am planning on having a very short vegetation period and bloom them really small. I figured it has less complication to go SOG since the total time is shorter. Ex. Salt build up, ph of soil changing drastically, nute lock out, mold, pests, etc. here is what I have available :
-Cocopeat I think it's a very low quality cause it has lots of salt and other crap in it. I kinda wash them and let em sit on watter for a few hours three or four times before use
-Peatmoss that is pre-mixed with (30-40)% perlite+ vermiculite
-Localy made non sterilized potting soil
-lava rocks of different size. They are different in shape and color with the ones u have in states or Canada but I think they serve the same purpose.
-sand collected from river !
Here is what I have available as fertilizer:
-vermicompost
- chicken manure ( the spelling might be wrong. It's chicken crap I think mixed with something )
-variety of different NPK chemichal fertilizers
- animal fertelizer that is mostly from cow/sheep/horse crap they use in on farms over here. I don't like this1. It smells. My grow closet is in my bedroom. So unless I really have to, smelly fertelizer is a no no.
I would like to add that I would prefer to go organic and not use any chemicals unless I have to. I have the time to spend in grow room or water them twice a day but I don't have any of the monitoring equipments and limited access to materials needed mentioned in books and guides. So please help me grow some smokable ganja. Here is the question again :
What's the best potting mix from what materials I have availbe to me mentioned above?

Put the lava rock in the bottom of the pot, two layers of window screen over the rocks(fabric screen), coco peat perlite mix on top of the rocks+screen. Look up hempy buckets. Im sure you need to ph adjust for that soil mix so you will need to add some acid. How much? That's what the ph test kit is for $15 on amazon. If you have local farms for fertilizer I suggest composting it first. Composted it should just smell like rich earthy soil I compost mine and mix my own soil all the time. If your growing organically you might be able to get away with not adjusting ph. Coco and perlite is a soilless mix and would need to be ph adjusted

Thank you doc. Oh I am sorry I think my post was misleading. I have paper PH tester I just don't have the digital one so it won't be as precise. The label on the Peatmoss bag shows PH of 5.5.
If I use organic fertilizer like vermicompost or any other do I need to feed nuts to my plant when watering? I can't find any liquid organic fertelizer so if I have to feed it, it will be chemical fertelizer. I would love to feed them with composed tea but don't have the organics needed.

i would listen to the doc he knows what he is talking about go over to the grow journal and check out his work quiet impressive

limolax said:

Thank you doc. Oh I am sorry I think my post was misleading. I have paper PH tester I just don't have the digital one so it won't be as precise. The label on the Peatmoss bag shows PH of 5.5.
If I use organic fertilizer like vermicompost or any other do I need to feed nuts to my plant when watering? I can't find any liquid organic fertelizer so if I have to feed it, it will be chemical fertelizer. I would love to feed them with composed tea but don't have the organics needed.

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The difference between organic growing and hydro with chemicals is when you grow organic you're growing soil and the plant just lives in the soil. microbes build up, poop and thats what feeds your plant. When you're growing hydro you always feed the plant. Any organic matter you give the plant would be pointless because the salts would just kill the microbes off.

Dr.Pecker said:

Any organic matter you give the plant would be pointless because the salts would just kill the microbes off.

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What salt? Could you explain more please? So when ppl are growing hydroponically thay cant grow organic?! I am bit confused.

I'm saying do one or the other.

limolax said:

What salt? Could you explain more please? So when ppl are growing hydroponically thay cant grow organic?! I am bit confused.

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When you are growing Hydroponics you are feeding the plants root system with nutrients.. When you are growing organically you are feeding the soil. Then the living microbes and fungi breakdown the soil matter and the plant derives its nutrient's from the soil

My soil mix is good and safe for any stage of growth and the mix is as follows:

1 bail of Pro Mix
1 big bag of organic EWC (earth worm castings)
1 big bag of organic lobster compost
4 cups organic blood meal.

There are other additives that could be included, but this mix will take you from seed to flower without having to feed.

Thanks everyone for sharing. Considering what I have available this is what I am gonna go with as grow medium.
1 part potting soil. It's Localy made.
1 part vermicompost as fertelizer
1 part Peatmoss ( it has 30% perlite+vermiculite premixed in it )
1 part sand so it drains faster
0.2 part of other organic fertelizers if I can get any or if they won't smell that bad. But I might add none to the soil and go with just the vermicompost and see if the plant shows any sighn of deficiency during growth I ll provide some organic compost tea or liquid organics fertelizer via soil or foliage spray. Wish me luck. I am so exited. Waiting on the vermicompost to be delivered still.

I would forget the sand, the peat moss pearlite and vermiculite will handle the drainage, sand tends to clump up and turn into a rock after a few waterings
IMHO

I would exclude the sand too and add large perlite instead. Keep in mind, your soil should start with the basics of N,P, and K. Don't over think that. Unless you have a lot of experience and have had some good guidance on the subject, I would avoid doing anything foliar.

Mad_Prophessor said:

My soil mix is good and safe for any stage of growth and the mix is as follows:

1 bail of Pro Mix
1 big bag of organic EWC (earth worm castings)
1 big bag of organic lobster compost
4 cups organic blood meal.

There are other additives that could be included, but this mix will take you from seed to flower without having to feed.

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That mix is unbalanced, incomplete, and overall terrible.. If you like the claw use that or do some research on Super Soils. A friend of mine on here @dannyboy602 gave me an awesome recipe that's balanced and complete. He might share it with you if you ask him nicely.

Mad_Prophessor said:

I would exclude the sand too and add large perlite instead. Keep in mind, your soil should start with the basics of N,P, and K. Don't over think that. Unless you have a lot of experience and have had some good guidance on the subject, I would avoid doing anything foliar.

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He shouldn't have any trouble spraying a foliar compost tea all the way up to 2 weeks into flower.. I wouldn't spray it over once a week. but I've found it to be quite beneficial.

Too much meal in my mix caused problems for me so i learned to stay away from them.
All my N came from the castings and the composted cow manure I used. Never had claw
after that. Heres a quick run down:

peat lite base...promix has peat and perlite mixed at the right proportions.
Peat has no nutritional value, nor does perlite so here is your Nitrogen:
Worm Castings
Composted cow manure (never buy dehydrated, its caustic)
I use Rock phosphate for P
I use Greensand for K
and I used Azomite for 70 different types of basic elements needed in small quantities
I added a handful of dolomite lime for Magnesium and Calcium

I did all this by eye and feel. If u want exact rates Ima have to go back to my notes.

Cpappa27 said:

That mix is unbalanced, incomplete, and overall terrible.. If you like the claw use that or do some research on Super Soils. A friend of mine on here @dannyboy602 gave me an awesome recipe that's balanced and complete. He might share it with you if you ask him nicely.

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Don't make a claim like that without something to back it up. What part is problematic and how do you FEEL it should be different. I am not saying that I want to "try" this mix, I have been using it for years.

Point out the problem, don't trash talk my proven method with jack shit to back up your claim. If you want to share your recipe, do it. If not, stroke your ego on somebody else's time.

Foliar feeding is dangerous without knowing what you are doing, period.

Thank you for all the great advice. please respect others opinions. if you have anything better share then. lets drop this please and focus on the task at hand (my hand lol) thanks again all.
Well I guess I drop the sand. I haven't been able to find any green sand over here. I have worm casting ( vermicompost ) and chicken manure can also get cow fertelizer from farms. But again no Azomite or anzymes and such additive. I finally got my hand on some agricultural lime. So if my mix is :
1 part potting soil
1 part vermicompost
1 part Peatmoss ( has perlite + vermiculite)
0.2 part chicken manure
0.2 cow poop
little bit of agricultural lime
Does it have enough K in it? or better does it have enough organics and other micro stuff and beneficial bactiria and microbes so i dont have to feed untill harvest? since i have no green sand what else can i replace it with to provide enough k in my medium? as i explained i have very limited access to organics and other additives here
i am planing on having a very short vegitation period. i ll go more SOG than SCORG. i thought shorter time means less complication in the plant or soil and less time to keep my medium balanced. right? or ?!
I ll appriciate all the great tips and hints. CheeeerZ all

Mad_Prophessor said:

Don't make a claim like that without something to back it up. What part is problematic and how do you FEEL it should be different. I am not saying that I want to "try" this mix, I have been using it for years.

Point out the problem, don't trash talk my proven method with jack shit to back up your claim. If you want to share your recipe, do it. If not, stroke your ego on somebody else's time.

Foliar feeding is dangerous without knowing what you are doing, period.

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What part of imbalanced and incomplete didn't you get? Your mix is all Nitrogen with small amounts of PK, and micros are where? Cal/mag? Sure it will get you through a grow but your plants wont perform the way they would if they had a balanced diet. If it works for you my friend then by all means use it. You were giving out incorrect advice and I corrected it. Try that recipe Dannyboy posted and just look at the difference in plant performance.

I use Blue Planet nutes. Their diet is balanced.

I found lots of new organics after a very long search I fond a provider for different meals mentioned in different guide and threads:
Bone mean, blood mean, fish meal, kelp mean.
Also found liquid and powder sea weed.
Unfortunately the dosage and nutrient value of thise things are very variable here and they don't have any consistency. When you buy medicine made here the dosage changes from one pill to another ( same pill same sheet) so I can't expect them to be very accurate when providing poop like material for plants or animal feeding. I should make a new post with all the new materials. Thx everyone for all the great info