Can I Get A Soil Expert

[sargentscraps]

I need some advice on my soil mix for this years grow. The holes are going to be approximately 2 X 2 X 2 feet big which i calculated to being around 226 litres big. I want this grow to be organic so I hope to use the Searles range. I plan on using the 'Garden Soil Mix' which is on this page http://www.searles.com.au/SoilMixesComposts.html

and for an addition i plan on using 'Kick along organic potting mix' which is here

http://www.searles.com.au/OrganicRange.html

 

if the organic kick along has

 

• Searles 5 IN 1 Plus® Pellets Organic Plant Food

• Searles Fish & Kelp Plus®

• Blood & Bone

• Potash Bloom Booster

 

would it be stupid to add extra ferts such as poultry manure or dynamic lifter, would it be too much? and what would you guys think appropriate for a ratio of soil bags in each hole?

for say 150 litres of bought soil for one hole, would 3 bags of garden soil and 2 bags of organic kick along be reasonable?

I also plan on putting a good handful of water crystals and perlite in each hole as well. I've heard peat moss thrown around a bit as well, is that worth it?

What are the two best organic products for lowering and raising ph levels, I was planning on taking the ph level of each hole when mixed the adjusting accordingly, is it worth the effort, or would it be close enough anyway?

Sorry for all the questions, I want to get this as right as possible.

Edited September 17, 2010 by sargentscraps

[potrocket]

Heres my mix for this year ! Yours will need Epsom salts added to provide the magnesium or you can add it later diluted in water ! perlite will help as well or use washed sand !

 

75kg Searles premium Potting soil ( Composted 3 months)

50 kg Worm castings

2.5 kg Blood "n" Bone ( 9% calcium + T/E)

1 cup Dolimite lime (Pulverised)

1 cup Azomite ( Crushed Rock .+ T/E)

375grams Epsom salts . ( Magnesuim )

30kg Soil Activator ..naked gardner brand ( containing fulvic and humic Activators )

Edited September 17, 2010 by hazedaze

[Chronmasta]

Heres my mix for this year ! Yours will need Epsom salts added to provide the magnesium or you can add it later diluted in water ! perlite will help as well or use washed sand !

 

75kg Searles premium Potting soil ( Composted 3 months)

50 kg Worm castings

2.5 kg Blood "n" Bone ( 9% calcium + T/E)

1 cup Dolimite lime (Pulverised)

1 cup Azomite ( Crushed Rock .+ T/E)

375grams Epsom salts . ( Magnesuim )

30kg Soil Activator ..naked gardner brand ( containing fulvic and humic Activators )

g`day mate, pardon my ignorance, but that seems like an awful lot of b&b and castings ....roughly how many holes would that cater for? .....dont have to answer exact numbers but im interested to know, have you tried this mix?

 

stay safe,

chron

[potrocket]

G'day Chron, My seedlings are in this mix at the moment mate in my Monster outdoor grow ! First run with this mix ! I'm aiming to grow 4 females in 35ish litre pots ! I kinda added a couple of variances into subs mix ! I've also left a few out of this mix ! I'll be using liquid flowering nutes when the time is right ..cheers mate !

[Syb3 rm3nt41_%20]

Heres my mix for this year ! Yours will need Epsom salts added to provide the magnesium or you can add it later diluted in water ! perlite will help as well or use washed sand !

 

75kg Searles premium Potting soil ( Composted 3 months)

50 kg Worm castings

2.5 kg Blood "n" Bone ( 9% calcium + T/E)

1 cup Dolimite lime (Pulverised)

1 cup Azomite ( Crushed Rock .+ T/E)

375grams Epsom salts . ( Magnesuim )

30kg Soil Activator ..naked gardner brand ( containing fulvic and humic Activators )

 

 

Ermmm, I would not advise on this. The humic and fulvic from the soil activator is not necessary .... it will send the 50kg of worm castings through the cieling, giving you an EC of higher than 3.5 ... I know this because i have recently used the same brand .... and used ONE handful to MUCH more soil than you just mentioned, i know you look at the above list and think yeahhh, everything hte plant needs, but ANY young plant you put into that mix is going to suffer REAL quick. end of story. and 375grams of magnesium ? You have to be kidding right lmfao ? this is way too much magnesium. I would use Searles premium potting mix of the NAFTA organic potting mix from bunnings, its good shit, organic certified (by nafta) .... Searles 5-n-1 ....... 3 75kg bags to half the searles 5-n-1 bag.. You can always check the runoff of the finished potting mix - check it after 2 or 3 full waterings with straight ph 6'd water 0 ec....., be sure to mix everything in very well, i would add some perlite to the mix though for aeration mostly and i'd even add a lil coco, but thats just my 2cents. I'm not an expert by any means but hey, unless youre growing for a CO-OP legal grow op for thousands of patients and harvest 40 or 50 pound a harvest for say 5 or 10 years, then most would consider you an expert i think. But with my experience with the above additives .... I wouldnt overdo the soil activator, i would actually leave it out altogether. I recently made a soil mix with less than the organic additives you have mentioned haze daze... with only one handful of the soil activator ... RUNOFF from mix - 3.5 ec ..... I wont be using the naked farmer soil activator again ... if you want fulvic / humic, it would prob be safer to buy a nutrient/additive with fulvic and humic in it ... just a thought ...

 

Peace N Pot. errr, take it easy hey ? .,..., ,.,. but .... TAKE IT

[potrocket]

Heres my mix for this year ! Yours will need Epsom salts added to provide the magnesium or you can add it later diluted in water ! perlite will help as well or use washed sand !

 

75kg Searles premium Potting soil ( Composted 3 months)

50 kg Worm castings

2.5 kg Blood "n" Bone ( 9% calcium + T/E)

1 cup Dolimite lime (Pulverised)

1 cup Azomite ( Crushed Rock .+ T/E)

375grams Epsom salts . ( Magnesuim )

30kg Soil Activator ..naked gardner brand ( containing fulvic and humic Activators )

 

 

Ermmm, I would not advise on this. The humic and fulvic from the soil activator is not necessary .... it will send the 50kg of worm castings through the cieling, giving you an EC of higher than 3.5 ... I know this because i have recently used the same brand .... and used ONE handful to MUCH more soil than you just mentioned, i know you look at the above list and think yeahhh, everything hte plant needs, but ANY young plant you put into that mix is going to suffer REAL quick. end of story. and 375grams of magnesium ? You have to be kidding right lmfao ? this is way too much magnesium. I would use Searles premium potting mix of the NAFTA organic potting mix from bunnings, its good shit, organic certified (by nafta) .... Searles 5-n-1 ....... 3 75kg bags to half the searles 5-n-1 bag.. You can always check the runoff of the finished potting mix - check it after 2 or 3 full waterings with straight ph 6'd water 0 ec....., be sure to mix everything in very well, i would add some perlite to the mix though for aeration mostly and i'd even add a lil coco, but thats just my 2cents. I'm not an expert by any means but hey, unless youre growing for a CO-OP legal grow op for thousands of patients and harvest 40 or 50 pound a harvest for say 5 or 10 years, then most would consider you an expert i think. But with my experience with the above additives .... I wouldnt overdo the soil activator, i would actually leave it out altogether. I recently made a soil mix with less than the organic additives you have mentioned haze daze... with only one handful of the soil activator ... RUNOFF from mix - 3.5 ec ..... I wont be using the naked farmer soil activator again ... if you want fulvic / humic, it would prob be safer to buy a nutrient/additive with fulvic and humic in it ... just a thought ...

 

Peace N Pot. errr, take it easy hey ? .,..., ,.,. but .... TAKE IT

Cheers mate for ya input ! But my seedlings are doing fine thanks Yet my plants will benefit even more so ...I enjoy if ULYAO watch my journal and laugh harder in 6 months bro !Peace and best wishes ! Opps i should add that as i stated up there that this mix is similiar to subs mix but he adds superphos and blood he also uses bone which isnt supplied in oz note he also uses roots soil and refers to his soil ratings in Lb ( pounds) he uses 8 x 30 pound bags which is close to 15kg per bag in oz metric ....hence the reason why i'm using 75kg with 20ish kg extra castings and 30kg of naked farmer if soil activators are no good for for using as a soil ammendment why is it for sale ? . Marijauna IME loves magnesium during the vegetative growth cycle and in 4 months time most of the mag will have been leached out of the soil and the calcium will then be available for the flowering period and wont be locked out !I'm also using 50kg extra product than sub and thats why i'm using 120grms extra mag (epsom salts).. Kinda why i'm using high B+B in high calcuim and 1 cup of dolimite ! Dolimite serves 2 purposes ! I am no expert med grower but i do my best at acheiving optimal results. Yet i am only attempting to offer ideas to sarge regarding his post ! I could inform you about yates premium and ya 5 in 1 but that wont be helping sarge ! Hell mate i cant say if its gonna workout in the longrun but for now alls good ...ya never know mate my trial an error may allow you to use this mix in the future ! I'm just going for the guinea pig run ! But take that .. !

Edited September 18, 2010 by hazedaze

[sargentscraps]

thanks for the detailed replies, you and left me a bit up in arms about what to go for. If anyone could be bothered and had a recipe that was tried and tested could you post it in per hole measurements? such as 75L of soil, 15 kilos organic 5 in 1....etc. Do you recommend the magnesium and soil activators? dont know if i should worry that much, im sure they will grow fine with a standard simple recipe. What about the PH, should i get one of those tester kits and adjust it or is it not worth it?

cheers

scraps

[potrocket]

Last year i used 100% organic compost (home made ) with chook poop, blood and bone,2 cups of dolimite lime, mushroom compost, cow poop, which i had composted for 2 months along with all of the garden scraps i.e lawn clippings, bannana peels and a whole variety of greens i have also added around 100 worms every 2 weeks to do the buiseness in the compost heap ! I also added topsoil 25.. % perlite 30% and some potting mix all organic with no added fertiliser ! And 375gm box of epsom salts ! Maybe not what you are looking for but i say hard work gets results and i dont mind a bit of the ole sweat !

Edited September 18, 2010 by hazedaze

[sargentscraps]

I follow all the ingredients, just as you guys have mentioned. What I don't understand is how much to put in? if you chcuck all this shit together dont you worry your ph is going to be off and shit will go wrong? whats the deal Edited September 19, 2010 by sargentscraps

[potrocket]

Hiya sarge,If you have 20kg bags throw them all in together and 20-30% washed sand or perlite a few days before potting up but let your manure and soil compost for at least 6 weeks its way to hot to use straight away .. Dolimite lime will assist in keeping the ph levels in the 6.8-7.0 region ! If i am growing indoors i adjust my tap water with a splash of lemon juice concentrate and this brings my water to ph6.5 ! I generally use rain water whenever possible and have around 50ltrs stored at any given time... but i do run out now and again ! Two things help to keep the ph balance of the soil = Dolimite lime and continual rain water / tap water feeding ! The rain also helps during the composting period ! I usaully throw in around 1 handful of lime per 20 kg of soil/compost mix ! If you use coco coir its recommended to let it soak in 6.5ph water for 24hrs because it isnt ph balanced ! Edited September 19, 2010 by hazedaze