I made all the soil I'm currently using in late summer/early fall. I over-complicated the hell out of it but I think that I've ended up with a more consistent soil that's giving me far less problems than my previous mix that I ended up having pH/calcium availability issues with.
I started off making my compost mix portion in mid summer. Its not ideal and I know there's a few people that are going to say that "its easier and cheaper to do it yourself"... that requires foresight of the need and the time to make the compost, frankly I had neither but was more than glad to pay for some quality bagged products.
In 8-10 (could have been as high as 12.... terrible memory) 35 gallon totes I mixed up a few storebought compost items. Each tub recieved a deposit of:
(2) 40lb bags of Green Thumb mushroom compost
25lb bag of earthworm castings.... good shit, as good as it gets without coming out of your own bin
1.5 cubic feet Monrovia Plant Compost
1.5 cubic feet Monrovia Soil Amendment
4lb bag of Espoma Bio-Tone Starter+ 4-3-3 (Hydrolyzed Feather Meal, Pasteurized Poultry Manure, Cocoa Meal, Bone Meal, Alfalfa Meal, Greensand, Humates, Sulfate of Potash, and
Sulfate of Potash Magnesia)
I've used a wide range of Monrovia products for a couple of years now in the veggie garden, all quality and mostly organic... not 100% sure what's in their soil amendment but I think its got some oscomote in it, not organic but it works well enough for me to allow it into the "grey area". I've tried to be 100% organic in the past, have had a few issues with the soil I mix myself until this new batch.
I let this sit for at least a month, feel it was closer to 6 weeks though. It came out smelling fucking great and it had a pretty good consistency considering its moisture retention properties.
Given that I'm growing many strains, a lot of blueberry crosses with a few sativa leaning crosses that eat on the light side of things I saw the need for many different soils. I had previous experience working with
ProMix BX and Sunshine #4 and realized they'd be perfect in helping me achieve the differences I needed. The SS4 is what I used for the hotter mixes, the heavier feeders also tend to need better moisture retention as they drink more. I used the BX in the lighter feeders, if it was available at my nursery I woulda used the shit that has
yucca in it instead.
The measurements given are how much I mixed together at one time, any more and you're working too damn hard to mix it evenly.
Seed Starter - I start seedlings and clones in this
5 gallons
ProMix BX
1 gallon EWC
1/2 gallon chunky #4 perlite
1/3 cup dolomite lime
1/4 cup Espoma Bio-Tone Starter+ 4-3-3 (Hydrolyzed Feather Meal, Pasteurized Poultry Manure, Cocoa Meal, Bone Meal, Alfalfa Meal, Greensand, Humates, Sulfate of Potash, and
Sulfate of Potash Magnesia)
Mid-Late Veg Mix - I usually do 2-3 transplants after the seed starter mix, I only use this in veg
3 gallons compost mix
5 gallons
ProMix BX
1 gallon chunky #4 perlite
1.5 cup dolomite lime
1.75 cup Monrovia 3-6-4 (feather meal, bone meal, blood meal, potash of magnesia, kelp meal and alfalfa meal)
1 cup Dr. Earth's Kelp .6-.5-2.5
1 cup Espoma Jersey Green Sand 0-0-.1
1/2 cup Sunleaves Peruvian Seabird Guano 10-10-2
Normal Feeder Mix - has Sunshine Mix #4
5 gallons compost mix
5 gallons Sunshine Mix #4
2 gallons bricked GH coir
1 gallon chunky #4 perlite
1.5 cups dolomite lime
2 cups Monrovia 5-6-6 (feather meal, bone meal, blood meal, potash of magnesia, kelp meal and alfalfa meal)
1 cup Dr. Earth's Kelp .6-.5-2.5
1 cup Espoma Jersey Green Sand 0-0-.1
1/2 cup Sunleaves Peruvian Seabird Guano 10-10-2
Light Feeder Mix - has
ProMix BX
5 gallons compost mix
5 gallons
ProMix BX
2 gallons bricked GH coir
1 gallon chunky #4 perlite
1.5 cups dolomite lime
1.75 cups Monrovia 3-6-4 (feather meal, bone meal, blood meal, potash of magnesia, kelp meal and alfalfa meal)
1 cup Dr. Earth's Kelp .6-.5-2.5
1 cup Espoma Jersey Green Sand 0-0-.1
1/2 cup Sunleaves Peruvian Seabird Guano 10-10-2
Guano - No Coir - has mix of BX and SS4
5 gallons compost mix
3 gallons Sunshine Mix #4
2 gallons
Promix BX
1 gallon chunky #3 perlite
1/3 cup Sunleaves Mexican Bat Guano 10-2-1
1/3 cup Sunleaves Peruvian Seabird Guano 10-10-2
1/3 cup Sunleaves Jamaican Bat Guano 1-10-.2
1/3 cup Sunleaves Indonesian Guano .5-12-.2
1.5 cups dolomite lime
1 cup Dr. Earth's Kelp .6-.5-2.5
1 cup Espoma Jersey Green Sand 0-0-.1
Earth Juice Mix - has
ProMix BX / No Coir - to be used in conjunction with a bottled organic fert/regular AACT diet
5 gallons compost mix
5 gallons
Promix BX
1 gallon chunky #3 perlite
3/4 cup
FoxFarm Tomato & Vegetable 7-4-5 (feather meal, bone meal, fish meal, fish bone meal, sulphate of potash of magnesia, alfalfa meal, blood meal, bat guano, kelp meal and gypsum)
3/4 cup
FoxFarm Fruit & Flower 5-8-4 (feather meal, bone meal, hydrolyzed fish, fish meal, fish bone meal, sulphate of potash of magnesia, alfalfa meal, blood meal, bat guano, rock phosphate and gypsum)
1.5 cups dolomite lime
1 cup Espoma Jersey Green Sand 0-0-.1
After mixing I added Espoma Garden Gypsum @ .75 cups/~15-20 gallons of medium and watered with a nice EWC/molasses tea.
I let the mix sit and was not happy with how much water it retained, too much mushroom compost me thinks...... In lieu of that issue I have been mixing what comes out of my tubs at a 3:1 ratio with
ProMix BX before planting. My plants are happy so I will likely continue cutting my tubs with the BX and supplement the nutrients lost with top dressings of EWC/guano/kelp after the stretch stops. Just to make sure its clear:
I HAVE BEEN CUTTING WHAT IS IN MY TUBS WITH
PROMIX BX AT A 3:1 RATIO DUE TO MOISTURE RETENTION ISSUES
