Budget Mix Or Pro Mix In Canada?

MedicalDave · Feb 19, 2019

Greetings friends,
I’m headed to Winnipeg and looking to pick up around 40 gallons of soil for next round. I’m on a tight budget and am looking for recommendations for a premixed bail(promix hp) or simple recipe. (30%peat, 30%perlite/vermiculite, 30%manure compost, 10% earthworm castings)

For consideration:
- Doesn’t have to be organic. I have botanicair cns17 nutrients.
-Using 3 gal pots under 1000w mh/hps. 20-30 Celsius, 35-60 rh.
-Hand watering, don’t want to be daily. 3-5 days would be ideal.
- Hopefully something available at canadian tire/ peavey mart/ Rona/ or Walmart.
- Something affordable and forgiving for a new grower.

Dirtbag · Feb 19, 2019

Use this stuff. You can buy it at peavey and It's like pro mix but its sterilized so doesnt have fungus gnats in it. r.

And those Amazon prices are out to lunch. Those should all be 30-40 bucks a bag. The peavy mart sterilized stuff is even cheape

MedicalDave · Feb 19, 2019

Dirtbag said:
Use this stuff. You can buy it at peavey and It's like pro mix but its sterilized so doesnt have fungus gnats in it.
View attachment 857410

Right on! Thanks buddy! I looked it up and it’s 7.99$ For 50 liters.
Not much is available locally here. Amazon is crazy for certain products, and shipping dirt across the country is expensive too. Especially since greyhound pulled out. I will pick some up at peavymart for sure.

Do you need to add anything, or is straight out of the bag “good enough for the girls I go with”?

Dirtbag · Feb 19, 2019

MedicalDave said:
Right on! Thanks buddy! I looked it up and it’s 7.99$ For 50 liters.
Not much is available locally here. Amazon is crazy for certain products, and shipping dirt across the country is expensive too. Especially since greyhound pulled out. I will pick some up at peavymart for sure.

Do you need to add anything, or is straight out of the bag “good enough for the girls I go with”?

You can treat it just like promix. Out of the bag just give it water and a light dose of nutrients suitable for the plant size you are planting. It has worm castings in it but you still need to feed the plants in it just like any other "soiless" mix.

SnowshoeJoe · Feb 19, 2019

Has anybody tried this? I picked it up at a local Garden store here on Vancouver Island. It looks a little like Fox Farms Ocean Harvest.

Dirtbag · Feb 19, 2019

SnowshoeJoe said:
Has anybody tried this? I picked it up at a local Garden store here on Vancouver Island. It looks a little like Fox Farms Ocean Harvest.

Never tried that but it does look pretty similar to FF ocean forest plus.

I tend to stay away from those hot premixed soils though.

SnowshoeJoe · Feb 19, 2019

Dirtbag said:
Never tried that but it does look pretty similar to FF ocean forest plus.

I tend to stay away from those hot premixed soils though.

I'm looking for good soil, I'm recently back to BC after many years in Orange County, California. I was growing down there but everything up here is new to me. I grow organic soil with Earth Juice, insect frass and teas. I'm finding my way but it's a bit of an adjustment. I'll look for the soil you posted. I don't know if I've seen a Peavey Mart anywhere around here. What do you think about Blue Sky soil? It's pricey but looks like a water only super soil.

Dirtbag · Feb 19, 2019

Yeah the guy I know who uses that soil lives in SK. but you can probably get it at Rona or CT. I'm going to try and find it for my next grow, using proterra right now.

can't help with the blue sky, never heard of it. Cinnabar valley makes a good organic soil mix you would probably like, you can probably find it at a garden center.

SnowshoeJoe · Feb 19, 2019

Dirtbag said:
Yeah the guy I know who uses that soil lives in SK. but you can probably get it at Rona or CT. I'm going to try and find it for my next grow, using proterra right now.

can't help with the blue sky, never heard of it. Cinnabar valley makes a good organic soil mix you would probably like, you can probably find it at a garden center.

Simply Earth™ is our pre-fertilized Super Soil which is the core of the BlueSky Organics system. This specifically formulated growing media is packaged with 18 premium ingredients. It is bio-inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi, microbes, and beneficial bacteria to boost the performance of your plants.

This active community of soil microbes convert typically unavailable nutrients into plant-absorbable forms, allowing the plant to take them up. This availability leads to higher performance, resilience, and quality. Super Soil converts typically unavailable nutrients into easy-to-absorb forms which supplies precise nutrients for each stage of growth.

They're in Vernon.

Dirtbag · Feb 19, 2019

Sounds like good chit!

Jimster · Feb 20, 2019

I use nothing but Promix, not sure of actual name but it comes in the compressed bale. The price is WAY out of line, though. In the States, a bale of Promix is between $28-60...cheapest at Agway (not sure if they have those up north), with Lowes and Home Depot having them for about $40 US. I've used it for 40 years with no problems whatsoever...unless I was responsible!
Just my recommendation.

Dirtbag · Feb 20, 2019

Jimster said:
I use nothing but Promix, not sure of actual name but it comes in the compressed bale. The price is WAY out of line, though. In the States, a bale of Promix is between $28-60...cheapest at Agway (not sure if they have those up north), with Lowes and Home Depot having them for about $40 US. I've used it for 40 years with no problems whatsoever...unless I was responsible!
Just my recommendation.

This has been my go-to for 20 years. Pro-mix HP with mycos. Big white 107L bag. I've stopped using it the last year though because lately it's been just absolutely full of fungus gnats and also very hot out of the bag. Its earned the nickname gnat and aphid mix on Van-isle. The last one I used was slurry testing fresh from the bag at 4+ec and ph was around 5, I had to flush the crap out of it which sort of ruined the lime buffer it's supposed to have... But I put up with the relentless fungus gnats for a year and then I picked up root aphids that I'm 99% sure came from it too. Soil is pretty much the only thing that goes in and out of my room.

I haven't had any issues since switching to proterra but since it's basically the same stuff as promix I still worry about bringing in insect eggs. Which is why I recommended the stuff above seeing as its sterilized. The dude I know using it has had excellent results and zero bugs.

gwheels · Feb 20, 2019

Google organic soil in your area. In my area we can get blue bird organic but you have to buy a yard of it so you better be growing ! lol.
I also have found ocean forest and happy frog in a lot of stores now. I mix those 3 happy frog to 1 ocean forest for outdoor plants and it worked very well.

Mr.Juice · Feb 20, 2019

Jimster said:
I use nothing but Promix, not sure of actual name but it comes in the compressed bale. The price is WAY out of line, though. In the States, a bale of Promix is between $28-60...cheapest at Agway (not sure if they have those up north), with Lowes and Home Depot having them for about $40 US. I've used it for 40 years with no problems whatsoever...unless I was responsible!
Just my recommendation.

I’m in Ontario and needing to get some more promix myself. Prices for media on amazon are way out of whack because of the shipping costs. They just incorporate into the price. Here “Crappy Tire” sells compressed bales of promix HP for $33.99. I actually went they other day to go and grab one but they were stored outside and frozen solid on the pallet. I’ve since been told by friends not to purchase from big box stores that store product outside for the possibility of introducing bugs. Not sure what the consensus on that would be, but makes sense to me. Will grab from my local grow store, just wasn’t open the day I decided to go out.

gwheels · Feb 20, 2019

Wrong bird. Its called black swallow soil and its in Brantford Ontario. For what i use though a 2 cubic foot bag of happy frog for 30 bucks is not so bad. I will grow 2 plants outside in 25 gallon pots so 3 bags and some perlite or whathaveyou will fill them. But if i were growing them bigger i would go get black swallow because its not so far from here.

Now that we are legal though i wonder if i should get a 100 gallon fabric pot....I will have to check out the sunlight situation at the new place in April and decide. I might go all indoor because of the control. I like that a lot.

If you want to go to coco bales are pretty cheap from every place but a bag of already prepped stuff is easier at twice the cost.

Ghost Train Hazed Brain today for some reason..must have been that giant ghost train haze gagger i smoked...outside at the hotel with the smoekrs. I love Canada. I brought a half on the plane in case i got caught here due to weather. :D

Dirtbag · Feb 20, 2019

Mr.Juice said:
I’m in Ontario and needing to get some more promix myself. Prices for media on amazon are way out of whack because of the shipping costs. They just incorporate into the price. Here “Crappy Tire” sells compressed bales of promix HP for $33.99. I actually went they other day to go and grab one but they were stored outside and frozen solid on the pallet. I’ve since been told by friends not to purchase from big box stores that store product outside for the possibility of introducing bugs. Not sure what the consensus on that would be, but makes sense to me. Will grab from my local grow store, just wasn’t open the day I decided to go out.

The bags are sealed up pretty good, I think the majority of the the gnats and aphids in it comes from the plant that packages it. All the bags I've bought were from indoor storage at hydro shops and it's always brimming with gnats.

Jack og · Feb 20, 2019

Damn y’all pay too much for soil!
Find a local landscape supply house and get virgin potting mix, I have a supply house that mixes my stuff but I buy in 10k pound qty at a time. Still 8-11 $ a bag if you can strike a good relationship.
In a pinch, coco / perlite is basically promix, add. Your amendment and fauna/ bacterial, flora/ fungal as a tea mix. .

SnowshoeJoe · May 13, 2019

SnowshoeJoe said:
Has anybody tried this? I picked it up at a local Garden store here on Vancouver Island. It looks a little like Fox Farms Ocean Harvest.

I don't recommend this soil for cannabis, too acidic. The PH of soil is 5.5 and I fought PH issues throughout grow. It was OK n veg state but plants didn't like it in flower stage.

Jimster · May 13, 2019

Dirtbag said:
This has been my go-to for 20 years. Pro-mix HP with mycos. Big white 107L bag.

The Promix that I get is n a bale in a brown plastic wrapper. I'm not sure how many different versions that they make, but I have never seen it in a white plastic bag except for non-baled bags of it. I've never had any bug problems, but maybe the cold temps around here during winter kill of anything that is living in the bales. The bales were always well sealed and the stuff inside was bone dry. A bale filled about 8 or 9 5-6 gallon buckets.

Dirtbag · May 13, 2019

Jimster said:
The Promix that I get is n a bale in a brown plastic wrapper. I'm not sure how many different versions that they make, but I have never seen it in a white plastic bag except for non-baled bags of it. I've never had any bug problems, but maybe the cold temps around here during winter kill of anything that is living in the bales. The bales were always well sealed and the stuff inside was bone dry. A bale filled about 8 or 9 5-6 gallon buckets.

they have a few different lines. I know the old BX used to come in black bags, but BX with mycos comes in white bags, as does the HP. At least it does here.. Maybe different in the US? I'm not sure.

The HP I use looks like this;

It is also bone dry and well sealed. But once you get it wet fungus gnats emerge like crazy. I can usually fill 16 pots with 3 gallons of soil with one bale.

Budget Mix Or Pro Mix In Canada?

Budget Mix Or Pro Mix In Canada?

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Budget Mix Or Pro Mix In Canada?

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