I wanna switch from hydro to organic soil

[legaleyes13]

I hate dealing with big hydro reservoirs. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. And I really hate that I have 5 of them. 1 for veg and 4 for flower on a perpetual setup. Having to have continuous ph/ppm/temp meters for each one, having to dump and refill them all on the same day every couple of weeks. Having to throw frozen bottles in each one because I don't want to run 5 different chillers, or even one chiller (because of the extra electricity). And of course buying a shitload of nutes. There are a few more things that make it so so inconvenient but the bottomline is I hate it.

I've never grown in soil of any kind, but have grown just about every way possible in hydro. I'm ready and more than willing to give soil a try if it is practical for my situation. I just bought a lot of money worth of nutes for my hydro setup, but I'm willing to discard it all, even give it away to a kind soul on this site. I honestly am. But what I'm hoping to do for my soil setup is this: 5 4x4 soil beds, 1 for veg and 4 for flower. I'm thinking about SOG w/ 49 plants per 4x4. The clones would be 36 days old from the day they are cut from their mothers til the day that they go into flower. I'd lollipop them obviously.

But what absolutely has to happen is that I'd be able to reuse the soil without having to dump out each bed and let them cook for crazy amounts of time. I'd add amendments of course and make teas if necessary. I'd love to just add water. Please let me know if this is possible, as I know nothing about soil. I'll order a book and get to reading. Oh yeah, I have to be ready to go with this in about a month :woot:

 

[midwestdensies]

kis nute packs simplici-tea.com ammend, cook, use. water and teas and have dank organic for cheap.. each pak treats 4. 0 cubic feet

 

[legaleyes13]

kis nute packs simplici-tea.com ammend, cook, use. water and teas and have dank organic for cheap.. each pak treats 4. 0 cubic feet

Thanks for the response man. I'll do some research on that tea. Do you think what I'm shooting for is possible?

 

[GR33NL3AF]

I've done soil SOG, lollipoping and the best run I had was with the same plant count but 98 per 4x8. I ran Sour Diesel and vegged for 2-3 weeks. Ended up with 7.5 units per 4x8.

 

[legaleyes13]

I've done soil SOG, lollipoping and the best run I had was with the same plant count but 98 per 4x8. I ran Sour Diesel and vegged for 2-3 weeks. Ended up with 7.5 units per 4x8.

Word!! How deep were the beds and did you recycle the soil?

 

[GR33NL3AF]

Word!! How deep were the beds and did you recycle the soil?

Beds were 8" deep full of Roots Organics and yes I recycle. However, I just rebuilt all my beds to 12"s deep and filled with peat. Better growth and yield even from that.

 

[Kushwick]

I hate dealing with big hydro reservoirs. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. And I really hate that I have 5 of them. 1 for veg and 4 for flower on a perpetual setup. Having to have continuous ph/ppm/temp meters for each one, having to dump and refill them all on the same day every couple of weeks. Having to throw frozen bottles in each one because I don't want to run 5 different chillers, or even one chiller (because of the extra electricity). And of course buying a shitload of nutes. There are a few more things that make it so so inconvenient but the bottomline is I hate it.

I've never grown in soil of any kind, but have grown just about every way possible in hydro. I'm ready and more than willing to give soil a try if it is practical for my situation. I just bought a lot of money worth of nutes for my hydro setup, but I'm willing to discard it all, even give it away to a kind soul on this site. I honestly am. But what I'm hoping to do for my soil setup is this: 5 4x4 soil beds, 1 for veg and 4 for flower. I'm thinking about SOG w/ 49 plants per 4x4. The clones would be 36 days old from the day they are cut from their mothers til the day that they go into flower. I'd lollipop them obviously.

But what absolutely has to happen is that I'd be able to reuse the soil without having to dump out each bed and let them cook for crazy amounts of time. I'd add amendments of course and make teas if necessary. I'd love to just add water. Please let me know if this is possible, as I know nothing about soil. I'll order a book and get to reading. Oh yeah, I have to be ready to go with this in about a month :woot:

Why not just try coco or a organic coco blend?
I did hydro,soil,so I less and coco and I'm sticking with coco after seeing how she puts out.. also it can be reused.

 

[legaleyes13]

Beds were 8" deep full of Roots Organics and yes I recycle. However, I just rebuilt all my beds to 12"s deep and filled with peat. Better growth and yield even from that.

Cool... So 12'' beds are the way to go? And what did you have to do to the soil to recycle it?

 

[legaleyes13]

Why not just try coco or a organic coco blend?
I did hydro,soil,so I less and coco and I'm sticking with coco after seeing how she puts out.. also it can be reused.

What do you have to do to the coco to reuse it?

 

[Kushwick]

Use cannazyme or sensizyme im not to sure about hygrozyme but i think they all do the same thing. Supposedly turning the old roots into useable food and making it reuseable.. Plenty of coco growers here on the board that reuse there own coco i think mostly all of them do.

Heres a thread here in the forum. https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/threads/reuse-coco-coir.34514/

 

[Dunge]

For three years I have been growing with a simple super soil.
The act of man hauling the soil in and out of my basement makes harvest days more work than I wish to do.
My pile of used soil has grown to the point that I needed to re-use it.
My formula is too simple to be the correct answer, but it seems to be working well enough to give me confidance.
Original formula is:
ten ft3 local peat/sand garden blend
2 ft3 perlite
3 ft3 compost
1 ft3 EWC
3 lb blood meal
3 lb bone meal
one box high P bat guano

My first re-use formula is to amend with 1/3 the additions used in the original.
So the peat and perlite stay put, and the additions get mixed in at 1/3.
So the soil will grow slightly, but not too much.

I can presently see that this is working well, but I can't tell you how many cycles this will be stable for.
I have used soil test kits, but the results are often confusing.
I water with alfalfa tea only.
I would also warn you that I am a home gardener and rarely weigh anything, but my plants do grow big buds.

The mechanics of doing this in-place in a basement bed have yet to be explored.
But I look forward to trying it.
I grow in 3gal pots and bags, so a bin dedicated to breaking up the root ball and mixing in the amendments will be needed.
I may try to get my worms involved in this cycle.

Good luck, and keep us posted on what you learn.
And anybody wishing to comment on this question is encouraged to post away.

 

[GR33NL3AF]

What do you have to do to the coco to reuse it?

After each round I pull the root balls and re plant, that simple. Because I can't burn my plants with my organic nutes their is no need to flush and because I constantly use CAP's tea their is no need for enzymes to break roots down. It's really simple, KISS

 

[legaleyes13]

For three years I have been growing with a simple super soil.
The act of man hauling the soil in and out of my basement makes harvest days more work than I wish to do.
My pile of used soil has grown to the point that I needed to re-use it.
My formula is too simple to be the correct answer, but it seems to be working well enough to give me confidance.
Original formula is:
ten ft3 local peat/sand garden blend
2 ft3 perlite
3 ft3 compost
1 ft3 EWC
3 lb blood meal
3 lb bone meal
one box high P bat guano

My first re-use formula is to amend with 1/3 the additions used in the original.
So the peat and perlite stay put, and the additions get mixed in at 1/3.
So the soil will grow slightly, but not too much.

I can presently see that this is working well, but I can't tell you how many cycles this will be stable for.
I have used soil test kits, but the results are often confusing.
I water with alfalfa tea only.
I would also warn you that I am a home gardener and rarely weigh anything, but my plants do grow big buds.

The mechanics of doing this in-place in a basement bed have yet to be explored.
But I look forward to trying it.
I grow in 3gal pots and bags, so a bin dedicated to breaking up the root ball and mixing in the amendments will be needed.
I may try to get my worms involved in this cycle.

Good luck, and keep us posted on what you learn.
And anybody wishing to comment on this question is encouraged to post away.

Would I have to empty the 4x4x1 soil beds and mix the amendments in the soil, or do I top dress and add hygrozyme?

 

[Patanjali]

I think you are getting a lot of answers all over the board imho (they're all great, just lots of directions). Personally, I would start with a book like Teaming with Microbes to really understand what it means to grow organic.I think there are several kinds of soil growing; passive hydro - soil is inert media you add all nutes, Organic - Soil is the nutes little if anything is added in the water, and some people do a blend of the two. Personally, my heart is in all organics. If it's sold in a hydrostore, chances are I don't want it.

And I would skip the hygrozyme and look into Seed Sprouting Teas or SST v2.0 - just my humble opinion.

From someone far more knowledgeable then me:

Here's the best advice I can come up with: the recipe for a soil is moot, if the humus isn't right, i.e. you cannot amend your way to a viable soil. Get the compost/EWC dialed in and you won't have many questions that need an answer.

HTH
CC

Peace,
P-

 

[Seamaiden]

Would I have to empty the 4x4x1 soil beds and mix the amendments in the soil, or do I top dress and add hygrozyme?

You could use a tiller in a 4'x4'.

 

[Ohiofarmer]

You could use a tiller in a 4'x4'.

the prey mantis shaft tiller is great for this!

 

[legaleyes13]

You could use a tiller in a 4'x4'.

So, what you're saying is, that I'd just have to add the amendments, add hygrozyme and or teas, till the soil and I'd be good to go without having to cook the soil?

 

[Patanjali]

Imho, add your amendments, add a couple inches of good vermicompost and hit it with an Seed Spout Tea (and/or some coconut water). A little Ful-Power from Bio-ag would be an added bonus.

Peace,
P-

 

[legaleyes13]

Imho, add your amendments, add a couple inches of good vermicompost and hit it with an Seed Spout Tea (and/or some coconut water). A little Ful-Power from Bio-ag would be an added bonus.

Peace,
P-

Thanks, man. I don't really know what any of this means as I haven't read the book yet. I'm gonna stick with hydro for this go round, but I'm definitely gonna switch to soil soon. After I read the book I'll be sure to refer back to this thread and will then be able to make sense of all of this. I appreciate your help.

 

[Patanjali]

Thanks, man. I don't really know what any of this means as I haven't read the book yet. I'm gonna stick with hydro for this go round, but I'm definitely gonna switch to soil soon. After I read the book I'll be sure to refer back to this thread and will then be able to make sense of all of this. I appreciate your help.

I think that is an excellent idea. I even found an ebook of teaming with microbes.