All of those crops need a good bit of water and N, with tomatoes needing a bit more Ca in my experience than the cucurbits and corn. Are these going in containers, or what? That affects my recommendation.

I've found it can be difficult to provide corn with sufficient N throughout the season, I usually have to give it a feed or two to keep it green.

Hey thx for your reply sea... I'm doing the melons in geoplanter raised beds.. and doing the tomatoes corn in grow bags.

Then I would streamline the process and get a good quality potting soil. Topsoil has proven to be too heavy IME, even if it's good quality. Then, to that I might add some things or simply be ready with fermented plant juices, teas, etc.

Do lots of searching on here and other sites 'whats your organic soil mix' type search and start filtering through them to find your acceptable cost level and availability. Then come back and ask Seamaiden for pointers. I found once the main ingredients are present, ammending for fluffy, aerated mix that doesn't cake is key. Compost or worm casting teas, to get all the microheard fired up, then grow and learn. Composter is your best weapon moving forward. Besides patience, that is. Cheers Canadaseed. Ground is still frozen here but you can let your new mix 'cook' outside, until May or June (depending on your zone) so it stabilizes and comes alive. Most of the amendments are cheap, but they can be hard to find here if you are strictly OMRI organic. I find crappy tire has nothing , but home hardware has a few items as does Rona. A good hydroponic store has most of the hard to find stuff, but it usually costs a bit more....shop around. Grow on!!!!!

What area do you live in? I would search out a local soil yard and see what they have by the yard. By far the cheapest, and many times the soil mixes can be very effective.

Seamaiden said:

Then I would streamline the process and get a good quality potting soil. Topsoil has proven to be too heavy IME, even if it's good quality. Then, to that I might add some things or simply be ready with fermented plant juices, teas, etc.

Click to expand...

awesome thx sea... theres a place here selling organic mushroom compost and regular compost, they also sell garden soil. I just don't know if i trust their company. I don't mind paying a few dollars to get a packaged product from a reputable company. I've literally never researched soil companies and all that... anything good to be got on monstergardens.com. I'm continuing to research..

can i just make a soil mix as i would for my marijuana plants. At the end of the day i'm gonna need probably 100 gallons maybe more of media. I'm gonna be amending the soil with lush roots (dragonfly earth medicine) and adding bio-char and oyster shells to help the microlife.

This is what the soil mix looks like.

soil
coco-coir
perlite
compost
oyster shells
worm gold plus worm castings
bio-char

soil bed topped with straw mulch to retain moisture and aid microbial life.

Amending
lushroots
Brilliant Black
Natural mystic (foliar feed)
(dragonfly earth medicine company)


Brilliant Black
Organic Alfalfa blended with Micronized Humates and beneficial bacterias. A Replenishing and Restorative soil amendment for all stages of plant growth.

Active ingredients
24% Humic Acid derived from Lignite
20% Organic Alfalfa Leaf (Medicago Sativa)
5% Organic Sugar (Evaporated cane juice sugar)
Bacillus subtilis - 7,930,000 CFU per gram
Bacillus pumilus - 7,930,000 CFU per gram
Bacillus megaterium - 7,930,000 CFU per gram
Bacillus licheniformis - 7,930,000 CFU per gram
Bacillus amyloliquefaciens - 7,930,000 CFU per gram 50.9% Inert Ingredients


Lush Roots 840 A beneficial tea to enhance root growth and plant yields. A superior blend of EndoMycorrhizae (100,00 props./lb), Trichoderma, Beneficial Bacteria and our own special mix of Organic Herbs.

Active ingredients
8% Humic Acid derived from lignite
16.3% Ascophyllum nodosum (Kelp)
9% Urtica dioica (Stinging Nettle)
9% Medicago sativa (Alfalfa)
Glomus intraradices - 55.0 propagules/gm
Glomus mosseae - 55.0 propagules/gm
Glomus aggregatum - 55.0 propagules/gm
Glomus etunicatum - 55.0 propagules/gm

Bacillus subtilis - 3,965,000 cfu/gm
Bacillus megaterium - 3,965,000 cfu/gm
Bacillus amyloliquefaciens - 3,965,000 cfu/gm
Bacillus pumilus - 3,965,000 cfu/gm
Bacillus licheniformis - 3,965,000 cfu/gm

Trichoderma harzianum - 495,594 cfu/gm
Trichoderma konigii - 495,594 cfu/gm
57.6% Inert Ingredients

Natural Mystic
A 100% organic plant based and bacteria based foliar spray that gives instant nutrition to your plants while cleaning leaves of any unbeneficial pathogens.

*Alfalfa leaf, *nettle leaf, *kelp, *noni fruit, *lavender flowers, *rosemary , *calendula flowers , *horsetail, *sugar, humic acid, *bacillus subtilis, *bacillus pumilus, *bacillus megaterium, *bacillus licheniformis, *bacillus amyloliquefaciens, bacillus thuringiensis, trichoderma harzianum, trichoderma konigii (*certified organic) Active ingredients

20% Ascophyllum nodosum (kelp)
20% Urtica Dioica (stinging nettle)
20% Medicago Sativa (alfalfa)
5% Morinda Citrifolia (noni fruit)
5% Equisetum (horsetail)
5% Humic acid derived from lignite.
5% Evaporated Cane Juice (sugar)
5% Lavandula Lamiaceae (lavender flower)
5% Calendula Officinalis (calendula flowers)
5% Rosmarinus Officinalis (rosemary)
Bacillus pumilus ~ 7,930,000 CFUs per gram
Bacillus megaterium ~ 7,930,000 CFUs per gram
Bacillus licheniformis ~ 7,930,000 CFUs per gram
Bacillus subtilis ~ 7,930,000 CFUs per gram
Bacillus amyloliquefaciens ~ 7,930,000 CFUs per gram
Bacillus thuringiensis ~ 7,930,000 CFU's per gram
Trichoderma konigii ~ 495,594 cfu/gm
Trichoderma harzianum ~ 495,594 cfu/gm
4.9% Inert Ingredients

CannasaurusR said:

Do lots of searching on here and other sites 'whats your organic soil mix' type search and start filtering through them to find your acceptable cost level and availability. Then come back and ask Seamaiden for pointers. I found once the main ingredients are present, ammending for fluffy, aerated mix that doesn't cake is key. Compost or worm casting teas, to get all the microheard fired up, then grow and learn. Composter is your best weapon moving forward. Besides patience, that is. Cheers Canadaseed. Ground is still frozen here but you can let your new mix 'cook' outside, until May or June (depending on your zone) so it stabilizes and comes alive. Most of the amendments are cheap, but they can be hard to find here if you are strictly OMRI organic. I find crappy tire has nothing , but home hardware has a few items as does Rona. A good hydroponic store has most of the hard to find stuff, but it usually costs a bit more....shop around. Grow on!!!!!

Click to expand...

yep thats exaclty what i did.. cant remember exatcly what member it is on here but i used is base soil mix for what i'll be doing. thx for the tips man ground is still frozen here.. i hate all the box stores for buying my garden supplies.. i mean i go to some but theres a good hydroponics and garden store here that i'm hoping i can special order a lot of my supplies from. There's no way i can buy soil on the internet lol what's shipping gonna be like $45.. no way. i'll definitely look into getting that composter.

Bulldog11 said:

What area do you live in? I would search out a local soil yard and see what they have by the yard. By far the cheapest, and many times the soil mixes can be very effective.

Click to expand...

im in ontario.. i've got a place close to my house but for some reason i don't trust them. they have mushroom compost and regular compost both organic.. i would have to talk to some people there about the process they use to make their compost and the sourcing.. i'm particular about finding what i want.. I will continue to research that's for sure.

Mushroom compost is basically void of nutrients its used more too fluff up compacted soil. Also depending on the size bed you will need 150 gallons at least for the 3x6 geoplanter beds and around 180 for the 4x8 gegeoplanter. The 3x6 is 6 bails of coir 2 bags of humus and 4 big bags of premium soil.

I believe most mushroom farms use copious amounts of herbicide and anti-pathogen products, so I have always shied away from it. You should have no probs growing anything with that mix, wow, way too much for this old geezer LOL. I normally don't use anything I can't pronounce he he. And I don't trust the camera's that neighbour hydroponic stores. Pointed a couple out to store owners and they sound like images of people using their store has never been presented as evidence in court. Laughable as the most popular hydroponic store brand here was started by a cop, in the 80's. So I understand your lack of trust!!! Keep it up Canadaseeds! and cash only!

starr said:

Mushroom compost is basically void of nutrients its used more too fluff up compacted soil. Also depending on the size bed you will need 150 gallons at least for the 3x6 geoplanter beds and around 180 for the 4x8 gegeoplanter. The 3x6 is 6 bails of coir 2 bags of humus and 4 big bags of premium soil.

Click to expand...

well... hahahha i'm seeing lost of $$$$$. so basically no use for the mushroom compost unless i can amend the soil so theres enough nute. man would it just be smarter to use grow bags for the melons as well.. i dont see why i couldnt use growbags for melons.. i guess something is telling me i need raised beds i dunno.
what size is this, this is what im aiming for... are we talking 150 gallon of media to fill this... seems like a lot.

CannasaurusR said:

I believe most mushroom farms use copious amounts of herbicide and anti-pathogen products, so I have always shied away from it. You should have no probs growing anything with that mix, wow, way too much for this old geezer LOL. I normally don't use anything I can't pronounce he he. And I don't trust the camera's that neighbour hydroponic stores. Pointed a couple out to store owners and they sound like images of people using their store has never been presented as evidence in court. Laughable as the most popular hydroponic store brand here was started by a cop, in the 80's. So I understand your lack of trust!!! Keep it up Canadaseeds! and cash only!

Click to expand...

yea exactly what i thought if i buy the mushroom compost i bet if i sent some for analysis it would be steeped with pesticide and other petro-chemicals... not gonna be growing my food in that lol. I only ever use cash cause that's all i got lol. I've thought about that a few times like the cameras around there or even being followed but i gotta let those worries slide.

That is the 4x8x12" itll take 170-180 gallons. I wouldnt waste my time buying bags of soil for an outdoor grow. Look around for bulk soil. Like sea said go for a potting soil. I can get kick ass compost for $50 a trailer load just gotta load it.

A little secret tip........plant bush beans spaced about 12" apart around the entire edge of the bed as well as the outside of each grow bag or whatever....you will not ever have a N deficiency and organic gardening....don't think to much....water and let it be....I build my soil with native in my ground along with worm castings perlite chicken shit Diatomaceos Earth rock dust and that is about it...I water my plants for a month until established and then I just let them do there thing even my meds are on the same regiment for my outdoors

Amazing backyard!

thnx....took about 2 years to complete....by my self...my wife did help lay the sod and she helped me build one of my cinderblock beds...by the way....those cinderblock beds are priced at about $40.00 materials from Home Depot

45 parallel outdoor farming this s summer can't wait!! Wife works at a Canadian crawler packing factory I truly am blessed!!!

Free castings and 1.00 a bag for these. Added to a bale of sunshine mix 4. That's for my small 4 x4 plot

CanadaSeeds said:

can i just make a soil mix as i would for my marijuana plants. At the end of the day i'm gonna need probably 100 gallons maybe more of media. I'm gonna be amending the soil with lush roots (dragonfly earth medicine) and adding bio-char and oyster shells to help the microlife.

Click to expand...

Yeah sure, why not? The only issues or big differences with cannabis that I've seen are that tomatoes tend towards blossom end rot and I found that Sea-90 and not additional Ca was the cure, and cannabis seems to want a lot more N than other plants besides corn. I think those products you listed look fantastic and I don't think you can go wrong with them.

Bulldog11 said:

What area do you live in? I would search out a local soil yard and see what they have by the yard. By far the cheapest, and many times the soil mixes can be very effective.

Click to expand...

This is what I do and swear by. $33/yd for my local guy's top quality topsoil. It can't be used as a potting mix, it's far too heavy for that, though. I do like to amend it.

CannasaurusR said:

I believe most mushroom farms use copious amounts of herbicide and anti-pathogen products, so I have always shied away from it.

Click to expand...

No, they can't or they'd kill their mushrooms. Mushrooms and other fungi can be very sensitive to environment.

CanadaSeeds said:

well... hahahha i'm seeing lost of $$$$$. so basically no use for the mushroom compost unless i can amend the soil so theres enough nute. man would it just be smarter to use grow bags for the melons as well.. i dont see why i couldnt use growbags for melons.. i guess something is telling me i need raised beds i dunno.
what size is this, this is what im aiming for... are we talking 150 gallon of media to fill this... seems like a lot.

View attachment 500408

Click to expand...

Yeah, if you go by gallons it is. But if you go by cubic yard it's nothin'. ;) Add some mushroom compost to a good bulk topsoil mix and you'll have healthy AND fluffy, and who doesn't love fluffy?