Halloweed said:

Hello all. For the past 2 months I've been debating what soil I want to use for my new grow. (Mephisto seeds on thier way).

I originally was looking at buildasoil which I wanted to use but it's kind of pricey. Then I was looking at nature's soil concentrate. I was about to buy that but didn't know if that is all I would need for nutrition.

So I ended up getting happy frog soil. I still have some ocean forest from last grow. My plan was to mix them together with some perlite.

Instead of getting my own ammendment I bought dr. Earth 444 and flower girl. I also have some mychorrizhal. Do I blend the all purpose with the soil and top dress with flower girl once in flower?

Also I heard for organic you need to let it sit for a while before planting directly into it? Thanks for any help. I appreciate it.

Sorry for the long post. P.S I'm growing autos and also have this worm tea I bought but it says it's for compost.

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Halloweed said:

Hello all. For the past 2 months I've been debating what soil I want to use for my new grow. (Mephisto seeds on thier way).

I originally was looking at buildasoil which I wanted to use but it's kind of pricey. Then I was looking at nature's soil concentrate. I was about to buy that but didn't know if that is all I would need for nutrition.

So I ended up getting happy frog soil. I still have some ocean forest from last grow. My plan was to mix them together with some perlite.

Instead of getting my own ammendment I bought dr. Earth 444 and flower girl. I also have some mychorrizhal. Do I blend the all purpose with the soil and top dress with flower girl once in flower?

Also I heard for organic you need to let it sit for a while before planting directly into it? Thanks for any help. I appreciate it.

Sorry for the long post. P.S I'm growing autos and also have this worm tea I bought but it says it's for compost.

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HeadHunterpipes said:

Top soil is 50% crystalline silica and 5% nutrients... Bagged compost/potting soil -LESS organic soil is pretty much man made name because 99% of all potting soil is soil less and have little to zero top soil in it.
I always mix FF strawberry fields 40% topsoil sand and pea gravel to bagged potting soil or soil amendment.
Organic soil is bark and fern leaf's and other what was living matter. soaks up water like a sponge .

This why its always advised to mix in at least 30% perlite to each bag of potting soil for drainage .
I use silica Gold ( a Organic silica ) and Active Earth ( Earth Alive ) ( Bacteria ).

This will make big difference in watering ,,, you will have to water more but your getting more oxygen to the roots .

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RGWD0202 said:

Only need to let it sit if you are making your own. Premade has already gone through that process. Only Mix a 1/4 or 1/2 of what the directions say to use into the soil, happy frog already has nutrients in there so you don’t need to add Much. After 4-5 weeks of veg top dress and mix it in to the top few inches of soil. With organics you’ll want to stay ahead of deficiencies because they take time to break down and become available. Make sure you add microbes and a food source such as molasses most waterings. Recharge is a good microbe product that already contains the molasses.

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Natep said:

Build a soil is worth every penny. I built my own soil in two of my tents and purchased bas 3.0 for the other. I would strongly suggest rethinking the soil build a couple 15 gallon pots. There is a lot more to putting together a pot than most think. In my 15 gallon pots I run 2-1/2” of sand and rock in the bottom the 5” of my mix with a 1/2 part clay and 1/2 part silt that I harvested locally. Then 10” of my mix on top. I top dress with craftblend and castings at harvest and when I flip to flower. I run the same soil for as many grows as I can. So if you think about it when you put 150 bucks of soil in a pot and you run it for the next few years it gets really cost effective.

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Halloweed said:

Hello all. For the past 2 months I've been debating what soil I want to use for my new grow. (Mephisto seeds on thier way).

I originally was looking at buildasoil which I wanted to use but it's kind of pricey. Then I was looking at nature's soil concentrate. I was about to buy that but didn't know if that is all I would need for nutrition.

So I ended up getting happy frog soil. I still have some ocean forest from last grow. My plan was to mix them together with some perlite.

Instead of getting my own ammendment I bought dr. Earth 444 and flower girl. I also have some mychorrizhal. Do I blend the all purpose with the soil and top dress with flower girl once in flower?

Also I heard for organic you need to let it sit for a while before planting directly into it? Thanks for any help. I appreciate it.

Sorry for the long post. P.S I'm growing autos and also have this worm tea I bought but it says it's for compost.

Click to expand...

Week4Bytch said:

You should get by just using the 4-4-4 with autos. They don't need much to prosper. your plan is in the right path. I would just top dress as needed. The soil mix your planning to do will carry the auto all the way to flower without any amendments added. If anything just mix in some compost with the Happy Frog and Ocean Forest, maybe a third of what your mixing. The larger the pot the lesser the headache with organic grows.

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Halloweed said:

Thanks! I live in an apartment and can't make my own compost. That's why I can't really make my own soil. Dont know of a source to get any. Know of a substitution? Maybe a compost tea I can get?

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Week4Bytch said:

BAS has a really good earthworm castings and compost available. I use their BuildAFlower top dress kit in place of compost with good results. Their earth worm castings is top notch as well. If you can't get any of those for any reason. Grab some red worms and just add them to your pots. They'll supply all the worm castings you can need.
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Halloweed said:

That's true. I didn't think about it lasting a few years. I believe in the past you recommended an earth box which I'm eventually gonna get one.

Thanks!

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mancorn said:

Lots of bro science in this thread .

Happy Frog is primarily wood chips (as a by product of logging). Sure it has a big list of ingredients but in very small amounts. Take the potassium. It has .005%. Just do the math. If the bag weights 50lb (it doesn’t but I’ll be generous). That’s 50lb x .0005 = .025lb of potassium. Which is less than a tablespoon of potash in a bag. That’ll last you about 2 days.

Not dumping on FF, I’ve used their soil for many years. Because I live in an urban area and most grow stores sell it as a loss leader and I can get a bag of Ocean Forrest for $13. But there’s no reason to be spending a bunch money on FF like it’s the holy grail of growing. I can pick up a yard of soil (27 cu ft) for less than $40 at a landscaping store.

FFHF might work for you indoors (where you can keep your temp up), but absolutely blows outdoors in the Spring as it really holds on to the moisture (if it’s cool out and impossible to dry out your pots). You’ll see it recommended a lot for seedlings as your sprout should stay moist But you only need that for the first week and then you’ll be wondering why your plant stalls out (as 99.99% of new growers overwater).

Also don’t layer your soil. Mix it all together. When water percolates through soil and encounters a different layer (of material), the water moves sideways, creating a saturated zone. If you layer your soil, you’ll have a soggy wet area in the middle of your pot (know as a perched water table). This isn’t saying you couldn’t use the same soil with different amendments at separate layers, but IMO that’s unnecessary. Just balance you’re amendments and you’ll be fine for the entire grow. Down to Earth has a line of organic “wettable powders” that you mix with water and are rapid uptake and can get you back on track quickly if you notice deficiencies during your grow.

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mancorn said:

Lots of bro science in this thread .

Happy Frog is primarily wood chips (as a by product of logging). Sure it has a big list of ingredients but in very small amounts. Take the potassium. It has .005%. Just do the math. If the bag weights 50lb (it doesn’t but I’ll be generous). That’s 50lb x .0005 = .025lb of potassium. Which is less than a tablespoon of potash in a bag. That’ll last you about 2 days.

Not dumping on FF, I’ve used their soil for many years. Because I live in an urban area and most grow stores sell it as a loss leader and I can get a bag of Ocean Forrest for $13. But there’s no reason to be spending a bunch money on FF like it’s the holy grail of growing. I can pick up a yard of soil (27 cu ft) for less than $40 at a landscaping store.

FFHF might work for you indoors (where you can keep your temp up), but absolutely blows outdoors in the Spring as it really holds on to the moisture (if it’s cool out and impossible to dry out your pots). You’ll see it recommended a lot for seedlings as your sprout should stay moist But you only need that for the first week and then you’ll be wondering why your plant stalls out (as 99.99% of new growers overwater).

Also don’t layer your soil. Mix it all together. When water percolates through soil and encounters a different layer (of material), the water moves sideways, creating a saturated zone. If you layer your soil, you’ll have a soggy wet area in the middle of your pot (know as a perched water table). This isn’t saying you couldn’t use the same soil with different amendments at separate layers, but IMO that’s unnecessary. Just balance you’re amendments and you’ll be fine for the entire grow. Down to Earth has a line of organic “wettable powders” that you mix with water and are rapid uptake and can get you back on track quickly if you notice deficiencies during your grow.

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Natep said:

Horizons of soil is a very important. I wouldn’t steer past it especially when assembling a living organic pot.

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mancorn said:

Not in a 10” pot in an apartment.

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Natep said:

The earth box and 3.0 recipe work really good. It’s really easy. Dump water down the hole.

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Phil.D. said:

I used 3 earth boxes this year inside. Outstanding! Super simple and really effective.

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