Mixing Sunshine Mix 4 with Living Soil?

[MrLahey]

Hey guys, I'm still waiting on my auto seeds in the mail and am still making my final purchases before they arrive. I had purchased 2 30L bags of Gaia Green 1-0-0 Living Soil Blend at first and later realized this was not enough to meet my needs. I went to the grow store yesterday while in a bit of a rush and I picked up this 107L bale of Sunshine Mix 4 thinking it was just a cheaper quality soil that I could then mix with the living soil I'd already purchased. Turns out its 65-75% peat, perlite, and dolomite lime.

So my question is can I still mix these together as I had originally intended or should I take it back and exchange it for more soil?

From what I've read while trying to find a solid answer is yes but It comes with added challenges of PH and increased nute requirements.

If I do mix these will the nutrients in the soil be sufficient to carry the plant into flowering before I begin feeding additional nutrients? Will there be a risk of overfeeding if I do feed as soon as possible, given what's already in the soil?

I guess if someone could chime in with pro's/con's and whether or not it's worth the trouble for a virgin grower. It's a simple trip to go exchange the Sunshine but a slight budget inconvenience.

 

[Fitzy]

Hey guys, I'm still waiting on my auto seeds in the mail and am still making my final purchases before they arrive. I had purchased 2 30L bags of Gaia Green 1-0-0 Living Soil Blend at first and later realized this was not enough to meet my needs. I went to the grow store yesterday while in a bit of a rush and I picked up this 107L bale of Sunshine Mix 4 thinking it was just a cheaper quality soil that I could then mix with the living soil I'd already purchased. Turns out its 65-75% peat, perlite, and dolomite lime.

So my question is can I still mix these together as I had originally intended or should I take it back and exchange it for more soil?

From what I've read while trying to find a solid answer is yes but It comes with added challenges of PH and increased nute requirements.

If I do mix these will the nutrients in the soil be sufficient to carry the plant into flowering before I begin feeding additional nutrients? Will there be a risk of overfeeding if I do feed as soon as possible, given what's already in the soil?

I guess if someone could chime in with pro's/con's and whether or not it's worth the trouble for a virgin grower. It's a simple trip to go exchange the Sunshine but a slight budget inconvenience.

So imho keep it as sunshine#4 is a great starter soil for young plants and you can definitely mix it but the npk value u listed will not get you very far as far as feeding goes, u will need to have veg and flower nutes I have used roots organic grow uprisings, bloom terp tea and bloom uprisings they cost about $11 each and you can make teas, mix with soil or top dress. If u want a true just water soil grow contact build a soil they will help you out.

 

[MrLahey]

So imho keep it as sunshine#4 is a great starter soil for young plants and you can definitely mix it but the npk value u listed will not get you very far as far as feeding goes, u will need to have veg and flower nutes I have used roots organic grow uprisings, bloom terp tea and bloom uprisings they cost about $11 each and you can make teas, mix with soil or top dress. If u want a true just water soil grow contact build a soil they will help you out.

I don't really have any particular preference for the medium. I just want to fill the volume I need without running into any unexpected problems from the mix. My main fear was that I would have to somehow feed it differently. Since I don't have any experience growing I'll be relying heavily on guides and info I find online, and they obviously won't be geared to this mix as the medium.

Can I just treat it like it's pure soil when referencing feeding guides and info?
How do I mix it? can I use the 107L + 60L all together as is and just mix thoroughly? Or should I pot the two together separately?

Finally got a tracking number for my seeds so I'd like to come to a conclusion on this soon.

 

[Proph]

You will need to pick a growing style first! You need to decide how you want to grow. Living organic soil and Sunshine #4 are two completely different things from the opposite sides of the spectrum. I would not mix the two.

Im not sure where the 1-0-0 info came from but that is not correct. The npk values are higher than that. The soil has enough available food for a couple of months of just water only. Then you can top dress or use microbes to break down organic matter to make more food available. That's the normal process for living organic soil, or for growing organically (no bottles)...

Sunshine #4 is a soilless medium. Meaning it is not a soil. Not in any way shape or form.. It's like coco, or pro mix.. You will need to feed nutrients starting at week 1. Watching ph, ppms, etc. You cannot/should not treat it like a soil. You will need bottled nutes since there is no organic matter to break down to create more food.

Two completely different mediums for two completely different grow styles.

Do you want to grow organically, or with bottled nutes? That's the deciding factor.

 

[Fitzy]

You would need some roots organic soil and its fine to mix it just not 50/50 the mix I'm running now is the coast of Maine in the pink bag with fox farms light warrior and earthworm castings and super soil roots organic bloom uprisings grow uprisings and bloom terp tea which has worked very well for me super simple feed schedule and is fully organic also

 

[Proph]

You would need some roots organic soil and its fine to mix it just not 50/50 the mix I'm running now is the coast of Maine in the pink bag with fox farms light warrior and earthworm castings and super soil roots organic bloom uprisings grow uprisings and bloom terp tea which has worked very well for me super simple feed schedule and is fully organic also

Why would roots organic soil be needed? He already has 30L of living organic soil.. Keep in mind that the three products you are mixing, are all soils. Which is fine.. But they are asking about mixing a heavily amended living soil, with a soilless medium. I have yet to see this mix work successfully.

 

[MrLahey]

I

You will need to pick a growing style first! You need to decide how you want to grow. Living organic soil and Sunshine #4 are two completely different things from the opposite sides of the spectrum. I would not mix the two.

Im not sure where the 1-0-0 info came from but that is not correct. The npk values are higher than that. The soil has enough available food for a couple of months of just water only. Then you can top dress or use microbes to break down organic matter to make more food available. That's the normal process for living organic soil, or for growing organically (no bottles)...

Sunshine #4 is a soilless medium. Meaning it is not a soil. Not in any way shape or form.. It's like coco, or pro mix.. You will need to feed nutrients starting at week 1. Watching ph, ppms, etc. You cannot/should not treat it like a soil. You will need bottled nutes since there is no organic matter to break down to create more food.

Two completely different mediums for two completely different grow styles.

Do you want to grow organically, or with bottled nutes? That's the deciding factor.

Thanks for the reply,
The 1-0-0 is written in large font on the front of the package. I assumed it was relevant.

I want to grow with nutes, but I can only take back the SunShine, not the more expensive living soil.
Would mixing the 107+60L in those proportions and then feeding nutrients from week 1 have an adverse effect over using the SunShine4 alone on the same feeding regimen. That's really the question; Will I be worse off if I mix the higher quality living soil into the sunshine than if I do not?

 

[Fitzy]

I

Why would roots organic soil be needed? He already has 30L of living organic soil.. Keep in mind that the three products you are mixing, are all soils. Which is fine.. But they are asking about mixing a heavily amended living soil, with a soilless medium. I have yet to see this mix work successfully.

I was saying u can mix as far as start them in a hole the size of a solo cup in your living soil or like I was also say in mix in roots as it has a real npk value and use the living soil on bottom I forget who is running the setup but they are doing well. This is why I also said 50/50 wouldn't be good but adding some 15% #4 to the living soil would be fine but I wouldn't push it. Also he was saying that he was worried about ph ect which shouldn't give him problems but I agree about the living soil if you want water only grow, if he is willing to top dress them and such then it's no big deal here are pics of my own Coast of Maine setup top third is lightwarrior middle is 20% lightwarrior and coast of Maine bottom third is a super soil blend plus the above roots products these are now 2wks older

 

[Fitzy]

I


Thanks for the reply,
The 1-0-0 is written in large font on the front of the package. I assumed it was relevant.

I want to grow with nutes, but I can only take back the SunShine, not the more expensive living soil.
Would mixing the 107+60L in those proportions and then feeding nutrients from week 1 have an adverse effect over using the SunShine4 alone on the same feeding regimen. That's really the question; Will I be worse off if I mix the higher quality living soil into the sunshine than if I do not?

I would if u use it treat it like super soil but no adverse affect green plant uses synthetic and organic in the nute line so there should be no issue besides keeping an eye out for salt build up toward end of flower depending on nute line. If it were me I would do 1 or 2 pots of each and see wat works for you experimentation is always a good thing just track ur progress till you find wat works best for you the soil plants I have are just as big as my coco plants were and soil is much simpler imho

 

[MrLahey]

I would if u use it treat it like super soil but no adverse affect green plant uses synthetic and organic in the nute line so there should be no issue besides keeping an eye out for salt build up toward end of flower depending on nute line. If it were me I would do 1 or 2 pots of each and see wat works for you experimentation is always a good thing just track ur progress till you find wat works best for you the soil plants I have are just as big as my coco plants were and soil is much simpler imho

I was also thinking of doing both, but I plan on making an automated drip irrigation system and I have to assume that the two different mediums would require different watering needs. If this isn't the case and they both require the same amount of watering it would be super simple to do both side by side and report yields.