Need some help with super soil recipe for autos

[Wallflower82]

Thank you @Roasty McToasty @DTOM420 for the advice that was very helpful. I actually think I might go with your reccomendations on the kis soil because, I don’t know where I got 70 a bag from... Looks like it’s only 30 a bag. That’s decent enough to be worth trying out. And a few bags of that is still less than the heap I would be spending on two dozen amendments

But I still have some confusion on how I would use this soil though because of the fact that none of my growing is in large containers. I have 2 spaces .. a 3x3 tent and approx a 2x2x4 cabinet. The tent has four 2 gallon autopots..My other space is four 2gallon small fabric pots of small growing strains. (Sour crack) since it’s a micro grow. I see the KIS soil is recommended for large containers so that has me worried. While I can always go up to 5 gallons on the autopots.. (I currently have the 5 gallon fabric pots rolled down half way so that the plants don’t overtake the tent.. seemed like four 5 gallon autopots would be too much in 3x3 ft space ).

Wonder if I’d have issues Since both spaces are running such small pot sizes .. in the microgrow I don’t know how much choice I have with that unless I can just plant like 4 or 5 of sour crack into 1 large container in that 2x2x4 space... if I went up to 3 or even 5 gallons in there I’d only be able to run. 2 sour crack at a time. Would that be worth it?

Inthe autopots, they could go up to 5 gallons (not the current grow) but the next. Hmm

 

[NastyN8t]

Here's my latest recipe ,I mix it a lil different each time .I've done water only ( never pH d) with black strap molasses in flower. .. But i usaully cant help but feed earthjuice hi brix bloom and grow 5ml per gallon w 1/4 tsp bloom master in flower for the overthe top flowers!



5 gallons coir



2.5 gallons fox farm Coco loco



2.5 gallons pro mix ultimate organic



4-5 gallons composted cow manure



5-10#s= worm castings



8-12 quarts perilite



Amendments



1/2 cup blood meal



1 cup bone meal



2 cups kelp.



1 1/2 cups tomato tone
2cups dolemite lime



4-6 cups d.e. earth



1/4 cup azomite



Works good for me, maybe a little lite on N but I get 2-3oz plants w minimal effort

I mix 25-30 gallon batches but do 100gallon + over all

 

[beavis]

I like the kis / kind soil but I’d never be able to afford 70 per bag though, I’m going to check out the build a soil links, I know the soil building rout is a headache, I also don’t have space for it so I wasn’t really exited to jump into that. I had also tried some TLO organic concentrat mixed into roots, i mixed more than the instructions said but the plants look hungry... I’m starting to see some def pop up so I know this won’t carry them throughflower, so in the meantime I’ve been foliar feeding and also top dressing with earth worm castings and watering with molasses.

I’m gonna have to find something simple and cheap to top dress with or else I’m going to have to see if it’s ok to concurrently use megacrop / bud explosion with it (had heard not to mix synthetics with organics but might not have a choice).

I haven’t ordered any ingredients yet becUse I don’t know if I want to bite all that off right now, it might be more than I can chew. I had initially wanted to try biotabs but the shipping cost plus waiting almost 2 months to get it is totally out of the question for me at this time. I think a build a soil kit might be the ticket, gonna check that out now ..

I bought a bag of the biochar soil mix that arrived last week. Cost me more in shipping than the actual soil did. WORTH IT! (re use the soil fo up to 5 years with only adding nutrient amendments to the soil after each cycle. I see it saving me money in the long run especially getting off bottled nutrients. Good luck with your organic journey! We are on it together.

 

[Frenjamin Banklin]

I’m having really good luck experimenting with an indoor soil grow with Miracle Grow organic potting mix. I know I know. But it’s only $8 a bag and was an experiment. It’s got bone meal blood meal and other organic stuff. Not mentioning it as s water only but I’m building my LOS for fall and plan on using this soil from this run after it is done to dilute my very hot mix that will be cooking all summer. Could be a cheap filler for some.

But surprisingly it has been growing some very nice girls in 3 gallon fabric pots indoors. The quality of the mix was very impressive without and crap or large chunks of debris in it. The box stores sell two MG organic products. One is potting mix that I am using the other is s top dress soil. The potting mix is much nicer and $1 more per bag, I hate MG, Monsanto and Bauer as much as the next guy. But if it saves me money, better the enemy you know than.......

 

[Roasty McToasty]

I just ordered a bag of bio char mix at $40 plus $30 for shipping, worth it. Would cost a lot more to get my hands on all those amendments in the mix.
I fit 4, 7 gallon pots in my 3×3, working out fine.

 

[DTOM420]

Thank you @Roasty McToasty @DTOM420 for the advice that was very helpful. I actually think I might go with your reccomendations on the kis soil because, I don’t know where I got 70 a bag from... Looks like it’s only 30 a bag. That’s decent enough to be worth trying out. And a few bags of that is still less than the heap I would be spending on two dozen amendments

But I still have some confusion on how I would use this soil though because of the fact that none of my growing is in large containers. I have 2 spaces .. a 3x3 tent and approx a 2x2x4 cabinet. The tent has four 2 gallon autopots..My other space is four 2gallon small fabric pots of small growing strains. (Sour crack) since it’s a micro grow. I see the KIS soil is recommended for large containers so that has me worried. While I can always go up to 5 gallons on the autopots.. (I currently have the 5 gallon fabric pots rolled down half way so that the plants don’t overtake the tent.. seemed like four 5 gallon autopots would be too much in 3x3 ft space ).

Wonder if I’d have issues Since both spaces are running such small pot sizes .. in the microgrow I don’t know how much choice I have with that unless I can just plant like 4 or 5 of sour crack into 1 large container in that 2x2x4 space... if I went up to 3 or even 5 gallons in there I’d only be able to run. 2 sour crack at a time. Would that be worth it?

Inthe autopots, they could go up to 5 gallons (not the current grow) but the next. Hmm

You’re right about the cost - after the shipping cost is added to the $30 bag price, you’re looking at around $70 per bag. That’s exactly why both companies offer the nutrient and mineral mixes - so you can mix up your own soil that’s just like the bagged soil, without the cost of shipping all the base materials that are included in a bagged soil.

If you are growing in 2 gallon pots, you’re not going to get away with a water-only grow. There simply aren’t enough AVAILABLE nutrients in any soil to carry a plant through a full cycle. You’re going to need to go to 5 gallon or larger, imo. The key to water only, for me, has been the use of lots of biologicals and mulch on your soil to keep it alive on top. I use earthworm compost teas along with stuff like Mammoth P, Recharge and Fish Shit. The biology keeps making more nutrition available. The use of salt-based nutrients will reduce biological life. MegaCrop may not be really bad but BE will not be good for biology. I also top dress my plants monthly. If you want to use AutoPots, you’ll need to go to a larger size and I’d consider their air pot version. I use grow bags.

Hope this helps

 

[Wallflower82]

Anyone try this coast of Maine stonington blend? Supposedly it’s a water only super soil also, just a bit cheaper depending on the store..

So if I do a super soil in autopots should I be going for a bigger pot size ? Don’t think four 5 gallon autopots be too much for 3x3 ft ? It’s too late for me to change the pot size on the current plants but when I come back from vacation I’ll be starting some more.. I could go up on the pot size, I was just hesitant to because of the size plants the autopots ^could make

Coast of Maine has a dry fertilizer that looks decent, could that be used to make up for whatever shortcomings using it in a smaller pot size would create?

Would I even want to go to a larger pot size on plants that don’t take advantage of a bigger root space, such as, sour crack? I theoretically could fit 2 sour cracks in the 2x2 in 5 or 7 gallon pots and still have plenty of headspace (as opposed to the four 2gallon pots that are in there now

 

[beavis]

Anyone try this coast of Maine stonington blend? Supposedly it’s a water only super soil also, just a bit cheaper depending on the store..

So if I do a super soil in autopots should I be going for a bigger pot size ? Don’t think four 5 gallon autopots be too much for 3x3 ft ? It’s too late for me to change the pot size on the current plants but when I come back from vacation I’ll be starting some more.. I could go up on the pot size, I was just hesitant to because of the size plants the autopots ^could make

Coast of Maine has a dry fertilizer that looks decent, could that be used to make up for whatever shortcomings using it in a smaller pot size would create?

Would I even want to go to a larger pot size on plants that don’t take advantage of a bigger root space, such as, sour crack? I theoretically could fit 2 sour cracks in the 2x2 in 5 or 7 gallon pots and still have plenty of headspace (as opposed to the four 2gallon pots that are in there now

Kis recommends 7 gal smallest size to get you through a full cycle without adding much to the soil might have to top dress towards the beginning/middle of bloom.

Also 4x 5 gallon will be pushing a 3x3!

 

[Wallflower82]

I’m not sure what to do I’ve neard from more than 1 places that 4x 5gallon autopots is too much for 3x3 but at the same time the super soil doesn’t work well if it’s not5+ gallon containers so... what’s worse then?

I Dont mind needing to top dress as long as I know what to top dress with, and when. I currently top dress with EWC and a cup or two of extr roots dirt.. I just do it ever few weeks as the soil naturally grows a little more compact as time goes on

 

[Eyes on Fire]

I dont understand why many want to buy tons of stuff..Why not buy a 15LB bag of re amendment mix and buy I think its 10-15 Gallons of soil a 30 LB bag of castings and about the same in perlite. boom,there is your mix for about what...100 USD or so? easy and mix it 2-3 times throughout the 45 days I recommend when cooking a batch with any extras.thats the path Id take. but your mixes are going to be off.why?> well there is a host of smaller things that youll not be able to gewt of have to buy lots of to mimic the mix and a cpl redundant items potentially.just fyi and happy harvesting all.