New Grower You Mix My Dirt - Suggestions Needed

[SeaBow]

Without starting an entirely new thread which I find many of asking about the "Best" soils to use, I'll put up my inventory in the hopes someone will give me advice on a mix using What I Have.
This is an important factor, using what I have, because mama made comments about adding more stuff to my grow room and I'm reading between the lines.

So if anyone would like to comment and make your own recipe, I would appreciate it. I've germed and popped a couple new seeds and I don't want to go down the road I did on my first soil attempt.

Jungle Growth Grower's Mix Professional
Lambert Garden Soil - Flower and Vegetables 100% Organic
Black Kow Cow Manure
Wiggleworm Earth Worm Castings
Miracle Grow Perlite
General Hydroponics Hydroton
Advanced Nutrients - Jungle Juice Grow/Micro/Bloom
Super Thrive
Rapid Rooters
Molasses
Epsom Salts

 

[The Squid]

First, throw that MG perlite in the bin, because that's where it belongs. Second, since you're still early on with your grows I suggest keeping it simple. Use straight up jungle mix and some plain perlite. Your nutrients are great, AN stuff is spot on. I enjoy SuperThrive, but not everyone uses it. Not sure why you have rapid rooters with soil. Molasses, epsom salt, good for cal/mag. Like I said, keep it simple, mate.

 

[Mr Piggy]

I did some looking into your ingredients and IMHO I'd:
Throw out the jungle growth, they don't even list ingredients on the website and when I found info on the mix it looked like crap. Also contains slow release ferts.
Throw out the MG perlite, it also contains slow release nutes. Get regular perlite, it's a key component.

I'd then mix six parts lambert
one part worm castings
one part kow
two parts perlite

Then I'd mix a tablespoon of molasses in one gallon of water with a dose of super thrive and use that to slightly moisten the mix. Don't use the whole gallon on a small mix, you just want to slightly moisten the medium, not soak it. Mix it all up and let it sit for two to three weeks before using it stirring it twice a week.

That should be a great base mix and if you grow autos in it you won't have to feed till flower. If you can it would be wise to get a hold of some powdered (not pelleted) dolomite lime and mix it in at a rate of two tablespoons a gallon, this is usually considered a must but you might be able to eek by as the lamberts has a tiny bit of dolomite in it. Hope it works out for you!

 

[namvet]

Your right mg perlite does have nutes in it ,I had to get my bag and look at It,knew to me.If you look at the percentage of nutes in it ther so small I don't think there of any value at all,but I will look for plain perlite when I need some.

 

[SeaBow]

Thanks for the advice. I agree with the Jungle Growth and it's slow release nutes. That's what I meant by the muck up on my first auto grow and what it did to my plants. I searched 3 different stores yesterday and they ALL had only MG Perlite. Everything else is what I have in inventory. The rooters are from my hydro mentality. I see a tadpole tail on a popped seed and place it into a soaked rooter - AND - I don't have any soil made up yet. I already have a new little girl added to the family this morning. :dance:




P.S. I don't think I have a full two weeks to wait on the soil to simmer. Do you think the small amount of MG nute in the perlite will effect the seedling much?

 

[SeaBow]

Oh... bye the way... I'm interested in the worm castings aerated with some molasses as a tea. What's an opinion on that?

 

[Muddy]

If you can't find any other perlite the MG is okay if you wash it well first. That will remove most of the slow release nutes. Check nurseries and garden centers. You'll have a better chance of finding it there than you will in the big box stores.

Lamberts seems to make good products and I know others here have used it to good success. I would recommend using it straight for seedlings and for your final pots mix it with 25% worm castings and then add 50% perlite to that. I've tried that Black Cow manure it's fairly worthless. The castings will give better results. The Lamberts does have dolomite lime included but with the worm castings you may need to add a bit more to balance your pH. I would suggest you make you mix, wet it with pHed water, let it sit for 3 days, then test the pH. I would also suggest adding some mycohorrizal fungi to the mix. I used Humbolt Myco Madness but others here prefer Great White. Both are good.

 

[Nelson]

Wow that is a lot of stuff you are mixing in. I think you should use regular perlite like Piggy suggested and I like about 25% of the mix to be perlite.

Pick either cow manure or worm casings or grow one bunch with one and another with the other that way you will know. I am a big fan of testing. I think you will do really well.

No one has mentioned the big factor. Cet your pH right, between 6.0 and 6.5 and you will have great success.

I liked most of the advice that you have been given. I tend to top dress the plants in containers about every two weeks. I use store bought seafood compost but manure teas work very well.

When things go bad for growers I always look to the water they are using. What is the pH of it. Too high is not good. If it has a lot of chlorine like city tap water that is bad also. You may have to collect rain water it that is the case. A rain barrell under the eaves trough outslet works great.

Wicked good luck to you my friend.

 

[SeaBow]

I plan to sprout the seeds in Rockwool giving me a medium to do this with my limited space indoors with my other vegging going on at this point. I'll do this until I see roots coming through the cubes and then I'll have to bury them into this soil mix, and call it the start of vegging. That may be about 10-14 days unless these really take off. I'll take the MG perlite back and check a small store in the area. Strange the big box stores only have MG. I couldn't find liquid Cal/Mag either. They all tried to sell me other products with a crap load of other nutes in them. An Ace Hardware was re-managed and they had a bunch of Fox Farm products. It looked like everything from soil to ferts. Very expensive stuff! Again, I'm trying to keep the peace and use what I have.

I use RO water usually at 25-30 ppm/ 7.0-7.5 pH adjusting with the my homemade pH down to 6.3-5pH Everything that touches the plants are around this pH. I may be able to sneak out and return the vent parts not used and the MG perlite to replace with domolite and regular perlite if I can find it.

I don't want to sound whipped but I've come a long way in taming the natives.

 

[The Squid]

Yeah, that is usually all that the bi box stores have because that's what's 'popular' among normal everyday gardeners. Rubbish... Take these guys advice I forgot the Jungle Mix has time release stuff in it. Look for smaller nurseries or garden shops for the better selection on plain things like perlite.