should i make my own soil

They have this soil at walmart its like a 1.00 for 4qts. called gardeners pride no chemical additives. I currently have uprising grow6-.5-1.5 and bloom3-6-4 dry ferts.

I could buy some perlite and kelp meal and maybe a few other additives reccomend in this thread for my upcoming grow. Would this be a decent soil or would buying pro mix really be worth the extra cash.
Thanks for reccomendations

Also does earth worm castings turn into live worms or is it just a nutrient

Worm castings is the stuff that comes out a worm's posterior when it eats soil. It won't turn into worms. You'll want about 25% of your mix to be castings.

I get 20qt bags of good organic soil for 8-9$. You might want to call around and see what your local garden stores have to offer. Separately Google "Garden Center" "Nursery" and "Hydroponic", each with your zip code next to it in the search field. Click on the little map and call the closest & best rated stores.

I haven't tried that particular soil mix but most potting soils turn out well when used as part of a good, home-made mix.

I might just go with the 1.00 soil adding this

Perlite
earth worm castings
vermiculite
uprising grow6-.5-1.5
uprising bloom 3-6-4
kelp meal

So let sit for 2 weeks and should be
good to grow?

Can I flush to make sure no build ups?

I just took a look at these "Uprising" grow and bloom fertilizers. They are made by Roots Organics. The ingredients look organic and ok - what pisses me off is the way that Roots divides these between growing/vegging and flowering. Organics doesn't work like that and it makes me irritated that Roots would even mislead people that it does.

That "Gardeners Pride" soil is crap. Get the peat instead. You could mix the Roots dry fertilizers right into your soil mix but please be aware that Roots is misleading you and neither of them are specifically for vegging or flowering. Make sure you mix around 25% EWC into the mix. Nix the vermiculite. Make sure you get the kelp meal. Dry ferts added at 2 cups per cubic foot.

Get flushing out of your head. It's an old wives tale.

J

It doesn't need to sit for two weeks.

Flushing should only be performed when there's either a known toxicity in the soil or as the last watering before harvest.

Using those Uprising ferts, a half & half mix of the two should work well for vegging. Some Kelp will provide extra nutrients but you won't need much during veg. For flowering, use a full dose each of the Bloom and the Kelp but none of the Grow. Forget the vermiculite as Jer-Bear suggested.

what is the peat?

sphagnum peat moss, a natural resource important for sequestering carbon. it is mined from peat bogs which formed over millions of years. the SP is inoculated with some mycorrhiza spores and bagged, then it is re-packaged and sold under various brands such as pro-mix, sunshine mix, premier peat. it's all the same stuff and if you can find a plain old bag of "alaskan" sphagnum peat moss you'll save a few bucks and have the top notch material to use as a base for your soil mix. i'll also recommend adding some light green hay, if i may.

how much hay? and is this the right kind
http://ecx.images-am...jL._AA1500_.jpg

they have a sale on this Just Right Xtra Potting Mix and was wondering if this would burn a sprout?

also what about sol po mag? is this good for seedlings too?

Edited by lightgreenhay, 10 July 2012 - 09:03 PM.

Heres my List so far

Ancient Forest Humus 11.00
Dr Earth kelp meal 7.50
Garden Gypsum 6.50
Just right potting mix(maybe if sale is still on time to order)
sul-po-mag 6.50
azomite 10.00
perlite

anything im missing or should take off the list

ancient forest humus- that's sphagnum peat with pieces of bark and stuff. Not really any benefit over regular old sphagnum peat (according to some microscope samples so I hear)

kelp meal- yes. If you can find a horse feed/ farm animal feed store, their prices will be even lower and it's the same stuff- plain old dried, pulverized ocean kelp. real great stuff @.5-1 cup per CF.

gypsum= calcium sulfate. it may be useful...

sul-po-mag- I supplement a teaspoon here and there throughout late flower. not really sure but I think it's useful

azomite- I added a few cups of this to my soil . it is ok maybe I'll use less next time, or less pumice... due to "hardness" is that a #25 bag for $10?

perlite-- ANY THING but miracle grow. make sure it's not miracle grow, they add synth ferts to the perlite that's aweful.

Thanks for the reply
the azomite was for 2#
i couldnt possibly use the 50#

Ive been thinking it over and im just going to go with the kelp meal, garden gypsum, perlite, Just Right Potting Soil and the sul-po-mag to go along with my grow and bloom.

I really don't want to burn or stress my plant so going to go on the light side here. Do you make a diluted batch for the top of the pot.

Way too many people worry far too much about nutrient burn. Many do this to the point of starving their plants, causing all sorts of deficiencies. For every one grower that actually burns their plant, there must be twenty others who cause a hell of alot more damage withholding food. The one plant with a couple burnt leaves at the bottom ends up with a much higher yield than all of the others because the deficient plants didn't have enough food to grow as much bud.

Nutrient burn first appears on the tips of some of the oldest and lowest leaves on the plant. This is because they are closest to the toxicity in the soil and some of the nutrients are used up before they reach leaves further up on the plant. Watch these lowest leaves as you steadily increase nutrient content. Once they start to burn a little, ease off on the food a bit.

Providing maximum tolerable nutrient levels isn't as important during veg as in flowering. In veg, nutrient levels beyond what is necessary to avoid deficiency damage only serve to quicken growth rate. During flowering, however, nutrient levels affect bud growth and final yield. Imho, all plants should display some slight nutrient burn by harvest time. A little burn on the lowest leaves won't negatively affect bud growth and is the only way to know for certain that they were well fed.

Remember that larger plants need more food. You have to increase fertilizer concentration as flowering progresses because a plant with a quarter pound of bud growing on it needs alot more food than it did when flowering started. It is a very common misconception that leaves have to yellow and die towards the end of flowering. They don't and won't if fed enough.

It should also be noted that how much food the plants can use is proportional to how much light they receive. Plants grown under lower light levels won't be able to make use of as much food as those grown under stronger lights.

how important is a TDS meter
I have a PH meter but will probably feed once or twice with an organic tea. Should I buy a TDS meter (strain likes 1000 ppm max) or is it not really useful?
How easy is it to use and adjust?

If your growing organics ph and tds meter are not needed

Most organic grows need or will at least benefit from testing and properly setting the pH. You only don't need to when it's already correct. Most organic fertilizers have pH values that are too acidic or alkaline for pot plants. For example, my primary source of Potassium is an organic ash that has a pH of about 11 and would seriously harm the plants if used without pH adjustment.

A TDS meter isn't necessary for a soil grow. It can be useful but you can grow perfectly well without one.

Make sure to use a calibration or reading verification liquid with pH meters, as they can lose accuracy over time. I once had one read incorrectly straight out of the package. Alternatively, you can use a separate chemical tester to verify a meter's readings from time to time.

A properly made soil mix that utilizes quality humus - ie: compost/earthworm castings will buffer and automatically even out pH levels. I guarantee that some of the FPE's, botanical teas that I occasionally utilize have pH levels off the charts. I haven't checked the pH of my garden or anything that I've added to it for years now.

I don't have any future intentions of checking pH either. To each his/her own, I suppose.

J