Best Australian foxfarm soil alternative?

Can you like, not potentially import it?
What part of Au you in? Sydney here.

There's always coco? Unless you had your heart set on soil?

 

Ok so coco is similar to soil in consistancy I suppose.
Abbreviated form of "Coconut fibre husk" which is basically the woody bit of the coconut ground up.

The main difference between this and soil, is that it's an inert medium.
Meaning it is free of any biodiversity/bacterias (beneficial or otherwise) or "food" for the plants.
Soil can have feed etc in it already.
So you need to get yourself some coco specific nutrients, a lot of which are organic.
You may need to add something like beneficial bacteria to keep the root systems healthy too.
I understand people have used worms in coco as well to get rid of broken down plant matter and keep things a little more managed "underground" but yeah, thats something for you to look into.

It's good at retaining liquid - though you also need to ensure good drainage, or just like with soil things will become tight and not absorb water, not allow roots to grow and move and all that.
Clay balls down the bottom of a pot do that.
I'd also suggest mixing perlite through it at about a 35%ratio (some people even go to 50/50), just to again, keep everything from getting too caked up and/or sticking together.
It's slow to show/get taken hold of by problems as it's not mainlining the water - which is why it's great for beginners/intermediate gardeners...it won't punish you by immediate death to your plant if you make any minor slip ups with your PH or nutrients.

I mean, each to their own, but I have seen people get some AMAZING results going "organic" with coco.
There's a section in here with coco grows I'm pretty sure. Have a look.

If you're in QLD...I'd suggest maybe ordering to a friends house...

 

have you not got access to biobizz buddy ??

 

Another Aussie here, frustrated with either everyone just saying 'Fox Farms' or spelling out some super weird recipe that is all greek to a beginner. I've spent hours trying to research it as a noob. I just want a soil I can go buy and start with in a tent grow, some people will say just grab a bag of premium Osmocote from Bunnings. Then others will shoot that idea down as stupid, you don't want any 'NPK soils'.

Then the 'coco' suggestions come in. In threads that ask what SOIL in a indoor grow is needed.. huh that isn't soil? So now we are growing hydro yeah? Which everyone says is way harder for a beginner, just do a soil 1st grow, you don;t need to worry as much about ph of water.. so then the loop starts again.. what soil? Fox Farms!

Then others say get a 'living soil' that only need water. But then others will say no they actually add nutes to that water in living soil grows. Huh? That living soil in Australia is (a) crazy expensive (b) always stocked in some middle of nowhere location and (c) out of stock everywhere.

All I want is a step by step Australian based guide as to what soil to get for a 4x4 tent grow under LED, where to buy it, and not using strange terms like 'guano' or 'lifter' like a beginner knows what the heck they are (I know it's a lot to learn but I can't even pin down what to buy and not make a mistake that rears it's head in 4 months).

I thought the light choice was hard to pin down through a sea of opinion and sponsored posts but this basic thing - soil and where to get it in my area, super frustrating especially now I have all the other kit ready.

 

Why dont you head over to the GC Organics forum and in a day you’ll know how to construct your own actual high quality soil instead of paying way too much for an inferior product designed to run out of steam halfway through your grow forcing you to go out and buy bottled nutrients?

You could be making a soil that only needs watering with, well, WATER...

good luck - but you should really do this.

j

 

Because it takes ages to 'cure' the compost/soil mix ready for use with cannabis. maybe next grow but what if you want to plant asap and not learn all the lingo in 'a day'

 

I’m sorry you got misinformed - and I’m not trying to be a smart alec in any way whatsoever.

Pick up a bale of Sphagnum Peat - wicked cheap $$. Pick up a couple big bags of the highest quality compost you can find locally and EVEN BETTER if you can find sone at a local farm. You’re still not spending much.

Pick up a small sack of garden lime - again; stupid cheap. You can get a darn #25 pound sack for like $5.

Now get what is referred to a “blended organic soil amendment fertilizer”. This is a mixture of a dozen different organic soil amendments and conveniently mixed together in a tidy little sack.

If you can find a small sack of chicken manure pellets I HIGHLY RECOMMEND to do so.

Mix the Sphagnum Peat and compost together - 2/3 peat and 1/3 compost. This is your base soil.

(Edit: The lime mentioned below should be added to peat/compost and would be considered part of the bSe soil.)

For each Cubic Foot of your base soil mix, or 7.5 gallons, add a good cup of lime, add 3 cups of the blended organic amendments and hopefully 2 cups of chicken manure pellets.

YOU'VE JUST CREATED AN ORGANIC POTTING SOIL THAT PUTS FOX FARMS TO SHAME AND WILL NEED NO ADDITIONAL FERTILIZER FROM START TO FINISH.

This is way too easy and will only take a couple hours to do?!!

This soil will only need WATER from start to finish!

You will NOT need to check or adjust pH!!!

You will NOT need to buy Veg fertilizers, specific Bloom fertilizers and you will NOT need to flush your plants!!

Before you add anything to your peat/compost/lime base mix, just set some of it aside! You can add 1 cup of the blended organic fertilizer to it and plant into it in 5 MINUTES.

The rest of it? Soak it thoroughly and set it aside to “nutrient cycle” - aka “break down”.

Store bought soil mixes might be convenient in the beginning but are lacking in proper plant nutrition to take you the distance - and on purpose, so that you’ll now be forced to buy additional items 1/3 of the way through, have to pH your mix, blah blah blah.

I wouldnt tell you this if it wasn’t extremely easy to do, will save you $$ and time and is HIGHLY EFFECTIVE.

j

 

That is a very detailed post, thank you. I understand most of it. Here in bullet point form with some questions or links I have found for actual products, look right?

• Bale of Sphagnum Peat - Sphagnum and peat moss are different | Sustainable Gardening Australia can you clarify?
• Garden lime - Richgro 10kg Natural Garden Lime
• “blended organic soil amendment fertilizer”. This is a mixture of a dozen different organic soil amendments and conveniently mixed together in a tidy little sack. Can you link an actual product? I don't understand what this is.
• sack of chicken manure pellets - Neutrog 20kg Rooster Booster Organic Fertiliser

 

if you can get Down To Earth products, BioLive is a blended organic feftilzer. There’s some others as well

Blended Fertilizer

 

CANADIAN Sphagnum Peat Australia - Sphagnum Peat Moss (25L)

Lime - looks just fine

These are blended organic soil amendments - pick a good all purpose one and it’ll get you where you want to be or find one near you with similar ingredients:
Organic Fertilizers – Dr Earth

The chicken manure looks great.

FIND QUALITY COMPOST - THE SOIL IS KNLY AS GOOD AS YOUR COMPOST. I cannot stress this enough.

One thing I forgot - find some perlite, chunky if you can to make sure the soil drains well.

I’m at work but if you need more help get back to me and I’ll be happy to assist further.

Trust me - once you have your soil constructed the hard part is over. After that you’re just going to need to keep your soil moist with plain old water from start to finish. Nothing could be easier or more effective. Good luck and we’ll talk later if you need.

j

 

Hortico 10kg Organic Garden Fertiliser
Wait, isn't this NPK fertilizer and now I'm just adding to a non NPK soil.. NPK slow release?

'FIND QUALITY COMPOST - THE SOIL IS KNLY AS GOOD AS YOUR COMPOST. I cannot stress this enough.'
Am I meant to have my own, I don't.

I'm just going to get a seedling soil Osmocote 10L Seed & Cutting Potting Mix and little jiffy pots and get started, the confusion and hesitation is killing me. Gives me more time to mull over your instructions and find all the parts.

 

I have no idea what the ingredients are in the Hortico product. I’m guessing that if its organic then it is not an NPK chemical fertilizer but is, again, a mixture of assorted organic soil amendments. You need to define its ingredients.

I didnt say that about your own compost. I’m guessing that you don't have your own. Compost is everywhere - on every corner of our round planet.
Pun intended.

I sincerely hope you do not get the Osmocote product - made by Scotts under Miracle Grow. It DOES contain chemical fertilizer which completely defeats the purpose.

j

 

@MadFlavour -

I just need to throw a couple of points out there.

I guess like anything in life, you get out of it what you put into it. It’s worth taking just a little bit of time and putting a serious effort into locating The very best compost that you can find. I don’t know if you live in the city or in the country but it really is everywhere. Try and find the least commercialized product you can. If you can find some being sold by a farmer this is your best bet versus off of some pallet that’s been sitting in the sun in a hot parking lot somewhere for two years.

what we are after here is life… Life in the form of bacteria and fungus, i.e.: soil microbes. Please don’t get hooked by some kind of microbes in a bottle, you need quality compost.

since it’s life that we are after, the very last thing you want to do is to start using anything that is not organic like the Osmocote product you referenced. Take a good look at all ingredients on any products and make sure that it’s actually organic. Chemical fertilizers added to an organic garden defeat the purpose and have a negative affect on soil microbes. Do not use anything sold by Miracle Gro or Scott’s.

you can start your seeds in the peat with a touch of lime added. If you can find ProMix i’d go with this as it already has a liming agent added.

take a couple days and make the effort. You’ll thank me later.

j

 

Here you go @MadFlavour google usually gets you there in the end.

https://easyasorganics.com.au/

That looks like a complete done for you soil ready to go.

Super Soil Nutrient Kit

This looks like a great blended amendment that @jerry111165 mentioned to add into the mix

Just google compost and there are lots of suppliers or try gumtree there is lots I found just with google searching.

It is very easy and @jerry111165 made it very simple for you. take the time to get the thing you need together mix it and then plant you will be very happy you did it this way and not the premade soil. If you do the link above looks like good soil. The other stuff you got at this bunnings place you will have trouble in a few weeks and be back asking why your plant is dying.

 

I just ordered a couple bags of soil and some other things. Easy as Organics. Living soil, based in Victoria. They ship direct or they also have some outlets. I’ll give it a go anyhow.


Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum

 

Another good one is highpoweredorganics.com
He has water only soil or a lite version that has around 4-6 weeks of feed and then you add your own.

Another Aussie alternative that's shit easy is get a bag of Canna Terra (Hydro shop) which is a soiless medium but doesn't need watering every day like coco. It's treated like soil, so you can grab some Canna Bio Vega for veg and Bio Flores for flower and you're done.

Or, if you want to save cash, go to bunnings and get the Red Powerfeed for veg and Purple Powerfeed for flower.