Best Soil for indoor grow?

http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/1116550-easy-organic-soil-mix-beginners.html

http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-m...door-gardening-without-bottled-nutrients.html

J

 

I'm pleased with the results of the Fox Farms Ocean..the plants in it are growing faster then the lowes potting soil..and 3 times faster then the clones that got put in plain dirt in the ground..try your own small test with a couple of matched sized plants..

The FFO plants already needed transplanting after 12 days..the laggard lowes soil plants look like they need a few more days to get the same degree of rootbound..all started the same day..good soil does make a differance..

 

I went from FFoF to Roots Organic and I noticed a positive difference like you did. Another concern for me in regards to FFoF was that I was getting little fruit flies - or they could be fungus gnats or thrips? Local hydro shop also mentioned that a couple of people that uses FFoF said the same thing too.

Next one I'm going to try is Pro Mix. It has dolomite lime already in it so they're PH balanced right out of the bag.

 

I'm using Roots Organic and I LOVE It!

 

The mass-manufactured brands such as Fox Farms or Roots Organics, albeit a step in the right direction are still not even close to being in the same league as mixing up your own homemade organic soil. For a minimal effort it's very easy to construct your own top shelf mix that can be used over and over and does not require additional bottled nutrient supplements.

Brands such as these purposely do not add sufficient nutrition to the mix so that you have to go back to the grow store to spend more money on their bottled nutes. By mixing your own you can add higher quality and sufficient amendments so that bottles are not needed.

But - different strokes I guess.

J

 

^^^^
Listen to this man. It is so easy, cheap and effective to make the soil in post #2. You'll kick yourself for not trying this earlier.

 

I've had the same experience (fungus gnats), will never go back to FFOF. The fact that people in different areas of the country never have these problems, while others do tells me that FF isn't very consistent with their batches. Roots Organic has been good to me though.

 

Yeah FFOF mixed 1/3 with HF is much better

Sent from iPhone 5

 

You're still counting on and hoping that you end up with a decent amount of the items listed on the bags labels. You're still counting on the mfr to use quality soil components - which they do not. By making your own you can source each item individually and get the very best of each, making sure that there is more than enough of each item needed for lush, vibrant growth for grow after grow while at the same time not needing to supplement with bottled nutrients, constantly check and adjust pH, or even flush at the end of each cycle since no bottles were needed or used.

By using quality compost and worm castings, and not whoever can sell them to FF or Roots cheapest you can be sure of sufficient soil microbe colonies. By ensuring diverse microbe in your soil your plants are automatically more disease resistant and overall healthier. By having healthier thicker plants bigger yields are guaranteed.

These are your babies - your nugs that hopefully you take great pride in. If you grow in soil take it to the next level and construct your own, ending up with superb plants you can be super proud of. Too many folks use the same old same old Fox Farms and Roots products - separate yourself from that crowd and grow the very best.

J

 

Yeah but I don't really care that much to make my own soil this is all ready to go and still grow some super chronic I just feel that this whole growing thin is way over rated as far as how hard it is lol just makes me laugh to read this stuff some times but by all means make your own or what ever lol

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Good stuff Jerry, I've learned a lot from you. There's so much knowledge in the organics forum and your threads in particular, and I absolutely love the subject. It's a lot to take in all at once though, like to take one step at a time. Access to good compost is my biggest hurdle for mixing my own dirt, and it doesn't look like my worm farm is going to produce a whole lot (maybe 4-5 gal) couple of months from now.

What would you suggest in my situation? Will a tea made from the quality castings be a good substitute for lower quality compost in my soil mix?

edit: I use about 6 cu ft of soil per grow

 

You feel like something you've never tried is overrated?

 

It would help but not substitute. Depending on where you live, there are some very good quality bagged composts and worm castings available. Getting these two items in quality can be an organic gardeners biggest hurdle, however, once you get these figured out the rest is gravy. Nutritional amendments are, of course important, but nowhere near as important as quality compost & castings.

Here in New England/Northeastern US I highly recommend the Coast of Maine Lobster Compost - it's fantastic stuff and I use it in my own mix. For worm castings I love the Worm Power vermicompost. If you go to their pages there is a "where to buy" page - I think it's the same for the Coast of Maine website too.

On the west coast I've heard excellent reviews on the "Bu's Blend Biodynamic Compost" and Agrowinn worm castings. If you're interested shoot me a PM and I'd be glad to help.

J

 

Never tried as in making my own soil yeah never though man that was a good bowl now lets go get a shovel and mix some dirt around lol

As far as growing its to fuckin easy Light plant medium water lol how hard is that

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I figure even FFO is a HUGE step up from the shovel fulla backyard dirt the 1st round of clones got started in..even that 12 bucks the wife is whining about..just stick them between the maters and stop screwing with them she says..and i did last year..that mater patch is lucky to get a bag or 2 of steer every spring..but does grow good maters despite being hard as stone once the sun bakes it comes summer in the southwest..

damm i'm rambling again..i'm headed off to read some of jerrys threads as 90% of my grow is outside and in ,,dare i say it? dirt..heh..

 

Comparing regular backyard dirt to buying a bag.....tell her you will get the 12$ back in pot at harvest time. Or a lot more.

 

I'm sure glad that guy a few posts back doesn't grow the weed I smoke. Have a little pride and keep an open mind I think u would be happier and not rub experienced growers the wrong way.

 

Steppin from dwc to soil is kinda a step in the wrong direction imo. If you after a change, id go a coco + clay pebbles mix, that way u can use ur existing feeds too, promotes plenty of root growth an thers no res t clean too like soil

 

Who me

Just because you know about kelp and bat shit dose not by any means make YOU an experienced grower bahahaha

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