so im getting 1 yard of composte some peat moss and some perlite gonna mix it all up and was wondering if i need like loam to mix with it to or if i should add anything else.
[quote name='"56Lightsout56"'] Google Monsanto for your answer.[/quote] Not even google. It's all over this site.
Scotts Miracle Gro Pleads Guilty to Pesticide Charges Occupy Monosanto 360 Birds of a feather yada yada yada
^ Walmart is pretty evil too. Not to say I don't go there every once in a while. But I'm not smoking anything a buy there now am I? Miracle grow is a joke, time release garbage that you can't control.
My last outdoor grow, I used 30% moisture control soil for my guerilla grow, worked fantastic. Just get the soil with the least amount of ferts, it says 1 month, 3month 6 month. I get the 1 month time released. After a month slowly start adding your own nutrients. Had no problems whatso ever with the soil, I was very skeptical of it at first tho. I will most likely get some fox farms for this year tho, miracle grow is alright if used proper, but u can get much better soil.
I personally won't use soil with ferts already in it. I like to control exactly how much nutes they get. But that's just me. If it works for somebody else then great.
I use pro mix HP with some great white shark mycorrhizae in it. Nutrients I use are mixed between dutch master and advanced nutrients. While using miracle grow is OK and can give good results, you will never reach a plants full potential and yields with miracle grow. Serious growers and cash croppers (like me) do not and will not use miracle grow. Im not saying you can't grow a good plant with mg but it won't be to the full potential of what it could be. I don't and will never use mg and will not reccomend it to anyone unless that's all they can get. And I'd reccomend fox farm before mg.
I always hear miracle grow burns plants up but I see some old time growers using it. My stepfather used miracle grow without any issues. Right now, I mix Roots organic with some EWC and just go with that until it needs some form of nutes. Maybe I'll snag a bag of MG next time I plant and run some clones side by side, see what happens. That 1,3, and 6 month thing makes sense.
workforpot420 what type of compost are you getting/do you have? black leaf? composted manure? earthworm castings? if it has a brand name let us know but if its from the farmer down the road or something thats cool too black leaf compost most likely will not need to have any sort of aeration added to it, as partially decomposed leaves are usually quite porous and you will generally be fine to have it in your mixture. composted manure, humus, earthworm castings, or any other composted material of a fine nature should be amended to keep the soil porous. not only can you use perlite, but you can also add pumice, lava rock, finer ground pieces of composted pine bark as additions to your soil to keep it more aerated. be warned that you will, in most instances, need to amend your soil with a more alkaline material (such as bone meal or limestone) as pine bark can run acidic. MGMGrand yeah, its a fertilizer, it works. just like what a fertilizer is supposed to do. ive used it before. we've used their bonemeal & bloodmeal in the veggie garden years back as well. ive transplanted into their soils, both organic potters choice and their moisture control blend or w/e. hell, who hasnt used miracle gro before?!?!? i found that there are much better products out there than MG. all of miracle gro's products IMHO. and im not talking about all the different bottles of nutes for growing weed; i personally think half of that stuff is snake oil. i could could go buy some generic 20-20-20 with promix bx for an outdoor plant and have better results than miracle grow time released. and thats not saying very much TBH. than again, i live in an area of very fertile soil, and i am very blessed in that aspect, so that could have something to do with my success. but hey you say it works. i believe you. everyone has their own ways, as there really isnt a formally correct way to grow. as long as it works for you, than thats okay. but to call me a troll and to say i want to prove some point in my head.....lol. i laughed because i think nuking a plant with nutrients and seeing which ones survive is a hell of a way to grow dope. i think most would agree. TBH i didnt really want to get into it but now ill prove a point: how wrong you are about recommending miracle gro to someone trying to create their own soil. moisture controlled soils are, in theory, not good for growing a "power" crop. it goes back to the old farmer mentality; "the faster the soil dries out the more nutrients are taken up by the plant, the faster it grows and the more fertilizer it uses." you will know that this is generally true across the board for all plants (plants excluded are cacti, boabab trees, orchids, etc). the hotter that summer sun, the more you have to irrigate.....and the keeping compost constantly moist will (entirely in laymans term's) translocate suspended organic nutrient solutions, enzymes, amino acids, spores, protozoa, etc. from other areas of the soil toward roots....it will also contain humic acids, which is created through active microbial life breaking down material. humic acids help hold soil particles together better, and in turn, helps hold water better (also much better than the crap leonardite derivative you buy from the store.) a moisture control soil from scotts-miracle gro couldnt come close to containing what a decent amount good compost does for a plant. moisture control may be okay for most growing geraniums in hanging baskets - but its not okay for what were trying to grow. miracle gro organic choice (unless they re-labeled it, thats what it was called when i purchased it before years ago) contains composted municipal sludge...yes, human waste removed from a wastewater treatment facility. they also use municipal lawn & leaf clippings. i agree that the municipal waste has to go somewhere......but do you want it in your plants?!?!? things like that are not meant to be used for consumable crops. time controlled fertilizers - again, sure it may work for you. but i personally find many flaws in using this for one of my grows. i have found mary jane to be quite sensitive to pH when doing a chemical grow, such as you are describing with a peat based mixture & time released nutrients. as it requires a more alkaline pH than most (plants generally like pHes in the 5.0-5.9 range for a peat based mixture). when you constantly add time released fertilizers into your soil, and they settle in, you lose control of your pH. it becomes very hard to remove those pellets - if others didnt know. they fall through cracks, get beried, and are generally worked deeply into your soil. some heavy amending & strong buffered water will be needed to correct the pH problem, as it gets harder to change over time with more salts being added with each watering -- as you can tell something this would quickly turn into a nightmare. can you imagine trying to flush? LOL. in an organic soil outdoors complete with quality compost, buried in the ground, you really dont need to worry about the pH too much...nor nutrients. if your micro-herd is well fed than it does all of the work for you. i have had very successful outdoor grows with 8ft+ tall plants by digging a hole, adding a peat + perlite mix with a generous amount of compost, rock dusts, guano, and neem seed meal. needless to say i had much better results with my organic water only mix than what i tried in the past with miracle gro. you know what else. bugs dont touch my plants. as our veggie garden has become more organic and we have stepped away from using miracle grow completely some time ago - the harvests from our garden are also much better in the past. we used to have enough tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, strawberries, etc.....and now we end up giving much of it away. theres too much to handle. plus, it really is 100% organic - unlike anything you can get out of a miracle gro organic product.
i myself have just started the growing game so i dont really know much about it, but all i know is everyone on these forums enjoy shitting on miracle grow lol i was stressing about soil mix for like 2 weeks, so i went to a hydro store and talked to the guy who worked there about it. This is what i ended up with mixing 50/50 native soil with hydromix hp(it already has peat moss/perlite/lime in it so you dont have to worry with how much of each to mix in) 5 lbs of earthworm casting per 3-4 cubic feet 1/2 cup blood meal and 1 cup bone meal per cubic foot (what most people were saying on forums) and after all that, add in 30% extra perlite. now, like i said im no expert, but this mix makes me feel pretty safe
You asked a reasonable question and were treated to an off topic discussion. I've taken part in these lately, myself. Our apologies. Worm castings would be top of the list. Sounds like your trying to keep it basic. The quality of ingredients in your compost is the key imo. Personally I add kelp meal, crushed oyster shells, composted manure, and greensand. You could do without the Greensand but I have a bunch. You can get creative and more diverse once you pull a crop or 2.