so I have a 40 dollar gift card to home depot and was wondering if there was any good soil there or anything there that i could buy and mix together to create quality soil? I need to get seed starter soil and soil for flowering. Also anyone know if they sell seed starters at home depot? Any advice will be greatly appreciated and I will leave + rep. Thanks.
organic soil and perlite. 75 and 25 %'age. No mg. Avoid at all costs. I am not a fan of jiffy pots either. They dry out super fast and I have had bad luck with them. Just use some party cups for germ. Also I would go 5 gal as well. $2.50 ea. at Lowes
MG potting soil is made from outsourced materials and the quality is unreliable. It is not stored at HD properly and your inviting a host of insects to feed on your plant. Sometimes you get a good bag, but not always. If MG is your only option, go with the organic blend, add xtra perlite and absolutely no time release(those little blue balls)fertilizer in the potting soil. You best bet is to mix your own from a combination of 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 compost and 1/3 perlite with some dolomite lime added to balance ph and add calcium to the soil. A good mix is just coir, perlite and worm castings and you could substitute the coir for all peat moss. Worm casting are around 10.00 (out sourced) for a cf and after blending 2cf of peat, make about 4 cf of good potting soil.... For seedling I have no quams with the MG seedling mix
imho, i would save the gift card and get a quality organic soil from a nursery. I've had great luck with Jungle Growth's organic soil(and it's REALLY cheap). The miracle grow organic soil for cactus is not too bad either if you have your heart set on MG.
I used fox farm ocean forest last time and had no problems. So are you guys saying that there is no way I can get any quality soil from home depot? I would rather spend money on fox farm than get some shitty soil from home depot.
honestly fox farm is the best but if u need to buy from the depot the mg organic potting mix works great... lets say its the least worst of all of there soils
Home Depot sells a soil mix that is super-cheap and is an excellent base ingredient for a soil recipe. I don't remember the exact name, but it is 100% organic forest floor scrapings (same idea as the base ingredient in FFOF). Comes in a white bag with green writing, about $1.50 for a big 40 or 50 lb bag. It's composted organic matter and does contain some larger pieces (one inch or less) of bark and such. Mix it as follows: 4 parts organic potting soil 3 parts sphagnum moss 2 parts worm castings 1 or more parts perlite 1 or more parts clean sand You can get the sand at HD as well. They carry peat moss and perlite, but watch out, MiracleGro adds timed-released ferts even to these products, so avoid the MG brand. Wom castings you will need to get from garden store or online.
Don't buy anything from Scott's or Miracle Gro (Same company now) It's all bark that is not properly composted, forget about the Organic MG because that soil get's soooo dense that it suffocates your plants. Home Depot does sell some decent pH balanced Peat Moss and Mushroom Compost. I would not even buy the MG Perlite since it too has MG time released fertilizers in it.
Get some Steer poo and top soil and peat moss from home depot, White bag red label both for the poo and top soil if I remember correct and some perlite. 3 part peat 1 part steer poo 1 part top soil add perlite tell soil breaks apart with just a light poke. 1 tbsp per gal of blood meal and bone meal per gallon Last but not least get some aluminum sulfate it will help you balance the ph out and it will add nitrogen. I also suggest making your own compost if you have the space because that is a good source for micro nutes.
thanks alot man. Can i use this mix throughout the whole grow? or should i buy some seed starting soil as well?
do a 50/50 mix of perlite and peat for seedlings. Oh and get a 3 in 1 moister/light/ph soil probe, over watering and under watering are people biggest mistake.