Easy Organic Soil Mix for Beginners

Discussion in 'Growing Organic Marijuana' started by InTheGarden, Oct 2, 2012.



  1. Distilled water IS "deionized". Not totally, but veritably. So is RO...


    So how does "deionized" water rob/strip soil (or the soil solution) of nutrient ions?


    I'm not trying to pick at you EyeC. I see this comment posted on a somewhat consistent basis. In a soil chemistry sense, it is in no way, shape, or form a valid statement/conclusion...
     
  2. ^^^I believe RO is deionized only if you have a DI on your filter.
     


  3. ALL filtered water is "deionized" to some degree. It all depends of the filter/process, and what soluble ions that one might wish to remove from the filtered water in question.




     
  4. On the water subject...


    I tested these...and the worst was our well water...


    The best was Lake water...


    After it froze... Rain or snow tests great...
    .


     


  5. Goes to show you that i should double check data better. ;) I was under the impression from my orchid growing days that deionized/demineralized water would strip ions from the medium it was passing through, but i stand corrected. I went and did some reading and low and behold that would not in fact happen.
    Not sure why i was thinking that when i know it would take the appropriate counter ions in solution to do what i accused poor DI and distilled water of. Apparently in some analytical chemistry circles it seems the qualitative differences are hotly debated. lol


    No problems what so ever. I like opportunities to learn and be corrected. No one is infallible and certainly not i. ;)

     
  6. same reason why flushing wont do anything in soil.
     
  7. #12207 waktoo, Feb 10, 2016
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2016


    This too is an unfortunate misconception held by many in the organic gardening community... [​IMG]

    I don't want to be misunderstood here. Running sufficient amounts of any water through the rhizosphere can and will remove soluble nutrient ions from the soil. It all depends on saturation levels and how much water is used. It doesn't matter if one is gardening organically or utilizing chemical fertilizers...

    There are two chemical phases to soil where nutrient ions reside. There's the soil "solid" phase, which is comprised of the soils CEC and organic matter. Then there's the soil "solute" phase, which is essentially all of the empty space between solid soil particles that is filled with roots and water containing soluble nutrient ions. Considering these two phases, there is no chemical difference between organic soils and those that are chemically fertilized.

    Leaching (or flushing as it's referred to on the reefer forums) does remove soluble nutrient ions from the soil solution. And unless the leaching water is loaded with soluble divalent ions like Ca++ from gypsum, it will have little to no effect on the nutrient ions held by the soils CEC.

    Here"s a bit on the subject from Soil Chemistry, by Bohn, McNeal, & O"Connor. This is about agricultural application, but the basic premise can be applied to potted plants as well because with few exceptions the soil chemistry is the same. Bold emphasis is mine...

    The aims of reclamation are to make Ca++ the major exchangeable ion (on the CEC) and to reduce the salt (nutrient ion) concentration in the soil solution. The main requirement to reclaim salt-affected soils is that sufficient water must pass through the plant root zone to lower the salt concentration to acceptable values. Passing 1 m (meter) of leaching water per meter of soil depth under ponded conditions normally removes approximately 80% of the soluble salt from soils.
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  8. ok i understand that anything soluble will get leached out but the i thought that the soluble nutrients take up a very small portion of the total nutrients in the soil. and since flushing isnt going to kill the microbes/mycelium or roots wont they just produce more soluble nutrients after the flush? [​IMG]


    do organic soils accumulate salts?








     
  9. I would think that flush (dumping way too much water) plants would hurt the roots and microbes from drowning them.
     


  10. i think if the soil is draining well that shouldn't happen. assuming the soil wasn't over watered in the first place.


     
  11. I gotta report this as its perplexing the shiz outta me, sorry for the shitty pic, but you'll get the idea of what I'm trying to get across, what you see in this pic is a batch of regular bag seed started at the EXACT same time ( decent local mids) same exact light, water, everything, except soil, the ones that are growing like crazy are in a Uncooked clackamas coot mix, the other is in a cheap organic starter mix from hardware store, I know folks say not to plant straight into this within letting it sit, bud damn!! Are you seeing this? ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1455225582.824372.jpg
     
  12. If it's this good with out cycling, just wait till the soil really gets going after the microbes have had time to establish and get going.

    PEACe
     
  13. Right? This was just an experiment, the stuff I got cooking out of that batch ( first ever) is doing the Santa beard thing, looks like the top is covered in feathers, I hear that's really good
     
  14. #12214 juicepuddles, Feb 12, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 12, 2016
    I have another noobie question, if I should make my own thread to ask this stuff please let me know and I will edit my posts, thanks.


    I just made my soil mix last night and I have decided to store it in individual 5gallon air pots that will be my plants final home, I put the pots into my grow tent and it smells like cheesey poop haha, I want to make sure that this is a safe way to store my soil, I have not watered it, is it ok to store soil like this? or do I need to water it and keep it moist?


    Do I need to water it / keep a fan on it / cover it? I do not want to ruin all this beautiful soil, I have never made a soil mix before so I am completely clueless on the basics like storage...


    Edit: I mixed the soil about 18 hours ago and its been sitting in air pots since then with little air movement

     
  15. Keep it moist, it's ok to store in your planting containers, however I don't prefer this way, as I feel it should be a mix as a large batch a few times in the first two weeks of cycling.

    PEACe
     
  16. I prefer to keep covered.
     
  17. #12217 juicepuddles, Feb 12, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 12, 2016
    Ok so I should keep it moist inside the air pots, should I just gently water and feel the soil daily to see if it need water?


    If I let it dry out will it ruin my soil? Do I run a chance of mold by watering empty pots? Currently my seedlings are 3 days old and wont be ready for these final pots for at least 2-3 weeks, keeping the soil wet that long seems taxing, perhaps I will pour the pots out into a brute container to store until I need it??


    If these questions annoy any veterans feel free to skip answering and ignore my post [​IMG], however if you feel like helping a brand new grower get some insight to soil basics I would be very greatful.

     
  18. hey peeps, im having a hard time finding anything recent on re amending soils. humus sources, amendments, minerals and limes. its going to all be mixed in with my new batch of soil. thanks
     
  19. My out of service pile gets stone dry and doesn't seem to hurt it any.. I just drop the transplant in place and fill around it with dry mix and water it well.. You don't want it to be stored so wet it gets anaerobic..
    The usual take on re-amending seems to be half or less amounts mostly dictated by how the last run finished.. My last veg pot is so big I have to completely empty most of my in-ground sites to get the root ball in so I have a good opportunity to change up the mix at that time..
    Right after a harvest I'll load up the wheel barrow with my bags of goodies and head around the yard and dole out a half a cup of this and a 1/4 of that.. Dust it all with some sulfur powder and mix well and toss a new plant in the hole to flower..
    Alfalfa pellets
    Compost
    Neem meal
    Kelp meal
    crab shell meal
    chicken manure
    Perlite
    EWC
    Sulfur

    BNW
     
  20. Your the man. I think I'll run 1/4 cups as my first mix was very strong and didn't seem to have any deficiencys throughout season.

    What about limes and minerals? Azomite and oyster flour to be exact.

    If I were to get a soil test. Are there any growmies that know how to comprehend them? I've heard there kind of an ass to.
     

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