Lets make 500 gallons of a simple and effective potting soil

Basic Growing Info
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Alrighty ladies and gents, since we all know buying bag soil can get quite a bit expensive, here’s my alternative to save some bucks and have a BETTER mix than MOST packaged potting mixes. .

This last year growing purchasing potting mixes like fox farms ocean forest got the job done but couldnt help but notice how costly it made things. At 1.5 cu ft (9.6 gallon) per bag for 20 bucks just added up way to quick. Taking a recent trip to my local nursery looking into my options this year, that same bag is now 24.99. Then you factor in the annoyance of all the peat moss in the mix making waterings a pain in the ass with the hydrofoil of the peat and u have an expensive soil mix that makes u want to pull ur hair out come watering and tea days.

So here’s my simple build a soil recipe I played around with at the end of summer/last year with excellent results

1 part mushroom compost
1 part Scotts humus and manure
1 part coir
1 part perlite
2 cups Dr earth veggie and herb

Now let’s assess the cost for the 480 gallons I’m building (calling it 500 for simplicity)

Mushroom compost at home depot $2.48 for 1 cu ft
Scotts humus and manure at tractor supply $2.99 for 0.75 cu ft
Coir ( can’t honestly tell cost, mine was donated to me)
Perlite $17.99 for 2 cu ft at home depot( I got mine on craigslist $100+$30 gas for 15 bags)
Dr earth veggie and herb dry amendments 240 gallon of coverage for $26.95 at home depot

18 bags mushroom compost $45
24 bags Scotts humus manure $72
120 gallons Coir $donated$ to me
9 bags Perlite $80(end cost was 8.70 for me, call it $9/bag)
2 bags Dr earth $60

Mix it all together( I need a frickin cement mixer, doing it all by hand putting each ingredient in 10 gallon grow bags and mixing each part together for 40 gallon at a time)

Once it’s all mixed, this recipe will yield about 480 gallons for about $260 for me(since I got free coir and a deal on perlite). Best part is there’s no peat and it’s hydrofoil properties to deal with. Lets compare what the cost would be for fox farms ocean forest at 25 a bag…
480 gallon ÷ 9.6 gallon per bag = 50 bags
50 bags x $25(not including tax) = $1250

So end of the day I’m building a better soil mix for about 20% the cost

After it’s all mixed it’s ends up in a soil catch crate(s), gets a nice soak down, revs veg recipe compost tea(with blended aloe leaves added to the recipe) the following day and left for about 3 weeks to a month to get things going

Hope this helps others save some money getting their grow on this year too :slight_smile:
Best part with the recipe is you can do a small batch or bulk depending on how big your grow plans are :slight_smile:

Happy growing 2022 yall

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That’s a whole lot of mixing, but in the end saved quite a bit of money to compensate you for your labor. :+1::seedling:

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That’s what I’m saying, might hit up Craigslist for a cement mixer if I can snag one for around 100, still cost effective I think

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Do you plan on top dressing through the season or is that Dr. Earth all they are going to get?

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You can rent them at Home Depot.

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I think the biggest motivation is to ditch the peat, I literally have zero options in my area for a pre bagged potting soil that doesn’t have peat in it.

I do the revs actively aerated compost tea recipes with a few mods every 10-14 days for feedings/microbe charge

My red wigglers get all my kitchen scraps and plant fan leaves which ultimately ends back up into my teas

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I’m an hour from the closest location and would have to tow my trailer since I don’t have a truck, not a bad option if I was closer though

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An hour is pretty far. The one I rented fit into a hatchback. Barely.

I can’t remember what it cost but it was pretty inexpensive.

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Haha that’s what I got, a lil ole Saturn sw2 station wagon haha

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I fit mine in a VW golf.

Just put a tarp down :+1:

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Lmao!!! That’s a tiny ass car bruh! Nicely done on that one, u sir have some serious Tetris skills

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It was pretty difficult :rofl:

I had to repour the trenches in a basement for a replaced sewer line. Fortunately I was only 5 mins away from the depot at the time.

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That’s the way to do it. Your saving is closer to 80%.

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Sure is, that’s why I wanted to share with other organic soil growers :slight_smile:

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I’ve been using this perlite in my mix:

Amazon.com : AeroSoil Perlite Horticultural Soil Additive – Potting Soil for Plants – Seed Starter - Coarse 4 CF : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Its a little powdery as the reviews state, but it does the job, just wet it down before mixing. You’d be surprised just how big that box of perlite is (something like 18" x 18" x 36" tall or so). Cheaper than buying by the bag locally…

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Be sure to wear a respirator when mixing perlite, or Pre moisten it with water. While it’s not deadly, breathing a cloud of it’s dust in sure does hurt your lungs for a couple of hours.

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Nice soil mix…great score on the coco!

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Absolutely need a respirator with the box I got. Once wet down, you’re good, but I scoop out a gallon at a time, then spray down with a sprayer and mix with soil. Still gotta moisten as you mix too… And I usually keep the respirator on for the remainder of my time mixing, theres still airborne perlite dust. By the next day its settled (or well moistened and mixed with soil) and no respirator, but I abuse my lungs enough, no need to add to that abuse with something that doesn’t do anything for me…

I actually got lucky and they double-shipped me that box of perlite. I really didn’t wanna keep it, it takes up a lot of room, but amazon didn’t want it back, so I made room. Still working on the first box (but its almost gone finally!). Still have yet to crack the second box LOL

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4 cu ft for 40, home Depot is 17.99 normal price… not seeing the cheaper than local with that one bud lol
If I didn’t catch such a good deal on it I prob would be going the lava rock route lol

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I always rinse my perlite and great advice to do so!

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