Looking for some water only soil advice and recipesšŸ˜Š

I am new to growing.
I think I found a soil recipe that I want to use.

I was wanting to know your thoughts on it and/or what are some of your recipes?

I plan on adding red wigglers to each of my pots when growing

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This might help you out there are many recipes within

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Welcome to growing and overgrow! This is a very rewarding path. Use the site to learn, and you will do well.

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Thank you :blush:

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Iā€™m in the same boat, someone just asked this recently too and I think the response seems promising

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To understand better how a potting soil is made i always measure the ingredients in volumeā€¦or percentageā€¦
Also i divide the recipe in
Texture (For exempleā€¦30%peat 30%coco 30%perlite 10%ewc) to achieve a good balance between water and oxigen retention
Then the lime pack to buffer the peat that has a very low ph and provide few elemnts like Ca mg etcā€¦for example i always use 1 cup x cubic foot of straight peat , (That cup is made with 2part dolo 1 part gypsum and 1part calcium carbonate)
Then the nutrient pack (all your choice meals)ā€¦foodā€¦payn attention to balance the fast release one with the slow onesā€¦iprefere The slow and steady onesā€¦like feather meal for Nā€¦most guanos are pretty fastā€¦
I think in this way it helps to understand the role that each elemnt plays in the mix and measuring by the volume is much easy.
As far as your mix, check (what the label says) and be careful with the high P guano, it could release a lot of P and bother the develop of good fungi like mycorizzae
Fish bone meal is pure gold, lots of P slow release and minerals
Alsoā€¦im thinkingā€¦the alfalfameal and the blood meal are fast releasing Nā€¦very fastā€¦
MagnesiumSulphate also not sure if is a good idea to trow in the soil (maybe im wrong doh) cause i immagine it will melt very fast with waterā€¦i would count on Dolomite for a more even delivery of Mg and maybe you can do some foliar if needed along the wayā€¦
If you are in USā€¦crab meal is another powerful element ina soil mixā€¦some has a generous amount of N (some ) and a lot of Ca minerals and Chitinā€¦you could substitute the bloodmeal with the crabā€¦just because both blood and alfalfa will release fast Nā€¦
Just thinkingā€¦Did you get the recipe somewhere?Do you know how it will perform already?
Not tryn to make things super complicatedā€¦just few toughts! :om:
Good luck!

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If you make a mix like this be prepared to let it cook and digest all of that blood and bone for at least 30 days pprior to use.

There are certainly simpler water only recipes. Looks at Coots mix, or the modified Cornell recipe.

Maybe try something more like this. This is the basic soil recipe I use.

base mix

1 part high quality compost
1 part pumice or perlite
1 part sphagnum peat moss-no additives

To each cubic foot of base add the following fo

1 cup fertrell fish meal
1 cup acadian kelp meal
1 cup basalt rock dust
1 cup pacific pearl oyster shell powder

I top dress with ewc, ground malted barley, Malibuā€™s, and a weekly AACT or SST

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Somebody gave me the recipe it seems to be working out pretty well for them. I did add worm castings to it and rice Hulls. But he also feeds with the water from his fish tank so Iā€™m trying to make sure I just have a water only soil that would work for myself.

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What is the difference between no til living soil such as so hum and hot or kind soil such as California hot soil or kind soil?
Any suggestions on hot or kind soil to purchase?
Any suggestions on living soil to purchase?

Would it be more cost-efficient if I created my own hot or kind soil? If so how would i make it?

http://www.kindsoil.com/
https://calihotsoil.com/

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You have to watch if you use rice hulls as aeration. It decomposes and you get a mass of concrete like dirt.

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Hey @SillyHippy glad to see ya on OG! Checked the above soils out for ya and their pretty much the same as any other super soil water only recipe Out there my version of a no/till includes amendments such as the above stated ones in addition to live microbiology and absolutely no disturbance of the soil ( no rototilling ,deep digging etc) where one is not disturbing earth worm tunnels Fungal stands , microbiology and such Iā€™d say itā€™s more for large undisturbed beds Dumping pots and re- mending at the end of your cycles are considered more of a ROLS type soil( Recycled Organic Living Soils) but yes you can make you own supersoil check out those organic soil threads !

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Yea a 1) 6lb bag for 25$ For a rich mineral mix you can do better and cheaper ! For sure

Yeah no joke. You want a rich mineral mix?

Kelp. It has basically everything a plant needs but sodium (yes, even plants need a small amount of sodium).

@SillyHippy all of those are sold by a bunch of crooks. I can buy a soil for local organic growers with the same ingredients for $9 a bag (holy shit those guys are $30 DOLLARS A BAG!?!). Also, I know some on here will disagree, but in my world (agricultural growing of non cannabis) if coco is added, it is considered a ā€œcost savingsā€ for the soil manufacturer.
In other words, they add coco to save money. I donā€™t care what anyone says, peat is superior to coco in CEC. In other words, peat holds more nutrients than coco. Google it, itā€™s true.

Out of the three the SoHum looks the most shady. Stay away from that one the most. It has no ingredients on the bag and is the ā€œHigh Times Best Potting Soilā€. Both throw major flags for me.

They are all variations of a living soil recipe. You could do just as good on your own.

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Also, I work in marketing and sales. Using the word ā€œhotā€ in the name of a soil is a horrible idea. Like putting ā€œpoisonā€ in the name of a children cough medicine.

ā€œHave you tried the new Robitussin Childrenā€™s Cold and Poison? It really works!ā€

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Ya I thought was a terrible marketing ploy as well!

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So what are you saying @Tinytuttle with the no till methode? Would tilling in say the top 3 or 4 inches of soil be alright if I wanted to work in some organic matter and stuff like blood/bone meal and other organic amendments

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Hey friend, whereā€™d you read this? Do you mind providing a source or reference that isnā€™t related to ā€œburned rice hulls used as concrete fillerā€ which is the only thing Iā€™ve seen?

Iā€™ve been using rice hulls for four years now and never experienced this or anything close to it, nor have I ever read it anywhere. Arenā€™t you a synthetic promix grower who doesnā€™t use rice hulls anyway?

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Just sprinkle it on top and gently rake it in to a depth of 2-3 inches is fineā€¦ that patch you worked up in the spring should never see another shovel or rototiller again Only disturbances should be when ya start putting another plant into the ground this fall after harvest one could start another Cover crop for it to be nice and ready next spring or a nice leaf mulch layer over the winter .

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I am a No Till Grower not a synthetic.


I use rice hulls as a mulch because they decompose. I have used them in static worm bins (these sit for 6 months to a year) they break down over a year and my worms die because of a lack of aeration. The worm bins are like concrete. I have also used perlite and not had as many worms die off.

Yes, you can use rice hulls in organic grows where you remix your soil after every grow. But only using rice hulls as aeration can cause issues in a No Till pot over time. My worms and other microbes love to eat rice hulls.

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Iā€™m sorry that happened to you, Tommy_McCain. Youā€™re the first report Iā€™ve heard of the compaction of rice hulls into concrete, anywhere, ever. Not to minimize your valuable experience, but are you sure it wasnā€™t due to something else in the worm bin? Do you have any pics or video of the consistency of it and perhaps a log of what you fed the worms that round?

Has anyone else anywhere experienced the same thing and positively linked it to the rice hulls, or is it just your anecdote? I ask because itā€™s so contrary to everything Iā€™ve experienced and contrary to every use of it Iā€™ve ever seen, heard, or read about.

Regarding using rice hulls for notill growing, every resource Iā€™ve ever read, ever, recommends rice hulls as the only aeration or in conjunction with another type of aeration. They even reference specifically avoiding the soil compaction scenario youā€™re talking about. Hereā€™s a few:

RiceHullGoldECHOAsiaNoteArticle.pdf (2.1 MB)

Youā€™d think if it routinely turned into concrete, none of these pros and soil scientists would recommend using it to do the opposite in soils and composts. Thatā€™s why I asked - it doesnā€™t make sense at all. Why would they steer all of us so obviously wrong if it even has a slight chance of doing what you said? Itā€™s not like the retailers make much profit on this stuff. lol They could make a lot more just by selling us lava rocks and biochar.

Sorry, I thought you were synthetic because you commented about using Promix in this Hempy pot using Promix HP? thread. Donā€™t get a lot of organic growers using Promix since the same thing can be had for about 1/3 the price if you just buy peat.

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