BC Growers Association

SOIL

 

Vic's Super Soil Recipes & Notes

Casamere's Organic Mix

Kumquat's Deluxe Potting Soil

High Dog's Organic Pro-Mix Recipe

The cation exchange capacity of the soil

Soil Related Links


Super Soil Mix

Original recipe - as it was given to me

1 Bale sunshine mix #2 or promix
2 L Bone Meal - phosphorus source
1L Blood Meal - nitrogen source
1 1/3 cups Epsom salts - magnesium source
3-4 cups dolmite lime -calcium source & pH buffering
1 tsp fritted trace elements
1/2 - 1 bag chicken manure (steer, mushroom, etc) - nitrogen & trace elements

- Mix thoroughly, moisten, and let sit 1-2 weeks before use.
 

Revised recipe - after several failures due to bad manure sources, I now use the following recipe. Results have been excellent and the clones seem to take off right away instead of having a slow growing settling in period.

1 Bale sunshine mix #2 or promix (3.8 cu ft)
8 cups Bone Meal - phosphorus source
4 cups Blood Meal - nitrogen source
1 1/3 cups Epsom salts - magnesium source
3-4 cups dolmite lime -calcium source & pH buffering
1 tsp fritted trace elements
4 cups kelp meal.
9kg (25 lbs) bag pure worm castings

- Mix thoroughly, moisten, and let sit 1-2 weeks before use.


 
Substitutions
- The original recipe was a success, but I simply needed to experiment.  In addition, sometimes not all ingedients were always available.  Therefore, here are some possible additions and/or substitutions.  Descriptions to follow

Blood & Bone Meal - when trying to cut costs

Kelp Meal - contains over 62 trace minerals.  Good suppliment for manure or for reducing   the manure content to speed up availability of soil.

Worm castings - excellent source of micronutrients
Bat guano - excellent for top dressing a week into flowering
Seabird guano

Bugs

On a couple of occasions, I've ended up with fungas knats with this soil mix.  They are more of an irritation than anything but may harm weak or young plants.  Some have said that putting a layer of sand on top of the soil in the pots stops the knats from reproducing.  Others can get rid of them by doing a soil drench with diazinon or malathion.

Personally, I prefer to simply introduce fungas knat predators (Hypoaspis miles).  Once established, they not only control fungas knats, but also thrips and mites. When there is no insect food available, they survive on dead plant material, so remain even after pests are gone to prevent future infestations.  Actually, since they have been introduced, I've had no pest problems in over a year and I don't filter my intake.   I got mine from Westgro (1-800-663-2552) and they have sales offices in Delta, Victoria, and Kelowna.

Update: they did nothing to prevent a mite infestation in summer of '89 and were destroyed in the mite war. They will be re-introduced after mite war is finally over.
 

Recycling Soil



Info from Others

 

This is casamere's organic mix

Posted by trelaway on November 07, 1998 at 13:08:49 PT:

In Reply to: What kind of soil? posted by Darkman on November 07, 1998 at 07:12:01 PT:
 

 40% composted soil
 30% worm castings
 20% perlite
 10% dolomite, guanos, goodies, etc.. i've also heard good things about "uncle
 malcolm" brand soil from peaceful valley is good....

 if you're mixing organics with chem ferts, the plant will use up what the chem
 ferts feed it first, then partaking afterwards in the organic nutes. the beauty of
 organics is it's almost impossible to burn your plants, and the taste is superior to
 chem. grown plants.

 i use pure blend 1 - 0.5 -1 for veg and fox farm big bloom 0.8 - 3.0 - 1 for
 flowering. they're expensive but the plants really like it. sometimes i'll make a tea
 out of wormcastings & guano. peace



 

Kumquat's Deluxe Potting Soil

   9 gallons peat moss
   3 gallons vermiculite
   6 gallons perlite
   1 pound blood meal
   1 pound bone meal
   1 pond greensand
   1 pound lime or dolomitic lime
   1 pound rock phosphate
   Pinch of boron (borax is an inexpensive source)

   Blend these ingredients in a small cement mixer or in a large barrel with a tight fitting lid that will let you
   roll it around to mix the contents. If you have to stir the ingredients in an open container, moisten them
   SLIGHTLY with water to avoid breathing in clouds of dust as you work.
   Do not use more than a pinch of boron. It encourages root growth, but its levels can quickly go from
   helpful to harmful in the soil. Once you get the soil all mixed you can add some manure tea (see recipe
   below). The lime in this mix helps to neutralize the acidity of the manure tea.

   Manure Tea

   10 to 15 gallons manure (combine horse, chicken, and cow manure to get a nice balance of nutrients.
   5 gallon bucket of chickweed and/or stinging nettles.
   Water to fill 55 gallon drum (you'll need a well ventilated area to pull this off!!)
   Dump manure(s) in the bottom of the drum. Add chickweed and/or nettles, both of which are rich in
   trace elements, then fill drum with water.
   Once a week stir the "tea" and add water to replace any that has evaporated. You'll need a brewing time
   of at least 3 weeks before using this tea in the potting soil mix.
 
 
 
 



 

High Dog's Organic Pro-mix Recipe

Re: Pro-Mix..Need Help..Starting over

Posted by High Dog on November 11, 1998 at 21:53:29 PT:

 Howdy

 I add blood meal, steamed bone meal, and rock phosphate at the rate of 1 cup per cubic foot of
 potting soil. I add fine dolomite lime at the rate of about 1 1/2 cups per cubic foot. I add kelp meal at
 about 2/3 cup per cubic foot. I also like to add plenty of coarse vermiculite. I use plain potting soil to
 germinate in and transplant into this mix after about two weeks. Once transplanted and established, I
 only give my plants plain water for the duration of the cropping period without suffering any nutrient
 shortage.

 High Dog


Re: Bone Meal/Blood Meal/Lime/Epsom Salt...How much?

Posted by anon on November 20, 1998 at 21:29:18 PT:

In Reply to: Bone Meal/Blood Meal/Lime/Epsom Salt...How much? posted by sleepless on November
20, 1998 at 14:38:45 PT:

 i don't grow anymore but here's a formula that worked VERY well for me...

 6 parts potting soil
 2 parts perlite
 1 part vermiculite
 1 part chicken manure
 1 small handfull lime

 that is the basic organic mix. plants are watered daily... every third watering use fish emulsion 5-1-1
 at 1 tbsp. per gallon. continue this until the second week of the flowering cycle when stretching
 stops. then mix fish emulsion 5-1-1 with alaska more bloom 0-10-10 at a ratio of 1 teaspoon 5-1-1 to
 two teaspoons 0-10-10. this will give you a 5-21-21 ratio. use this every third watering until the last
 week and a half of flowering... for the last week and a half use plain water. right at the beginning of
 the flower period (sometimes) add a small amount of lime to your water for one watering to counter
 any acids that may have built up during the vegetative phase. also sometimes i used to substitute the
 5-21-21 mix with chemical 10-60-10 (schultzes super bloom) at 1/2 teaspoon per gallon for two
 waterings at about week 4-5 of flowering. if there is any yellowing before say week 5 1/2 simply use
 more 5-1-1 and less 0-10-10. this method resulted in hightimes centerfold plants.... very vigorous. in
 three gallon grow bags NL#5 vege'd for 30 days yield 1 1/2 ozs. of smooth sweet potent smoke.
 some strains did closer to two ounces per plant. 2x250w MH. 1 plant per 1 1/2 feet sq.

 bottom line is you really don't need exotic ingredients to grow killer weed. i'm sure that wormcastings
 etc. will do the trick for you... but don't feel bad if they're not available in your area... or are beyond
 your budget. this simple mostly organic set-up will give you EXCELLENT results with common,
 easily obtained cheap ingredients.

 peace all.



 

The cation exchange capacity of the soil

 

Posted by Orchid man on January 11, 1999 at 18:24:30
In Reply to Soil reaction (pH) nutes lock up posted by Orchid man.

 When small quantities of inorganic salts, such as the soluble mineral matter of soil and commercial fertilizers, are added to water they dissociate into electrically charged units called ions. The positively charged ions (cations) such as hydrogen (H+), potassium (K+), calcium (Ca++) magnesium (Mg++), ammonium (NH4+), iron (Fe++), manganese (Mn++), and zinc (Zn++) are absorbed mostly on the negatively charged surfaces of the soil colloids (microscopic clay and humus particles) and exist only in small quantities in the soil solution. Thus, the humus-clay colloids serve as a storehouse for certain essential ions (cations). The negatively charged ions (anions), such as nitrates (N03-) phosphates (HPO4--), sulfates (SO4--), and chlorides (Cl-), are found almost exclusively in the soil solution and can therefore be leached away easily with overwatering. The roots and root hairs are in intimate contact with the soil colloidal surfaces, which are bathed in the soil solution, and therefore nutrient uptake can take place either from the soil solution or directly from the colloidal surfaces (cation exchange). The soil solution is the most important source of nutrients, but since it is very dilute its nutrients are easily depleted and must be replenished from soil particles. The solid phase of the soil, acting as a reservoir of nutrients, slowly releases them into the soil solution by the solubilization of soil minerals and organics, by the solution of soluble salts, and by cation exchange. A more dramatic increase in the nutrient content of the soil solution takes place with the addition of commercial fertilizers. As plants absorb nutrients (ions) they exchange them for other ions. For example, for the uptake of one potassium (K+) ion or one ammonium (NH4+) ion, one hydrogen (H+) ion is released into the soil solution or directly into the soil colloids by the process of cation exchange. Similarly, for the uptake of one calcium (Ca++) or one magnesium (Mg++) ion, two hydrogen (H+) ions are released by the root. Thus, as the plant absorbs these essential cations, the soil solution and the colloidal particles contain more and more hydrogen (H+) ions, which explains why the removal of cations (ammonium (NH4+) nitrogen is a good example) by crops tends to make soils acidic, i.e., having a low pH. Also, as the plant (absorbs essential anions such as nitrates (NO3-) and phosphates (HPO4-), the soil solution is enriched with more and more hydroxyl groups (OH-) and bicarbonates (HCO3-), which explains why the removal of anions (nitrate (NO3-) nitrogen is a good example) by crops tends to make soils alkaline, i.e., having a high pH.
 



 Some useful links:

http://www.newleafmarket.com/eco/organic/10reasons.htm

 http://www.sunsite.unc.edu/london/envres/Sustainable-Agriculture/composting/fungi-mycorrhizae.faq

 http://www.sunsite.unc.edu/london/envres/Sustainable-Agriculture/composting/Food.Quality.and.Soil.Health

 http://www.fairfield.com/soiltech

 http://bob.soils.wisc.edu/~barak/soilscience326/essentl.htm

 http://www.webcom.com/ecostore/organicfertilizers.html

 http://www.premierhort.com/horticul/PRT1A1.HTML

 http://www.agri.upm.edu.my/jst/resources/links/complete.html

 http://www.wp.com/bioag/home.html

 HTTP://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~ohioline/b472/fertile.html

 http://www2.ncsu.edu/bae/people/faculty/sherman/vermiculture/webworms.htm

 http://www.maine.com/tse/pals/compost.html
 



 

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