Creating organic soil in advance?

A few questions for a new fairly novice grower. If I am gonna mix my own soil for an outdoor grow in big pots, can I start it now so its ready for planting in a month and a half or two, or does soil lose its quality if its just sitting? Because If I am gonna use compost I want time for all the little bugs to start multiplying and doing there thing.

Should I make my soil from scratch or start with big bags of Roots Organics soil? Maybe mix some compost in.. The guy at the hydroponics store said the Roots soil has about a week worth of nutrients in it. So explain to me how this works, after a week would I have to re add all these ingredients(like peat moss, blood meal, worm castings, kelp meal, perlite, bone meal, etc..) independently? How can I visually tell how often It needs certain things?

Or would it be better to just use an organic line of nutrients? Would using a good line of nutrients(like one for veg, one for flowering, and so on) be all I need for completely balanced soil and PH? Or should I manually regulate all these things?

I mainly just curious how long a homemade soil will hold its qualities compared to something like Roots Organics? I'm guessing much longer?

Wow, people must have patience, there's a lot of threads started on here that just beg to have their hand held

this statement tells me everything "...or does soil lose its quality if its just sitting?"

READ READ READ through these forums man, SO much info and all your questions will be answered, go pick up an organic gardening book, get Teaming with Microbes, get your hands dirty in the backyard to see what works for you without ruining a high dollar crop

it is good for you to add amendments to the soil and then let it all sit outside...it is a good idea...gets all your nutes and what not properly distributed at the bottom of the hole...so your plant has to grow to them the way nature intended...

Thanks missnu.

I'm gonna be using this recipe.

8 large bags of high quality organic potting soil with coco and Mycorrhizae
25-50 lbs. of organic worm castings
5 lbs. of Blood meal 12-0-0
5 lbs. Bat guano 0-5-0
5 lbs. Fish Bone Meal 3-16-0
3/4 cup Epsom salt
1 cup Sweet lime (Dolomite)
1/2 cup Azomite ( Trace element)
2 Tbs. powdered Humic acid

I'm just wondering If making it two month in advance is too long or is it always the longer the better? I know i'Il need to mix it and add water before letting it bake in sun. I'm just also curious with this mix and about how long can I expect it to take the plant to suck it all up? And what ingredients are only added the first time? Do you reccomend using an organic line of nutrients or doing it naturally the whole time by just adding what I need when i need it?

BlueJ you obviously had the time to come post here, so don't act like I'm a pest, we all had to learn the fundamentals of growing plants at one point, sometimes asking is easier than reading.

oh yes, there's always the easy way out "asking is easier than reading" hehe

blueJ said:

oh yes, there's always the easy way out "asking is easier than reading" hehe

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Word^^^^

Asking a specific question on something you don't understand is one thing.

Doing your homework for you is something else.

Wet

Fair enough, I guess I am asking alot of questions. Well I have 2 months to figure out what the f*** I'm doing.

I don't think that it is so much that he wants to be lazy, he obviously has done some work, as he has a recipe already. Wet and Blue J, I respect you guys immensely and value your input alway, but I can sympathize here. He sounds like he has done his research and just wants to make sure he isn't doing anything wrong so he doesn't nuke his plants. I ask the same questions, as I'm tweaking an initial run of soil, and you are right, the experience is tantamount and invaluable, but to have that initial nod that your mix looks good or someone who has a lot more experience can spot an issue and he can make corrections, that can help save some poor soul MONTHS of time and heartache. The experience will come as he learns what he needs to add or take out. But for those of us who have little experience with organic soil mixing, and are coming off of the bottles , a little reassurance and or corrections are always appreciated. If you can have a good solid starting point on amounts to add to your base, and see during the run, that 1 cup of Blood meal was enough, or not enough, making corrections will be much easier. So thank you guys on your input and experience that you share with us daily, but a little tolerance and patience can go a long ways, and is much appreciated. I'm pretty sure we all had to start somewhere, and learning the hard way is never fun, lol....

As for the question afaik, mixing your soil and letting it sit too long won't be a problem.

I wasn't even able to veg with Roots Organic soil. My plants became deficient in it right away and I had to start using BioCanna. If Roots Organic is all you have around you, I'd probably use it as your base and add in some amendments. Don't ask me about dosages, because I'm still trying to figure mine out, lol. But Wet recommended to me to use twice as much Bonemeal as you do Blood meal. So something like 1 cup Bloodmeal, 2 cups bone meal. Not that those are to your mix size.

I personally am not buying bales anymore. I'm only going to buy 1-2 cf bags so I know exactly how much soil I have and don't have to guestimate. I have a 30gal mixing tub, but it is hard to figure out exactly how much Pro mix i am using compared to my amendments which I measure precisely with cups and such.

nightbird, you're cool man and that's the type of patience i was talking about! lol seriously no offense meant, no harm done. And i do highly suggest buying some soil, organic ferts/ammendments a pack of tomatoes and mess around in the backyard ALL THE TIME, invaluable knowledge attained with hands in the dirt experience and attaining general organic gardening knowledge without worrying about high dollar investment crops.

Start with something VERY simple so you don't have many variables to figure out what is working vs. not working

missnu said:

it is good for you to add amendments to the soil and then let it all sit outside...it is a good idea...gets all your nutes and what not properly distributed at the bottom of the hole...so your plant has to grow to them the way nature intended...

Click to expand...

.........um ............totally WRONG!

Nostferatu, about the only thing I can see that MIGHT be problematic is the 1 cup of lime. Potting soils are almost all peat based, and acidic. Once you get everything mixed (I highly suggest renting or buying a cement mixer), take a sample and test the pH. Add lime to the entire batch, slowly bringing it up to where you want it. It will stay stable from then on through out the grow. There is no arbitrary measurement for adding lime, merely a guideline.
The longer it sits, the more active the microbes become, and the more nutrients are immediately available. All those ferts you're using are not available to the plant until the microbial action converts them to a form that the plant can assimilate.

Looks like you're all set on the soil, but I am curious, do you play EVE Online? I ask because of the name. Good luck with your future growing endeavors!

Where the hell did my like button go... Good info here. Thanks for the info Blue J. I actually have thought about doing a patch of tomatoes, even though I don't eat them, allergic. But to just be able to do something that won't make or break you if you fail. And reap the benefits from the experience. You know what's funny is that every now and again, I get a grass seed or a clover seed that pops up. I have a couple that did in my last batch and I have let them stay. They are really small, and I figure that if it survives in there, my plants should be doing fine. If they die, then I know something may be wrong. They actually are looking great though, lol.

Thanksfor the help everyone, Iv'e done alot of research since I posted this and I am confident to grow now! About the roots if you are buying the bales they only have 1 weeks worth of nutrients. The small bags have 3 weeks worth about. Thanks for the help though man it really helped, ime to plant.