Soil Recipe

I just attempted to make some soil based on Revs soil guide as closely as i could. I wasnt able to obtain all of the ingredients, but i do have quiet a few. My only concern is that i may be missing a few vital sources of nutrients by missing a few amendments.

Heres the soil recipe i put together, what would you change or do differently?

3 gal of Roots Organic soil
1.5 gal perlite
1.5 gal earthworm casting
3/4c ground oyster
3/4c dolomite
3/4c humic acid
3/4c alfalfa meal
1/4c blood meal
1/4c bat guano

Alfalfa Meal- 2% N; 1% P; 1% K
Bat Guano- 10% N; 3% P; 1% K
Bone Meal- 3% N; 15%

My main concern is the lack of potassium. Thoughts or concerns?

Im preparing a soil test from a kit i bought earlier. Will probably test the soil 2x a week for 2 weeks to see how the amounts of available nutrients change after i applied some distilled water to the soil.

Nice to meet you all by the way

-Speciosa

Hello Speciosa, IMO this looks like a little to much as far as amendments go?? with that much worm poo and only 3 gal of roots organic I think you may be looking at a very thick mud like texture, making it hard for ur plants roots to move and and get the oxygen needed, even if you were to use coco as ur base mix I think this would still be the case... this is the mix I use with great success, I do add alfalfa meal and bat poo to the mix, seems to "build bigger buds" but something you may want to try if you have most of the amendments on hand? but don't use roots organic if its already amended, it would be to hot of a mix. Break it down to and 1/8 of a batch and run it agents the mix you have planed out... maybe ur's will be just as good or better?? much luck to ya!!

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 dolomite lime -calcium source & pH buffering
1 tsp fritted trace elements
4 cups kelp meal.
9kg (25 lbs) bag pure worm castings

Rather than all that perlite, you may consider a 1/3 soil, 1/3 compost and 1/3 EWC as a base soil mix. Add your perlite to that. Also, some kelp meal would be useful in there.

I would suggest you burn some well seasond but not rotting hardwood and add a cup or 2 of ash to your soil mix for greater pot ash but make sure you dont use coal ash as this is very bad! lol hope this helps

Thank you for bringing that to my attention 2Lay. Im thinking about adding one additional gallon of soil to the mix and then add 1/8 of the amendments to the soil in order to make up for the additional soil. Revs recipe calls for 2 gallons soil, 2 gallon perlite, 2 gallon coir and 2 gallons castings. Forgot to factor in the lack of coir inorder to have a more balanced soil. But if i do that then im going to be at over 50% Roots Organic Soil and then an even mix of perlite/worm casting.

Im looking into all your suggestions, but money is tight and ive spent what i could on my current ingredients. I do feel like 50% RO is going to be to much however. Do you guys think adding in compost would be more beneficial then coconut coir?

Do you think just about any wood's ash could be used in the potting mix? I have some in the backyard by the fire pit i could start burning.

After the soil testing it read that i have a surplus in Nitrogen, Adequate/sufficient Phosphorus and deficient in my potassium. So thats gonna have to be addressed, it might rise in the next few weeks as nutrients break down. Going to have to continue to test it and see.

Thanks for all your help everyone!

-Speciosa

all wood products burnt will produce pot ash but its better if its well seasoned as it burns faster as complete combustion takes place, but lol basicly any wood works lol im pretty sure you can use the ash from burning paper as long as its blank. lol good luck

for my mix i have been using the following recipe lately and it has been working pretty good:

to a 20 gallon tub i add:

-roughly half full of promix
-roughly 2 gals each of mushroom compost, organic humus+compost, perlite, and ewcs (you may need more perlite)
-1 cup cottonseed meal
-2 cups alfalfa meal
-1-2 cups azomite
-1/2 cup lime
-2 cups kelp meal
-2 cups guano
-2 cups greensand
-1 cup fish bonemeal

I could be forgetting something but i dont think so, i'll have to check later. wet it down and let it cook for at least a month. i havent had any burn problems yet. the greensand does take a long time to break down, but i reuse my soil and reammend, so i dont mind

also if you are using peat you really dont need the humic acid, as im pretty sure humic acid is formed as peat breaks down, so as long as your soil is living then. . .

everyone's recipe is different and it can be a lot to sort through, hope this helps.

Its always helpful to see other peoples soil recipes that work for them and compare the differences in content. Ive been reading up the last few hours and it seems like i might not want to use Roots Organic for seedlings. Im thinking of using biobizz or promix for seedlings then transplanting into a layered mix of my super soil/ the less nutrient soils then my current super soil/Roots Organic that i have on hand. I was also thinking that a mixture of castings/RO might work better for seedlings. Should i be worried about the amount of nutrients in my soil mixture as well as RO for young plants?

lol i would def recomend biobizz tho i have never used roots. lol i havent done many grows and am still revising my soil mix.
this is what i used last grow:

BioBizz soil~whole bag (25l i think)
Fish B & B (N.P.K-6.4.6)~2 cups
Rock dust (cal/mag, trace minerals)~1 cup
Kelp meal (trace minerals)~1 cup
Bat Guano (N.P.K-2.15.1)~3 cups
D Lime(cal/mag)~2 cups
Perlite~ about 3 gall or 11l

lol thats what i used last grow and this grow.

oh yeah i also add about 4 to 6 cups of Plant Tone to my 20 gal tub when i mix my soil, that was the one thing i forgot to list in my previous post. loving my mix so far.

GreenSummit said:

for my mix i have been using the following recipe lately and it has been working pretty good:


-2 cups guano

Click to expand...

GreenSummit,
Thank you for sharing your recipe for soil.



What is the guano and the npk value?
(Bird, Bat, fossilized)

puritan