First grow wondering if my mix is too hot

[Jack The Skeleton]

As the title states this is my first grow and I want to do an organic grow. I have read hundreds of soil recipes and tried my own blend but after re-reading a lot of mixes Im second guessing myself. All of my girls are ready to be transplanted and are doing very well but I dont want to burn them here is my mix.

1 bale pro-mix hp Mycorrhizae 3.8 cu ft
2 bags local compost from garden center 1 cu ft ea
1 bale pro-mix peat moss 1.2 cu ft
25 pounds ewc
3 pounds blood meal
3 pounds bone meal
solo cup full of dolomite lime
bunch of perilite horticultural grade
solo cup of rock dust

Not very complicated I know but that was what I could find at my local garden center. I do have plenty of bags now of happy frog laying around I bought the whole dang skid when I found it. So I could mix that in. My soil has been cooking for six weeks no white fungus nothing in the soil just dark brown with a strong earthy smell to it. When I started the cook I used distilled water. My water from the tap is well water high in sulfur and acidic. Any thoughts would be appreciated because I can abandon my soil mix if need be but I need to get my plants transplanted.

 

[calliandra]

And what makes you think it could be too hot?

 

[Jack The Skeleton]

Basically because of the amount of blood meal and lime. I think I went too heavy on those two amendments. Also even after 6 weeks you can still feel warmth in the soil.

 

[calliandra]

Ah ok - well I have no experience with those, so better wait for someone who does

I did have literally hot soil before my current grow - for a combination of reasons: an overdose of neem meal, not enough aeration, "cooking" it in the plastic pot it was destined for AND topdressing all that with clover-grass mulch - it was STEAMING haha
So I just dumped it onto a tarp for 2 days, mixed in lava rock to 1/3 of the total volume, then put it back in the pot minus the mulch. Left to sit another 2 weeks (it was only 4 in total), I was a bit concerned to transplant my plants into it but they absolutely loved it and are extremely happy in it.

So I imagine yours can't be that far off from being good to use either - but lets see what the wizards say

 

[hyroot]

Just let it cook for 3 months and you will be fine

 

[sworth]

I'm with hyroot...let it cook for a while and you'll be okay. Maybe run a Ph test when it's cooked, just to set your mind at rest about the lime. (Probably good working practice as well)

 

[Wetdog]

Basically because of the amount of blood meal and lime. I think I went too heavy on those two amendments. Also even after 6 weeks you can still feel warmth in the soil.

If anything you're light on the lime. You should use 1 cup/cf of mix and a solo cup is ~2 cups. I would add 2+ more solo cups of lime.

I've grown stuff in pure crushed limestone in an emergency. Limestone is of a very mild nature and for whatever reason some act like it's a big nasty.

Blood meal IS a big nasty and is super easy to over apply. The normal amount is 1/2 cup/cf and 3lbs is waaaaaay too much for that amount of mix. About all you can do is let the mix sit a bit longer and add some more lime.

To test in a few weeks, get some cheap veggie seeds and plant a couple in the mix. If they do Ok, great. If they get burnt up, you're only out a few pennies and you wait longer to try again.

Wet

 

[Jack The Skeleton]

Thank you all for the replies. I figured that was too much blood meal. I thought I would be ok being I had 7 cu ft of medium in there. I have tested the ph its at 7 now. I tested it once a week just to see. I thought about adding some happy frog or more pro-mix to make it useable. I think I'm going to just abandon my mix this grow because I don't have time my lack of experience showing. I'll mix up some happy frog perilite and ewc and call it at that. I have a 50 bags of happy frog so may add 3 bags to the mix and let everything cook for this grow. Should be pretty good in about 3 months that would give it a total of 4 1/2 months of cooking.

 

[ShLUbY]

Thank you all for the replies. I figured that was too much blood meal. I thought I would be ok being I had 7 cu ft of medium in there. I have tested the ph its at 7 now. I tested it once a week just to see. I thought about adding some happy frog or more pro-mix to make it useable. I think I'm going to just abandon my mix this grow because I don't have time my lack of experience showing. I'll mix up some happy frog perilite and ewc and call it at that. I have a 50 bags of happy frog so may add 3 bags to the mix and let everything cook for this grow. Should be pretty good in about 3 months that would give it a total of 4 1/2 months of cooking.

i would add more EWC.... like a lot! 2 cuft for sure.

 

[Jack The Skeleton]

I will pick some up today. I'm lucky enough to be able to get ewc and just about anything else locally no questions asked.

 

[Jack The Skeleton]

I abandoned my original soil to allow more time to cook. I have a pretty big problem right now. I mixed happy frog and oceans forest together and added more perlite for this grow. My problem is the soil is cooking the hell out of my plants. My northern lights look like shit in just 24 hours. Is there anything I can do? I read that its normal for this with those soils and they will bounce back but im pretty nervous and do not want them to die.

 

[Jack The Skeleton]

To me it looks like nitrogen deficiency. But that is almost impossible they where beautiful before I transplanted them and they are in fox farm soils.

 

[ShLUbY]

when did you transplant? those are pretty large containers for those small plants.....

 

[Jack The Skeleton]

I transplanted Thursday night. They are 3 gallon containers. My plans where to let them grow into those and my indica strains will get a final transplant into 5 gallon containers and the sativa into 7. On a side note I read your grow thread shluby and I learned a lot nice job.

 

[ShLUbY]

I transplanted Thursday night. They are 3 gallon containers. My plans where to let them grow into those and my indica strains will get a final transplant into 5 gallon containers and the sativa into 7. On a side note I read your grow thread shluby and I learned a lot nice job.

thanks man. it's just started. sucks having the PM right now but im hoping to work it out of my room. if i can't i'll be starting all new stuff lots of good stuff to come though!

 

[Jack The Skeleton]

I look forward to it

 

[Jumfrey13]

I transplanted Thursday night. They are 3 gallon containers. My plans where to let them grow into those and my indica strains will get a final transplant into 5 gallon containers and the sativa into 7. On a side note I read your grow thread shluby and I learned a lot nice job.

From my experience, transplanting from 3 gals to 5 gals is a bad idea. Your soil level will likely be high and spill out when you water. It ends up a big mess

 

[cannakis]

I abandoned my original soil to allow more time to cook. I have a pretty big problem right now. I mixed happy frog and oceans forest together and added more perlite for this grow. My problem is the soil is cooking the hell out of my plants. My northern lights look like shit in just 24 hours. Is there anything I can do? I read that its normal for this with those soils and they will bounce back but im pretty nervous and do not want them to die.

Yeah dude I honestly personally think your original soil was ready to go. I think you fucked up doubting yourself and using the shitty commercial fox farm shit. I think your soil mix is good and Unless you Actually used it and saw bad results like with FF then you need to transplant back to your good soil... Maybe mix in the FF with your soil to balance it out. The Only soil I use bought is ProMix Mycho. And this is Only for seedlings. (Haha I don't trust myself yet to make a good seedling soil...)

 

[cannakis]

thanks man. it's just started. sucks having the PM right now but im hoping to work it out of my room. if i can't i'll be starting all new stuff lots of good stuff to come though!

Yeah man I'm pissed about my spider mite infestation hopefully I can get rid of them without destroying everything!!!! Lots of good beans in there!

 

[Jack The Skeleton]

My plants pulled through beautifully. I was worried there for a moment to be honest. My original soil was too hot. I planted a junk plant in it and it burnt up no time flat. On a positive note all my original soil is cooking very nicely. I took everyone's advice and added 2 cu ft of ewc and other things. I would say by the time I'm ready for my next grow I will have some very nice soil. Surprisingly my babies are doing very well in the ff mix. For me the mix of happy frog ocean forest, lots ewc and chunky perilite works for a bind like I was in. I've topped them twice probably tomorrow ill be able to hit them a 3rd time and started tieing everything down. I have roughly 3 weeks before I'll need to transplant again if my soil is ready ill use that and put them in 7 gallon pots and get them under their SCROG to start training. I know I don't need 7 gallon but I have the room so why not lol. Thank you all for the help so far.