Organic in small apartment

[mariowarner]

Hi guys!

I'm planning out my first grow and the soil is the last element I have to do some research for. So I want to go the watering only route with a supersoil. The thing is, I live in a small apartment in downtown area, so making my own supersoil is not really an option for the following reasons :

• not enough space to store the bags of the different ingredients (only going to have 2 plants in 5ga pots)
• no place to prepare the mix and let it cook
• the temperature is too low to let it cook outside, even if I found a place outside of town to do so

So I found out that they make some premade supersoils, like the Kind soil, but here in eastern Canada there are not quite as many choices as in the US. I've tried the local Craigslist with no luck. So it leaves me with the following choices :

• Bluesky Organics
• SoHum (sohumsoils)

SoHum unfortunately charges too much for shipping, so only option left in Bluesky organics. I doubt their soil is made for the watering only route as they sell their own organic nutes. So my idea was to order some BioLive and to add it to their supersoil and let it sit in a 5ga pot for a week or 2 (during seedling time) prior to transplanting.

So here are my questions :

• What are your thoughts about this?
• Are there any other suitable solutions?
• How much BioLive should I add to the soil in a 5ga pot?

Thank you so much!

PS : Sorry, can't add the links as not enough likes, new poster here! I'll be glad to help you with more info!

 

[papa canna]

When you break down what the person did to create their "Super soil" and what they spent, you would find that you are paying some of the highest margins out there for this soil. Get yourself a couple bags of your favorite brands soil, add compost, aeration, and maybe 5-6 solid amendments. Boom. You've got "super soil."

 

[swedsteven]

15% peat moss, pine bark, or coco coir
35% aeration (I prefer Perlite or rice hulls but course Sand, and pumice are other options
50% composted organic matter (this could be compost, composted cow or horse manure, worm castings, leaf mold). I prefer a combination of as many different kinds of compost I can but whatever is available to you and the best quality is what you should lean on.

Neem Seed Meal or Neem Cake 1/2 cup per cubic foot
Crab shell meal or shrimp shell meal 1/2 cup per cubic foot
Fish Bone Meal 1/2 cup per cubic foot
Gypsum 1/2 cup per cubic foot
Langbeinite 1/4 cup per cubic foot
Kelp meal 1/2 cup percubic foot
Alfalfa meal 1/4 cup per cubic foot
Oyster shell flour 1/4 cup per cubic foot

No cooking or any of that layering super soil bullshit.

Information from Rastaroy

And volcanic Rock Dust once year or basalt 1cup a cuft my opinion

 

[mariowarner]

Thanks for your answers guys. I understand that they make a shitload of money off of this... but right now, I'm happy to pay a little premium to save storage space (can't afford to have 5-6 bags lying around, I only have 2 plants which will not empty the bags so I'll have to throw them away, so the cost will be the same as buying the premade one). I will be able to make my own soil next spring, but now this is simply not possible. So I just want to know if using the Bluesky mix with additional BioLive will get me anywhere satisfying down the watering only road.

 

[mariowarner]

15% peat moss, pine bark, or coco coir
35% aeration (I prefer Perlite or rice hulls but course Sand, and pumice are other options
50% composted organic matter (this could be compost, composted cow or horse manure, worm castings, leaf mold). I prefer a combination of as many different kinds of compost I can but whatever is available to you and the best quality is what you should lean on.

Neem Seed Meal or Neem Cake 1/2 cup per cubic foot
Crab shell meal or shrimp shell meal 1/2 cup per cubic foot
Fish Bone Meal 1/2 cup per cubic foot
Gypsum 1/2 cup per cubic foot
Langbeinite 1/4 cup per cubic foot
Kelp meal 1/2 cup percubic foot
Alfalfa meal 1/4 cup per cubic foot
Oyster shell flour 1/4 cup per cubic foot

No cooking or any of that layering super soil bullshit.

Information from Rastaroy

And volcanic Rock Dust once year or basalt 1cup a cuft my opinion

No cooking? First time I've heard this, but even though I'm reading like 8h per day about the subject, I'm new to growing. Do you know any canadian place where I could buy these things in small quantities, lets say for a total of 10ga?

 

[legalcanada]

you can get premixed amendments for your soil, like gaia green organic amendments. mix with coco/perlite in a storage tote or bin and then water only with maybe some compost teas or top dressings. all you need is the general purpose and bloom fertilizers. i'm sure there's other options.

 

[swedsteven]

http://www.bustan.ca

http://reindeersnatural.ca

http://canamaze.com

 

[mariowarner]

you can get premixed amendments for your soil, like gaia green organic amendments. mix with coco/perlite in a storage tote or bin and then water only with maybe some compost teas or top dressings. all you need is the general purpose and bloom fertilizers. i'm sure there's other options.

Alright, so I could get a standard Pro-Mix soil, buy the all purpose and the bloom fertilizer from Gaia (as I see they make small quantities, that's good) and just mix it in a small bin. Should I make it cook or something (no sun heat right now...)? When you say to add some compost teas/top dressings, does that mean that I add them while cooking or when watering the plant?

 

[mariowarner]

Thanks man swedsteven, really appreciated!

 

[legalcanada]

mr canucks grow is where i heard about it, this video he shows how he mixes it up

 

[mariowarner]

So if my understanding is right, I could go with the following recipe :

• Standard Pro-Mix soil mixed with Gaia all purpose and power bloom fertilizer following their ratio instructions
• Every month adding these 2 fertilizers as top dressings still following their quantity instructions
• Adding some compost tea (which ones?) and weak alfalfa every 2 watering or so after 4 weeks

What do you think?

 

[legalcanada]

do compost teas add the microbes etc? i'm not very knowledgeable about organics i'm using megacrop in coco/perlite myself atm then back to maxibloom when it runs out

 

[swedsteven]

Do 1 compost tea to inoculate your soil with microbe it help if u dont cook ur soil

Small tea

2 gallon of water
2 cup of compost i like to put different compost for diversity in the microbe
1 table spoon of alfalfa meal (veg tea)
1 table spoon of kelpmeal
If u dont have ammendment just use 1 tea spoon of unsulphure molasses
24h bubbling

For me it activate my soil and i do it when i top feed to help