Making soil for containers

This thread is to talk about making container soil. This is what I have done in my 4x4 tent. I'd like to hear your insights on methods I use. What do you do.
We will start with the base: I currently use promix BX but will try hp next time. I've used Premier sphagnum peat very effectively as well.
My last mix was one of necessity. Use what you got. Out of perlite. The promix has a lot in it fortunately. I had rice hulls so added a bunch.View attachment 5421480
( I am going to break these posts up so stoned monkey doesn't erase everything)...

To this base I add a little homemade compost. Not very much...like salt to mash potatoes. And mushroom compost.I like Espoma. Hate mucky other stuff.( If I had coir and perlite I would use it.) This gives you some "living" to your soil which also will be stimulated with Neptune's harvest 2-3-1 fish and kelp diluted,etc. I amend with biochar, alfalfa meal, rock phosphate, fishbone meal, langbienite, azomite, castings not much in the mix itself,kelp meal, volcanic tuft silica...that is all I can think of at the moment. Oyster shell flour!! I use r/o water so calcium is a concern. I also use gypsum for calcium and sulfer.

I try not to overdo the amendments and leave room for bloom stuff later and the fish and kelp to feed the soil. I use dynomyco. I don't complicate an indoor container grow with teas. I do use maxicrop 0-0-1 kelp as a foliar on young vegetative plants and cuttings.

For early bloom I use top dressed fishbone meal or a mix of fishbone and castings with a small amount of lang,kelp meal,rock phosphate mixed in. Later I use Gaia green bloom. I think I could get excellent results using just 2-3-1 Neptune's harvest and Gaia green bloom. Flowering clones.

Good luck with that. Sounds interesting.

Check out the recycled organic living soil stickied thread for some soil mix ideas and suggestions.

Do you reuse your soil?

Sometimes.Depends where and how like outdoor 300 gal. smartpots yes. My situation has changed due to busts.

If I were in an ideal situation I would compost old soil and reuse it that way. I like to start with a fresh base. When money is tight I use sphagnum peat instead of promix.

The little one is a skunk#1 clone put out late. Might not be done first frost we'll see. The tall one is a Farmers Daughter induced to flower early at ten days veg for 30+ days then put outdoors. Showing excellent trichome coverage early. Looks like a nice strain. These are plants I set a friend up with having no outdoor space of my own.

skink#1 said:

To this base I add a little homemade compost. Not very much...like salt to mash potatoes. And mushroom compost.I like Espoma. Hate mucky other stuff.( If I had coir and perlite I would use it.) This gives you some "living" to your soil which also will be stimulated with Neptune's harvest 2-3-1 fish and kelp diluted,etc. I amend with biochar, alfalfa meal, rock phosphate, fishbone meal, langbienite, azomite, castings not much in the mix itself,kelp meal, volcanic tuft silica...that is all I can think of at the moment. Oyster shell flour!! I use r/o water so calcium is a concern. I also use gypsum for calcium and sulfer.

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Also humic acids, I always forget something.

Nice looking plants there! Very healthy shade of green...

Personally I prefer a more stripped-down approach - I just go with one or two dry blends, short veg time, water-only. Lately it's been Tomato Tone for flower and recycled soil for veg and clones.

I'd say you can reuse any amount of soil, no need to fully compost it between rounds. I keep all of mine in a ~35 gallon tote, and when I'm done with a round in my tent (about 20-25 gallons) I dump it out, mix in some worm castings, perlite, and dry fertilizer, and put it back in the containers. When it starts to get muddy I add some peat to balance it out.

There's always 5-10 gallons sitting in the tote, and smaller amounts of soil, like from seedlings or clones or vegging plants, plus all the trimmings and males I don't keep, go in there as well. It really seems to get better and better with each round, and the leftover non-amended soil is great for houseplants

That's exactly what I used to do in a garage grow in the 1990's. I attribute the healthy green to everything but also alfalfa meal. Alfalfa is awesome. I also once dug two holes and dumped my indoor soil in them. I put my two Afghan x Nl moms in them. Those were my first really good outdoor plants. Heavy. Knockout stone that ...where did it go? Which modern genetics are the good ones and not overbred inbred variations of Blendica? Old heads what do you think? Young guys are into the hype and flavor strains...weak short buzzes with down the middle no real sativa highs and bland indica effects. Where is the modern fire. 70's smokers know what I mean. Old guys what do you think?

skink#1 said:

That's exactly what I used to do in a garage grow in the 1990's. I attribute the healthy green to everything but also alfalfa meal. Alfalfa is awesome. I also once dug two holes and dumped my indoor soil in them. I put my two Afghan x Nl moms in them. Those were my first really good outdoor plants. Heavy. Knockout stone that ...where did it go? Which modern genetics are the good ones and not overbred inbred variations of Blendica? Old heads what do you think? Young guys are into the hype and flavor strains...weak short buzzes with down the middle no real sativa highs and bland indica effects. Where is the modern fire. 70's smokers know what I mean. Old guys what do you think?

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Sounds like a good pheno of Nirvana's aurora indica that's nlxafghan since you like your old stuff I recommend you check out Kwik seeds and seedheaven in Denmark they both get some of the good older stuff I bet you would like some of it

Lol...I didn't lose all my old seeds. I have some stuff to pheno hunt. Old crosses I made. I'm not against new genetics, I just don't know what is good these days.

weedstoner420 said:

I keep all of mine in a ~35 gallon tote, and when I'm done with a round in my tent (about 20-25 gallons) I dump it out, mix in some worm castings, perlite, and dry fertilizer, and put it back in the containers. When it starts to get muddy I add some peat to balance it out.

There's always 5-10 gallons sitting in the tote, and smaller amounts of soil, like from seedlings or clones or vegging plants, plus all the trimmings and males I don't keep, go in there as well. It really seems to get better and better with each round, and the leftover non-amended soil is great for houseplants

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Do you keep the tote inside by the growroom around? Is it safe from critters?

Medskunk said:

Do you keep the tote inside by the growroom around? Is it safe from critters?

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Oh yeah, it's all in the basement. I'm pretty strict about not mixing outside with inside...

skink#1 said:

That's exactly what I used to do in a garage grow in the 1990's. I attribute the healthy green to everything but also alfalfa meal. Alfalfa is awesome. I also once dug two holes and dumped my indoor soil in them. I put my two Afghan x Nl moms in them. Those were my first really good outdoor plants. Heavy. Knockout stone that ...where did it go? Which modern genetics are the good ones and not overbred inbred variations of Blendica? Old heads what do you think? Young guys are into the hype and flavor strains...weak short buzzes with down the middle no real sativa highs and bland indica effects. Where is the modern fire. 70's smokers know what I mean. Old guys what do you think?

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For sativa strains I’m running Ace’s Malawi and Golden Tiger right now, they are looking like good sativa traits in both. In the past I’ve liked SLH and SSH, as well as Durban Poison, all had good energetic highs. My favorite sativa I’ve grown might be Laughing Buddha, another old classic.

Laughing Buddha is nice. My latest soil is doing well so far. Looks like the Farmers Daughter might go purple. And the Skunk#1 makes me feel proud to have it still.

Sounds intimidating, good luck