Looking for feedback on my planned mix & setup. I have already purchased most of everything, so feedback will more be in relation to the ratio of inputs, need to cook or not etc.
Preamble - Have wanted to try soil for a while and am taking the plunge. I really liked the Build A Soil video series, and was considering Earthbox or No Till Beds. When I found Earthboxes at 50% off, and noted how well they might fit in my space, I decided it was meant to be.
My plan is to start with a perpetual harvest for my flower room for a few reasons:
- I am new to mixing my own soil, and know there will be plenty of learning curves for watering etc compared to running bottles in promix; therefore rather than just filling up my space, I figured I would stagger them in one or two earthboxes at a time
- pests// my understanding is good and bad pests are part of the deal with growing in soil. My thought is adding one box a week and maintaining good IPM will give a better chance for success than just cramming the space full
- variations on how I mix and amend the soil; I will run some known clones to start, and figured that I would be able to experiment a bit with how I feed them. For example Week 1 I start 2 earthboxes with identical clones. As time goes on I can top dress and amend slightly differently to see how they respond. Furthermore I can consider whether I want to change my initial mix. If I just mix a yard of soil all at once, I can't do this.
- My veg space should be able to support perpetual better
- it gives me a bit of time to recycle the soil at end of run, then use for the next veg
So in total I plan 16 earthboxes... 4 in Veg and 12 in Flower. I will use an 11 week haze that I love to start, and so will add one earthbox approx every 8 days. Setting up a wormbox for future use and have a compost tumbler, both of which I plan to keep inside under stairs.
My space is about 10x7, and has 4 x HLG 550 and C02 (sealed although I run a very slight continuous exhaust for fresh air ; yes this is different than keeping in sealed during lights on and exhausting at night).
Here is plan...
Not shown in the photo ; Anden 95 dehum, Mini Split AC, and 2x Hurricane Oscillating Fans, Fresh air intake (filtered) and 4" AC infinity for the slight exhaust.
Now to the MIX.
It's just a variation of Coots and Build a Soil and a lot of reading time spent on RIU.
(note:
ocean farm fort organic mixes)
Also note:
- I have Humic Acid for the Initial Mix.
- I have Aloe Flakes and Yucca Powder
- I have Gaia Green Power Bloom 2-8-4 for top dressing in Flower
Here was my reasoning on the mix of OSF, Gypsum and Pril Lime
FWIW I have purchased most of the above inputs, normally buying 10 or 20KG bags to save $$.
The final cost of the above recipe is $21.04CDN per f3; the pumice is the largest component of that cost. That having been said, its choice should hopefully allow me to recycle this mix long into the future and shouldn't break down like perlite.
Questions:
- anything obvious I am missing?
- does this plan make sense?
- Are there any obvious errors I have made with respect to my initial mix?
Cheers!