Organic Soil Mix Advice Please--Autoflower Balcony Grow Newbie

Hey rollitup community. Looking for some advice from experienced outdoor growers to help me choose the best pre-made organic soil mixture. I don`t have access to the top-notch mixtures I`ve been reading about (e.g. Fox Farms, Plagron, etc.), so I`m going with the stuff from the garden store.

Here`s a brief grow environment overview so you can steer me in the right direction

Location: outdoor, south facing apartment balcony (6-8 hrs direct sun), northern hemisphere/european alps
Strains: Autofem Pineapple Express (Barneys Farm), Autofem Snowstorm #2 (Dutch Passion), Big Bang (Greenhouse)
Pot size: 12 liter pots, 1 for each seed
Germination medium: coco pellets

Listed below are the 2 potential organic soil mixtures I am trying to choose between.

Soil Mix 1 (pH 6.9): white peat, humus, black earth, mature compost, crushed expanded clay, trace elements

Soil Mix 2 (pH7): peat (45%), garden compost (20%), coconut fibers (15%), wood fibers (10%), sand (10%)


Questions:

Of the 2 listed, which soil mix would you recommend?

Is anything else needed to enhance the mixtures? Should I mix some worm castings or other organic material in there? If yes, how much?

I already have some organic fertilizer pellets for my vegetables, 5/1.5/3 w/60% organic substrates. Would this be a recommended option to enhance the above soils during flowering?


Thanks in advance for any help you can offer, looking forward to your advice.

I would go with mix number two and would add some perlite

I would mix them both together and add some perlite then add some kelp also some EWC. Good Luck

Thanks for the quick reply whiterooster. Any thoughts on my vegetable fertilizer pellets? I also have an organic liquid thats 4%N and 6%P. Are these good choices? I`m reallly trying to take the confusion out of the process and keep it simple.

Oh you will still need to add some garden lime with this mix . The pellets and the organic liquid should be okay if used properly. keepem green dirrtyd

Thanks dirrtyd. Considering your avatar, I like your advice. How much perlite would u recommend for a 12-15L pot (3 Gallon pot)?

ok, a little confused on dirrtyd advice. if i add lime, it raises ph right? the soil mixes are already at 7ph. is the lime necessary to counteract the worm castings/other fertilizer?

I'm looking at the peat being a little acidic if you mix both bags then add perlite a couple of liters worm castings a couple of liters also a couple of cups of kelp meal. Let sit a few weeks so the nutrients can cycle and you will be golden. A couple of cups of the lime will help the ph balnce out. That was my back yard the avatar keepem green dirrtyd

right on! last thing regarding the mixture quantities. the 2 soil mixture bags are a total of 70 Liters (soil mix 1 is 50L bag, soil mix 2 is 20L). Do your quantities of perlite, lime, EWC, and kelp refer to the individual 12L pots or for the total 70L mixture?

id go with mix number 2, cut the mix 1/3 perlite to 2/3 soil mix, microbes need oxygen to live so adding sum extra perlite will do good, also i saw on ur fert pellets u said they had 60% organic substrates, are u tryin to grow all organic? if so i wouldnt use the pellets, is there any type of all purpose fertilizer there? it would prolly be worth it to get sum happy frog all purpose 5-5-5 online, also i would add sum worm castings the fresher the better, if u can find a mycorrhizae innoculant that will be beneificial to u as well, with organic growing u need to use de-chlorinated water to obtain the best results, chlorine is a bacteriacide that will have a very bad impact on ur mircolife it will pretty much kill em alll off, if u have good soil and ur microbes are happy u dont really need to add anything else but filtered water, for flower ul wanna get sum un-sulphured molasses, i add 1tsp per gallon of water or if im brewing a compost tea i will add 1tablespoon per gal of water

thanks for the input kb. i like your molasses idea. as for the fert pellets i already have, they`re definitely organic stuff...its a bit challenging to read the fench, german and italian ingredient labels but its all `organische, organique, etc.`

i`ve got alot to learn, but damn its gonna be fun along the way!

AlpineGardener said:

right on! last thing regarding the mixture quantities. the 2 soil mixture bags are a total of 70 Liters (soil mix 1 is 50L bag, soil mix 2 is 20L). Do your quantities of perlite, lime, EWC, and kelp refer to the individual 12L pots or for the total 70L mixture?

Click to expand...

You will be okay with that ratio to the 70 liters. Trust me you will thank me later. dirrtyd

dirrtyd, before i thank you later, just wanted say thanks right now. says alot about you and this forum site that you (and the other knowledgeable members posting on this thread) take the time to share some knowledge with a noob. honestly, i`ve decided to go the safer, lazier route for my first little grow. germing in coco pellets, transplanting into gold label light mix and probably adding something for the late flowering period at around the 6th week, before i flush it. really looking forward to the all-organic, balcony grow for dummies i got planned...germ, plant, water, sun, smile, water, sun, smile, harvest, dry, smoke, smile, ahhhhhh. or thats the plan at least for this one.

i was feeling super overwhelmed with all the research and advice i`ve been getting, it made me really want to keep it simple. if i screw it up, its definitely not going to be because i burned my ladies. the input and advice i`ve received definitely isn`t lost though...helped me learn alot about the who/what/where/when/why/how of NPK regulation among other things. thanks to all and definitely feel free to put in your two sense during my grow (getting started in the next few days). much love to rollitup for the great knowledge sharing outlet!

alpine gardener growing organic is keepin it simple brotha, ur just presenting mother nature with a pot filled with good soil and a seed, all the rest is nature the microbes break down the organic materials in ur soil into soluble food for the plant, alota growers (not jus cannabis) use this age old techinque to get astounding results, alll u wanna do is cover 3 major elements, water, air, sun, make sure ur plant gets watered when she needs it, make sure u got good airflow where ur plants are growing, and the last but definitly not least make sure u get good sunlight, in a hot soil mix ur nutrients are in the soil so u dont need to worry about liquid nutrients, if u got a good hot soil mix brewing compost teas to introduce more microbes to the roots system, and feeding with molasses once or twice to give them microbes sugars to flourish on is all u need, if u ever wanna know more this site is full of great organic growers and in the organics forum section it has a few good threads on compost teas, happy growing brotha have a good season

AlpineGardener said:

thanks for the input kb. i like your molasses idea. as for the fert pellets i already have, they`re definitely organic stuff...its a bit challenging to read the fench, german and italian ingredient labels but its all `organische, organique, etc.`

i`ve got alot to learn, but damn its gonna be fun along the way!

Click to expand...

lol i hear ya i got a buddy that orders all his nutes online from some dutch company, so needless to say it was a hassle for him to translate the shit he needed to read and to convert the measurements since the usa is the only place in the world that doesnt use the metric system lol

kb, thats some of the best genuine advice any new grower should read. btw, i decided to go with gold label light for my soil mixture. the dude at the shop i bought the medium at offered the same advice and it really hit home. i`m all about mother nature running the show, so thats what i`m gonna do. i love the science and intricate details involved in the process, but for my first little girls, i just want to keep them alive without f-ing it up. thanks again for the advice...i`ll start posting my grow progress soon (hopefully!).