Introduction and Soil Recipe / Composition

[Plant Positive Vibes]

Chris / Mr Grow It Community,

I am a licensed caregiver/grower in NY and have been growing for a number of years of various methods. I currently don’t have a grow of my own and I am only assisting a friend with their home grow while I focus on my vermiculture worm bins and organic gardening. I have been a fan of Mr Grow It since I saw my first video, and recently picked up the Organic Cannabis Cultivation book by Mr Grow It. (You should get it if you haven’t yet!)

I have a few questions regarding soil building where there seem to be some inconsistencies. The Clackamas Coots and Subcool soil recipe’s use a large percentage of fertilizers/amendments that are typically recommended at lower amounts including in your chapter 20 fertilizers and amendments. Are the Clackamas Coots and Subcool recipes a good starting point, or would they be considered unbalanced under our current soil science and manufacturer recommendations for fertilizers? Example: Kelp Meal in Subcool recipe calls for 1/2 part (>8% of that recipe, between 1-1.5 cups per gallon of soil), however the Kelp meal application in chapter 20 says for soil mixing to add 1-2 tablespoons per gallon (<1% total, which is more along the lines of what I have been seeing).

Can you clarify as to what you may suggest for application rates/percents for some of these fertilizers/amendments? I wanted to start with a known recipe and tweak it to use some of the products/methods that I like to follow. Should I stick with the contents of the soil recipe and just tweak the percents based on your books suggestions for application, manufacturer suggestions, and my own findings?

Thanks for any and all input. Pictures of my most recent harvest, Dosidos.

 

Kevin

Plant Positive Vibes

[mrgrowit]

Welcome to the forum! Beautiful plants you have there. To answer your question, that is an error in the book which is in the process of being corrected. Here is the corrected version of the soil recipes which has been revised to show cups and tablespoons instead of parts. Some ingredients have also been updated. This should make it more clear for the reader.

ClackamasCoot Soil Mix

Ingredients:
1/3 Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss
1/3 Pumice
1/3 Vermicompost

Additionally, it includes inputs to enhance soil structure and moisture retention, along with organic amendments to supply the necessary nutrition for your cannabis plants. Add the following amendments to each cubic foot:

1 cup kelp meal
1 cup neem meal or an equal amount of neem & karanja cake
1 cup of limestone or oyster shell flour
1/2 cup gypsum
3 cups basalt rock dust

Subcool Super Soil

1.5 cubic foot organic soil (Roots Organic preferred)

It also contains additives to improve soil structure and moisture retention, combined with organic amendments to provide essential nutrients for your cannabis plants. Add the following amendments to each 1.5 cubic feet of organic soil:

4 lbs earthworm castings
1/3 lb fish bone meal
1/3 lb bone meal
3/4 lb high phosphorus bat guano
3/4 lb blood meal
3/4 cup oyster shell flour
1/3 cup kelp meal
1/3 cup alfalfa meal
1.5 tbsp epsom salt
1/8 cup dolomite lime
1/4 cup azomite
1/4 tbsp powdered humic acid

 

[Author]

Posts