Rhino1973

The soil around my property is very nice. Very rich dark soil with little or no clay to it.

I grow in hydro, but I have dabbled in soil growing and I would like to keep some mother plants around. I figure the mothers would be more well suited in soil. I usually buy the miracle grow pre-ferted soil at the local hardware store, but I was wondering if it would be cool to use soil from around my property. Would it be beneficial? or am I better off to just keep buying soil?

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grass_hopper

don't worry about the double post - someone will be along to clean that up.

The only issue about using soil from outdoors is pest management. In the great outdoors, there is a natural cycle of predator/prey that keeps harmful pest organisms in check. When you bring that soil inside, the chain of predators is broken and with nobody to eat them up, you can run into all sorts of problems with bacteria, molds, nematodes, insects (eggs), etc. Miracle Grow and their ilk are all sterilized, so you rarely will have these kinds of problems from commercial potting soil.

To sterilize your own soil, put an even layer of it on baking sheets and bake in the oven on about 250°F for 30 mins. It's warm enough to kill anything but not hot enough to break down the organics. if it's cost you're concerned about, you might wind up spending as much in electricity sterilizing all this soil than you would just buying a bag from the store.

Unless you live in a peat bog, the dirt around your property might be a bit heavy for MJ, so mix the soil with perlite at a healthy ratio, at least 3:1 (3 parts soil to 1 part perlite). You'd need to do this with MG anyway. With some buckets that have good drainage, you'll be set to go.

The main disadvantage of pre-ferted soils is that they are basically impossible to flush. The ferts are not laced into the soil, they are little pellets that slowly dissolve with each watering. I've used preferted MG soil over and over again and soil grows and still seen these pellets. The plants produce well, but all the stash I have from my soil grows has way too much fert still in it. The excess N makes it hard for a bowl to keep a light and affects the taste somewhat. If I grow in soil again I'll be sure to either use non-ferted soil or pick out all those little pellets.

Hope this helps.

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Ancient History:
Blueberry/Mazar (started in hydro, moved outdoors)...Skunk#1/Blueberry in Soil
Botanicare 42 Site Cloner - a Review...Grass_Hopper's Butane Honey Oil (BHO) Thread

Website goodies:
Grow Guide...Cecil_B's CO2 Enrichment Guide...Grower's Dictionary...Getting Females From Standard Seeds

twista420

That's interesting. never thought of it like that. Im using Scotts seed starting enriched w/ phosphorous. my nutes are miracle grow transplant/bloom 4-12-4. I was planning on keeping a mild nutrient regimine, but didnt realize that flushing would be so potentially ineffective.

im transplanting into regular scotts potting soil, but i think thats enriched with some phosphorous as well. will a good flushing and a couple weeks with no food be sufficient to keep that burning taste out of my bowl?

thanks

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Tsumavoc

The miracle grow I have says it lasts for 3 months, but it seems not to so much. Starts out strong and looses its nutrients within a few weeks. 3:1 as stated before I would consider minimum. Half and half would be good as well, I do just about half and half with a bit of vermiculite. MG is sterile, pretty much 100% guarenteed it wont have bugs in it. Shultz I have bad bad experiences with so if you need to buy soil in the future, I would personally recommend keeping clear from that brand. Also, while using MG, you'll notice chunks of sticks and bark in the mix that should probally be removed. Sometimes they are hard to find though, they look a lot like just soil.

ColonelSpliff

A good rich fertilizer is "Fox Farms Ocean Harvest" if your willing to trade up from miracle grow slow release mix. It is a Organic based potting mix, has bat guano and worm castings as a slow release fertilizer. I use it it in my soil grows and it has good effects to the plant. It has excellent airation and drainage.

gooster

Those pellets are akin to Osmocote, or any other coated, slow dissolving fertilizer. The nute ratio is pre-configured (example 10-5-10) and as you water the soil the pellets slowly break down, meaning two main things 1) your control over the nuterient proportions in the soil is radically altered by the speed at which these pellets breakdown, and by the nutrient ratio they contain, and 2) the type of nutrients you would prefer to use are necessarily compromised by these chemical nutrients (ie. you wont really have an organic grow (if you wanted one) if your soil has nutrient pellets added, as they are all (far as I have been able to tell) chemical, salt based nutrients.

In my vegetable garden, I use Osmocote, its very handy, and provides a boost to the natural soil in my yard, as well as the composte I rototill into the soil each spring. I wouldnt use Osmocote in my grow, however, as I prefer to be able to have a more immediate control over my nutrients. For soil grows I use a 50/50 mix of Fox Farm Oceanic (already mentioned) and Bio-Biz "All Mix" soil. Some rocks at the bottom of the pot, and this soil is ready to roll. It has some nutrients in it, some buffering ability, etc. but this is supposed to be all organic based. Fox Farm is why I say "based" - Bio Biz is cetified organic, but I think Fox Farm is not. Dont quote me on that, I am more familiar with their "Tiger Bloom" being "organic based" and perhaps the Oceanic soil is truely organic.

You asked about growing outdoors, however. You can take a soil sample and have it analyzed (google for a lab, or call the county water dept.) heavy metals are a concern. I grew in my backyard at a prior home, I just rototilled the soil and mixed in a lot of compost. I added a few bags of Fox Farm soil. I had great results. Grew them with tomatos and not even friends who came over and looked at the garden (I would point at it, and say "check out my great tomatoes" and there were 5 pot plants right there next to them, and not a single person noticed until I literally pointed it out) noticed. As mentioned, the main concern I would have would be bugs - if you are going to bring cuttings / clones in to the indoor grow, make sure and dip them. Otherwise, I found the best way to tell how good the enviornment in my area is for growing is to just do it.

Best of luck,
Gooster

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david zap

when i hear about MJ growing well with the tomatos it always reminds me of first hearing about it at a wedding dinner and the teen ager next to me spots me for a stoner and asks if i grow, and how well his big brother's plants did in with the tomatos Because tomato fert suits MJ perfectly especially that it has magnesium which not all the other veggies need. My first step up from plain MG was MG Tomato formula what a difference, much bigger plants than MG when used in vegging. Try plain potting soil.Good Grow Show. --dave zap.

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penguin

I keep my mother plants in 6" rockwool cubes (that get potted up into planters filled out with rockwool mini-cubes aka croutons). I hand-water them daily, or use auto-drip when I'm not around. I use a low concentration veg formula nute solution, and keep the light levels low (~35w/sf of MH) to control growth rates.

If you do decide to use soil, buying a high-qualtiy potting soil would be the best optoin.

Tomatoes are much heavier feeders than MJ, and require much more calcium, so the two don't necessarily make the best companions.

This thread really fits better in the Plant Food & Nutrients forum, so I will slide it on over there.


penguin

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