Questions regarding soil mix and amendments for living soil

[MrChok]

So guys just seeking help of the experienced ones here to get on the right foot for my first organic journey.

So my idea so far is to mix this with amendments and let it cook for 2 months:
planning on mixing 100liters/26 gallons
50% peat moss
30% perlite
20% worm humus

5gal pots

Amendements i have no idea, i know them and their ratio but no idea about the quantity and what to use to get the most in terms of yield/flavor and quality overall. The above mix is because it's easy for me to get and i saw a few recommending something among those lines, feel free to advice a good recipe.

1) Do u adjust ph the first time you put it to cook and done or does it need adjusting throught the cook and before planting?
2) Do i need compost if i want to achieve the best grow possible? If yes, what is an easy to get compost? i know i might not get a high quality compost but i plan on cooking the soil and hopefully the amendments will be enough? GOT IT ON THE REV BOOK, COOKING = COMPOST SO WITH AMENDMENTS I SHOULD BE FINE.
3) Do u recommend me to buy red worms and add them to the soil while cooking? If so, which amounts are best? Do they need to be removed when planting seed? YES, THEY DON'T NEED TO BE REMOVED AT ALL.
4) After cooking is done and soil is ready to go, do u pass it through a mesh to get a "finer" soil or just straight to pot?
5) While cooking, do you only water or when u water u also mix the soil? WATER AND MIX
6) Do u add anything while the soil cooks or is it good to go (planting) just with water? I CAN ADD TEAS TO IMPROVE SOIL MICROBIAL ACTIVITY
7) Is it best to cook 2 separate soils (one for the bottom half, one for the upper half)?

I'm coming from soilless mix with advanced nutrients line, getting good results in terms of yield and quality and really don't want to lose a lot by switching to this so i need to dial everything just right for it to be succesfull.

I don't expect people to answer everything lol, whatever you can answer i appreacite it!

 

[Eyes on Fire]

instead of making it yourself if your a novice,why not order a 2.1 master mix from tlosoils(which I dont care for the owner personally) OR, buy the KIS organics re amendment pack for 50 bucks free shipping and make that. or the other one. give you all or most of what you need. while you do your first grow you can learn by watching,see,doing and reading. and IMO, stay away from Peat moss man,as much as you can. buy no bales of it. its a NON re newable resource

 

[MrChok]

instead of making it yourself if your a novice,why not order a 2.1 master mix from tlosoils(which I dont care for the owner personally) OR, buy the KIS organics re amendment pack for 50 bucks free shipping and make that. or the other one. give you all or most of what you need. while you do your first grow you can learn by watching,see,doing and reading. and IMO, stay away from Peat moss man,as much as you can. buy no bales of it. its a NON re newable resource

not easy for me to get any of those from where i am located.

i'm still researching and have no rush what so over, just dialing everything in paper before i jump in, buy everything and start the organic journey.

what would u use instead of peat moss? coco is also something i'd like to stay away from since i dont trust the quality that i can get here.

 

[Eyes on Fire]

what brand of coco coir? is it that bad? Peat is okay to use its just it doesnt help ,and keeps the nasty practices of Peat bog farming up n running. but if the coco is fair, whats wrong with it? you cant order from amazon or similar? local garden shop should be able to get many of these things like a brick of compressed coco coir. some nice medium to large sized perlite , Dolomite lime powder(Sweet Lime),and/or pellet lime granules. but all you really need is to find a recipe that works for you like Sub Cools, the 2.1 Masters Mix or similar(there are several) and make that with a little guidance from someone and cook and use that. and also, if your going to MAKE the compost ,and so on,that going to take a lot of time from the ground up. so you have options and lots to consider apparently

 

[MrChok]

what brand of coco coir? is it that bad? Peat is okay to use its just it doesnt help ,and keeps the nasty practices of Peat bog farming up n running. but if the coco is fair, whats wrong with it? you cant order from amazon or similar? local garden shop should be able to get many of these things like a brick of compressed coco coir. some nice medium to large sized perlite , Dolomite lime powder(Sweet Lime),and/or pellet lime granules. but all you really need is to find a recipe that works for you like Sub Cools, the 2.1 Masters Mix or similar(there are several) and make that with a little guidance from someone and cook and use that. and also, if your going to MAKE the compost ,and so on,that going to take a lot of time from the ground up. so you have options and lots to consider apparently

yeah i dont mind staying away from peat since i want to reuse my soil, i guess i could try to get some coco from amazon, i said i dont trust the ones that sell here because they are unknown brands, don't know if there's something fucked up with the coco they sell to use in TLO.

is coco necesary for the best possible tlo grow? and what would u replace the peat with?

 

[Eyes on Fire]

coco imo gives you a better overall texture and typically youll use less perlite also if you use a coco over just soil. soil only will be too heavy. you would have to use excessive perilte of two sizes and even then you might run a risk. but coo gives you the best of both worlds plus its more easy on the environment. I like to replace the Peat with coco n perlite. it also depends on your base soil. Like I use sunshine mix [HASHTAG]#4[/HASHTAG] with mycos and Si.. it has a nice blended texture already and if used that alone with the re amendment pack will give you fair drainage and texture and root growth. but adding coco improves it even further with a small bit of perltie. always works for me. but Dr earth,roots all sorts of stuff works. but also another simple water only granule mix ids Mephisto or GBD soil mix/amendment. you might want to give them a look. for a 1.5CF bag of dr earths or roots of similar and a bag of that works well. especially if you use a Tea for flower boosting and/or a top coating which you make ahead of time when you sow the seed.

 

[MrChok]

coco imo gives you a better overall texture and typically youll use less perlite also if you use a coco over just soil. soil only will be too heavy. you would have to use excessive perilte of two sizes and even then you might run a risk. but coo gives you the best of both worlds plus its more easy on the environment. I like to replace the Peat with coco n perlite. it also depends on your base soil. Like I use sunshine mix [HASHTAG]#4[/HASHTAG] with mycos and Si.. it has a nice blended texture already and if used that alone with the re amendment pack will give you fair drainage and texture and root growth. but adding coco improves it even further with a small bit of perltie. always works for me. but Dr earth,roots all sorts of stuff works. but also another simple water only granule mix ids Mephisto or GBD soil mix/amendment. you might want to give them a look. for a 1.5CF bag of dr earths or roots of similar and a bag of that works well. especially if you use a Tea for flower boosting and/or a top coating which you make ahead of time when you sow the seed.

just saw and the sunshine mix is peat moss perlite mycos and some extra stuff. the mycos i can get them here, i've available great white and myco madness from humboldt.
what do u think about a mix with 40% coco, 35% perlite, 25% worm humus, mycos, the baby oatmeal/cereal to explode with microbial activity, worms, and some amendment list? ill dial this one later cause i want to do some extra research, i've read the rev formula but want to see a few others. maybe try to get the mephisto gbd, although i recall fullduplex saying it's out of the stock like permanently lol.

 

[Eyes on Fire]

it will be too light to hold as muc of the foods and life youll need for a complete grow,yet it will work just not awesome. yeah I do use some,well only one peat moss product but that cuz I have MS and a host of issues. but if I did,Id have been making my own for sometime now. but its a good soil. Dr Earth is better IMO but they dont sell a Bale to my knowledge. has,or Had less Peat when I used it sometime back. yeah I just saw the Mephisto issue(s) so I dont expect it to be back anytime soon if ever. not sure. but its a fair mix if you get the chance to use it, but I would start with all soil like the Sunshine or dr earth ,roots whatever. like 1.5CF Bag of soil is roughly 10 gallons. so two of those and maybe 3-4 gallons of coco and a cpl gallons of perlite and moisten it up and check the texture by learning about the squeeze test.then once you have that ,mix the package or measured out materials and mix really really well and let it cook for atleast 45 days mixing it a cpl time throughout. I would use the Soil Life or Inoculate [HASHTAG]#1[/HASHTAG] from Tea Labs if you can get it. Amazon has it. And a 30 LB bag of castings is a touch of 5 gallons. you'll need one of those too. unless you do a worm farm which I highly recommend.

 

[MrChok]

it will be too light to hold as muc of the foods and life youll need for a complete grow,yet it will work just not awesome. yeah I do use some,well only one peat moss product but that cuz I have MS and a host of issues. but if I did,Id have been making my own for sometime now. but its a good soil. Dr Earth is better IMO but they dont sell a Bale to my knowledge. has,or Had less Peat when I used it sometime back. yeah I just saw the Mephisto issue(s) so I dont expect it to be back anytime soon if ever. not sure. but its a fair mix if you get the chance to use it, but I would start with all soil like the Sunshine or dr earth ,roots whatever. like 1.5CF Bag of soil is roughly 10 gallons. so two of those and maybe 3-4 gallons of coco and a cpl gallons of perlite and moisten it up and check the texture by learning about the squeeze test.then once you have that ,mix the package or measured out materials and mix really really well and let it cook for atleast 45 days mixing it a cpl time throughout. I would use the Soil Life or Inoculate [HASHTAG]#1[/HASHTAG] from Tea Labs if you can get it. Amazon has it. And a 30 LB bag of castings is a touch of 5 gallons. you'll need one of those too. unless you do a worm farm which I highly recommend.

I would like to skip getting a pre-made soil bag since i can make it myself and it will be cheaper.
Would u say 25% peat (black or sphagnum?) 25% perlite 25% coco 25% worm humus is fine as a base mix? would u tweak the numbers? also, no problems reusing it even if using sphagnum?
just read about the squeeze test, and i know i've to prewash the perlite and prewet the peat before mixing everything.
anything wrong with baby oatmeal to inoculate the soil? or inoculate n1 from tea labs just plain better? i plan to add mycos and living worms.

worm farm and composter, both are a high end goal, need to get a couple of grows and dial in the mix, amendemnts and teas first. u've no idea how bad i want to start this already lol but wont rush it.

thanks so far for all ur insight man, truly appreciate it.

 

[Rev. Green Genes]

I would like to skip getting a pre-made soil bag since i can make it myself and it will be cheaper.
Would u say 25% peat (black or sphagnum?) 25% perlite 25% coco 25% worm humus is fine as a base mix? would u tweak the numbers?
just read about the squeeze test, and i know i've to prewash the perlite and prewet the peat before mixing everything.
anything wrong with baby oatmeal to inoculate the soil? or inoculate n1 from tea labs just plain better? i plan to add mycos and living worms.

worm farm and composter, both are a high end goal, need to get a couple of grows and dial in the mix, amendemnts and teas first. u've no idea how bad i want to start this already lol but wont rush it.

thanks so far for all ur insight man, truly appreciate it.

I love to read this. you're going to have some killer mix. It's going to be very rich, I like to balance the soil textures by tossing in a bit of sand and clay soil. The more variation in particle sizes you have the better for water retention and air exchange. But I don't ever use coco... My preferred bagged soil is Fafard, but I agree with Eyes on Fire, dr earth is great stuff too.