So I have a complete set up for starting my babies, with all that they need… I have acquired, my nutrients, I got my mini greenhouse with lights, and an extra light wich is bigger, got my heating pad, and my little blue(green) note pad… I have a structured plan. I am kinda most proud of my soil base at the moment. I have started to make my own plant teas, and activated charcoal along with earthworms.. I am really a beginner, but I do have some knowledge.. at least I feel like it.. I’d love to fire up the conversation about your soil and how you prep your base and what your process maybe to reach that black gold status!!!
I just use coco with perlite added
@BIGWORM loves living soil! Ya’ll gonna be growmies, lol! 
The perlite is something I forgot to get. I’m glad you reminded me. I got CO- CO coming and also some mycrorisome fungi( I’m sure that’s not the correct spelling) And also worm castings
Oh that’ll be a good mix…yeah gotta have that perlite. I dont see how people use straight coco I’ve tried .
This is my usual recipe for organic soil growing. It was given to me by a veteran grower on an other site. This uses used soil. I save mine from grow to grow and recharge it with this recipe. For me this is typically a water only recipe so, I don’t typically need to add more nutrients during an autoflower grow. I have had a couple that needed extra cal mag but they were small pots and I think they just didn’t hold enough soil nutrients to get them through the flower stage. I use 7 gallon fabric pots now without issue. You can reduce the ratio as needed. Let this cook for at least 2 months so the microbes can start breaking things down.
My basic starting soil recipe before adding the real nutrients.
LC’s Soiless Mix #2:
6 parts Pro Mix BX or HP / Fox Farm Ocean Forest
2 parts perlite
2 parts earthworm castings/if using Fox farm I leave this out. Plus you add a bunch later.
Powdered (NOT PELLETED) dolomite lime @ 2 tablespoons per gallon or 1 cup per cubic foot of the soiless mix.
If you use a 3 qt. saucepan as “parts” in the amounts given above, it equals about 1 cu. ft. of soiless mix and you can just dump in a cup of powdered dolomite lime. The dolomite lime is for Ca. and Mg. not just to adjust the PH of the soil.
Nutrients to add to the soil:
Three Little Birds Method
20 gallons used soil or initial mix
2 cups alfalfa meal
2 cups bone meal
2 cups kelp meal
2 cups powdered dolomite lime(if you added this in the soilless mix don’t add it again. This is only for recharging “used” soil.)
15 pound bag of earthworm castings . . .
That’s the basic recipe . . .
However it was recommended by the person who gave me the recipe to add
2 cups of Greensand
2 cups of Rock Phosphate
2 cups of diatomaceous earth
I try to have enough soil for at least 2 grows. One for the current grow, and one cooking for the next grow. When done growing 1, I put the used soil in a compost bin or compost pile, add the “3 little bird’s” nutrients again and mix well, and keep it moist. By the time the next grow is done, so is the recharged soil.
If you want the FULL sheet I was given let me know. It’s got teas, nutrient mixes and other soil mix options but it is very L o n g.
It’s good simple mix but a little low in K, 1-2 cups of Sulphate of Potash granules would be good to add. I also really like insect frass which usually has decent K and lots of microbiology.
The jersey green sand adds more k, I believe. But I will look into the frass
Yes it can have some but very slow release, and can have other contaminants so I’m not a big fan.
Contams? Like heavy metals or something?
Yeah depending on how clean the source is. Tiny amounts I wouldn’t worry about adding once or twice but reamending with it over years levels would build
The only big downside is it works best at ph 5 - and release’ minerals so slow it can take several months to yrs to fully release and be valuable…but great for overall soil aeration and soil structure
Make sure its from pure granatate(miss spelled) from shores and waters of texas…Florida waters ect dont really produce i guess 
Yeah, Greensand is a sedimentary rock formed from ancient sea beds that contains over 30 trace minerals essential for plant growth and health.
But it’s from the New Jersey, so yeah…
What do you got against Jersey? North Jersey sucks! Lol
Looks like I’m dropping that from my amendments.
I need to get on this “living soil” bandwagon i believe…i usually just add my leftover dirt to my vegetables. Lol
OMG, yes it does. Cruise the GS parking lot up to like Amboy and Elizabeth…last time I was there I needed an H95 mask…minimum.
It’s all good though, mostly a joke on how a lot of NY’s garbage ends up on Jersey beaches. I lived in Barnegat, Tom’s River and Brick town for most of 1988.
All good! I joke about Jersey all the time.
Research is all I can say really before diving in…but h3ll u can buy bagged living soils now!
R research is exactly what I’m doing I know the only way to expand my knowledge is by educating myself through Reading and experimenting as I go but obvious goal is to keep the planets happy and healthy