Healthiest Soil

[AndyWeedSeed]

Hey guys,
I will be starting to grow here in a week or two, and I've got pretty much all the necessities that I believe I need, minus soil. Now, I'm all about organic shit, and really don't want hardly any chemicals going into the soil while I grow. Granted, I know some chemicals are necessary, but I'd like to do my best to avoid it if at all possible. So, what kinds of soil[s] should I keep my eye out for when I go out shopping? Also, beware that I live in west Texas, and they don't always sell the same kinds of soil they do in Cali or NY.....we're used to regular ol' dirt round here....

[M4N14C42O]

fox farms

[Delta2012]

Decent mushroom compost is great stuff.
That mixed 50/50 with peat based compost and amend with Dolomite Lime for acidity regulator, about 1 cup per 5 gallons is good, make sure it's fine, grind in pestle & morter if course/quite gritty.

If you want to use Horse or Cattle or poultry manure you've got to get pre-rotted and semi composted or add fresher manures only a couple of weeks old say and leave to blend and break down for 6 weeks before using.

Fresh manures are "hot" and the Nitrogen will burn young plants.

There's manures and guano which aren't so hot which can be incorporated to the base medium as enrichment and/or teas.

Personally speaking. I like to mix and amend my medium early and add some Humus liquor and Molasses to get the mediums organic engines breaking everything down early and really incorporating those componants, changing into another container or bags every couple of weeks to aereate the mix and stir it up and at 6 weeks i consider it ready for my plants.

I also add spent and leeched compost to add a third of the bulk of my medium,i recycle every litre i use to grow and leaving everything to incorporate for 6 weeks energises the old medium as good as fresh if not better for further biodegredation and energising with Humus.

I also add a half cup of Bonemeal per 5 gallons of mix, which after 6 weeks of breaking down before use, is almost instantly available P' and Mg for final potting for 12/12 and a few grammesof SuprPhosphate ensures they get P immediately, ground very fine and mixed in for final potting, Bonemeal is good for rootmass development during veg, it's not all about N in veg' as is often thought, P & K are important throughout, just less N in finishing, common mistake, eliminating N early.

I mainly use cheap compost and only add premium, like Mushroom compost, sparingly, this with the Humus liquor and a bit of time allows me to get a rich medium with mainly cheap and recyled compost, which keeps costs down.

More to do, one could just use 'Shroom or peat and guano etc fresh each grow and spend more, i believe weed should be cheap as possible though and don't see merit throwing medium out and paying more when Humus converts cheap to premium with a little preparation and time and energises the old spent medium.

Of course, adding %50 perlite when vegging, %33 when potting for flower.

:)

[highlandganjaman]

great post delta2012 I do similar
as u say helps to keep costs down