There is just something about organics that make buds so tasty. There is no better organic growing than in a "Living Soil" teaming with beneficial Bacteria, Mycorrhizal Fungi, and everything else your Cannabis needs to grow the dankest of bud. And best of all, you don't need any other nutrients at all for the entire life cycle of the plant.
When I decided to go a full on organic route, I spent hours and hours searching the net for formulations, that are firstly effective, and secondly, has ingredients that are easily obtainable in South Africa from a sustainable source, and affordable. I have had to make many substitutions, since guano’s are not so readily available, and they are super expensive when you do manage to get hold of it.
So I thought I would share my soil mix that I grow all my babies in.
Super Soil Ingredients
60l Potting Soil (I use DoubleGrow)
40l Mushroom Compost ( Also DoubleGrow)
25l Worm Castings (Hortishop)
500g Bone Meal
500g Talborne (I do not use the Fruit and flower, but the VitaVeg 6-3-4)
1kg SeaMunGus (Chicken Manure and Kelp pellets and plants love it!)
1kg Lucerne Pellets (Rabbit food)
500g Agricultural Lime
500g Volcanic Rock Dust (Turbogrow)
1 sachet of rock phosphate
500g Mycoroot
1 Compost activator sachet (Effecto Brand)
500g Brown Sugar (You can add Molasses, but I find that it takes the micro-organisms longer to eat up the sugar)
Once all these are thoroughly mixed, this soil needs to mature and stabilize over a period of 2-3 months minimum; however the soil becomes sweeter the longer you leave it. I store my soil in large black bins, and chuck the whole lot out and mix through once a month for the first 2 months.
This soil needs to be kept only just moist, but not wet.
Pro Mix Ingredients
60l Coco Peat
30l Worm castings
30l Mushroom compost
20l Perlite
40L Super Soil (This first needs to stabilize before using)
500g Bone Meal
500g Talborne VitaVeg 6-3-4
500g volcanic Rock Dust
500g Mycoroot
500g Agricultural Lime
Regardless of the size of the container I grow in, I fill the bottom half with Super Soil, and the remainder with Pro Mix.
From seed to harvest I have never had deficient plants, and I only use de-chlorinated tap water (Just let it stand for 24 hours or more to let all the Chlorine evaporate. Unless your tap water pH is really off, you don’t even need to pH correct your water. The lime in the mix is a brilliant buffer to acidity.
It does cost a bit to mix this soil up, but the results speak for themselves!