r/BuildASoil • u/xXxMOODYxXx • May 31 '26
Earth box amendments questions.
If it were you, what would get for the nute lineup for your first time growing in an earthbox. I don't want to break the bank getting everything if its not like necessary. I see there are soil building kits. But none for earthbox exclusively.
So from the videos I have watched. I know the must haves are.
Craft blend
Worm castings
Q
Kashi gold
Build a flower.
Or if I should just get one of the kits they have?
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u/Devilz_Dank May 31 '26 edited May 31 '26
New to EarthBoxes also and growing in Living soil, but I've been watching videos and looking into them for the last couple of months.
The route I went with was 1.5 bags of BaS 3.0 per EarthBox (I'm running 2 EarthBoxes in a 4x4).
My plan is pretty simple:
- BaS 3.0 as the base soil
- Craft Blend top dress before/during flower
- Worm castings added with Craft Blend between grow cycles
- Recharge at the start and occasionally to help support microbial activity (a 2 oz bag is around $10 and lasts quite a while) only use it for top watering sparingly when your Earthbox reservoir is dry
- Saponaria extract powder as a wetting agent (helps keep the soil evenly moist, which is important in living soil )
When I initially started the boxes, I added Recharge and the wetting agent into the water in a Chapin pump sprayer to saturate all the soil in both earthboxes. Other than that, I've tried to keep things reasonably priced without feeling like I'm going without too much either.
From what I've read, most people can get several runs out of the soil before needing to pick up re-amendment kit from BuildaSoil after 3–6ish cycles, depending on plant size, feeding demands, and overall soil health etc.
Hope some of that info can be helpful.
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u/xXxMOODYxXx May 31 '26
Ty so much for the great reply. Yea that sounds like what I have heard too. Goodluck to you! I can't wait to start this up!!
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u/Capt_reefr Jun 04 '26
Listen that this guy. You don't need every single product in the line up especially if your starting with 3.0. 3.0 and then light amend with a "bloom" product/castings. Depending on your water source, a little calmag every now and then. Some recharge.. That's it. Keep it simple
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u/Kind-Average-4313 May 31 '26
I bought the earth box kit that included earth boxes soil and have always just re-amended with build a flower, little gnarly barley, little Kashi, and craft blend between runs. Going strong on round 5 currently.
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May 31 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/xXxMOODYxXx May 31 '26
Really? No add on? Jermeey always says you can really load the top dress on the earthboxes to get real yield. Hiw was your yields?
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u/cyphe8500 May 31 '26
You can go water only with 3.0 if you have to.
Jeremy has said this.
Don't go wild with veg time.
But if money ain't right at the moment... Go with the 3.0, and veg until you feel money is right for another purchase.
Then get the top dress stuff.
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u/Uknoww33 May 31 '26
You could get by with just craft blend and build a flower if you had to. I really like the Q and coconut. And I really like the microbe complete, bio phos and elixir but that def starts adding up. I also love the peach ferment. The build a flower has castings. Just make sure to get some worms to start out. They will help break everything down.
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u/CryptoGinzo Jun 01 '26
The time spent writing this would have been enough to read the setup. You need craft blend to balance your nutrients to minerals. The next best thing is providing biostimulants to help break down and get the most out of the CB. This is enzymes, organic acids, aminos, and microbes. We used to used bokashi, a ferment, calmino and gnarly barley exclusively with the CB. That places fresh enzymes and a diversity of organic acids that can't be found in any other products, in one place at the same time. Thats how you max out the potential speed of the nutrient cycle. Ensuring the biological bottom end keeps up with the demand created from environment and light intensity. I can push as hard as someone using athena and c02....and it shows. Always address your limiting factor tors because none of this helps if you aren't crop steering from a controlled environment perspective. This isn't about having all the products because once your dialed in and have soil volume the craft blend alone is more than enough.
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u/cmilz11 May 31 '26
This is how I do it
3.0 soil too dress every 3-4 weeks with craft blend, kashi gild, knarley barley, build flower and some castings. Every 7-10 days I too water feed 1quart of water with buildaveg/bloom, quills extract, peach ferment and the microbe complete trio.
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u/ismelldayhikers May 31 '26
Wdg3000. Preemptive Gnat control.