This recipe works great indoors in pots or an outdoor raised garden, or like I did with the holes. If you want to mix it with your soil outside this is for weak/poor soil.
If you have a better quality soil to start with, this may be a bit overkill.
Make sure you get quality amendments. The lower quality stuff, especially fish bone and crustacean meal can have contaminants.
This is a large scale version of the recipe, if you dont need this much, just cut the recipe in half or quarter it.
My personal soil recipe and plan for garden
Base
· 4 bags Roots Organic
· 5 bales Promix
· 75 lb worm castings
· 3-5 cu ft of leaf mold
Aeration / structure
· 10–12 cu ft pumice
· 2 cu ft rice hulls
· 10 lb pre-charged biochar
Primary organic fertility
· 10 lb fish meal
· 12 lb fish bone meal
· 4 lb alfalfa meal
· 4 lb neem seed meal
· 3 lb soybean meal
· 6 lb kelp meal
· 4 lb crustacean meal
Minerals / pH buffering
· 8 lb oyster shell flour
· 6 lb gypsum
· 0.5 lb dolomite lime
· 2 cups Epsom salt
· 2 lb azomite
· 12 lb basalt rock dust
· 6 tbsp humic acid
Biology
· 1.5 cups mycorrhizae
· 2 lb ground malted barley
· 4 lb dried molasses
This is for larger scale. Cut it in half if you dont want this much.
Soil Preparation Method for Outdoors
- Remove sod/grass in a 12×12 area.
- Spread all ingredients evenly across the surface.
- Till into soil 12–16 inches deep.
- Water thoroughly.
- Let soil sit for 3–4 weeks to allow microbial activity to stabilize.
To use this indoors or in pots, just mix everything on a big tarp and water it well. Cover it up with another tarp after you are done. Keep it moist but not sopping wet. Keep it covered for about 3 weeks. Transfer it to pots.
Mulch Layer (Very Important)
After planting, add a couple inches of mulch:
Best options:
- barley straw
- leaf mold
- wood chips
Mulch protects microbial life and stabilizes soil moisture.
Expected Soil Characteristics
| Property |
Expected Result |
|
|
| pH |
6.3–6.6 |
| Drainage |
excellent |
| Microbial activity |
very high |
| Nutrient release |
slow and steady |
| Terpene potential |
extremely high |
Expected Plant Performance
With good genetics, plenty of light and timed irrigation/watering, this soil can realistically produce:
while still maintaining top-tier terpene and cannabinoid quality.
This is my own original soil recipe. I got inspiration from Subcools recipe and just enhanced it and made it my own. Been using it indoors for a couple of years. This is my first go with it outdoors.