Crowd Sourced Ultra Premium Economic Potting Mediums

Botany and Cultivation
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I’m part of a small business think tank. Someone came to me with with my background in cannabis wanting to start a premium potting soil company, but for people on a budget. I want nothing to do with the trucking/logistics/material moving portion of it, but I told them I would help offer some insight into formulation. They have 4 products they are interested in:

  1. A general purpose soil- 1/2 cu. yard peat, 25 gallons perlite, 5 lb. blood or feather meal, 10 lb bone meal, 5 lb. lime, 1 lb. potassium humate or kelp

  2. Outdoor container soil- 1/3 cu. yard compost, 1/3 cu. yard peat/coco/composted pine bark, 1/3 cu. yard sharp builders sand

  3. Heavily amended soil- 1/2 cu. yard coco, 25 gallons rice hulls, 15 pounds corn steep liquor, 2.5 pounds lime, 2.5 pounds gypsum, 1 pound kelp

  4. Hydroponic/Inert soilless- 1/2 cu. yard coco (buffered with 240g cal nit, 100 grams epsom salt saturated with 100 gallons water), 30 gallons perlite.

My question on #4 Would adding 5 pounds of lime directly save the extra labor step? If it would throw off the pH, perhaps the direct addition of 5 pounds gypsum and 100 grams of epsom salt? Has this been done before?

Does anyone have any corrections?

(If you want to haul dirt, I’ve got a guy who needs some hands to make his business plan work.) :rofl:

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Thank you for this thread. Always love reading about other people’s soil recipes. Been planning my next years light dep, so going to keep my eye on this.

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Hey thanks, bud.

The answer was staring me in the face. Hydrobuddy, duh.

For 100 gallons of peat or coco, 195 grams of gypsum and 48 grams dolomite lime gives 150 ppm calcium, 40 ppm Mg. That is for heavily amended soil. As a buffer, I would cut it down to ~10% or so.

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The amended coco recipe has me interested for sure. My mixes have always been peet based.

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