As you know Ot1, I am going to be doing my grow with fishwater topped up with fert.

I was going to PM you and ask this but that goes against letting other people also learn so I have started this as a thread.

I am wondering if you or anyone else knows if B and Q does some clean soil without any fert, as this is what I am after - the thing is I also want to buy organic fert (to top up the diluted fish water), so can I also buy some at B and Q? Yes, I could just go and see but people have done this so many times it seems, only to be told (usually by OT1) that the soil has some chemicals in it.

I would rather go to B and Q because it will be quicker and I will not have to bother sending special delivery which drains more of my dwindling cash away.

I checked the two pages of threads and could only see members asking and telling members about organic soil, i.e. with added organic fert but this is not what I require.

I confidently await your or anothers reply.

cheers, Fred.

http://www.diy.com/bq/category/category.jh...ml?CATID=150596

here is a link to their soil.

Hi Fred

What you are proposing verges on hydroponics. Sterile soil, so its just a medium, and you add all the ferts that are needed.

I followed the thread you posted above, looked at the soil mixes on that page, and noted that they are all composts. Therefore they will all contain nutrients. I do not think they all have added nutrients, but by its very nature, compost will contain nutrients.

Coir comes to mind when i read your post.



Maybe you should look into buying that and some dedicated coir ferts


Hope that helps

Chip

Cheers for the reply chip and sorry that I did not also address the question to you as well as OT1 as I did not realize until recently that both of you do this forum.

I have got some of that already but it attracted some maggots which I belive to be scarrab flies, so that is out the window.

I have sent you a pm.

cheers again.

Its still definitely worthwhile waiting to see what ot1 has to say. My organic experience is really outdoors and on a much bigger scale. Ot1 will be able to fill you in (if you diss him that is )

Chip

Sorry missed this thread. Fred there is no cheap B&Q option I could guarantee, their organic compost was a huge flop for me. I still have two sacks full and I’m going to spread it over my allotment and rotavate it in hoping it does not do to much damage as it was full of uncomposted wood chips, they of course rob nitrogen, now it could be I had a bad batch. Whatever it is recognised by the HDRA as organic. The base nutrient levels are very low so it may well be a suitable growing medium to use with your fish water.

I have never found coir attracts fungus gnats, the B&Q organic compost certainly did.

I used fish tank water as a supplementary feed to plants growing in a balanced organic compost just the same as I would by dissolving 30ml of Biobizz grow in 10 litres of water.

Bio Nova products are as organic as white sugar but they do have some organic elements in them with the chemicals, the Dutch like to call them minerals to confuse the issue. I don’t think Atami’s coco or Bcuzz products are organic either I think they contain chemicals the soil association would throw a fit over. BioBizz make a 2 part fert for coir solely made from organic products but it is a complete balanced fertiliser.

If you don’t want to make your own live organic compost then allmix is not bad, if you want cheap a mix of 70% B&Q organic compost, 25% coir and 5% wormest would be well worth a go. You will need earth juice bloom to supplement and rebalance the fish water during flowering.

To me growing organically is about growing in a live soil based compost chock full of microorganisms. Its a balanced living medium and when watering with organic teas, you are feeding the micro flora as well as the plants. The micro flora in turn feed the plants, its symbiotic and in keeping with the way plants and soil have worked for millions of years.

Out of desperation to start I bought some b and q seeding soil but as you said there were unbroken down pieces of wood, which was easy enough to take out at the moment as I was putting it into small pots and was crumbling it in to get some air into it.
This will just be used for the first stage of the grow and after that I will get something else.

I have a big problem with soil as I do not want to get it delivered to my flat and the other addy I use is not viable at the moment............I will get a couple of weeks to think about this but it really is fucking up the organic side as their are no shops apart from b and q and homebase in my area and I find it hard to tie people down to give me a lift and so on, SO I do not rely on people - I would rather carry it on the bus. <big sigh>

Coming late to this thread, I know, but...

I used B&Q organic once and never again. Maybe I, too, had a bad batch, but the ph was all over the place (got down to about 4 at one point) and the plants just wouldn't grow.

I bought an enormous bag (75 litres, I think) as I had the use of a car and thought I'd be clever and buy in bulk. I was left with an enormous bag of useless soil that I had to get rid of. I have no garden and was paranoid about leaving a huge bag of compost for the binmen, so I slowly transferred it to plastic bags, putting one out with the rubbish every week till it was all gone.

People may mock, but I've had perfectly good results with Woolworth's multi-purpose compost.

comfy

er, obviously, the Woolies multi-purpose isn't organic...

comfy

What are you thoughts on using peat moss? I only suggest it because you didnt have a good eperience with the coco coir. Depletion of peat bogs and their environment is not a good thing but its easily obtainable and does not contain any nutrients. If you want to add drainage and air pockets try adding perlite, sand (which can make your pots heavy but i like it), vermiculite and or gravel/ hydrocorn. ANY combination of these ingredients will work sufficiently.

If you have difficulties with bugs, in particular larva or eggs try putting a 1/4 inch layer of sand on top of your potting mix. It drains well, gives off no odor, the bugs wont lay their eggs in it and its thick enough they wont dig through it.

i have heard that pine oil and Garlic barrier (100% pure garlic extract) work well to repel almost all pests realted to indoor gardening. It may or may not be used to fight infestation but it is described as a prevention, leaves no odor or taste and can be used in the soil or as a foliar spray.


hope this isnt too late and can help some people. please add your own comments if any of this seems inaccurate.

grow on

Clean soil! what a concept... it reminds me of a bloke i sent into a hardware shop once for some sky hooks!

would clean soil contain no dirt?

So..after all this deliberating...what is a good type of soil to use that is also organic??! and can be bought at homebase,b&q etc.??
I've noticed that a lot of these organic threads just end up trailing off and someone just recommending to use Allmix..

Noticed the same thing myself. Allmix is great stuff, no doubt, but it is too expensive to use on a continuous basis. I was hoping that with this being a UK site I would be able to find out where to get a good organic compost mix at a reasonable price as I too have found the B & Q organic compost to be little more than bark chippings with a very coarse feel to it. Not to mention that it dries out very quickly! Guess I'll keep looking. Hope someone finds something soon.....
C ya!

Hi there, just wanted to say that the reason you don't see many widely avaliable organic/peat-free composts being recommended on uk420 is because virtually none of them can compete with standard composts at this time, in terms of either performance or suitability for all stages of plant growth.

Oldtimer1 has linked to this Which? results table for composts a number of times now, you can see from it that the only real contender in the peat free/organic section is J Arthur Bowers New Horizons organic multi-purpose compost, which is widely avaliable from garden centres (and also wilkos I believe )

I switched from B & Q's notoriously bad organic multi-purpose compost to New Horizons, and have found it to be very good so far

Hope that helps,

msmj

i see every one goin off the subject here if u looking 4 a medium with no fert why not try one of those bricks u put water with and then it expands they sell them in b and q only a thought as the man says above new horizon is looking very good 4 me also but it has nutes init so dont think it would be suitable 4 what u need hope it helps

I think Westlands also produce a fully organic mix which would be available at larger garden centres.

Have a good luck at the labels as Westlands produce composts in "own brand" packaging too, but it will always say Westlands somewhere on the bag.

I'm in the midst of a grow using B&Q Coir Based Multi-Purpose bricks.

They are slightly enriched so not true organic, but they work perfectly with good organic feeds.

They also help create some of the healthiest looking roots I've ever seen.

Good luck!

hi, have just read thread with intreast.. 2 points i would like to express, first ihave used bio bizz almix and great, ..2.. i have used normal grow bags, and mix it with perlite (10% ish) and vermiculite( 5-7%), and the results we very good. but my underlieing thought, was/is this how much neutriants are in the grow bags to start, as how long have they been there, and how quickly are those neuts used up, as i think i have started to feed my girls to quick this time.
so my point being can you use any of these grow bag type soils, and in some way remove wash out) what neut are there. then start with your own food diet. is this organic ??
i can see where you are coming from with grow medium, i used normal grow bags, for toms ect.

Using a standard bagged tomato compost can never be fully organic...
As it`ll contain chemical fertilisers as base feed in the mix(unless stated organic on the bag).

I have used tomato compost in the past with a decent result, but isnt what i`d use by choice nowadays.

hi folks,

ive just bought a 120 litre bag of focus multipurpose compost for 5 quid,
they had a deal on,

i seived it with a proper soil seive as i was very suprised to see how fine and fluffy it was,

it real shook down well,

no wood,
just the normaly hard clumps that broke down with a light nudge

ph at the mo is 6.8

will this be ok,

oldtimer,i would realy appreciate your input here mate as i recognise you as an expert on soils and composts


im not adding perlite this time just to see the results but watering less to reduce logging,

i repotted a few plants recenlty and the plants have gone nuts,!!!!

i was getting a spot of yellow leaf so added a one off feed of miralce grow as im in flower and dont want too much nitrogen,

i,ll keep ths results updated as i go,

has anyone on here tried amstadam indoors guerilla feed? its for veggin but last time i used it i got bad burn at the soil mix level.

cheers

sy

Easy Sy,

OT1 is the man you need for all your organic needs so will wait for his wise words.

I would use 40% perlite and 60% Compost to help oxygenate the soil and for water pass through and darin well, giving them less water wont really in my experiance you could just dehydrate them or stress them out.


And nah, I aint tried those amsterdam nutes. I try steer clear of nutes when i'm veggin as the compost will usually contain enough nutes to keep em goin till they near flowering, I only really feed them when they ask for it, you know!

Hope this helps.

Peace


MeCCa

cheers mecca

im seriosly going toward the no feed until needed route,

just worried that no nutes might stunt growth,

but then again compost should provide enough nutes to keep the gals going,

i must just be impatient,

do u think that a feed thats 15-20-15 will be ok for flower?

i have other feeds but this is the one with the highest p k levels

cheers

sy

Sorry for not getting back before, I’m down with flu. If you look at the gardening Which compost report you will see that the focus mp compost is pretty average.

From feedback of our members trying various composts, the best results with cannabis seem to come from compost with added JI, the Westlands brand doing best of the bunch. Just from observation compost that tomatoes do well in long term also seems to suit cannabis best.

None of these mp’s mentioned are organic. The focus compost is not organic.

Most modern composts are formulated to hold the correct air to water ratio, that ratio is as near to as ideal for plant roots when grown in a container. Adding perlite is just adding inert volume, its something I would; and have never recommended doing.

If you wish to improve any compost, the best addition you can make is to add an inoculant.

hi oldtimer,

sorry to hear your under the weather mate.

we got alot of it down here too,

what is an inoculant? is it a kind of sterilizing compound?

and did u mean i shouldnt add perlite to compost?

i have in the past but might go for polystyrene balls as they are supposed to be just as good as perlite.

ive noticed during seiving that the stuff i have contains quite a bit of cocofibre.

also going to use a 15-20-15 feed with trace elements when in flower,

ive added a good amount of arthur bowers organin lime to my soil to help even out ph.


do u think this will be ok as i belive you to be very well informed when it comes to soils and feeds,

any help would be well appreciated

cheers

sy

Here ya go

And here

\

aaaaaaahhhhhh i see

a kind of positive organism which helps soil conditions,
must be a beneficial bacteria that helps nutes in soil,

mmm interesting,

kinda like bifidus digestivum for soil,

anyway, i take it perlite is not realy needed for compost as the soil god (oldtimer) has enlightened me with the fountain of eternal knowledge,

cheers O.T

never thought there would be so much to learn about soils,composts and humus,

you can tell i never paid attention during science classes,



at least it will save me a few quid as i know longer have to buy the overpriced perlite that our local gardern center flogs,


i will keep an eye on the compost ph with my soil tester and hopefully it will stay within a reasonable limit,

ive made about 20 litres up with lime to help ph if needed.

also added some ploystyrene balls for airiation,dunno if it will work but gotta be worth a crack,

cheers

sy

Hi to all,

OT1 dose the BQ cutting soil mixed with bone meal be ok for growing in as iv got them in it wright know and they are ok a bit slow but no added food yet what compost feeds can you recomend and on the cheap iff possible thanks for any replys as always il be watching this thread.I also need to know is toomato food ok to use ? thanks and have a nice day smyth out -peace-

Seedling/cutting compost with added bonemeal, & tomato feed is a recipe for disaster.

Why is this bish thanks for the put down by the way.

MY plants seem to love the cutting soil also im agreeing on the tommato food though, My last crop was ok useing this method so why do you think its a disaster bish, Also some people cant affored all these custom made soils so let me know your thoughts bish!.

Questions :-

How much light do you have in there?
Did you grow these plants from seed or from cuttings?
How long have they been flowering?
Your flowering plants aren't in the same room as the non flowering ones... Are they?


Hmmm hehe, a few points :

1) If you repotted them recently, they shouldn't need feeding...
2) You shouldn't be repotting them in flower anyway.
3) Flowering plants need nitrogen throughout their flowering cycle from the moment they start showing signs of deficiency. You should be using grow + bloom fertilisers in flower with every water (every 3-5 days, roughly, wait until compost is back to original moisture level before giving it any more water!)
4) Miracle gro is not cool for cannabis. Order some bio-grow and bio-bloom from the uk420 shop.
5) Neither is Focus MP really, you'd be better off with something like Westlands (also cheap) next time

Westlands is about £3 for 60 litres. OT recommends it.

I have potted up one off my mazar god bud into some blood bone meal with added bone meal to cutting soil as i dont trust any compost that has added nutreints also i no what im useing when i do this i must say the transplanted mxgb is looking tall and slender and very lush dark green couler no side shoots yet but on the way no sighn off sex yet but anyways i just wanted to say could i use cutting and seeding soil mixed with westlands stuff thanks Ot1 your a true guru hope your cold gets extermanated soon-peace- allbus oils grate stuff by the way

Interesting :-) At what stages after potting up do u add nutes to this compost? (Thats if u do,,,) and what are u using ? Anything that works interests me !!! :-)Thanks :-?
Just seen the date on this post!!!!! ....ive been surfin and got lost again.......:-) Any way still interested in this compost.....is it still available and is it available in Ireland?