If you grow in soil, chances are it's one of your biggest input costs. If you've got space, about $200 to throw down, and a little sweat equity, you can cut those costs in half... and more!
Personally, I prefer organic soil grown cannabis to conventional or even organic hydro grows. The yields may be marginally smaller (on average, not always), but the product is inherently better - subjectively, or whatever. Anyway, here's Anthos' tried and true soil mix recipe, which tbh is just my refinement of the work of MANY others (shoutout Coots, etc).
3 Large bales of Promix (expands to approx 23 cubic ft)
7 cubic feet (about 50 gallons) of compost/castings/frass - a 2:1:1 ratio is ideal
+5 cups each of: Neem Meal, Soy Meal, Alfalfa Meal, Crab Meal, Fish Bone Meal, Kelp Meal
+3 cups Blood Meal
+8# Azomite, 10#Hum-Amend, 5# Brix Basalt, 10# Wollanstonite
Mix roughly while dry, wearing a mask if in a confined area. Add:
10 Gallons of Water+ 2 cups Unsulphered Molasses, 20ml ThermX (Yucca extract), 1/4 cup innoculent (NDure)
Use a hoe and sturdy shovel to mix the liquid slowly and evenly into the soil. Do your best to break up any large soil clumps and to distribute the moisture evenly throughout the pile. Don't go crazy, osmosis is on our side. Gather the mix into a coherent pile, out of direct sunlight.
Depending on the air temperature and the fertility of the microbes in your compost/casting/frass mix (don't skimp), your pile should start to heat up, or 'cook', within a few days - it will be hot to the touch, especially in the pile's interior. This is what you want!
The heat is generated by millions upon billions of microbes, turning the raw amendments you laced your soil with into pre-disgested plant superfood. A week from the initial mix, your soil is ready to plant into. At roughly $10/cubic foot, this is cheaper, fresher, and more fertile by a mile than the bags you by at the local shop. You can get by with water, molasses (stimulates microbes), and maybe a well timed microbe booster - but you won't need much more. If you do supplement with an out of the bottle nutrient, I suggest no more than half strength at most.
Basically, everything your plants need to be great is already in this mix - if you maintain healthy levels of saturation and foster the existing microbiome, Headies await!
Sources for some of the products listed above (I have no affiliations, just a fan):
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