If you’re here to learn more about soil mixtures for cannabis, you’re in the right place!
Each strain of cannabis has different preferences for its growing environment, but there are some general guidelines that will work well for most cannabis plants.
A popular approach is to mix high-quality organic potting soil with various nutritious ingredients in order to create nutrient-dense soil at the right pH level. Many growers worldwide appreciate Subcool’s well-known super soil recipe as a tried-and-true way to grow cannabis plants.
Super Soil Recipe from Subcool
Start with at least six to eight large bags of high-quality organic dirt. This is your base soil, which is why it’s so important that you choose the right one. Don’t skimp on the quality of your foundation soil because this will have a significant influence on how well your plant grows.
The base soil should have many of the following ingredients: lignite, coco fiber, perlite, pumice, compost, peat moss, diatoms, feather meal, fishmeal, bone meal, bat guano, kelp meal, limestone, gypsum, greensand, soybean meal, leonardite, k-mag, glacial rock dust, alfalfa meal, oyster shell flour, earthworm castings, and mycorrhizal fungi.
This recipe makes approximately 12 cubic feet of super soil:
8 large (1.5 ft3) bags of high-quality organic potting soil with coco fiber and mycorrhizal (base soil)
25 to 50 lbs of organic worm castings (pure worm poop with no added mulch)
5 lbs steamed bone meal
5 lbs Bloom bat guano
5 lbs blood meal
3 lbs rock phosphate
¾ cup Epson salts
½ cup sweet lime (dolomite)
½ cup azomite (trace elements)
2 tbsp powdered humic acid
Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly. This super soil will be blended with the based soil and placed in the bottom one-third to one-half of the container. You can go as far as filling ¾ of the container with super soil for cannabis strains that require significant nutrients. Then, fill the rest with your base soil.
Once you transplant a young marijuana plant to the container with super soil at the bottom, it will slowly grow its roots into the super soil layer as it needs more nutrients. All you have to do now is to water the soil mixtures. The plant will have enough nutrition for its full life cycle.
The super soil mix from Subcool is regarded as the best in the business by cannabis farmers everywhere. It has all you need without having to add anything else except water
Characteristics of Good Soil for Growing Cannabis
Even if you don’t have access to all of the components for super soil, you may still grow cannabis plants successfully. Let’s look at some of the ideal soil characteristics for cannabis cultivation.
Texture
Cannabis prefers a more porous, light, and loosely packed soil texture. A light texture promotes root development and ensures that enough oxygen reaches the roots. Therefore, loamy soil is ideal.
Drainage ability
Cannabis soil must have adequate drainage. It is not desirable for water to pool on top of the cannabis soil when you water your plants. Your plants will become ill and produce lower yields or perish if the soil has poor drainage. Thus, clay soil will require a lot of amendments before it can be used for growing cannabis.
Water retention
Water retention, which is the soil’s capacity to retain water, is just as crucial. Good cannabis soil has an ideal balance of water retention and drainage. Sandy and silty soil can be used with some amendments.
pH value
This is significant since cannabis performs well within a narrow range of pHs. Perfect soil for cannabis has a pH of 6.0 while pH 5.8-6.3 is considered acceptable. If it varies too far outside of this range, you’ll get fewer crops. Your plants will perish if the pH is vastly different.
Nutrients
Cannabis soil requires nutrients in order to support plant growth. Fortunately, the majority of soils you can buy already have them. However, it’s important to note that these elements will generally only last 3–4 weeks. When your plants begin to bloom, commercial soil’s nutrients will most likely become depleted. This is when you should start adding nutrients.
If you’re growing in a nutrient-depleted environment, you’ll need to add organic materials such as humus, compost, worm castings, bat guano, and other organic substances to your soil. The soil microorganisms will convert these materials into nutrients that your plants can use when they need them.
Conclusion
The soil mixes should have an appropriate nutrient balance, drainage, water retention, and a proper pH range for cannabis plants’ development. It’s best to use organic base soil and super soil, but you may also modify your existing soil and add nutrients sufficient for the plants’ healthy development.
