Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible

perlite or expanded clay to add extra drainage to the mix. Some growers sprinkle coconut coir on top of rockwool blocks to keep the top from drying out.
    Flake dry bricks of coconut coir apart by hand or soak the bricks in a bucket of water for 15 minutes to expand and wet. One brick will expand to about 9 times its original size. Growing in coconut coir is similar to growing in any other soilless medium. Coconut coir may stay a little too wet and require more ventilation and air circulation.
    Hit the site www.canna.com for more information on coconut fiber and growing marijuana.
Soil Mixes
    Outdoor soil mixes that incorporate garden soil, compost, manure, coco peat, and rock powders grow some of the best plants in the world. Outdoor soil mixes can be mixed a few months early and left in the hole to blend and mature. Outdoor organic soil mixes are alive, and controlling the soil life is a matter of paying attention to a few details.
    Indoors, outdoor soil mixes often create more trouble than they are worth. Too often misguided novices go out to the backyard and dig up some good-looking dirt that drains poorly and retains water and air unevenly. The problems are compounded when they mix the dirt with garden compost packed with harmful microorganisms and pests. This lame soil mix grows bad dope. By saving a few bucks on soil, such growers create unforeseen problems and pay for their savings many times over with low-harvest yields. Avert problems with soil mixes by purchasing all of the components. Use garden soil or compost only if they are top quality and devoid of harmful pests and diseases. Use only the richest, darkest garden soil with a good texture. Amend the soil by up to 80 percent to improve waterretention and drainage. Even a soil that drains well in the outdoor garden needs amending to drain properly indoors. Check the pH of the garden soil before digging to ensure it is between 6.0 and 7.0. Add fine dolomite to stabilize and buffer pH. Check pH several times after mixing to ensure it is stable.

Solarize used soil to kill pests and diseases.

Compost piles must be at least 3 feet (90 cm) square in order to retain more heat than they give off.
     
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Soil mixes with compost:
    0.5 compost
    0.5 soilless mix
    0.3 compost
    0.3 soilless mix
    0.3 coco coir
    0.5 compost
    0.5 coco coir
    0.3 compost
    0.3 soilless mix
    0.16 worm castings
    0.16 perlite
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    Solarize garden soil by putting it out in the sun in a plastic bag for a few weeks. Turn the bag occasionally to heat it up on all sides. Make sure the bag receives full sun and heats up to at least 140°F (60°C). This will kill the bad stuff and let the beneficial bacteria live.
    You can also sterilize soil by laying it out on a Pyrex plate and baking it at 160°F for 10 minutes, or microwave it for two minutes at the highest setting. It is much easier and more profitable in the end to purchase good potting soil at a nursery.
Compost
    Compost is outstanding. It solves most problems outdoors. Compost is an excellent soil amendment. It holds nutrients and moisture within its fiber. However, using backyard compost indoors is tricky.
    Some growers have no trouble with organic composts, but others have bad luck and even lose their entire crop when growing in backyard compost. Good compost recipes are available from monthly publications such as Sunset, Organic Gardening, National Gardening, etc., or from the companies specializing in organic composts. Outdoor growers love compost. It is inexpensive, abundant, and works wonders to increase water retention and drainage. It also increases nutrient uptake because of biological activity. Indoors, compost is not very practical to use in containers. It could also have unwanted pests. If using compost indoors, make sure it is well-rotted and screened.
    A good compost pile includes manure–the older the better. Manure from horse stalls or cattle feedlots is mixed with straw or sawdust bedding. Sawdust uses available nitrogen andis also acidic and not recommended. Look for the oldest, and most-rotted manure. Well-rotted manure is less prone to have viable weed seeds and pests. Fresh nitrogen-packed grass clippings are one of my favorites to use in a compost pile. Put your hand down deep into a pile of grass clippings. The temperature one or two feet down in such a pile ranges from 120° to 180°F (49° to 82°C). Heat generated by chemical activity kills pests, breaks down the foliage, and liberates the nutrients.
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