If you see stuff like this in your soil...it means you have made a good batch.. correct? If other things want to live in it like little weeds and grass etc.? This tells me I have a good base and things like to grow in it. or is this a bad thing?
Hello all. Well I have 5cu. Ft. Of premier peat moss so to balance the acidity of peat I would add 5 cups of lime? Plz correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks. There's always much to experience and learn. "Seeker of knowledge"
No. It's one cup of lime per cubic foot of your ENTIRE soil mix, so this includes the volume of your compost/ewc and aeration as well.
And of course, ignore anyone who tells you you don't need lime, especially in a peat based mix. They are simply .... wrong. Wet
I don't think I used lime. But I used a bunch of crustacean meal instead. Should I also have added the lime?
*I* do. I treat and use lime totally separate from any minerals, or even other Ca sources. Keeps things simple that way. For me, anyway. Cd
I was going to reply to this yesterday....sorry Wet....no 'lime' in my mix...liming agents...Yes. Calcium carbonate is the goal and it doesn't necessarily have to come in the form of lime. Calcite lime is 98% calcium carbonate Crab shell is 96% calcium carbonate plus the added benefit of chitin. Depending on how much you added to the mix it will accomplish the same thing. Personally I use 1/2 cup oyster shell and 1/2 cup crab shell per cu. ft.
Should have said liming agent, agree with the CaCO3. I have no experience with crab meal, but it would seem that the 'mesh size' of it would have an effect on the buffering abilities. Like my chicken oyster shell 'grit' experiment years ago. As a flour rather than a meal, I could totally see it. Crustacean flour even more so. We are not at all in disagreement, just on different trails to the same destination. Wet
Thanks rancho I believe I used a cup per cu. Foot. And add more mixed with kelp and neem when I top dress when transplanted.
What do you guys think of Leafgro Organic compost. I saw somebody mentioned it earlier in the thread. Is it any good? It's made by a company in MD Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Hey guys, I'm new to the organic gardening but I'm excited to give it a shot. Here's my list of amendments so far, besides a base soil what would you recommend I add? Or is this pretty much all I need? My base soil will consist of peat moss, perlite and EWC if that helps! Tag along for my first grow! NL Autos, Mars II 400w+UFO http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1343597-My-first-grow%21 Forgot to add the pic.. Tag along for my first grow! NL Autos, Mars II 400w+UFO http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1343597-My-first-grow%21
Here's my mix: 1/3 spaghnum peat moss 1/6 Leafgro organic compost 1/6 Coast of Maine, Worm Power castings (I got both) 1/3 Lava rocks For amendments I got Kelp Meal Crab Shells Alfalfa Meal Azomite Neem Cake BioAg endomycorrhizal Espoma Garden Tone Agricultural limestone How much amendments per cu ft should I use? Do I use more of some and less of others? Do I have a good pest protection? This has been a lot of fun researching and putting it together. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Answers in bold above are in amounts per cubic foot. The neem cake in the soil is a good preventative measure for pest protection, but it is not a silver bullet. An Integrated Pest Management program based on neem and/or karanja oil sprays would be a good start!
I have no SPM in my "leaf mold/comfrey/manure mix" but I also haven't added any type of liming agent whatsoever with the possible exception of vermicompost, some composted lobster shells from summer cookouts or maybe the kitchen eggshells that land in the compost heap. No dolomite, calcite, whatever type of lime, gypsum or any store bought type calcium additives. With the exception of the lobster shells I really haven't added any real Ca additives which I've no doubt were great to add but I'm not sure if they were necessary. I think my mix would have performed quite similarly without them but it's very hard to tell because they are in there. I've been trying to go about the soil building thing as naturally and as I expensively as is possible with stuff from the kitchen, barn and yard and have been very successfully doing so. J
Heck yeah Jerry. I like how you roll man. I haven't had lobster in a long, long time. Jerry, are you doing the No-till thing for your cannabis plants? Fresh soil every time? Are you using neem,kelp, and rock dusts in your mix? This spring, I hope to gather all wild//natural materials and see if I can at least veg a plant or two with it. My No-till is pushing a year-old now and I am plenty happy with how it performs and how little maintenance there is ie. no mixing soil-easy transplanting. Anyhow, it's always nice to hear what you're up to. RD
Right now, and for probably? the last year (or close) I've been using my homemade compost exclusively to grow indoors in. There is no SPM or added aeration in it. As a matter of fact, I haven't even added any additional worm castings into it but the compost itself was loaded up with worms. Being based on probably 75%? leaf mold (4+ yrs old) it is naturally light and fluffy, plus horse manure from our horse, chicken manure/bedding from our chicken coop, lots and lots of comfrey (massive amounts), a small amount of leftover granite meal and kitchen scraps - that's it. I have top dressed the plants with a little kelp & neem cake but there isn't any actually mixed in. I've top dressed with a bit of vermicompost from my bins but didn't actually mix any into the mix. The plants love this "soil"? If you want to call it soil, but it's really just compost. Vibrant & healthy and I'm not buying much of anything online or at a garden store. One of the kind blades here hooked me up with a mess of malted barley grains so they get that here and there too, otherwise it's just tap water (well water) to moisten them with. I've made very elaborate soil mixes in the past and this performs just as well as those fancy mixes with all kinds of assorted amendments which has made me realize that basic simple mixes that are rich in soil life will work just as well as expensive more elaborate (relatively) mixes. I think I'm also enjoying this even more now that I know that I really did make the medium from scratch with little to no cost. I haven't been no-tilling lately but I've been dumping used soil loaded with root balls back into several giant totes in the root cellar. I've just got a ton of this compost mix right now so I'll probably do something with it come spring; I haven't quite figured out what yet. It'll be reused over and over again one way or another you can be sure of that. I think I've just been lazy since I have so much of it indoors, fresh and ready to use lol Always good to hear from you, too, pal. J
Is that from BuildASoil? There's always much to experience and learn. "Seeker of knowledge"is that from BuildASoil?