Yes. The calcium content comes in the form of calcium carbonate, just like ag lime, dolomite, and oyster shell flour.
Oyster shell flower, something I can never find here locally and crustacean meal. Ppl look at me like I'm talking another language! I think I'm going to take matters in my own hands and hit up a few restaurants that sell fresh oysters and smash them up myself. Can't do anything about the crustacean meal thou.
All true, but wouldn't the mesh size of the meal affect the availability? I would think it would take a decent amount of time before the Ca was actually available to buffer. Reading in those PDF's from GiMiK it was very clear that mesh size was critical to availability. IDK though and this is conjecture on my part. Why not use both? I use gypsum in addition to lime in my mix. Wet
I have a friend that is trying to mix a soil but doesn't gave access to peat moss or rice hull. What would be a substitude? Can he just get soil from the forest instead? Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum I have a friend that is trying to mix a soil but doesn't gave access to peat moss or rice hull. What would be a substitude? Can he just get soil from the forest instead? Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum I have a friend that is trying to mix a soil but doesn't gave access to peat moss or rice hull. What would be a substitude? Can he just get soil from the forest instead? Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum I have a friend that is trying to mix a soil but doesn't gave access to peat moss or rice hull. What would be a substitude? Can he just get soil from the forest instead? Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Did I miss something/somewhere about particle size? Yes. You are correct. Particle size affects bioavailability/chemical reactivity of any and all degradable materials. The smaller the particle size, the greater it's surface area by volume. The greater the surface area, the easier it is for microbes to do their work. Or in this case, more surface area is available for hydrogen ions to make contact with the calcium carbonate which results in the reaction that neutralizes the hydrogen from the soil solution and at the same time creates ionic (plant available) calcium, water, and carbon dioxide. Love gypsum in my mix...
If anyone here has a spear moment check this link out and see if anyone is able to help a fellow blade out in his time of great need. http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1364155-Who-can-help-our-friend-kevie
Mesh size/Particle size, that may have been a poor choice of words. I was thinking of comments of the "chunkiness" of some of those meals, made by members. That was the whole of it, nothing about the product or composition. Wet
Yeah the Down To Earth crab meal and (especially) the Neptune's Harvest crab meal both consist of pretty large pieces. A run through the coffee grinder makes quick work of it, though.
I grew four healthy plants last season with nothing but Crab meal and my compost/worm castings for the calcium content. I tried a coffee grinder and it didn't do squat.
Weird.. I was just coffee grinding some crab meal yesterday lol I forgot that that was what you used as your "liming" agent last year. That was the topic of much debate round here IIRC What time of year did you plant last year? You were using 17 gal containers, right?
Yes they were in the 17 gallon totes. The seeds germinated on 4-20 and I put them out in the containers about 2 weeks or so later.
Hi guys, I just finished cooking my soil, I'm using the formula that the op posted: EWC, peat moss, perlite, lime, kelp meal, tomato tone, and basalt crushed to flour. It's had 5 weeks of cooking time. My question is I noticed when the soil becomes dry and I add water the soil is almost water-phobic. The water stays on the surface for quite awhile. Did I do something wrong to cause this? I'm no using any kind of top dressing, maybe this is the problem? Thanks in advance guys Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Dry peat moss is naturally like this. A lot of people will soak their bales in water before mixing to help with this. I like to spray everything down pretty well while I'm mixing the soil. If you have aloe, you can mix it in with water and this helps the material absorb the water better, instead of it just rolling off. Do you already have plants in it, or can you mix-up your soil and rewet it?
No I didn't. It was damp out of the bag but i differently didn't soak it. I have noticed little clumps of peat moss not fully integrated into the soil. What's the normal procedure for soaking? A day or two? And is my soil ruined that I've already cooked? Thanks guys. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Thanks for the replies guys. No I don't have any plants in it yet. I made a 1 cubic foot of soil and have that sitting in a 14gal pot. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum Thanks for the replies guys. No I don't have any plants in it yet. I made a 1 cubic foot of soil and have that sitting in a 14gal pot. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum