Hey guys, I have had my organic, no till soil mix cooking for exactly 3 weeks today. Call me impatient but I'm ready to get my girls in there asap! From what I've read in the forums you should allow your soil to activate or "cook" for 3-4 weeks before planting. What I'm thinking is to create a hole roughly 1-2 inches larger than my 1 gallon pot that will be going into the mix and fill in the surrounding gap with ewc to give the roots a little extra time before they hit the soil mix. Do you think this is a safe bet or should I just be patient and wait it out until I get to 4 weeks? My mix per 25 gallon pot: 6 gal Canadian Peat 9 gal Black Gold Organic Compost 3 gal EWC 3 gal Black Gold Composted Chicken Manure 6 gal Fox Farms Ocean Forest 6 gal Lava Rock 1 cup Mexican Bat Guano 1 cup Jamaican Bat Guano 2 cups Kelp Meal 2 cups Alfalfa meal 1 cup All Purpose Organic Fertilizer 3 cups Neem Seed Meal 2 cups Azomite 3 TBS Root Zone Granular Mycorrhizal Fungi I'm eager to hear your advice.
There's no point really in adding a mycorrhizal inoculant unless there are roots present as they require root exudates to germinate. U can try a seed in there n see if she sprouts.
I was unaware of that, thanks for the tip. Everything that is being planted already has an established root system. They are all clones in 1 gal containers. My biggest concern is burning my plants by planting too early. If I were to plant them now, on week 3, do you think I would have anything to be concerned with in that regard?
whats the soil temperature? how does it smell? if your temps are down to 70-80 or less and it doesn't smell rotten or sour then you're good to go.
It helps to separate the mix into 2 parts; your base mix and the amendments to that base. The basic recipe we follow is 1 part Sp. peat, 1 part compost/vermicompost, 1 part aeration (perlite/rice hulls/scoria etc.) by volume (cubic feet is easier to work with than gallons; 7 - 7.5 gallons = 1 c.f.) For each c.f. of the base mix add at most 4 cups TOTAL amendments, excluding your minerals and rock dust. So here's your base mix; let's start by breaking the material list down. Peat - 12 gallons (let's call it 1.5 c.f.) 6 gal Canadian Peat 6 gal Fox Farms Ocean Forest - I dk the exact amount of perlite supplied already, I'd assume 10 - 15% and work from there. Also there is minimal amounts of nutrition supplied in this mix; in the future it's cheaper and easier to control the amounts of nutrition by simply buying a bale of peat from Home Depot, Menards or w/e. Premier Sphagnum Peat Moss is what you want to look for,it's around $10 for 4 c.f. Humus - 15 gallon (2 c.f.) 9 gal Black Gold Organic Compost 3 gal EWC 3 gal Black Gold Composted Chicken Manure Aeration - 6.5 gallons (lets call it 1 c.f.) 6 gal Lava Rock Base mix - 6 c.f. after you adjust (trust me; aeration is the last problem you want to face when starting a no till or growing using a true soil) The compost part looks like its good to go; I'd source at least 3 c.f. more lava rocks, rice hulls or pumice for aeration in a no till. I'd also pick up some more peat, though that can be avoided if you increase the aeration part a bit but it never hurts to have some on hand if you have the space. Just a reminder, we aim for roughly 1 - 1 - 1 ratio (volume) between peat, compost/vermicompost and aeration. Going higher on the aeration isn't a bad idea either. Amendments - 10 cups total - Not bad though I'd double the kelp, imo. Can safely be bumped up if you have time to spare cycling longer, though after 3-4 weeks the mix you listed should be good to go once you up the amount of aeration in the base and add a source of calcium. Minerals - 2 cups - you lack a source of calcium to buffer the acidity of the peat during long periods of time. This can be fixed by adding roughly 1/4 cup -1/2 cup of calcium carbonate (oyster shell flour, agricultural lime, even dolomite lime works if that's all you can easily source) (CaCO3) per cubic foot. You should also look into sourcing some rock dust, unless you have powdered azomite, which can be used as a replacement for glacial/basalt. It is the same thing just branded and mined out of a specific location with elevated levels of trace minerals. This gets applied on its own, at up to 4 cups per c.f. - this is highly recommended, pretty much a necessity for a no till, imo. This will never need to be replaced again, until 20 years down the road...maybe. I would also recommend adding some gypsum, at 1/2 cup per c.f. as a longer lasting source of sulfur and calcium. Mychorriza - These should only ever be applied during transplant or as a clone rooting agent (lol). 1 cup Mexican Bat Guano 1 cup Jamaican Bat Guano 2 cups Kelp Meal 2 cups Alfalfa meal 1 cup All Purpose Organic Fertilizer 3 cups Neem Seed Meal 2 cups Azomite - is this in granular or powdered (crushed) form? important difference. 3 TBS Root Zone Granular Mycorrhizal Fungi
Anything but miracle grow perlite, although it should be obvious to avoid anything to do with that horrible line of gimmicks.
[quote name="thomasmfjefferson" post="19075977" timestamp="1385832042"]No. If u need the aeration then do it. Perlite in inert so additions won't hurt anything.[/quote]Thanks Thanks to everyone on GC
Drop a single plant into it and watch it for a couple of days. The recommended 3-4 weeks cycling time is just that - recommended. What this actually comes down to is the viability of your humus components; a very viable humus will cycle your amendments quicker than one that isn't loaded up with soil life - know what I mean? I've had soils I've been able to plant into quite easily with no ill effects after 2 weeks and others that simply took 6-8 weeks before amendments were cycled and pH was buffered. There is no exact time because every humus is different. Some are so loaded with bacteria/fungus it's ridiculous and not much time is needed - others not so much. Seriously, the best way is to (maybe next time?) PLAN AHEAD. Be proactive. Make up double - no, triple batches. This way you'll have soil just sitting there fully cycled months in advance - all wondering is behind you and you won't be going through what you're going through right now. In the meantime stick a single plant in and watch it for a few days. Also, making yourself up a vermicompost slurry will put that cycling into overdrive. J
[quote name="jerry111165" post="19080621" timestamp="1385892352"]Drop a single plant into it and watch it for a couple of days.The recommended 3-4 weeks cycling time is just that - recommended. What this actually comes down to is the viability of your humus components; a very viable humus will cycle your amendments quicker than one that isn't loaded up with soil life - know what I mean? I've had soils I've been able to plant into quite easily with no ill effects after 2 weeks and others that simply took 6-8 weeks before amendments were cycled and pH was buffered.There is no exact time because every humus is different. Some are so loaded with bacteria/fungus it's ridiculous and not much time is needed - others not so much.Seriously, the best way is to (maybe next time?) PLAN AHEAD. Be proactive. Make up double - no, triple batches. This way you'll have soil just sitting there fully cycled months in advance - all wondering is behind you and you won't be going through what you're going through right now. In the meantime stick a single plant in and watch it for a few days.Also, making yourself up a vermicompost slurry will put that cycling into overdrive.J[/quote]I've actually been thinking about the slurry idea since you mentioned it a couple days ago. I have jars ready, depending on how many I can make out of my amendments. But that's what this first organic grow is about..seeing if this batch works. lol I've made over 20 gallons of soil and I literally only need less than 15 over the next 3-4 months! lol meanwhile, my new little wiggly red friends are gonna make me some good castings I can add to my next batch of soil, working my way towards perfection. slowly but surely I'll get there. There's no need to rush my soil even if its ready tomorrow. I just put 4 plants in ready to use soil, and they won't need a TP for another 3-4 weeks at least. That gives the soil plenty of time, not only to become active, but for me to amend it more with elements that will make it stronger and more viable. "What youre going through now" ? What am I going through now? lol the first stages of organic discovery? lol theres plenty of time to make more soil. I doubt that I'm going to have to worry too much by the time I need the soil. The only things I'm unsure of is if I added enough dolomite.
First, I would suggest tossing some of your wiggly red friends into your soil they will make fresh castings right there for your ladies. Second, if you plan on amending your soil with more elements you will most likely have to let those breakdown as well so you will need to plan ahead for that. And as far as dolomite lime 1 cup per cubic foot and your good to go.
I plan on adding worms as I make more compost with this new compost bag I have. A few worms should end up in each batch that I harvest from the compost. As far as breaking the amendments down, I had planned on making slurries and ACTs that sit and bubble for weeks so that they are broken down enough to be of benefit to the plants. Do you think that would work ok? And as far as dolomite, I only added a whole hefty cup or 2 to the whole 20 gallons cuz I'm not sure about what it would do. You might be but I'm not, unfortunately. Honestly 1 cup per cbft sounds like a whole lot to me. So I will be testing PH as I go.
I do not know too much about ACTs there is a whole thread for that I believe though. And for 20 gallons of soil I would do just under 3 cups of lime so with about 2 you may be fine.
Yeah I should have kept notes but I'm sure I wasn't trying to go pro with this first mix. I think I put ups to 2 cups of lime (my scratchy memory) cuz I actually had to mix it in two bins. I just hope it's good enough. And the ACTs I've already read about. Not much to know besides water and what your putting into it and for how long. I'm starting slow with the slurry and ACTs. I'll just have to see what happens.
Hey, thanks for the replies everybody. Jerry, I did take your advice and tested with one plant. The results were amazing! I could tell a big difference in just two days. It started looking so lush and green, so I planted the rest into my batch of soil and they are looking better than ever and growing faaaast! Thanks again everybody, I really appreciate the advice.
I just finished my first organics and I only cooked it for 2 weeks because I had to rush it. While my first grow was consisted of 1/3 FoxFarm Happy Frog 1/3 Perlite 1/3 EWC 1/4 Cup each of Jamacian, Mexican, Indonesian, and an All-Purpose Bat Guano per 5 gallons. and I forgot the exact Kelp On my second grow added azomite. But to give feedback, my mix @ 2 weeks didn't burn my plants when moved from a 1 gallon of(1/3FFHF,1/3Perlite,1/3EWC, nothing else) to a 3 gallon of the mix. Not to take over your thread, but I am open to input on my mix if anyone has some I try and keep it simple. Pretty much a water only, sometimes molassess water or EWC tea.