Been interesting in making my own soil and not worrying about ph adjustment, nutes, or soil.... Ive seen a few recipes. and chose this one. Heres what I have so far, I did not purchase anything yet, so if something shouldn't be here feel free to let me know. I was going to start with 1cu ft compost purchased from a local farm. Mix in large trash cans with. 1 cup Neem 1 cup Kelp 1 cup Crab Shell meal ???? Granite dust (how much?) 1/2 cup Gypsum 1/2 cup Benonite should any of these be subbed out? should I not use compost? should there be more additives? Currently running Happy Frog soil with Earth Juice Nutes, Running out of bags so Ive decided to get some oganic soil cooking
While it completely and absolutely depends on the compost itself, you may not want to use just compost and amendments. I'd suggest adding some sphagnum peat, or Pro-Mix or similar to lighten it up. You may need to add some aeration as well, but again, this depends on just how dense/heavy the compost itself is, and which completely comes down to the materials that the compost was made from. I use a compost based "soil" myself but mine is made using tremendous amounts of leaves which can leave the finished compost nice and fluffy and well-draining. Oxygen around plant roots is crucial so just make sure that your end mix is somewhat light and drains well. Many composts can be so heavy and while they make an important contribution to a soil mix you wouldnt want to grow exclusively in them. j
Jerry's got it on the compost - be careful because it can get heavy, hold lots of water, and turn to concrete when it gets super wet and dries out. I'd double the kelp, and for rock dust, if it's true granite dust and not Azomite rock dust, I've seen up to 4 cups per cu ft recommended around here. I think I put in about 2 cups per cu ft. You'll definitely want some aeration of some sort, too. What I would do is take your 1 cu ft of compost, add 1 cu ft of sphagnum peat and 1 cu ft of aeration (perlite, lava rock, pumice, biochar, there are options here), and double your amendments for that mix.
Sorry guys I didnt mean I was using just compost... I forgot to add Im using sunshine mix #4 as a starter mix... 1 bale, adding the 1 cu ft of the compost then amendments.... I could get true granite dust and sub in a little more neem meal vs the azamite rock dust... ? Growers choice or is there a science to which is better?
The deal (short version) of the difference between true rock dusts like basalt or granite meals (flour) is that Azomite it really a volcanic clay which contains high levels of Aluminum (heavy metals) which become available to plants (not good) in soils high in Humic acid such as we construct. While I'm sure that there's not an awful lot of worry using Azomite in smaller amounts, it comes down to the simple adage that there are better options. Why not go with the better option if you're going to buy a product anyhow? Both are around the same price so go with the true stone flour vs the clay which has been shown to contain heavy metals. That's what I've got in a nutshell. J
you should look at the No-Till thread it has all the info you need. this is the revised recipe from that thread: base mix: Equal parts of: Spagnum Peat Moss (vermi)compost lava rock/pumice amendments (per cf): Biochar to the tune of 5%-8% by volume (6-10 cups/cf) 1c Neem and/or karanja meal 1c Kelp meal 6-8 cups basalt Rock dust 1c liming mix (equal parts: garden gypsum/crabmeal/oyster meal)
We have a granite cutting place down the road a few miles, ill stop in there. Also thanks for the new recipe, What is Biochar? and why does it replace benonite and gypsum? sorry if these are newbie questions
It will be easier for you to read this than for me to type it out - or at least easier for me... Lol Here - http://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/garden/biochar J
Other have pointed me in this direction and I recommend it. Buildasoil.com has, as you can imagine, everything you would want to do what you're doing...including a recipe. They even have handy amendment blends that you add to ECW (earth worm castings) and compost. BTW, why hasn't anyone suggested ECW?
its not replacing anything. gypsum is still there as part of the liming mix. bentonite as far as i know was omitted since it can leech aluminum into the soil under certain conditions (very low ph) which can be toxic. in the recipe i posted i wrote vermicompost but of course you can use just the castings, or you can use just compost. the quality is whats important.
Thank you, have my reading mat. for tonight. Yes I am going to make my own EWC I found a nice how to on GC and bought a small bag from buildasoil.com its on the way. Thanks, going for top quality homemade everything... Feed my own worms, compost my own, and make my own soil... I was reading ROLS (Recycled organic living soil) and it got me thinking when reusing soil after I pull the root mass do i have to re-amend it? or cook it? or heat it up? or can i get a few more uses out of my soil.
From what I have been doing..no til that is..I have not reameded my soil for 3 grows and my soil seems to improve my results over time and time again. You can always make A brewed tea either SST or ACT
What specifically made you re-amend every 3 grows? was the 4th grow just skimpy looking or how did you come to this conclusion? I was planning on making an AACT with kelp/EWC/ maybe some other stuff.. What does SST mean?
you're suppose to leave the root ball in the soil, just chop the stem above the soil line and you;re done.
Sorry for the above confusion. I didn't reamend my soil. I meant that I have been through 3 grows and all my plants seem fine. Without adding anything extra. I've been going by the rule of "leave it alone until your ladies are showing signs of unhappiness:
Okay thank you, I was confused about this. No worries, I read somewhere that one grow went 11 times until it needed reamending, Im assuming our soils will all differ obviously and the uses we get out of each pot will also change depending on strains, feeding, growth, time... blah blah but glad to know its kind of just wait until plants arent looking as good as they use too and thats when to reamend... until I get a soil dialed in I suppose itll be touch and go.