So i have a ss that is 7.5 gallons sphagnum peat moss, 7.5 gallons perlite and 7.5 gallons of ewc. then i amended with crab, fish bone, alfalfa, neem, kelp, and azomite. I made a 1 cup mixture of all these except for kelp which was 2 cups. and added 7 cups of this to my 3 cubic feet of base soil. today, I finally got my ph reader. and I measured deep into my trash can of soil and it was ranging from below 3 to 4.5 highest. (my meter only reads to 3 and then just states "low" anything lower than that) I did different spots and was getting the same readings almost all around. will this pick up after everything breaks down? cause I'm afraid of this acidity. its been cooking for about a week. Thanks in advance everyone!!
Where is the lime? With 3cf of total mix you should have 3 cups of it added for pH. It takes a week or two to make an effect, but still, you have to add it. *I* do not count it with any other amendments. For me, it's just there for the pH and gets added at 1cup/cf of total mix, done and dusted. At ~$4.50 for a 40lb bag, it's cheap and easy, from Lowes or HD, or similar. Get some and fix your mix. Wet
IF you added 1cup/cf and especially IF it's one of those $7 +/- soil probes, give it another week and don't worry about it. Those soil probes are worse than useless since they are so inaccurate. Decent soil probes start at ~$200, for real. If it's a cheapo, toss it for your own peace of mind. Add the right amount and fuggetaboutit. Wet
A TRUE soil analysis can be done for between $15 and $30 at one of the million testing centers across america. If you really want to know what's going on, your local university is probably more than willing to help
From the price and source you suggest, this will only include an analysis of the soil colloid (CEC). Saturated paste tests will let you know what's IMMEDIATELY available from the soil solution for plant adsorption. If we're gon' be testin'... $55 from Logan Labs for both (plus shipping, three samples costs me around $15 to ship from Colorado). There are many companies out there that do this. This is the one I deal with. http://loganlabs.com/testing-services.html
I guess I set you up for that plug, lol. Hopefully they write YOU a check for once xD any chance you know of a company that test for juglone?
Give me a break. I've been around here long enough for you to know that I don't pimp products/what have you. We're talking about soil testing, and where to have it done. I mentioned in my last post that there are many soil testing companies out there that do this. I deal with Logan Labs, because I like their layout and response time. And let's not forget the crux of my post... SATURATED PASTE REPORT If you don't know both, you only know half the story...
Your local University may also provide soil testing services....IIRC its like ~15$ per sample if you bring it to them in person at MSU, ~$25 per sample if you mail it in.
Are you serious about the juglone? Off hand, I do not. It's not really one of your standard soil contaminants, being commonly introduced into home gardens by the use of composted materials from the black walnut tree. What do you have going on? Maybe it's something else...
There's a John Deere place near me that's basically a drive-in warehouse and they load up their sacks of synthetics for commercial and residentials. They do soil testing here for $35, don't know what test they use; but it's another idea of place to source soil testing. Any place that deals with a shit-load of fertilizers will most likely offer soil testing, it obviously helps them sell more and make better recommendations.
I took some bulk leaf material off a buddies hands to start a new pile and after hanging out a while over there I noticed the biggest black walnut tree I've ever seen. FML right, but I don't really recall seeing any in the pile and if there is any its surely a minute amount. Everything I've read says juglone is more so concentrated in the root system than the leaves/bark/fruit but still present none the less. Ohio state also said they're confident it can be composted an destroyed 6-8 weeks of thermophilic composting, which makes sense to me too. They also recommended attempting tomato seeds in anything that you may be suspicious of as tomato seeds will NOT germinate when juglone is present. I'm still not even sure if it affects cannabis, lol, but better safe than sorry
Ime it does affect cannabis....my first compost pile was made from black walnut leaves and cattle manure; 2 months in and it still wasn't usable for my cuttings or seeds, so I just spread it out over the flower beds and let it age before replanting my herbs the following season. I would advise others to avoid using the leaves in compost, if you'd like to use the same year you make it, just to be safe. View attachment Black Walnut Toxicity.pdf http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1148.html https://www.ppdl.purdue.edu/PPDL/expert/black_walnut_toxicity.html http://hort.uwex.edu/articles/black-walnut-toxicity/