I've mixed up around 200 gallons of compost, peat moss, and perlite total. Im just waiting on my amendments (black swallow emendment pack). My question is, is it ok to leave it on a tarp covered, of course. Or should I put it in garbage pails or even grow bags to let it cook in? 1st time making my own and dont want to mess things up
200 gallons is a lot of growing medium to mix at once. I agree with keeping it on the tarp. I mix all of my larger batches on tarps. Rake your mix out flat on the tarp. Add all your amendments. Then rake them in a bit and pull the corners toward the center. Rake it out flat again and get a helper to grab a corner on the same end as you and walk the corners to the other end. This will roll the medium over itself and mix it very well. You'll need to rake it flat and repeat the process 4-8 times to ensure your amendments are well mixed. Take your time with the process, that's a large batch to mix at once. Then just let the microbes cycle your amendments for a month or more in the covered tarp. Be sure you have enough moisture for the microbes to work. I use a pressurized sprayer and apply a surfactant like aloe vera, yucca or soap nuts in the water. This also helps hydrate the peat. I spray each time I rake out my pile until I'm happy with its hydration.
The tarp will be in the sun for a good part of the afternoon. Will this hurt anything by it getting too hot in the sun? Also, once mixed, do i just leave it for a month, or should i mix it every few days?
I mix mine once I flip the grow to 12/12, & that leaves a good 2 months until its needed. Like I should be doing today.
If it's a dark colored tarp, consider a lighter one to cover it. Once it's mixed, leave it alone for the microbes to cycle. If you're adding malted barley powder you will see fungal hyphae networks that look like mold. That is a good sign, don't let it bother you.
I was going to go to the feed store tomorrow and get some barley. As i know how to malt my own. How much would you add to my 200 gallons? Does a cup per cubic foot sound about right?
That's great that you can malt your own grains. But, I believe the brewing supply companies have mastered the malting process. We benefit from that by the amount of enzymes they would add to our mix. But, I'll answer your question. we add 1 cup of freshly ground malted barley powder per cubic foot of our medium. So, around 26 cups for your batch. Here's a great link, check out the first few pages. No-Till Gardening: Revisited Also, Malted barley grain can be purchased at most local brew supply stores. "Do not grind until ready to apply."
The brewing store will sell malted barley by the pound. The feed store probably sells 50# sacks. For $1-2 a lb, I’m all about just buying malted barley. It’s going to take a lot of space to malt 26 cups. Cheers Os
Thanks for all the information. I might have to skip the malted barley this time around. There are no brew shops near me. I'll have to pick some up next time im in the city.
If you use amazon, I've used this in the past and it worked well. You need around 7.7 pounds for your batch of growing medium.
See if Build a soil can do better with the shipping. Your not the first person from Canada to have trouble finding malted barley. Cheers Os
Thanks Tim I've gotten that mold without barley and was wondering about it. But also got a ton of little frogs/toads??? good/bad?
^^^ there are many other amendments that set off the fungal growth. Few kick it into high gear like mbp. It’s all good. The rough rule of thumb is gray/white good, black slimy bad. Cheers Os
Mbp=malted barley powder The other two I throw around a lot and often in the same sentence: EWC=earthworm castings VMC=vermicompost Cheers Os