While yer there - leaf mold is the best. Mostly decomped leaves from last fall matted down. We collect them in the spring and use them in the gardens. Nothing better than that really and there will be worms and worm cocoons in there as well.
The internet has a dozen ways to catch worms in your yard. You can also order them online but that can be tricky this time of year depending on your location and temps in the mail truck. BNW
You could also go to a bait shop and get Red Worms, they're the same as composting worms that you would order online. Not nightcrawlers .Red Worms For Composting - Uncle Jim's Worm Farm (unclejimswormfarm.com)
I do vermi-composting. The worms know where the food is. They show up for the feeding frenzy. They everywhere.
First of I would like to say hello from NZ! thanks to the creator and contributors here as this has been my go to for info about starting my own living soil mix. Now I need help please as I think I may have stuffed up a little right at the beginning. I am doing a 1/3 1/3 1/3 mix of Sphagnum Peat Moss, EWC and Pumice to make up 150L of base but I ended up using tap water to rehydrate the moss which is chlorinated (oppsy) I switched to filtered water half way through before mixing in EWC and Pumice. I haven't mixed in anything else at the moment and the base is sitting under a tarp as I thought it may evaporate before mixing in amendments and minerals. Would this effect the base? is there anything I can do? are the microbes done for it? Many thanks JK
1548 – Impact of Watering Lawns and Gardens with Chlorinated Water – PlantTalk Colorado Chlorine, Chloramine and Plants - Everything You Need to Know - Garden Myths
Good read there thanks for the links. I used tap water in philly and it started killing plants in containers. Maybe it was the lead or other toxic stuff the ppms were quite high from what I remember. I simple charcoal RV filter works great.
Hello, Ive just got all the ingredients to make a soil mix and start cooking it. I just realised that my "dry organic fertilizer" component was actually slow release. Will this be a problem? I was planning to cook the mix for 2 months and its a three month slow release? Or should I get non slow released fertilizer? Attached pics Cheers!
The soilless mix I made this season, real happy with it. Was inspired a lot by the recipe at the start of this thread. 40 gal CSPM 30 gal Malibu compost 20 gal Perlite 12 C Oyster shell/aragonite 12 C Gypsum 16 C Basalt Dust 20 C Perfect Blend biotic fertilizer 4-4-4 I mix the screened peat and the liming agent/minerals/fertilizer together, then do the same with the compost and perlite, then combine it all together. Here's two sister Strayfox Gardenz Hawaiian Peaches sitting in 5 gallons of this mix, just defoliated 2nd week into flower.
Just add a handful of worms in there, worms will put plenty of beneficial bacteria back into the mix, they are kinda like your best friend in this soil mix.
Couple of weeks ago i put some worm castings in a Tupperware bowl and top dress my plants with it. I sat it on top of my tent and forgot about it and this happened. Should I use it too top dress again. Sent from my SM-S908U using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Your microbes are actively cycling your nutrients. This is what is supposed to happen and is good. I call it “pre cycling” nutrients. Your next top dress will be more effective and the nutrients will be available quicker. It’s a handy trick most of us do on purpose, cause it works great. I add powdered malted barley (mbp) to my castings (vermicompost). In fact I just dumped a tray of vermicompost and added malted barley powder to these two days ago. Vmc + mbp by Organic sinse posted Oct 22, 2022 at 8:06 PM She’s growing the Santa’s Beard. Cheers Os
Learn something new every day. Now I am going to do this all the time. Appreciate the info. Sent from my SM-S908U using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Found this thread recently Reading brasses posts What fertilisers are reccomended in granules like mentioned I can’t find many here in the uk soil approved This website is but I can’t decide on the npks their 4-3-3 got me here as it’s chicken manure Granular Fertilizers for Organic Agriculture otherwise I’m ewc peat lava 240l each 2basalt cup bed cu f 1 gypsum cup per cu 1 oyster flour cup per cu bag of kelp n bennies myco etc 600g 1/4cup alfalfa per cu 1cup bran wheat em1 per cu (2.5-2-1) 1 cup malt barley per cu (feeds the microbes ) and mycor fungal that’s my only solid atm prebiotic fungus yay so really I’m only missing crab neem and kelp from a coots mix and kelps with my bennies anyway just at lower dose than asked on their recipie so less salts Alfalfa replaces neem anyway well with hormones too tria etc Crab is replaced with gypsum which is a reccomended choice by many anyway Bran adds good amino acids and low npk fast digesting minerals for microbes so I’m not low on much so these granular feeds could be the addition I need to really give me good yields still ?? But which n what the npks do haha confusion 4-3-7 seems good but I can’t gauge the flower transition and wha to use as all has n?
I believe you should be able to access comfrey and nettles in the UK. Both are excellent organic additions.
100% I have 30 litres of comfrey bracken sheep wool which I throw in cause it’s mineral content does have a lot from the comfrey that’s good for it Just few the cast and small additions I have needs a kick @TimJ have ya ever heard of biovin from grapes it’s a 3-1-2 I see peep saying that’s an all rounder for canna it also stops leeching and feeds micro with alot of other added benefits seems like a perfect fit too just don’t have the guts to confirm it lol Biovin™ also a 3-2-3 just every time I see a npk reccomended they say about 5 different numbers that can be applied in the same profile some how I get the divide by smallest but confused t why it’s all different it’s like algebra Microlife 3:2:3 So I look for one and get told there is too much nitrogen in that one saying 5-2-6 and reccomends me a bloody 7-10-8 I sware I’m getting lost in these numbers lol need a firm hard finger to point at me lol I’m scared after fucking my last soil up I suffer bad with anxiety as you can see haha I am sorry I am panicy I don’t wanna fuck me plants up again I hate chems but I can mix you salts from scratch lol literally element by element This organic stuff is so easy it’s rock solid hard hahaha shit I can’t get my head round it wish I learnt it first before chems