hey everyone, I'm so happy to say I can now put my knowledge of organics to full use for the first time in my life, and now have the opportunity to mix and grow in my own soil, I only have rock dust, neem, tomato-tone, alfalfa meal, and oyster shell flour to sub for dolomite. So I am going to order like $400 of amendments from buildasoil but I'm going to make 3 or 4 big pots and do a no-till set up similar to Bluejays Anyways, I'm going to order: pumice and black lava rock for aeration lots and lots of worm castings a bag or two of oly fish compost 40 cups of kelp a gallon of neem oil and 2 lbs of Agsil 16 for an IPM spray some crustacean meal Its a lot of money to spend all at once, but the whole idea is to buy in bulk and make soil that will last forever, right? Here is the easy beginner mix recipe Im going to make 15 gal of soil: 1 part peat, 1 part EWC/fish compost, 1 part lava rocks/pumice mix in 2 cups of oyster shell for liming and 8 cups of good rock dust Then for my nutrient mix: 2 parts kelp, 1 part tomato tone, 1 part alfalfa, 1 part neem cake, and maybe crustacean meal though i might just top dress with that since oyster shell has plenty of calcium...idk Anywho, I will add 5-6 cups of this into 15 gallons of soil and then let that cook! Any advice or opinions on this set up will be appreciated, I'm trying to KISS for my first grow in a 3x3 tent i figure that agsil with neem will be good for IPM, i will look into using essential oils and peppers or garlic as well if need be!
Somehow, I'm having problems putting $400 worth of amendments and a 3'x3' tent both in the same frame. IDK though, how many 'big pots' you planning on putting in a 3x3? The mix looks good, but the cost is a bit staggering. Wet
Ok, i was referred to a place called pioneer sand for lava rocks, but the ones on build a soil have free shipping, though I'm sure its much cheaper if i drive out to Golden and get them myself. I plan on using 3 ten gallon pots or 3-4 7 gallon pots or maybe even just two 20 gallon pots for two monster ladies i also am going to expand and have more soil cooking so i want to spend all the money up front and then try to be independent as far as inputs for the grow goes. which set up do you think would be best for a 3x3? I have 20 gallons geopots readily available and like the idea of having big plants to LST and top
ace/home depot also sells bags of lava rock for grills. you can either use em whole and large or crush em up a bit. and any landscape yard down there should sell you a couple 5 gal buckets for uber cheap. i'd do a search on both boulder and denver craigslists for "worm castings" or "worms" or "compost" or something similar, because i know there was at least one lady selling some really good castings a couple weeks ago. also, many of the main grow stores down there will carry downtoearth crab meal/kelp meal. i'd just go ahead and get at least 5lbs of both, but if they can order you a 25lb sack to the store you'd be set for a couple years. kelp meal can also be found at feed stores like tractor supply sometimes because it's used for livestock. personally, i'd stick with ordering neem oil and aloe from buildasoil and try hard to get some quality compost/castings locally to save quite a bit of cash. with those savings you could order a quality sprayer/nozzle to make your IPM as effective as it can be! also, i'd go with the 20's and see if you can't squeeze 3 of em in there? the bigger body of soil you can manage, the easier your life will be in the long run. have fun!! edit: here's some potential winners from craigslist. you could get a really nice worm bin up and running for like 20 bucks and some driving, plus have manure/compost to last until you start pumping out your own. http://boulder.craigslist.org/grd/4785815888.html (castings and worms) http://denver.craigslist.org/grd/4772142034.html (alpaca manure in golden, grab lava rock on the same trip) http://denver.craigslist.org/grd/4753236260.html (worms in aurora) http://denver.craigslist.org/grd/4773084183.html (rabbit/llama manures) hope that helps!