Going to be making my first attempt at organic no till gardening. I will be using my own EWC mixed with organic peat and perlite/vermiculite as a base. I will be using 20+ gallon smart pots. Here is what I have for the soil so far. Please let me know what else I need or if this is a good mix to get going on some no tills. Also my base mix will be equal parts ewc/peat/aeration with a cup of lime and 3 cups azomite per cf. How would you recommend mixing my amendments?
You really won't need the blood or bone meal TBH. I would also switch out the perlite for Pumice or lava rock. Perlite will slowly make its way to the top of the soil where as pumice and lava rock with stay in place. Other than that looks good. Bham Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Why no blood or bone meal? Also does the lava rock need to small like perlite or can it be larger size chunks?
It's just not needed. And No you don't need to crush it. I rinse mine really well and just mix it in. No bone,blood, or tomato tone in my pots. Just minerals, aeration, compost, and castings really. Bham Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Does the blood/bone meal and garden tone hurt anything or provide any benefits at all? Beautiful plant by the way
No. they will not hurt anything. unless over applied, like anything else. Up until not many years ago, blood and bone meal were the 'go-to' amendments for N and P. Kelp meal made up the third meal and besides being a K source has many, many benefits. A real 'must have'. I still use bone meal in my mixes. Blood meal is used for special applications, but still used. Other than personal bias, there is no reason to not use them, or, avoid them. Wet
Very useful info wetdog, appreciate the feedback. So just go light on the blood meal if I want to throw a little in?
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For no-till you want volcanic rock or pumice, def not vermiculite, it breaks down too fast. Not perlite either as it tends to "float" over time. Drop the tones and the blood and bone meal, i'd add fish bone meal instead. For no-till I highly suggest looking into biochar, as well as greensand you want slow-release nutrients. Greensand doesn't do much for a yr or so. Also no-till and azomite may not be a good idea because of the aluminum content, go with greensand, rock phosphates, basalt, etc. alfalfa, neem, kelp, & crab meals are what you want.
I got a bag of sunleaves rock that doesn't roll at my LHS. Its like sterile slate in dime to quarter size pieces, will that work as aeration? I feel like I wasted a lot of money on those amendments if I'm not going to use half of them. What if I was to do single round organic in 3-5g instead of no tills, would I be OK using everything then? Like I said I just really don't want to waste money. I picked those specific ones up because I saw them all over this forum recommended. So how would you mix what I have for no till? Lime, kelp, oyster shell, rock phosphate and then buy greensand? Don't use gardentone, azomite, blood meal, bone meal, alfalfa meal, neem meal or crab meal at all?
Here is my Afghan Kush Ryder from World of Seeds. Has been under 12/12 with my NLS since she hit flower, due to space issues. She is in a 1g pot. She is in a mix of 1/3 - Organic Peat, 1/3 - Premium EWC, 1/3 - Perlite+Vermiculite. The only amendments added at all were Gardentone and Lime.
I think what they are trying to say is, you want slow release minerals, not readily available fertilizers. There are plenty of reports on the time availability of just about anything you can amend with...do some searches. Your rocks will take care of trace elements, OVER TIME. Greensand releases, over LONG periods of time. Etc... My 2 ¢. Lu