So picked up a 25lb bag of lime on a killer sale. When I looked at it I thought it was dolomite lime but upon looking at closer after buying it is just calcium carbonate, no magnesium carbonate. I do have dolomite lime to use instead but I'm wondering if I could throw some Greensand in the mix to make up for the lack of magnesium in the lime and still put this to use. What do you guys think?
I've heard greensand takes a long time to breakdown and become available to plants. I use it as the 'grit' for worm bins. Some peeps add epsom salts to their mix to get the mag.
I've used epsom salts in with the water before, but have never mixed it into the soil. Probably just stick to the Dolomite and try to use the Garden lime on other things.
Funny, I've never used it in a drench. Have done some epsom foliar, but usually just add it to my mix. Dude, dont fear the epsom. Farmers been adding to fields since the beginning of time, relatively speaking. Plants crave all the stuff in epsom salts. it will only improve your soil mix. I wouldnt over do it. maybe 2/3 cup / cf or something in that neighborhood. I add it to all my mixes when I make one. been bagging it recently out of sheer laziness.
Have never feared it lol, just never thought to put it in the mix. Figured with dolomite lime there was plenty of magnesium. So do you think 1 cup of garden lime and then 2/3 cup of epsom per CF of soil mix would be a good ratio?
Here is what will be going into the new mix Alfalfa meal Kelp meal Neem meal Fish bone meal Crab meal Azomite Greensand Dolomite lime (or Garden lime+epsom salts) Maybe Gypsum and D.E. as well.
I need to check my recipe, but I might back off the garden to 2/3 too, to leave room for the gypsum @ 2/3 cup too. What is your recipe?
Straight forward basic recipe, 1/3 peat, 1/3 humus (ewc and compost) and 1/3 aeration (perlite/pumice). Then a full cup of kelp meal and 2 cups total of my other amendments. Then I would normally add to this 4 cups azomite and 1 cup dolomite lime, but this time I want to also use greensand and gypsum if possible.
I also have Seabird Guano and this Mother Earth Flowering Mix I picked up but I think im going tl save them for teas/top dress during flower rather then incorporate them into the mix.
I'd strongly suggest sticking to the no-till revisited soil mix on page one of that thread. Follow the watering guidelines and you will grow great plants. Adding things without fully understanding their impact will only cause you grief. You will be extremely happy with the basic mix. Spend your time or money finding the highest quality compost/vermicompost you can.
I started with InTheGarden's soil recipe from the sticky in the organics forums. I have added amendments based upon reading and research, not just willy nilly. It has always treated me great up until the new water source. Now that I'm going to RO water I figure going back to the same recipe that gave me success before is a great idea. Only new additions would be greensand and possibly gypsum. Tons of information out there on both, I'm not just throwing them in completely uninformed. I have always run ROLS up to this point but have been curious on the no till aspect. Biggest pots I want to run in the tents though is 10gallon and I've read that no till does better in the larger pot sizes.
Sorry if I came off rude man, that was not the intention. Just throwing it out there that I am following a formula well enough known to be a sticky in the organics section so its not like I'm just throwing random stuff together. I am very curious as to going no-till though and am always interested in different mixes. Definitely not trying to butt heads but I think there are quite a few cookie cutter organic soil recipes on here that will get the job done. Do you know any reason that using garden lime (just calcium carbonate) and epsom salts/greensand wouldn't work to cover calcium and magnesium in a mix in place of dolomite lime?
Thanks again for the point to the no-till thread, been reading on it like crazy and definitely would like to get to the point of no-till instead of remixing my soil between runs. Going to give it a try in these 10 gallon fabric pots even though I know it would do better in larger. Will be a minute before I can do an exact cookie cutter copy of the build on the first page, but I definitely would like to give it a try. For the time being I am going to start seeing if I cant make my current mix work for no till. Already started mulching in my 2 sherbet's with trim and will continue to add to them. Don't be suprised if you see me hanging on the no till thread asking questions fairly frequently now.
I use exclusively limestone over dolomite as i found that the mg level in it is too high for my liking. Also, it tends to bring ph up closer to 7 and it semi locks it there. Limestone is more gentle, contains less other stuff , and ph is more ideal in a peat mix, around 6.4 using the 6-5-3 method. To a bale , 6 cups limestone, 5 cups soft rock phosphate, 3 cups gypsum. 30 lbs worm castings, not vermicompost. After cooking results in a super calcium fortified mix that i can topdress other amendments into as needed. Epsoms salt is easy to add , as is kelp meal . I also topdress more lime at flip. Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
Hey sorry I missed this, been hanging a lot on the no-till and vermicomposting threads. How often do you find yourself having to add magnesium through epsom salts or another source? My fear is that I don't get enough magnesium in the soil, but I'm thinking good ewc, greensand and epsom salts as needed should cover it. I understand the difference between Garden (calcitic?) Lime and Dolomite Lime but how does just straight limestone compare or is it the same as Garden lime, just lacking the magnesium carbonate. Oh one last thing do you just top dress with epsom salts as needed?
Once a month i add a tblspoon or little less and scratch it into top inch of soil. Limestone powder or calcium carbonate, is high in calcium and works much better as a buffer because it contains little more than that. I threw away my ph tools many moons ago, i topdress lime at the flip to flower despite having plenty in my soil mix because soils tend to acidify as buffer is washed through or broken down by microbial action. Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk