Irish peat moss Organic compost Garden lime Blood fish & bone meal Seaweed meal And general purpose fertiliser Am i missing anything ??
Ok thanks for replying. iv got perlite anyway but you say neem and karanja meal or one or the other ?
One or other both will do as neem provide a good source of nitrogen and keep bad pest away from soil but make sure the % addition should not be more than 2% of your total soil mass Sent from my Z1 using Tapatalk
So i mixed 25l of peat 25l compost 25l perlite Added 1 cup of seaweed meal(kelp) Half a cup of lime Half a cup of fish blood n bone meal Half a cup of neem fertiliser Half a cup of general purpose fertiliser 4 cups of volcanic rock dust I have mixed it up and put in the shed. How long do i leave it for to cook ? Also should i have added water ? Or will tge moisture in the compost be enough for now ?
Water is pretty much the catalyst that gets everything going. Nothing much happens till water is added. Plus, peat moss is very difficult to get wet initially, it will actually repel water till you get it wet. Think of a dry mop vs a moist/wet one. Just make sure that whatever the mix is in has adequate drainage holes. Drainage is just as important as the water, even more so once there is something growing in there. Over the years, I've found it takes a bit less than half the volume of the mix, in water, to get it properly moist that first time. For example, 15 gallons of fresh mix takes around 7 gallons of water just to get it moist. It absorbs an amazing amount of water. Using a wetting agent (dish soap, aloe juice, etc), and warm water helps tremendously, along with plenty of mixing. Good luck!
Ok so iv got just under 2 cubic feet of peat and compost mix cooking with the below amendments. I added Half a cup of garden lime 2 cups of kelp meal Half a cup of fish blood n bone meal Half a cup of general purpose fertilizer 2 cups of neem fertilizer 7 cups of volcanic rock dust I just wanted to get a bit of feed back on my ratios of amendments to see if i need to increase any of them ? I havent added the perlite yet as the tub im cooking in is only 2cf . So i thought id let it cook without the perlite and add it when i fill up pots for use.
Hi, wondering if you are in Ireland? As I am and have got good sources for as good a quality ingridents as I could find.
With a complete fertilizer as just one of the components to the mix....that's gonna be a very hot mix. Is this a tried and true recipe....or are you just guessing/using what you can source locally and >hoping< it will work? I would proceed with caution or you could easily FRY everything. good luck
I was following the recipe on the sticky thread in this section. Iv got more peat an compost if i need to weaken it if needs be
I think that looks like a pretty solid mix. I only use around 3/4 cup per cf of most ammendments so I dont think you need more neem or kelp. I dont use the fish or all purpose but those should be fine at just 1/4c per cf. A few minor tweaks I would make: 1. I like a higher ratio of aeration. I run mine closer to 40% 2. More liming. I'd up it to 3/4c per cf 3. Can you get crab (or shrimp) meal? I'd add it in if you can. Grind up malted barley (homebrew store) for another great addition on the cheap. Both help supply chitin which will help your plants to fight off pests. 4. Definitely wet it down with a surfectant as wetdog suggested!
You know what after i posted this i added another half cup of lime cause i felt half a cup was to slim. Thanks for your input . I was looking at malted barly and also some bio char to add in. Apart from all that i should be good for my first run i reckon. Im gonna let it cook for about 6 weeks i think.
IDK about the Irish peat, but with the Canadian peat I use at least 1cup/cf of lime or a bit more, closer to 1 1/2 cups/cf. It turned out to be way more acidic than I had thought.
There's a really good soil mix on page 1 in the No Till revisited thread that is very close to my soil mix and will work really well, if you can source the ingredients, the only addition I would add is worm castings as part of the compost addition, 20%, and some fossilized oyster shell flour, 1/2 cup per c.f.
Thats the same basic recipe I (and many people in this forum) run. Youre actually almost there mooch. Just need crab, gypsum, and biochar. I'd prioritize crab meal and gypsum over biochar. Worm castings would definitely be another great addition. I mixed mine about like taoist suggested. You could also just add compost worms into the mix after it cooks and/or topdress castings at planting. Start a wormbin!
Ok so my gypsum arrived today. How much should i add to just under 2 cubic feet of soil ? Its a 250g pack