I'm fortunate enough to live in Maine and I have access to farms, with well composted horse and uncomposted poultry manure, as well as nearby beaches with lobster, crab, oyster, etc etc. remains, not to mention nearly free access to stuff like lobster meal. As a Mainer, it would be awesome to grow in lobster meal. The problem is that in this world of bottled nutes and labels and prepackaged grows, I don't really understand how to incorporate this really useful stuff into an organic mix. Its been unseasonably warm this December and I want to make it to the shore once or twice and pick up some seaweed and shells. I've done some reading about some of the stuff I can buy to put together a soil, but we've got good stuff up here and I'm curious what I can pull right out of the ground? There are swamps and wetlands with moss, lots of rocky quarries for rock dust (if we literally mean rock dust), I'll probably buy ewc. Its also going to get colder before it gets warmer (i wont see 70 until mid June, probably), how do you work with soil like this in the winter? I have a basement I suppose I could mix the soil in to cook for the winter and plant in the spring, or is leaving it outside to freeze fine?
Magine. And I'd mix your soil indoor but the compost/manure i leave outside until i mix the soil of course, oh and yes granite dust is s rock dust just make sure its really finely ground...like dust haha
I would try and source your worm castings as locally as possible and i mean from a private worm farm those big commercial companies worm castings aren't as good, manures are good. Just make sure they are well composted.. I add cow and horse manure to my compost bin, I was also thinking of adding some of those composted chicken manure pellets too not sure yet tho... I would deffo go get lobster shells and crab shells crush them up finely and you have crab/lobstershell meal, also with the sea weed wash all the salt from it then dry it and grind it up some how or add too compost pile, I would do the same but the beaches around my way are horrible smelly waters and really dark full of crap there is some seaweed but not many shells as the crabs in shore are tiny.. good luck with what ever you decide to do and keep us posted EDIT: Rock dusts are a must have I didn't really know why until I read this thread http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/1111289-rock-dust.html Also I would have thought that if you decide to cook your soil outside the cold temperatures would slow down the process some what if it gets too cold maybe even make the microbes go dormant until it warms up again. They like a nice warm and moist environment with a good amount of organic matter, Here is a PDF with some good info on it http://cmg.colostate.edu/gardennotes/212.pdf
I use coast of Maine EWC...great stuff, so is their lobster compost One of the best places to get ingredients in Maine is fedco-Organic Growers Supply Here is a good place to start http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/1116550-easy-organic-soil-mix-beginners.html
I read through that and its good stuff, my question is about going and gathering that stuff for myself, what steps are needed to process moss from the swamp, process seaweed, how much poultry and horse manure, in the raw. I live in Maine and have access to a lot of that wonderful stuff in the wild, so I would rather go and scavenge for it, I'm cheap and its abundant, why not use what is right near my home. Even better than buying local.
I think the seaweed just gets washed well dried and ground. Seandawg or DumDumDummy may know more they have dried their own. At about a buck a pound it's not worth the effort to me. I have never heard of someone getting moss from a swamp, but I would bring my waders. Raw manure should be composted before adding to your soil mix, and in Maine I'm not sure how much composting is going on in the next few months, due to temps, I have never tried composting in the winter.
The soil is actually pretty full of clay, and there is very little top soil due to glacial activity in the recent past. I like the idea of local sourcing for the novelty as well as the savings. I'm going to head to the beach one way or the other to pick up sea refuse, might as well nab some seaweed too. I'll probably compost this in my basement. I'm sure I can find good how tos online
Either start a worm bin and feed it too the little guys the worm castings will be your best source of humus orr... check this out [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84h4aYIfO3s]EASY Indoor composting anytime! - YouTube[/ame]