Which of these meals would be the best choice to incorporate into my mix Peas Oats Barley Corn Wheat Flax pellets or meal * Alfalfa pellets or meal * Roasted soybeans, flaked; Expeller soybean meal * *These are the ones I know so far. The rest are just what the retailer has available. Trying to get a big order together from homesteadorganics.ca. Check them out if more information is required.
Alfalfa meal unless you're making beer or pea soup you don't need any of that other stuff. Read the sticky threads for soil recipes you'll find what you need in there
Be careful with alfalfa "pellets". Pellets will create "hot spots" in your soil. I actually do buy the pellets, because thats what is available for animal feed at the feed store in 50 pound bags. When soaked in water they break apart very easily. I was mixing soil today and wanted alfalfa meal in it. Not wanting pellets in my soil, i found an old hamburg grinder we had laying around - the clamp-to-the-table kind. Worked great. jerry.
I will definitely get the alfalfa meal not the pellets. I was wondering if the other products like corn meal would help? I have already researched soil mixes and have a decent one cooking right now. This plan is for when I have to re-up my amendments, I want to source better prices and more variety. Basically I am trying to substitute bone/blood meal as these are the main products I can not get a good price on....Also azomite and crab meal (or similar) I am having difficulty with. They are easy to get online, but again it is the cost after shipping to Canada which concerns me.
I would run a mix like this from your list: 3x alfalfa meal 1x flaxseed meal 1x soybean meal Measure these by volume and not by weight. Add about 1 - 1.5 cups to each 1 c.f. of potting soil. On the Barley, Oats and Wheat, I'm assuming that you're talking about whole seeds correct? IOW not oatmeal - seeds that you could plant and which would germinate. Take these and sprout them like you do any seeds (especially the Barley) and when the root tail is about 1/2" in length, fill the jar with water and let it sit for a few weeks until it ferments. Measure out 1/4 cup and add to 1 gallon of water and apply as a soil soak or as a foliar amendment. What you're getting here are a fairly complete range of enzyme classes from the germination process. See Chunkdaddyo for more information on enzymes using fermented seed concoctions. LD
LD that's correct, I just copy and pasted the information on the companys product list. Sorry for not clearing that up. I spent the better part of today reading your posts learning to create a good diverse soil. I just want to thank you for all of the I formation you provide. My plans are to incorporate your food/fix/mineral guide with as much variety possible. The feed store carries buckwheat hulls, is it true this can be swapped for pumice? Also when adding components to the food/fix/mineral guide is there such thing as too much variety?
The feed store carries buckwheat hulls, is it true this can be swapped for pumice? I replaced perlite first with pumice and later with rice hulls. If buckwheat hulls were available I would be using this over rice hulls. Good find! Also when adding components to the food/fix/mineral guide is there such thing as too much variety? I can't think of any reason not to with this caveat - you can never find a better soil amendment overall than alfalfa meal and kelp meal. The reason for that is that both of these are minimally processed. They're simply dried, sized and bagged. Alfalfa is not a 'seed meal' - seed meals are those amendments where the oil was removed for other uses leaving the meal. Soybean (aka 'de-fatted meal'), Canola (aka Rape Seed), Flaxseed (aka Linseed), Neem and Karanja are in this category. Alfalfa and Kelp remain intact..... LD LD
Good to know on those buckwheat hulls, thanks! As for the 'meals' I might have to settle with flax and soy. Neem cake I can get but it is wayyyyyy overpriced. Now homestead has neem oil? I know you have some knowledge about this but I can not seem to remember your advice.