I,m wondering if i have enough worm castingsin my mix, i don't know if i should add more 6 Gal Pro-Mix HP 5 Gal Coco 1 Gal Peatmoss 3.5 Gal Earth Wormcastings 2 Lit Mushroom Compost 1 Gal Cow Manure 1 Gal Organic Herb & Vegtable Soil 10 Gal Perlite 2 Gal Vermiculite so its 12 gal of peat\\coco, 12 gal of perlite\\vemiculite & 5 gal of ewc\\compost & the 1 gal of soil
If my calculations are correct you have about 4.8Cubic Feet total of soil, correct? I'd add about 2-5 more gallons of quality EWC/Compost Also keep in mind Pro-Mix is 25-30% aerated already. Always happy to see more Organic growers, welcome to the club!
Hello 29, Just to add to the good advice DM gave you, a pretty safe ratio is 50% cocco/peat, (keeping in mind Promix is aerated all ready) 25% compost/EWC, and 25% aeration. With the mix you have now you looks a bit heavy on the aeration portion of your mix. Just one more tid bit of advice. When building your own soil I would stay away from pre-bagged soil. Otherwise just use pre-bagged soil. I say this because the whole purpose in building a soil is to give you absolute control over what is in the mix. When buying pre-bagged soil many times nutrients have been added already and you don't know how much. This makes it a little more difficult when adding soil amendments. Also if an issue arises it makes it more difficult to diagnose if you do not know what and how much is actually in your soil. Please don't misunderstand me I am not knocking pre-bagged soils just giving an explanation for the purpose of building your own soil is all. At least giving the reasons for which I build my own soil. I realize that the 1 Gal Organic Herb & Vegetable Soil was probably something you just had left over, and bye no means think it would adversely effect your mix, but I thought I would just share that tid bit of info with you. HTH All the best. MGB
ok so i added a few more things..1 more gal a coco, 1 gal of ewc, 1 gal of shrimp compost 6 Gal Pro-Mix HP 6 Gal Coco 1 Gal Peatmoss 4.5 Gal Earth Wormcastings 2 Lit Mushroom Compost 1 Gal Shrimp Compost 1 Gal Cow Manure 1 Gal Organic Herb & Vegtable Soil 10 Gal Perlite 2 Gal Vermiculite i know theres alot of perlite but will it still be ok with this mix
heres what i got in my mix 30 Tbs SuperGrowMix (WelcomeHarvestFarm) 20 Tbs MarineCuisin (FoxFarm) 30 Tbs Kelp Meal 25 Tbs Alfalfa Meal 50 Ts Neem Cake 20 Tbs Bat Guana (Mexican) 15 Tbs Bone Meal 15 Ts Blood Meal 5 Tbs Urea 16 cups Rock Dust 20 Tbs greensand 20 Tbs Rock Phosphate 15 Tbs Mycorhize 30 Ts Cyclorganic 10 Tbs Diatom Earth 20 Ts RareEarth 5 Tbs Dolomite Lime 12 Tbs Epsom Salt 30 Tbs Coffee Grinds 20 Tbs Hen Manure 1 Cup Gypsum 10 Tbs Crushed Egg Shells
You'll do very well Bigc29. Be sure to let a brand new soil sit and break down a little before use. The general consensus seems to be around 4 weeks if that will work for you. pH stabilizes, nutrients become available, less chance of burning anything. Good luck man - like I said, you'll do we'll. J
Jerry, it was cooking for 4 weeks already but i added the egg shells, coffe grinds & gypsum last week is it ok to use or should i cycle longer..& i was talking to u in another post about the fish i got from the meat market..im not going to add it to the smart pots because the smell so can i mix the fish & put in my worm bin
I would imagine you'd be fine. It not always about the amount of castings but it is ALWAYS about the quality of the castings. The single best advice I was ever given about my organic garden was to get my vermicompost source figured out - to only ever used the very highest quality. Everything else is totally secondary. Using high quality compost/vermicompost and just several amendments will rock the house down much, much more than a wide variety of soil amendments and standard compost. Get the quality of your vermicompost down pat and all else will fall into place. J