Hello Grasscity! I am new to the forum... sorta.. I have lurked around the organics section for a while, and (now that I have soil to mix and questions) I decided to get an account and start asking. My soil mix was intended to be very simple--straight from ITG's thread. It's getting a lot more complex than I bargained for, but that's more than ok. While searching for my kelp meal and tomato tone and what-not, I came across this bagged mix called batch 64. It's made in Colorado and it's full of cool stuff. Ingredients are as follows: coco coir, perlite, pumice, rice hulls, expanded shale, biochar, oyster shell, metamorphose evaporite, yucca extract, and mycorrhizae. I am not clear on percentages except that it is about 50% coir--It has about the consistency of sunshine 4 mix. The ingredient I'm real iffy about is the biochar. With much reluctance and curiosity, I decided to splurge and get the $18 bag. The next store I went to had a very minimal supply of organic anything... except a couple of awesome samples. The guy walks me to the back and says, "I think this stuff is maybe what you're lookin' for." It wasn't, but I'm pleased nonetheless. It's called a "bio-active soil builder" from a company called elevation organics (also in colorado). This mixture: aged forest humus, vermicompost, worm castings, alfalfa, fish meal, fishbone meal, kelp meal, crab shell, shrimp meal, glacial rock dust, langbeinite, and mycorrhizae. not only that, but the guy gave me a bag of their worm poo! He didn't know what he had!!! So out of guilt, I bought some yellow stickie traps and left with my haul of freebies. At home I already had my coconut coir, rice hulls, compost, worm castings, and some dyna-gro dyna roks that I got from a buddy. I thought I would do a side by side with the batch 64 but now there are too many options. So now I have the ability to make up four separate soil mixes..... The original mix: 1 part coir 1/2 part dyna rok 1/2 part rice hulls 1/2 part compost 1/2 part ewc Experiment 1: 1 part batch 64 1/2 part coir 1/2 part dyna-rok 1/2 part compost 1/2 part ewc These next two mixes seem ready-to-use (no cooking) IMO: Batch 64 + Elevation Organics: 1 part batch 64 1/2 part elevation Elevation only: 1/2 part elevation 1/2 part coir 1/4 part dyna rok 1/4 part rice hulls I was thinking that I would go ahead and get growing with the bottom two mixes and let the other two cycle for two months. My questions: Should I add lime to any of these? If the bottom two mixes need lime, will they need to be cooked before use? I never meant to let it get so complicated, but my curiosity got the best of me. Any help is appreciated!!!
I would add a bit of castings and/or finished compost in the mix, to ensure the humus levels are up to par for finishing plants; you don't want to get to the end to only find out your soil is lacking.
Yeah I've got plenty of lively castings which I plan on using. The elevation organic soil is hopefully still alive. The bag has holes for aeration and the mix is still moistish. It is only a couple of days old. It certainly will be more alive than any of the bagged composts I've found. I got my worm poo from the rockymoumtainwormcompany.com. they are in Colorado springs and have great stuff.
Who ever came up with the term "cooking" I wonder... And why the hell choose that word of all words... I don't get it. I've actually seen soil physically cooked in a giant greenhouse sterilizer - man did that stink and boy were they dumb - but it sure the hell ain't what we do... J
I think it was chosen because of the actual temperature rise in the soil as the amendments are being broken down. The first time I did this my soil was hot too touch. I thought it was the coolest thing.
Yeah I've only got $18 invested. So I can be a guinea pig. I'll have ITG's mix as a safety net. If a total noob like me can have a successful run with them then that is a good sign.
Got em all mixed up! Added a little less than a cup of espoma garden lime per cf. Maybe ill make a journal.
I prefer mixing my own from separate ingredients. the stuff will probably work fine, but you don't know the ratio of the ingredients in their mix so you have to keep buying it from them. Mj Sent from my SCH-I110
Yeah i agree with ya. I just thought I'd give give them a try. I cant afford or find all of those amendments individually and i wouldnt anyway. It was in front of me so i said what the hell. And i like that i can let my other soil cycle for a good long while in the meantime. Im just excited to get started n see how it all works out.
So my soil is cycling in a tote an and im worried that its not going to get enough oxygen. Considering grabbing a $20 compost tumbler off of craigslist or something. Any suggestions?
You are full of help! Thanks again j. Hope ya dont mind ive been snooping around the first couple pages of "jerry's organic obsession". you have some beautiful plants! I love your method for making them short and wide.
I've seen few ppl say that they are using flaxseed meal and chia seed meal. Can i just blend up some of my flaxseeds and chia seeds? What about hemp seeds while im at it? What other random foodstuffs can i utilize that i've probably already got?
Well i just found out that the "compost" that i bought and used in the first two mixes is made from biosolids. I dont want to grow my medicine with that awful shit so i threw it out. Im restarting new soil today with 100% vermicompost as my biological ingredient. Makes me so angry... i just want to live in a world where if you want to sell sewage and human shit to ppl, you have to actually tell them about it.
I hear that! Make sure you vote for GMO labeling when it happens in CO my man! Whoops, got you mixed up with gardner'. Where do you live? This vote is coming up in a few states in 2014. Hope you're not in Cali'. The voters really screwed the pooch on that one...
I am in co actually, thats kinda funny. Who knows how the gmo thing will do. I wish more ppl gave a damn about the crap they shove down their gullet.