On a quest for organic happiness, I have decided to recycle my previously used coco coir mix. I've tripple hot rinsed and wrung out 10gal of botanicare cocorox coir and added more perlite. Then I mixed in 1/2cup neptune crabshell, 4 tbsp vital earth rose mix 5-9-4, 2 tbsp growers success -myco/trich kelp. 1/2cup glacial rock dust watered it down with 1gal tap h2o, 1tbsp brer rabit unsulf molasses, 2oz growmore kelp extract, 1tsp PHC biopak (millions of spores bacillus subtillis, thureningiensis, lichenformis, megaterium, polymaxa, pumilus, azotofixans, pseudomonas fluroesens, glomus intradices, aggregatum, mosseae, etuncatum, humic acids from leonardite, yeast extract, precipitated silica) mixed everything well and back into bag the cocrox came in, duct taped closed and put aside. Does this sound like a light mix? I plan on using it right out of the bag in 3wks tops. I have 40+ afgoo seedlings under 12/12 as I type. This mix is for them when i transplant them into their final 1gal bags @ day 35 from seed.
To garden organically you need life in your soil mix - you have none. You need to add compost and/or worm castings to introduce bacteria into your mix. Bacteria breaks down organic amendments and organic matter into usable plant food. Without soil life breaking down the organics you just have unusable material. J
oh darn i forgot to mention I had bought a lb of red wiggler castings and used it all in the 10gal mix cooking. ive updated my first post, sry i wasnt more thorough. also, ive added myco rich phc that has like five other beneficial organism types, beneficial fungi spores and leonardite, pwdr kelp concentrate. also what is the diff between ewc and red wiggler castings?
with all the microbial content and red worm castings there isnt anything that is active to "cook" the soil how is this possible? im very confused, ive thrown every micro organism I had into this mix and enuff molasses/kelp to feed them. millions of beneficial bacteria per cuF. I'm boggled...
my friend, powdered microbial inoculants aren't humus. In no universe do they come close to being a humus substitute. You need much more than 1 lb of ewc in that mix. At least 2.5 gallons of ewc for 10 gal of coco/perlite. I'd go with more like 3-4 gallons. edit: to answer your question, ewc and red wiggler castings are the same thing. Just semantics.
lol -sigh- I am humbled daily. What if all I can find is wiggle worms? i called 3 outdoor nurseries and none have ewc, strange... and i called a hydro shop and they want 12.99 a lb for red/black ewc supposedly fed organic gourmet so to speak. (i lolEd at the salesman) lowes and hd have wiggle worms. will espoma compost starter kick start everything? I thank you for the info.
Do you have a feed/farm store in your area? That's the best place for organic amendments. Do a google search for "worm castings your town your state" and see what you can find. Do you have access to high quality compost locally? You really don't need the compost starter, you'll have plenty happening in that soil if you can get some good humus in the mix.
Go to this map of vermicomposters and i am fairly certain you will find someone willing to part with some lively castings for little or next to nothing. vermicomposters.com - how many people have a worm bin? ( vermicomposting / composting with worms )
ugh... vermiwebsite was uselss i live in the mojave desert region bumphuck... my little town has to outsource everything... i went with wiggle worms =/ it all i got. p.s. i dont have a car or ride for more than 20miles outta town XD
Looks to me like you better get started on your own worm bin or stick with what you found. Good luck.