Hey GC, Just wanted to ask if you guys knew of a viable substitute for sphagnum peat moss, can't really find any around my parts and just wanted to know if anything else could be used in its place possibly coco coir? All input appreciated and soil mixes welcome Happy Growing GK
Hello FF There are pros and cons for both. I will list a few below. Peat holds more moisture than coco/ Coco hold more air than peat In most cases peat is less expensive than coco Coco is a better renewable resource Due to salts coco in most cases needs to be thoroughly washed before use Coco is neutral in pH/ Peat is acidic I could go on and on, but the bottom line is they are both fine for your needs. You could use a mixture of both if you wanted to. In a way I do this by using peat as my base for my soil mix and I use coco as bedding for my red worm farm. So when I make my soil mix using my vermi-compost my soil mix ends up having both peat and coco. I do this because I am a bit of a diversity nut. HTH MGB
Could I use eco earth to grow in? Its reptile bedding for tropical reptiles. I think its made out of coconut husks
Thanks everybody I might try coco coir, cow manure, castings, and perlite/vermiculite mix I'll let you know how it goes. Side note the cow manure I was going to use is store bought again 2 dollars for 40 lbs, I know not the freshest, nor the most viably alive, but i was thinking could I just jump start it as in the case with EWC with presoak before throwing into AACT, or just EWC slurry in general? Thanks again Happy growing GK
I do actually have another question though I have currently been brewing up a dandelion tea for about a week and some change now and i have a couple questions; --I have not periodically stirred the pot at all during the duration of time i thought about starting to now it has another 4 days or so till the 2 week mark but do you guys and gals think that not stirring it could have detrimental affects that cannot be negated through 4 days of stirring? --If i compost the dandelions should i hit them with another round of LAB once thrown into the compost pile, I'm actually really excited to test out this next batch of soil I made, It has the yogurt LAB product, the dandelions after the fact, so I will at least know that I'm good on Iron, and calcium after decomposition and exudation but you know what I mean. --Last question the alfafa feeding pellets sold at pet stores, can i just grind those pellets down to add to compost pile, as well as AACTs I would really like to experiment with it, plus if anyone knows of any brands of good alfafa feed let me know please Thanks and Happy Growing GK
Genghis, I've had this link in my bookmarks for a couple of years and thought now would be a good time to dust it off and post it. It's a study comparing coco and peat done by Utah State University.The results lean toward SPM being the better soilless medium. http://www.usu.edu/cpl/PDF/CoconutCoirPaper.pdf HTH Chunk
I guess it depends what study you pull up. http://flrec.ifas.ufl.edu/Hort/Environmental/Media_Nutrition/COIR%20potential.htm Both Auburn and Arkansas University's did studies and found coir equal to SPM. The biggest knock on SPM is it can take any wheres from 100 years to 1000 years for the vast pieces of wet lands to recover after it is mined. All the life in that wet land now has to either move or die. Don't get me wrong I am not knocking peat I use it myself. My point is the same as it was above according to the majority of scholarly articles I have read Coir is equal to peat in performance and a better renewable resource. Once again as I said above there are pros and cons for both. All the best. MGB
Thanks Chunk and MGB I just got off work so I will take a look at them both, but just really enjoying the organic experience but don't like the deficiency I have run into this grow, and would like to try to negate that by completely amending my soil the way i would like to; knowing exactly what is going in that everything is in harmony with one another.. --But I am a little curious when the harvest is done assuming I am using the coir, do i just cut the pile with more coir or would the coco coir in there still be viable and not need to be washed? Thanks for the input its greatly appreciated, Happy Growing GK
