Thanks I appreciate it, they are charging 150 bucks for 5 pounds of coconut powder, that seems a little steep. Is it that expensive at 30 bucks a pound?
I'm having trouble locating basalt (dust/flour) and biochar in NorCal(Sacramento). I see some char for prices like $16-18 per 1.25qt which seems pretttttty terrible if used at any decent rate per cf. I can string together pretty much everything else I need for my soil recipe at different stores across town but those 2 are eluding me. I considered rockdustlocal.com . Both for their biochar mix and 40lb of basalt. A bit worried about how long their shipping will take as I'll have pretty much everything else by tomorrow. I don't see a percentage of what's in the biochar, content wise as it's a mix. RICHMix BioChar 25# tldr - Local well priced biochar/basalt dust would be great, but if not, will these orders work out?
That's a good call, I'll look in to it. Anything I should watch out for that may be mixed in/not wanted? Thank you.
its basically the leftovers they get when cutting stone, so i dont think it will be mixed with anything but rock. probably free too.
That sounds great, I'll start making some calls on that as I believe we have a good number of stone/rock places. Thanks for the advice!
@SensuallyMoist Try golden valley hydroponics in Yuba City. I got Black Owl Biochar from him a couple of years ago. He can get it if he isn't carrying in any longer. (530) 763-2151 rockdustlocal can do the rock dust for you.
has anyone used these Alfalfa Meal pellets ? . got it for $35 50lb bag. dunno if they're good or not the company is Alfagreen Supreme . the bag says "Dehydrated Alfalfa, Vegetable Oil with ethoxyquin as a preservative. Crude protein, not less than 17%"
Never that specific brand, but i put a bunch in my compost pile and ground up enough for my soil mix...basically I've been doing the new no-till recipe + alfalfa. Check the feed/farm stores. I got a 50lb bag of pellets for $13 in MI.
I'm in michigan too and got a 50lb bag at tractor supply for like 6 bucks a couple years ago. Found out a lot of alfalfa brands that are in big box stores are shit...to the point where horses and shit wouldn't even eat it lol
You want to stay away from ethoxyquin. Ethoxyquin: EFSA safety assessment inconclusive | European Food Safety Authority
^ thanks I thought it would suck when i saw the bag (alfagreen) and it didnt have a (N,P,K) ratio later i found its (2,1,2) ..but im gonna order alfalfa online at fedco the NPK was higher Also im gonna make my base mix 1/3 each peat/ricehulls/ewc ive read to measure them out in 5 gallon bucket. im getting 5lb of rice hulls do i need more??? and could i mix ricehulls half and half with red lava rocks?i can get those cheap
NPK values are kind of meaningless in organic soil, I'd worry more about the quality and weather it is organic alfalfa that hasn't been treated with chemical pesticides Sent from my iPad using Grasscity Forum
Well, hope it helped a little anyhow. Sometimes soil components can be hard to find - at least in the beginning. Good luck. You can always ask around for certain items right here in the Organics forum too and there's usually someone near you that's been looking for the same item and can help. J
bump. how is this not stickied? sourcing good components is one of the most important part of making an organic soil.