Hey Guys I have been reading this forum for a couple months and am so excited to start growing organically, Im in Australia but I have a couple questions before im ready to go mainly about the organic fertilizer i just wanna get the right stuff but we will get to that in a second To start off my list of soil ingredients include: Peat Moss (harvested from New Zealand according to the guy at the landscaping place) (i have read NZ peat moss is a mixture of a few different types of peat is this stuff acceptable to use and as good as the Canadian sphagnum peat moss?) Perilite Earthworm Castings (sourced locally at least until my bin is ready to use) Compost (sourced locally) Dry Organic Fertilizer (im sort of a little stuck here this is the stuff i want to get Dry Mineral Fertilisers : Organic Link 4Kg the ingredients in the fertilizer include some of the amendments im already adding to the soil is that a problem? do you guys think this is good stuff? i just dont want to over do it)(Otherwise i was just going to use this stuff Yates Dynamic Lifter Plus Vegetable Food - Yates products which i have in the garage and use in my vege garden it seems to do the job Kelp Meal (sourced online Tasmanian bull kelp meal) Dolomite Lime Granite Rock Dust (its just crusher dust had no idea ) Azomite Rock Dust (should i add both or just one or the other?) Neem meal (sourced online, stuff seemed really hard to find in AUS) Blood and Bone meal (Yates Professional Blood and Bone - Yates products is this stuff good to add in the mix?) Alfalfa Meal (Lucerne Chaff its called here in AUS sourced from a friend who feed it to his horses, please tell me if i got my info correct?) Im pretty sure that is everything if i have missed anything please let me know sorry for so many questions just want to do this right. Thanks guys i cant wait to get cooking so we can put plants to soil
Just my opinion. Im a student myself. The organic link fert looks really good. I dont think you need the blood mean. Not very good stuff anyways. And yes alfalfa is very very good stuff. With the alfalfa and minus the blood meal along with the other amendments it looks like a solid mix. Gj sir
That's very reassuring im glad im on the right track this forum is chock full of so much awesome information, thanks for the quick reply mate
Yea you will never stop learning here. Theres alot of very helpful ppl and so much info. Gl with your mix
It is interesting to note that the fertiliser label laws in Aus appear more lenient than those in the US. Not unlike the US it also appears that ingredients to a fertiliser may or may not be listed in order of amount of quantity included in the package. But, I have casually perused organic offerings in Aus in the past and on the surface the Organic Link label lists "ok" ingredients. The quantity of each is the curious part as is the NPK rating of the fertiliser. Remember that when using fertilisers and soil ammendments it is best to use less than what label directions call for and this is especially true for container gardening. It is quite easy to add more of something but it is extremely difficult to correct an overdose of one or many ingredients. You may also consider acquiring dolomitic lime and gypsum with the lime particularly being of importance when using peat as a soilless medium. Peat is acidic and the lime will help maintain a near neutral pH as will your generous additions of compost and EWC. Other than these observations your total list in the OP looks like as fine a start as one can get. If available get the large chunk perlite. As for the Azomite and rock dust use only 1/4 cup of the Azomite in addition to your rock dust for a 3-5 gallon container. Also ensure the compost is properly finished (has no distinctive unpleasant smell), is crumbly, and is something you do not mind putting your hands in. If the compost and EWC are of good quality go easy on the Organic Link fertiliser. Blood meal is a quick release of N and too much can burn plants especially young plants. Good luck with it.
Yandi, Congrats on going organic your on the right path. Not sure where your at but if you can get your hands on macadamia nut compost it's a great addition to organic soil. It's the hulls broken down after nut processing. Excellent aeration and booster to microbe life. http://www.regional.org.au/au/asssi/supersoil2004/s12/oral/1460_coxj.htm You may have to track down a local distributer but here is neem meal source. Unless you need truckloads. http://www.nutri-tech.com.au/
I agree on not using the blood/bone meals even though many do without problems. The biggest worry is how/where it was derived from and not whether it's beneficial. You can replace with a fish meal and fish bone meal.....You want a good diversity of foods so the plant can use them when they need them. The dry fertilizer will just add to that diversity and be fine as long as you let break down proper... One thing I would look for in a dry fertilizer is added beneficial soil microbes and mycorrhizae... You can add the Azomite but, just the rock dust will serve you well.... Otherwise, looks like your on track with your soil....
Thanks for your reply's guys i appreciate your input's Ill leave out the blood and bone meal as you guys have suggested and ill try and source some fish meal / fish bone meal and ill order that Organic link fertilizer but only add a little bit to start off as suggested can always add more later on I have definitely got the Dolomite lime to add to the mix, I also found a place on the gold coast that sells the neem meal but i cant find the website again to share with you guys so other aussies trying to find this stuff can get on it, Nutri-tech only sell the neem meal in 25kg bags and i think that is a bit to much for me as this will only be a small scale grow but when i get the neem in the mail ill post the website i got it from. http://www.nobugs.com.au/game/insect-killer.nsf/vw_ProductsCat/Neem%20Products#NB-NDS20 for Aussies that may have trouble finding neem meal these guys stock it in 2kg bags if anyone else has anything to add i would love to hear from you guys but thanks for reassuring me that im on the rite track!
Hey guys i thought i would continue asking questions in this thread as to not be annoying and clog up the forum so my question is, I have made up my organic soil mix and it has been sitting for 1-2weeks im very excited as it looks beautiful made up 60litres or approx 2cf but it just dawned on me that when i made up the mix i added 4cups of rock dust (2cups Azomite 2 cups Granite rock dust) to each CubicFoot i obviously didnt read what the guys told me up above properly cuz doodlebug clearly says only 1/4 cup azomite and colafarmer says to just use the granite and it will be fine. Did i screw up my awesome soil mix guys?? can i save it if its not going to work??
You will be fine and won't harm the soil.....It's all minerals for the microbes. The dust from granite and Azomite are from two different deposits of minerals....I believe the granite is more diverse in mineral content..... There's a read on Rock dust in this forum that may help you understand....
Thanks Colafarmer i have seen that thread on rock dust ill give it a read tonight thanks for the reassurance mate