Just bored and thought I'd poll and see what GC is using for their plants. Hopefully this thread gets 100+replies.
Sunshine mix is the mother ship of Black Gold and a variety of other great soil medias - professional as well as consumer.JaK
how is the ph on the black gold? Both fox farms and roots give me ph's below 6 which I fight the whole grow and I even use dolomite lime.
1 bale of Alaska Peat Spangham Peat Moss - 3.8 c.f. @ $12.60 2 bags of pumice from the Klamath Basic in Southern Oregon - 1 c.f. @ $4.50 and I need 2 bags for this mix, i.e. $9.00 2 c.f. of Marwest Compost @ $5.50 per 1 c.f. = $11.00 $32.60 for 8 c.f. = $4.07 per 1 c.f. To that add Naomi's Mineral Mix (equal parts of Azomite, Green Sand, Glacial Rock Dust, Limestone & Soft Rock Phosphate) @ $.40 per lb. - you'll need 1 lb. per 1 c.f. Next up is endo-mycorrhizal spores @ $10.00 per lb. for the pure product and you'll need less than $.05 worth per plant. Less than $4.50 per 1 c.f. with all of these products available within 1.5 miles of downtown Portland, Oregon. It'll blow Roots Organic, FFOF, Botanicare, et al out of the water just on the humus product used, i.e. Marwest Compost which was noted by KIS Compost Tea Brewers as "the finest commercial thermal compost that we've tested" LD
^what the man said up there. Used a basic mix of his for awhile now and have loved it...plants didnt mind it either. Numb
Same as above but coco coir instead of Canadian Spaghnum Peat............for now. I also mix it up with the Marwest and fresh EWC (thanks MFK). chunk
I have heard that Coco Coir is not "ready to go" right out of the package. Something like it needs to be flushed and prepared before use. Am I completely off base on this?
Pretty neutral. I have a 2 pronged active air tester thats right on or close to 7 every time. I don't add dolomite lime or anything like that. I follow a recipe similar to LD, except I add compost from KIS Compost Tea here in Redmond, WA. Also add Whitney Farms pumice and assorted mix of amendments. I just use whats available in my area. A lot of the products, for example a Sunshine Soil Mix, will say washed and sometimes inoculated with certain fungi. I'm assuming most coco coir is washed but I may be wrong.
Some people here will add +/- a cup per cu ft of the following: Alfalfa meal Kelp meal Fish Meal Fish bone meal Crab meal Oyster shell powder Jersey green sand (especially if you recycle your soil, since it's SLOW to break down) Neem meal Rice hulls (good drainage and source of silica) glacial rock dust These additives are a "one time expense" if you're using just a cup per cu/ft of soil. They last a LONG time. Much of this can be brewed in a worm casting + compost actively aerated tea, also. I'm lucky to be able to source all of these in one of a handful of shops locally.