First Organic Grow, Soil Mix, Teas, etc

Hi everyone,
 
I have been gearing up for my first organic grow for a month now and reading the stickies and perusing the posts for information. I also have been pulling info from "True Living Organics", the book by the Rev which I think seems to have some good info on principles of organic growing, although some people seem to hate the guy and his ideas. Also reading some other books on microbes and organics in general.
 
I just wanted to throw my ideas out there and get some feedback. I have been reading so much information from so many sources, it's hard to know which direction to go in and which advice to follow. I have already gotten a lot of items, am almost certain I went overboard in my zeal to mix the perfect soil and teas and am not sure which things to scrap and which ones to keep. Luckily my local hydro store is really cool about me returning/exchanging things... haha...
 
I do need to get down to business though and figure this out so I can start cooking my soil.
 
So first things first, for my soil I am planning on going with something like this, which is based on the "Easy Soil Mix for Beginners" I found in the organics section here.
 
Base:
1/2 part peat moss
1/2 part EWC - 4 Corners Premium Organic from Castle Rock, WA
1/2 part perlite - Uni-Gro Premium Organic
 
-OR-
 
1/4 part coir - Botanicare Cocogro
1/4 part high quality organic soil (such as Roots organic)
1/2 part EWC
1/2 part perlite
 
Still trying to figure out the best base here... whether I should use peat or coir or soil, or some mix of them. The EWC and perlite will stay either way.
 
I'd like to start the seeds in the base and continue through to veg, at which point I would transplant into 1 gallon pots filled with the base plus the following amendments.
 
Roots coated in Down to Earth Granular Root Growth Enhancer during transplant
Down to Earth Soluble Root Growth Enhancer watered in at 10 days after transplant
 
Powdered dolomite lime (1 cup) - AlliedAqua Grade A Powder
4 cups rock dust
 
The following in equal parts (2-3 cups of blend per cubic foot)
All Down to Earth brand:
Kelp meal (twice as much as other amendments)
Oyster shell
Alfalfa meal
Greensand
Feather meal
Blood meal
Bone meal
 
Mulch the top with Whitney Farms All Natural Bark Mulch.
 
 
I would like to apply the following teas, about once during each phase, as well:
 
1/2 gallon tea, to be diluted with 1/2 gallon RO filtered water:
 
Seedling Tea (if needed):
2 tsp molasses - Organic Blackstrap
1 tsp Organic Gem fish fertilizer
1 Tbsp alfalfa meal
1 Tbsp kelp meal
1/2 cup EWC
1 tsp Maxicrop powder
10 drops CaMg+ - General Organics
 
Veg Tea:
1 Tbsp molasses
1 Tbsp kelp meal
1 Tbsp alfalfa meal
1 Tbsp All Purpose 5-5-5
2 tsp fish fertilizer
2 tsp high N bat guano - Vital Earths Organic 9-3-1
1 tsp Maxicrop
1/4 cup composted steer manure - Whitney Farms
 
Flower Tea (first half):
1 Tbsp molasses
20 drops CaMg+
1 Tbsp All Purpose 5-5-5
1 Tbsp kelp meal
1 tsp high N bat guano
1 tsp high P guano - Roots Organic Seabird 0-12-0
1 tsp fish fertilizer
1/4 cup Fox Farms Big Bloom
1 cup EWC
 
Flower Tea (3 weeks out if needed):
1 cup EWC
1/4 cup Big Bloom
1 tsp kelp meal
1 tsp molasses
 
Please let me know if I am heading in the right direction here or if I am getting myself fucked up with an overload of information and a brain that just will not stop fixating on this soil
 
Thanks for all the info I have already found here and the info I will continue to find. You guys are great!

 

I neglected to mention that this is also my first grow whatsoever, so I'm trying my best to not sound like a complete idiot.
 
I had today off, so I spent pretty much the entire day reading through the hundreds of pages of organic soil topics. I'm sorry to post another thread about organic soil. It's just hard to find what I'm looking for sorting through all the threads. It is informative though.
 
I definitely have gone overboard and am going to cut down on amendments and change some things.
 
I am going to go with
1/2 part peat moss
1/2 part EWC
1/2 part perlite
 
1 cup dolomite lime powder
4 cups rock dust
 
2-3 cups of amendment blend:
Kelp
Alfalfa
Feather
Neem
Greensand
 
Does this look like a viable option to anyone? Are there any other "must have" amendments, additives, etc that I should worry about or do I have my bases covered here?
 
Thanks in advance for any help. Really want to get going on my soil cooking, but I also really don't want to start off on the wrong foot with a screwed up mix.
 
 

 

Thanks Jerry. I have been reading a lot of your posts and they are very helpful so I appreciate you responding. 
 
Yes, I can switch out the feather for some crab or what not.
 
I do want to recycle my soil and I've read some good things about Greensand and it's pretty cheap so I think I will keep it around.
 
Geeze, my poor impulse control has really gotten the best of me here as I went and bought a bunch of crap before I knew what I was doing.
 
So the things that I bought that I'm definitely going to return are:
Oyster shell flour (unless I need the extra Ca?)
Feather Meal (trading for crab, lobster, etc meal)
Blood Meal
Botanicare Cocgro coir (going with peat moss instead)
9-3-1 Bat guano
 
Things that I don't know if I should keep around:
0-12-0 Seabird guano (was going to use for flower tea)
 
Happy Frog bulb food 3-8-8 (was going to mix in to amendments and tea due to good levels of Ca, Mg, NPK and microbes but the ingredients are feather meal, bone meal, sulfate of potash, bat guano, kelp meal and gyspum which I think I have covered with the other amendments that I am adding already but maybe this one couldn't hurt since its full of good stuff)
 
Maxicrop powder (was going to use as foliar spray and tea additive)
 
CaMg+ (have read that it is good for use in teas and as an additive to occasional watering if needed)
 
FF Big Bloom (was going to use for flower tea)
 
Roots Extreme Serene (emergency type of thing)
 
Steer Manure (was going to make a special mix and use as the bottom 1/3 of the pots and use to make veg tea)
 
Bark Mulch (not sure if I should just top dress with extra EWC and neem meal instead of mulching)
 
The things that I wish I could return, but ordered online due to local availability:
Bone meal
0-7-0 Bat guano
 
Things that I need to go get to replace scrapped ingredients:
Neem meal
Crab meal
Fish enzyme
Neem seed oil
Peat moss
A new brain since my head has exploded.
 
I will start a Journal/Help thread once my lights and babies are here.

 

Thanks guys. It's helpful just to write down all my ideas in one spot and maybe help some other people while I'm at it.
 
Good call on the oyster shell flour. Am compiling a detailed list of what each of the amendments do and trying to work out how they will interact with each other.
 
Hellspawn, your soil mix and tea sounds good from what I've been reading. I think I will definitely simplify my tea recipes for the first couple of go's so I don't get myself confused. I don't want to add too many components and then not be able to identify problems later down the road.
 
I will have to restrain myself and use the "Leave if the Fuck Alone" method. Definitely feeling more confident on my mix though and almost ready to pull the trigger on building the soil.
 
Picked up a copy of "Teaming with Microbes" from the library. Already ordered a copy from Amazon. Let me just say, holy shit! Any organic gardener that has not read this book is missing out IMO and I've only gotten about halfway through the book.
 
I also got a copy of "Compost, Vermicompost and Compost Tea" by Grace Gershuny. Some good stuff in there as well. Getting a hold on ACTs vs. Botanicals and definitely going to pick up some comfrey, yarrow and dandelion for a botanical tea. Comfrey sounds like it is the shit.