Ammending Outdoor Soil with Left Over Indoor Soil, Got any Suggestions?

[LolaGal]

I have 5 or 6 bags of used Soil that I have added Perlite too, etc., left over from my indoor soil grows.

My outdoor plots are in heavy clay soil and need to have soil and perlite added to them.

After the first frosts come and the bugs go away, I plan to tote this used soil into the outdoor areas, dig holes, add used soil to them, cover and over winter.

Then I will be ready to go for the 2010 season.

Do ya'll think I should add some bone meal and things to this soil now?

I'd like to get a really good, rich mix going over the winter. Any suggestions/help? Thanks.

 

[3rd I]

3 gallons EWC (about 15lbs), 2 cups dolomite lime, 1 cup blood meal, 2 cups bone meal, 1 cup kelp meal, 1 cup greensand, 3 oz. polymer crystals for every 12 gallons of used soil and you should be good to go

For another opinion i would ask BurnOne in the Organic Soil forum in the Organics for Beginners sticky...this recipe is from there

 

[ShoeboxSherman]

I have the same question, and I know what I want to add. I just wonder if nutrients will leach out of the soil over a period of 6 - 8 months.

 

[LolaGal]

Yes, that is what I was trying to get at too Sherman!

I don't want to add things now and have it all gone by spring.

 

[3rd I]

It should just keep getting better throughout the year...as long as nothing is growing in it the nutrients aren't going anywhere...they don't get flushed out

Read Organics for Beginners...filter for only BurnOne posts...wealth of info

 

[LolaGal]

Thanks!

My soil is not good, dig into it and it is basically a clay pot.

I will doctor it up with my wonderful bone meal, poop, and kelp concoctions!

 

[3rd I]

See if ya can dig around and find some brown dirt deposits...if not you might want to look into 20-50gallon smartpots on the surface...i say this because it's been my experience that holes that have clay walls and bottoms under perform or even become septic from being to waterlogged from excessive rain or overwatering and plants die...when you dig a couple feet down does water leak up from the clay...ya might want to do that as an experiment and dig a 20- 30 gallon hole, keep it covered and monitor it for water coming up from the bottom and filling the hole...might seem good if this happens but it's not especially when your trying to grow roots

 

[nomaad]

Thanks!

My soil is not good, dig into it and it is basically a clay pot.

I will doctor it up with my wonderful bone meal, poop, and kelp concoctions!

an actual clay pot has holes in the bottom for drainage. so what you have is potentially much worse. A friend of mine on drip irrigation had big holes of expensive dirt... only problem was that there was so much clay in the soil that there was zero drainage. took him about a month for the drip irrigation to swamp out the holes... plants were doing fine while they drained into the soil that had no roots, and then... the swamp caught up to the roots and he lost alkl his plants. luckily he was in time to replant... luckily his friends had a bunch of big plants to give him... he had to dig 3 truckloads of dirt out of the holes and put it into smart pots.

fun was had by all.

 

[LolaGal]

thanks for the tips.

Yes, water stands in the holes I dig, especially if it has been a wet week.

I have my eye on a creek side spot for next years grow.

I will go in on a 4 wheeler, and set it up this winter! Maybe November or december.

 

[ShoeboxSherman]

thanks for the tips.

Yes, water stands in the holes I dig, especially if it has been a wet week.

I have my eye on a creek side spot for next years grow.

I will go in on a 4 wheeler, and set it up this winter! Maybe November or december.

Water sits in mine also, found this out the hard way during heavy spring rains. Fortunately before plants were out. Mine are on a steep hillside below a spring seep. I cut a "weir" about 12" deep on the downhill side, and chinked rocks and clay in the weir, it's held and drained A-OK.

 

[3rd I]

Your welcome...if that's the case I would defintely consider smartpots or home made ones like Tom Hill or Fisher15 make, just smaller versions, nomaad is using smartpots if ya want to check those out...you can make them or buy em and just fill them this winter and they'll be good to go for next year just like digging holes