Rock me

[Scrappy4]

I have soil getting ready for my next two runs. It is Earth Juice Amazon Bloom (2 bags, 1.5cf each) mixed with peat and pro mix with dolomite lime added to reach a ph of 6.4. I also added two cups of alfalfa meal. The AB amounts to slightly more than 1/2 the mix, the rest is EWC (30lb bag)/perlite/peat/pro mix.

The AB has listed as ingredients:

peat moss
forest compost
coconut coir
feather meal
bat guano
marinebird fossilized guano
steamed bone meal
sulfate of potash magnesia from langbenite
neem meal
earthworm castings
sea kelp (ascophyllum nodosum)
humate ore (leonardite) yucca meal
oyster shell lime


I have ordered some soft rock phosphate, azomite, and sol po mag (kmag)

What is a sensible way (and amounts) to add some of the rocks I have purchased?.........scrappy

 

[descivii]

ProMix IS mostly Peat, other than that; personally, I use the rocks such as phosphate at 1cup per cu.ft.

J.

 

[Scrappy4]

ProMixIS mostly Peat, other than that; personally, I use the rocks such as phosphate at 1cup per cu.ft.

J.

Right, I realize that.

What happened is the mix of amazon bloom and EWC ph'd to 7, so i added some peat to lower the ph, it went to 6, so i added some pro mix (ph7). The ph stayed at 6 so i added a little dolomite lime to get the ph to 6.4. And that is where it is now.

I would like to to incorporate the rocks without throwing off the ph or the mix, so it is I feel it is important to go slow and listen to those who have used these additions........scrappy

 

[DARC MIND]

sol po mag is langbeinite so if the media has that already i wouldnt add to much.
also may have a nice amount of P so u might just want to add a little azomite if any thing
hth

 

[Scrappy4]

sol po mag is langbeinite so if the media has that already i wouldnt add to much.
also may have a nice amount of P so u might just want to add a little azomite if any thing
hth

Good point, and I agree. I read where sul po mag is used at a rate of 1/2 to 1 tsp per gallon, ( in water/tea) and maybe four times for a grow, but it can also be used in the soil mix, once I find the suggested rate I can adjust it down from there. So anyone know the rate per gallon or per cubic foot for sul po mag?
I have this earth juice soil ready to go maybe next week, I'm thinking one cup of rock- 1/3 each of azomite, rock phosphate, and sul po mag for about twenty gallon of soil. Good? Less, more? Scrappy

 

[The_Weed_Worm]

I cant remember off hand but I think I went a lil harder with the azomite and rock. Im thinking I at least added a cup of each per 20 gallons for the azomite and rock. Like DARC said, i would not add much sul po mag, i think your right on with that ratio. Remember rock phosphate and azomite will primarily feed soil microbes, not much will actually get to your plants as it breaks down very slow.

 

[maryanne3087]

Possibly a bit unrelated to your question. I found it interesting that a user used 50% azomite and 50% compost to grow plants just to see if using too many minerals would be detrimental to plant health and was successful with the experiment. I believe the user was Jay Kush. I apply minerals either by grams per weight or as a rough percentage I'm not very concerned about applying more than recommended as I don't believe the effects to be detrimental.

I apply dolomite lime, azomite, and epsom salts fairly generously looking for a total of 5% of the mix but usually exceed this a fair bit. I usually apply more dolomite lime than most. The Virtues of Dolomite lime thread on this forum calls for 2tbsps per gal of soil or 1cup per 8gals of soil and for it to sit for 6months this is more than a lot of growers. Subcool's super soil calls for 1/2 a cup of dolomite and 1/2 a cup of azomite for like 240litres of soil. I use more dolomite lime and when using soil I would let it sit for 2-3 weeks. Verdant Green in that thread did an experiment in a cup of water where he acidified the water to a pH of 5 and then added dolomite lime to see how quickly the lime would work. Dolomite lime has a pH of 7 or 7.5 and in 8 hours the water was at a pH of 6.9 so using the same sort of judgment I just use more lime than most to try to speed up the effect. I don't know if this is wise it's just what I do to my soil. I'd say apply your minerals at 5+% of your mix and your plants will be happy.

Verdant Green who knows his soil uses 5grams of each dolomite, rock phosphate, rock potash, and seaweed meal (which provides trace elements) this doesn't seem like much to me but it works for him.

 

[Scrappy4]

Thanks Maryanne, good information.

Does anyone know the ph of azomite or rock phosphate, or sul po mag? I'm a bit gun shy on the higher ph things since I have had lockout problems recently..........scrappy

 

[Clackamas Coot]

Thanks Maryanne, good information.

Does anyone know the ph of azomite or rock phosphate, or sul po mag? I'm a bit gun shy on the higher ph things since I have had lockout problems recently..........scrappy

Scrappy4

Sul-Po-Mag is a neutral mineral salt and does not affect a soil's pH [cite]

Soft rock phosphate generally has a Calcium (Ca) level between 23 - 26% depending on origin.

Azomite is an alkaline volcanic dust with an 8 pH

Something like that...........

CC

 

[jaykush]

yea i was the one who grew in the 50/50 mix, it worked and all but not the best growth ever. funny thing is i found some weeds growing in pure azomite the other day, made me question how things work. i cant even say how much i use now as it all goes into the compost and then the compost becomes the soil base or amended into the ground.

 

[VerdantGreen]

yep as mentioned above i use the rock dusts at 5g/litre of soil.

but rock phosphate and rock potash are secondary or at least 'dual' sources of P and K for me because i also use P guano and seaweed meal.

i think covering each macro nute with two or more sources is a good idea - but you have to reduce the doses accordingly.

VG