Getting ready to make soil mix, any thoughts?

[Bullfrog44]

Here it is:

8 bags of Roots organic (1.5 cubic feet each)
50 lbs of ear worm castings
5 lbs steamed bone meal
5 lbs bloom bat guano
5 lbs bloom meal
3 lbs rock phosphate
3/4 cup epsom salts
1/2 cup dolomite
1/2 cup azomite
2 tbsp powedered humic acid

I fill bottom half of pot with this mix, then top half with just Roots Organic green bag.

This was published in a magazine and is Sub Cools mix as of March 09. Anybody have any thoughts on how to improve this mix?


EDIT: Final mix after all advice considered.

8 bags of Roots Organics green bag. (12 cubic feet, but really more like 10.5)

1 cubic foot of earth worm castings. Or 50 lbs
5 lbs steamed bone meal
5 lbs bloom bat guano
5 lbs blood meal
3 lbs rock phosphate
3/4 cup Epsom salts
1 cup sweet dolomite (lime)
1/2 cup azomite
2 tbsp powdered humic acid
8 cup alfalfa
8 cup kelp meal
1.5 cubic feet of Pumice.

 

[Clackamas Coot]

Bulfrog44

Are you near any of these factory reps for this product?

I can show you how to save a ton of money and end up with a better base than what the guys down at Roots in Eugene use in their potting soil(s).

CC

 

[Papulz]

i too am getting near the mixing point.. looking to mix up around 50 yards of material. id LOVE to hear what youve got to say clackamas coot.

 

[Bullfrog44]

i too am getting near the mixing point.. id LOVE to hear what youve got to say clackamas coot.

Me too Me too!!

I have to mix up about 1,800 gallons of soil this year. For me and friends. Not sure how many yards that is.

Please drop some knowledge CC.

 

[Bullfrog44]

Northern California Representative

Gregg Foster
Phone: 209-712-2372
Email: [email protected]

This is the closest guy to me. Also, I live in the Bay Area.

Did you say better than Roots Organic? I am in love with the stuff, so I am all ears.

 

[Papulz]

me 2 =)

200 gal = approximately 1 cubic yard

 

[Bullfrog44]

O yea papulz, you live right next door. I am 125 fake st. lol.

 

[Clackamas Coot]

I went and looked at the ingredients listed on Roots Organic Grow Medium (the one in the green bag) and I was wrong as I assumed that they were using Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss. They are not - they're using the specific coconut coir packed by Sun Gro Horticulture under the brand name of 'Sunshine Just Coir'

The package could look like this but may be different depending on what part of the country that you live in:

This product line was purchased by Sun Gro about 2 years ago from a large wholesale nursery in Oregon that was hit hard by the 2008 recession. They have been importing this specific coir product for several years. It's the best available and costs a whopping $8.00 for 2 c.f.

The rest of the ingredients listed on the bag are sourced from 1 of 2 wholesalers in Portland, Oregon.

Here's a base to start with or something similar:

2x Sunshine Just Coir
1x Earthworm Castings
1x Pumice

So if you started with 1 bag of the coir (2 c.f. @ $8.00) and 1 c.f. of pumice @ $5.00 or so and then 1 c.f. of your earthworm castings you would now have the exact product as Roots Organic but with one major difference - better castings. And you'll save a ton of money.

Add in your minerals (rock dusts) and whatever soil amendments you feel are beneficial and you're good to go.

HTH

Personally I think that using Alaska Peat will give you a better garden than using coir but I'm sure most others would disagree. No big deal.

CC

 

[Bullfrog44]

Interesting. Sounds like some good advice. Why the original link? Also, you said to add in my minerals and i am good. Were my ratios correct, what would you add to the mix you suggest?

 

[Clackamas Coot]

Bullfrog

The link to Alaska Peat is because the poster Microbeman was kind enough to get a bale of this product and test it for microbial levels. They were off the chart. If you go to his web site (microbeorganics.com) and scroll down the page you'll see a posting about testing he did on Pro-Mix Premier Peat Moss vs. Alaska Humus (I forget which specific name was on the product that he tested). The results speak for themselves.

What sets Alaska Peat apart from the products from Pro-Mix or Sunshine is that both of these companies harvest these peat mosses in several areas in Canada. Alaska Peat pulls their harvest from Northern Alberta alone. It is a very professional product and consistent. It comes in 3.8 c.f. bales and a 2.2 'pony bale' and should run about $15.00 and $11.00 respectively.

Another good soil amendment to consider perhaps are the organic rice hulls that come out of Lundberg Farms in Central California. These guys are the largest producer of organic rice in the US and one of the largest rice producers irrespective of their organic operation. They should run about $7.00 for 50 lbs.

Then there's the oyster shell powder (Pacific Pearl Oyster Shell Powder) that they have been harvesting from the bottom of San Francisco Bay for 85 years. It's an ancient deposit that is dredged and taken to a plant in Petaluma - this is 96% pure Calcium Carbonate (CaC03) and should run about $8.00 per 1 c.f.

On the Tea Article thread there's a posting by CT_Guy on a compost from Deitsel (sp?) Turkey farms in the Bay Area. He's tested this compost and found it to be a high quality product. Mixing your earthworm castings with thermal compost is always a good idea - diversity and such.

HTH

CC

 

[Bullfrog44]

Dam great info!

 

[etinarcadiaego]

Here it is:

8 bags of Roots organic
50 lbs of ear worm castings
5 lbs steamed bone meal
5 lbs bloom bat guano
5 lbs bloom meal
3 lbs rock phosphate
3/4 cup epsom salts
1/2 cup dolomite
1/2 cup azomite
2 tbsp powedered humic acid

I fill bottom half of pot with this mix, then top half with just Roots Organic green bag.

This was published in a magazine and is Sub Cools mix as of March 09. Anybody have any thoughts on how to improve this mix?

More perlite please!

Honestly I've run a mix VERY similar to the one above and gotten great results, low maintenance, don't need to water very often, and almost never need to add nutrients to my waterings.. Click the Northern Skunk, Skunkberry, Skunk, or Sour D links in my sig, both of which were grown in similar mixes, though the Northern Skunk mix was simpler. Also, the AK link was grown in a similar mix.

I've discovered that all those amendments, as awesome as they are, don't matter as much in an indoor grow that lasts perhaps 3-4 months. They provide your plant with adequate nutriion and really are the backbone of low maintenance soil based organic grows. In my experience and through 10 months of experimentation I can definitely say that a mix high in perlite, 50%+ (I use just under 60% presently) is the key for yielding VERY well in soil using organics. It does put more emphasis on supplying nutrition through regular feedings, and requires more frequent waterings and a keen eye, but the plants health, vigor, yield, and maturation time are all excellent, and the yield and maturation are markedly improved.

Click on the Chem D, or the Purple Kush links in my sig to see plants grown in this newer mix.

I yield 1.5:1 in my new SUPER airy mix, versus my old mix that like yours included numerous amendments. Strains I used to pull 3 ounces per 5 gallon container I can pull 4.5 from now. The only drawback is it requires more frequent watering and more maintenance, , but honestly man I just thought I'd share my experience, perlite is KEY! I'm not trying to say you should change your mix, only that like anything else it's a give and take, a delicate balance, and I've discovered I can yield better supplying the nutrition via feedings (usually guano, kelp, and compost teas) and watering more often in a perlite dom-mix.

Good luck man, just thought I'd share what I'd learned. Hope that helps!

 

[nameless]

is it me or is 1/2 cup of lime way low for all that base? you mean 1/2 c. per cf? just wondering.

 

[mad librettist]

I wonder if the cannabis that likes the airy mix wouldn't be even happier in a version of Al's gritty mix from gardenweb.

it has -
calcined clay/DE/turface
poultry grit
bark fines (pine or fir I think)
peat (I think)

that kinda thing.

 

[Bullfrog44]

etinarcadiaego - Thanks for your input. I will up my perlite, but not to 60%. I grow in smart pots and sometimes they dry out too fast. However I do like the idea of more perlite. Maybe some pumice.

Nameless - I was adding that lime to the whole mix. 8 bags of Roots Organic. Is this way too little?

Mad librettist - I will have to check that out. Doing searches now.

 

[Sir_Stickybuds]

if you mix this supersoil you will be very happy with the results.. may wanna topdress with a little of the mix about mid flower, other than that just add water n sugar product(molasses) to feed the microbes

 

[Bullfrog44]

Thanks Sir Sticky! I am going to leave a little extra room at the top of the pots for mid flower, good call! Thanks for the comment.

 

[nameless]

what size are the bags? i dont know if roots already has lime in it. seems cc would know. i mix my own soil from a peat base and add lime @ 1 cup per cubic foot. ive heard that much less than that can be used though depending.

 

[Bullfrog44]

CC - What is the soil that you use? I would love to compare that to what I am doing.

Nameless - Roots organic is 1.5 cubic feet.

 

[Clackamas Coot]

CC - What is the soil that you use? I would love to compare that to what I am doing.

Nameless - Roots organic is 1.5 cubic feet.

Bullfrog44

I recommend Vital Earth Potting Soil out of Phoenix, Oregon for someone wanting a viable soil almost ready to go. It hits the high notes (earthworm castings, thermal compost (they do their own on both humus components), organic Sphagnum peat moss from Northern Alberta and pumice (vs. perlite)).

They miss on 3 components that I want to see in a potting soil - kelp meal, crustacean meal and neem meal. No big deal adding these.

For mixing my own from the ground up it's gotten down to minimalism.............

2x Alaska Peat
1x Pumice (1/4")
1x Humus (some mix of thermal compost and earthworm castings)

That's it for the base.

Minerals - Canadian glacial rock dust, Montana soft rock phosphate, oyster shell powder and K-Mag.

Soil Amendments - alfalfa meal, fish meal, fish bone meal, crustacean meal, kelp meal, neem seed meal and probably something else I'm forgetting.

USDA has a program to help farmers move from conventional to organic/sustainable growing practices called 'National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service' which has a weekly email newsletter that will have links to several articles at their site on a wide range of topics.

Here's a link to an article about organic potting soils from that site that you might find helpful. I or you may not agree with every point made, it's still a good overall review of potting soils in general and some suggestions (with explanation) on various amendment options.

HTH

CC