Organic Soil Mix Help Needed

[heady blunts]

I do not think it takes so many things

growth = humus
flowering = guano + Banana tea
Enzymes: birdseed milkshake

regards : Tiphat:

now i'm curious...

what's a birdseed milkshake? and banana tea?

 

[rrog]

Not sure but I'm damned hungry all of a sudden.

 

[the_extremist]

The SuperSoil plan is a larger 7 gallon container with really hot soil at the bottom. This seemed to me to be a simple way around the problem. I'm trying it and will see. I'll be vegging in straight Roots for maybe 2-3 weeks. Then transplanting into the seven gal pails and continuing with veg for a couple more weeks, anyway.

Super Soil rocks. Makes for big, sticky, fragrant flowers. I also use sucanat now, it's way easier to work with than molasses.

Also, I found that 10 gallon pots are even better. In 7's I was running out of gas around day 40 and had to topdress.

 

[LilMan72003]

@Bud-Monster, be very careful with the blood meal, it is a very fast acting source of N and can very easily burn your seedlings, not to mention running out before your grow is done. So you might want to add another N source that isn't so fast acting, Alfalfa meal is a great supplement as it also contains growth stimulants and can be gotten in pellet/meal mix which takes longer to break down. Also greensand takes YEARS to actually break down and release the K, so don't count on it as a valid source of K. I do use it personally but more for soil texture than a K source in a 3-4 month grow. And I don't see EWC in your mix anywhere, it is ESSENTIAL! Find the best EWC you can find and mix it into your soil at about 20%.
Also, I would use real kelp meal and skip the Maxicrop and Liquid Karma (both are just watered down versions of kelp meal) and cost too much. And the 0.5% humic acid in the LK is easily taken care of with quality EWC.

These are two very good points.

As you stated Bud-monster, if want to be able to start seedlings in this mix, you are going to need a mix that both contains enough nitrogen to carry the plants through vegetative state, while not burning the youngins. The fact of the matter is that blood meal is better used as a top dressing or watered in, as it is very high in fasting acting nitrogen (12-2-1). Alfalfa meal (3-1-2) is more balanced, sustainable, and will provide nitrogen for a longer period than blood meal. In it you will also find Vitamin A, Folic Acid, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Pantothenic Acid, and Niacin. Something to look be aware of: organic decomposition of this material by micro-bacterial activity can cause soil temperatures to increase. Not usually a problem though, unless soil mix is covered by a mulch, which can raise temps too high for microbial life.

And yes, I believe ANY proper organic soil mix should have some proportion of EWC . Anywhere between 15-30% EWC seems acceptable (some people go even higher, but then things get goopy). Though it does provide low percentages of minerals and trace elements, the importance of EWC lies in its HUMUS and HUMIC ACID CONTENT, which assists, or acts as a "catalyst", in nutrient absorption.

Hope some of this information is helpful.

Cheers!

 

[the_extremist]

+1 for worm turds. I use 60 lbs in every batch of soil I mix up. They really are the miracle amendment, imho.

 

[grapeman]

Here's the recipe I'll be following again:

RECIPE #1

If you want to use organic nutrients like Blood meal, Bone meal and Kelp meal...
Dry Fertilizers:

1 tablespoon Blood meal per gallon or 1/2 cup per cubic foot of soil mix
2 tablespoons Bone meal per gallon or 1 cup per cubic foot of soil mix
1-tablespoon kelp meal per gallon or 1/2 cup per cubic foot of soil mix
or Maxicrop 1-0-4 powdered kelp extract as directed
(OPTIONAL) 1 tablespoon per gallon or 1/2 cup per cubic foot of Jersey Greensand or Azomite to supplement the K (potasium) in the Kelp Meal and seaweed extract.

Mix all the dry nutrients into the soiless mix well and wet it, but don't soak it. Use Liquid Karma and water @ 1 tbs./gal. Stir and mix it a few times a week for a week or two so the bacteria can get oxygen and break down the nutrients and make it available. And don't let the mix dry out, keep it moist and add water as needed. It'll also have time to get the humic acids in the Liquid Karma going and the dolomite lime will be better able to adjust the pH of a peat based mixture too.

With this recipe, all you need to do is add plain water until harvest.
-------------------------------------------------------------

Instead of seperate Blood meal and Bone meal I'm going to go for FishBloodBone mix which is much cheaper for me (thankyou 99p shop), it is also 5-5-5 so well balanced.

My question is - I have made up 20 litres of soil mix as follows (45% Coir + 25% Black Gold + 30% Perlite).

20 litres is (/3.78) = 5.3 us gallons

Should i be adding 3 tbsp of fish blood and bone per gallon, which is the combined amount from the above recipe or is this too much. That would be 3tbsp x 5.3gallons= 16 tablespoons in 5.3 gallons. Baring in mind that:

1. I will be growing from seedling to harvest in it (no veg) and
2. The soil will of course be left to "cool" for about 6 weeks prior to use.
3. Containers only hold about 1ltr of medium

also at 2tbsp per gallon that works out at 10tbsp of Lime to 20 litres, sound about right?

Thanks for your help guys

The longer you let your soil "cook" before use the better. I've seen a big difference between waiting 2 weeks and waiting 2 months. 2 months always works better. I've also seen when using your mix (which I still use), that the first run or two the plants were always happier with a little fertilizer as all the nutrients may not be available during your first run. I used neptunes harvest fish fert a few times at about 1/2 rate.

 

[gOurd^jr.]

The worm castings are indeed the bomb, no doubt about it. 20-30% in the mix will kick ass.
You can topdress the castings too during veg or flower for a little boost. In a 5-10gal cloth pot a handful only picks things up for a few days, but maybe your case would not be so short-lived. in a 1L pot you would probably just need a Tbsp or maybe two during peak flower.
I can also say great results from doing the same(though a bit more carefully!) with a tiny bit of dry chicken poop in veg or early flowering, and some Bat Guano (0-12-1) during mid-late flower. I got a 40lb bag of locally pooped organic chicken poop for 10$ at my local hardware store. sold as lawn fertilizer its (5-3-2). Killer deal. Stuff is fast acting and can burn if overdone though so I just use a little sprinkle along with some EWC. Great cheap way to beef up the mix too though, and I use it for that. if you have some time for it to break down in your soil it wont be so hot for the seedlings. Alfalfa meal I've had good success with too and like mentioned its slower/longer acting, if you can mix them both your even better.
I'm just getting into the Fermented Plant Extracts with all the wildflowers around my place and unless your in the heart of a city you can probably find plenty of wild ferts for a small set-up like that. Free ferts growing wild around you? any dandelions around? red clovers? yarrow? throw some flowers in a jug of water for a week or two and presto you made free ferts! just be sure to dilute them down and know what kind of plants your using don't just go grab anything. Check out the Nettle Tea thread and Fermented Plant Extracts.

One more good tip: Dry molasses will speed up your soil cooking process drastically! The microbes in the soil (especially Bacteria I'm told) go bonkers when they get some sugar fed to'em! It's also real cheap (20$/50lb) and contains some good minerals particularly Magnesium and Iron. 6 weeks should be plenty without it given good summer temps but last batch of soil I mixed with chicken poop and molasses (+ Kelp&Azomite) heated up like a compost pile for a few days during which I turned it several times and within a week it was cooled back down and smellin great. I'm glad I waited until after to add my Wormcastings cause that pile was seriously hot! I don't know if it could have hurt the microbes in the castings but I'm glad they skipped the hot step. Still sitting for another 6 weeks anyway while the current plants finish. If you find yourself needing soil in a hurry though you might try it out.

Sounds like your well on track. good luck!