MilehighGuy's Organic Soil Journal

[MileHighGuy]

It's all Good 420Man

Don't worry about the Humics just keep it rolling.

I am currently using the soil mix from the first page here.

I also have another mix that I'm going to use and also make available to my friends in a large quantity.

1 Part Sphagnum
1 Part Lava Rock
1 Part Composted Leaves, Grass, Sticks etc.

1/2 Cup Neem Per Cubic Foot
1/2 Cup Kelp Meal Per Cubic Foot
1/2 Cup Crab Meal Per Cubic Foot
4 Cups of Cal-Sul Gypsum Per Cubic Foot
I will add some Bio-Char soaked in a EWC solution.
Then top dress plants with EWC as well.

This mix was recently mixed up for less than $50 for 100 Gallons of soil. Very affordable and I'll let you know how it works. The recipe is from the 1st page of the living soil thread as suggested by ClackamasCootz.

I don't mix in any Myco's or Humics as I feel that these are better applied at transplant with myco's and during watering with the Humics.

I love the TM-7 with all the extra micronutrients combined with the uber good humics for a delivery system.... Can't go wrong with their products.

The Agsil is the most recent powdered silica that I purchased.

custom hydro nutrients dot com

Agsil16H - It is the same as Silica Blast, Pro-Tekt by DynaGro Etc.
instead of paying $15 for the most affordable and strongest solution from Dyna-Gro... This powder allows someone to mix up their own bottles at much less cost.

The Aloe Vera Juice is available at most health food stores but is expensive.

I recently started using the Organic 200x Aloe Vera Powder concentrate powder from ingredients to die for dot com Really Great stuff. 1 Gram (1 Teaspoon) Per 199 Grams water mixed makes about enough for 4 Gallons of water. Highly recommend this one.

 

[silver hawaiian]

I usually use the Barley Enzyme once per week with either (TM-7 of Ful-Power by Bio-Ag) along with some Aloe Vera Juice and Agsil16H.

MHG - great conversation about dirt workin's here. All I can garner up in my own thread is dick and fart jokes.

Do you have a link/product for the Barley Enzyme?

And also, on the Agsil16H, what's the application method you're using? Simply watering it in? Do you work it in to your soil mix (or do you plan to)?

Really what I'm getting at is .. I wonder if I could use it in my blumat rez, or if it would fall out of suspension/gum up the works..

I've worked DE into my soil mix, mostly for Si - which is why I was wondering about your plans for the Agsil..?

Really it seems like work, but while I'm filling my container I toss a few things in, taking sips of them along the way haha. If I'm lazy, Just water or I don't even check on them cause they are almost always doing perfect..... it gets kinda boring with a good soil mix.

TROOF. I was posting in my thread a while back, I've become bored enough that I was kickin' around doing a PPK project for shits and giggles..

I leave the seedlings in the beer cups about 2 weeks or until I think they will hold the soil in the cup for a smooth transplant but lately I've been very careful not to get lazy and stress them out by leaving them to long.

Good call - reminds me, I oughtta get mine outta the beer cups and into a bigger container..

I'm usually tempted to keep 'em in there longer than I might should. I've seen some of the plants folks here have finished in beer cups, and it makes me feel less guilty about pushing the limit.


Great thread MHG. Great discussion, great peeps, great information.

 

[420MAN78]

Nice i saw that you were helping a friend out with a soil mix. That one looks a little less involved. Meaning having less amendments. For sure let me know how it works out.

I got a cpl more question for ya if you can bare with me lol.

Seedlings in the beer cups do you just water them with aloe and TM-7 or just water? What is your water source and the ph of it?

Have you grown out any kush verities or cal/mag loving strains? If you have does your soil keep up or do you have to supplement with a FF? How many runs have you done with your mix?

 

[MileHighGuy]

Good to hear from you Silver!

MHG - great conversation about dirt workin's here. All I can garner up in my own thread is dick and fart jokes.

Do you have a link/product for the Barley Enzyme?

And also, on the Agsil16H, what's the application method you're using? Simply watering it in? Do you work it in to your soil mix (or do you plan to)?

Really what I'm getting at is .. I wonder if I could use it in my blumat rez, or if it would fall out of suspension/gum up the works..

I've worked DE into my soil mix, mostly for Si - which is why I was wondering about your plans for the Agsil..?

I don't have a source for the Barley Seed. I just ordered 10 lbs of seed from my local farmers co-op and they delivered a nice product. I also noticed a small pouch of nice organic barley in the sprouting section at the local healthfood store. I don't know where you can get some Purple Tibetan Barley but I've heard that has more Enzymes... but I'm not positive.

I mix up 70 grams of Agsil 16 to 16 oz. of water o dupicate the Pro-Tekt 7.8% Numbers and just pour it into my Old Pto-Tekt Bottle.

I use this to emulsify the Neem Oil.

With almost every watering at 2 Teaspooons per Gallon.

Great for PM prevention etc. Foliar at the same rate.... Love this shit!

Would work in your rez but might clog your tubes.... leaves a salty white residue in my measuring shot glass.

Silicon Links:

http://www.fngla.org/education-and-research/research/reports/75/finalreport.pdf

http://www.nutri-tech.com.au/blog/2010/06/silica-the-hidden-cost-of-chemicals/

 

[MileHighGuy]

Nice i saw that you were helping a friend out with a soil mix. That one looks a little less involved. Meaning having less amendments. For sure let me know how it works out.

I got a cpl more question for ya if you can bare with me lol.

Seedlings in the beer cups do you just water them with aloe and TM-7 or just water? What is your water source and the ph of it?

Have you grown out any kush verities or cal/mag loving strains? If you have does your soil keep up or do you have to supplement with a FF? How many runs have you done with your mix?

Yeah, less involved but all the essentials are there. I'm excited about it.

Seedlings.

Water with Aloe and Coconut water. Foliar with Ful-Power. Really though I try not to overthink it and sometimes I only water with Aloe and then water from there on out. Key is temperature and humidity.

Water source is a Water Filter on my sink. I have no Idea what the PH is... sorry, I ditched the PH pen awhile ago and haven't looked back.... The Plants control the PH through their Exudates.

The Cal/Mag idea is Complete Myth. There are no Cal/Mag hungry strains that I know of and There is Cal/mag like crazy in the the Crab Meal, and everything else in the mix. I have grown many kushes and notice no problems. The Gypsum has Plenty of Cal mag.... the earth worm castings are coated in it... bottom line is there are plenty.

Mostly those bottled nutrients are causing other issues that prevent easily absorbed Calcium and Magnesium. You'll see. I promise it will all be okay without the dolomite lime or the Cal mag foliars.

This is my first run with my current mix. My last mix went for a year solid perpetual and back to back with out re-amending at all... but going forward I think I'll be using some botanical teas and top-dressing with compost and other ingredients to keep up with a full no-till type situation. Hard to say how many cycles through each pot because I harvest 2-4 plants every 10-20 days.

 

[420MAN78]

Glad i made it over here seems like some really informative organic heads here. I'm on some other forums too but I like the vibe here or at least on the few threads i have checked out.

What kind of filter you using on your sink?

 

[silver hawaiian]

Excellent! So with the barley, are you simply tossing the dry, whole (un-cracked) barley in the tea and letting it bubble along with everything else? At what rates?

Hmm. I'm not entirely convinced it'll clog up the blumats.. I've got things churning in there enough that the Protekt hasn't been an issue (nor has anything else I've put in the rez)..

Does it seem to stay in suspension +/- as does the Protekt?

Speaking of other stuff in my rez, .. Have you ever used SM90?

 

[silver hawaiian]

MHG

On the crab shell meal, do you know if this goes "bad?" It's almost silly to type/read (why - or how?), ..

But I ask because I've got a big bucket mostly full in the shed, .. But the spot has 'em 1/2 off, .. I've been tempted to get another bucket just because, but with no use in the foreseeable future, have been holding off..

(though I will be hulking up the garden beds with it this year)

???

 

[420MAN78]

MHG i forgot to ask you where you get most of your amendments from? Kelp4less i have been looking at but don't know if they ship to canada. I can get most things at the hydro shop but they rip you off most of the time marking things up so much.

I ordered the powdered aloe you suggested. 100 bucks total including shipping. I checked out the new silica product you bought to. I'll order it after you let me know where you get your amendments in case it's from the same place.

 

[MileHighGuy]

Silver - The barley Tea is a different animal....

I sprout about two tablespoons of Barley Seed in a sprouting tray... But I'll tell you how most do it.

Take a glass jar... add the seeds fill about half way and let it soak for 12-24 hours. When that's done, drain that water away because it has growth inhibitors on it etc.

Then fill half way again or just keep barely wet.... it really doesn't matter.

Once the seeds have all sprouted fill the jar with water. I put a lid on it and crack it once per day for 3 days and then use at about 1/4 - 1/2 cup per gallon.

[Edit: Many people are adding an very small airstone to their jar to bubble the Barley for the 3 days. Cheap aquarium pumps are fine. I'll probably try this and see If I notice a difference in the end smell and appearance.]

A little goes a long way and it doesn't cost much to make. If you have a natural or organic type grocery store they will probably have a very small pouch of organic barley for sprouting that you can buy but they aren't cheap for the quantity. Look around, a few of the organic guys on here prefer the Organic Purple Tibetan Barley and that sounds cool too.

Never used SM90.

Haha I don't know if the crab meal goes bad or not.

@ 420Man

kisorganics dot com for the Neem, Kelp and Crab Meal.

The rock dust I've used from there too.... if you need to you can call and talk to them, they should help.

I recently was able to find a 50lb bag of Calcium Sulfate at my local Feed shop for horses and farming stuff. It was $9 and is Gypsum... but it doesn't really say that on the bag haha This will last a LONG time and way cheaper than shipping stuff.

I don't know where you live but you might be able to find local.... Otherwise, KisOrganics is the spot.

 

[420MAN78]

Thanks man.

Just ordered the TM-7 and Ful Power. Got it cheaper from a hydro site other then there own site. They don't ship here so i had to go with the other place.

I have a few of the amendments already though. Bio char is something i have a hard time finding.

 

[420MAN78]

It's all Good 420Man

Don't worry about the Humics just keep it rolling.

I am currently using the soil mix from the first page here.

I also have another mix that I'm going to use and also make available to my friends in a large quantity.

1 Part Sphagnum
1 Part Lava Rock
1 Part Composted Leaves, Grass, Sticks etc.

1/2 Cup Neem Per Cubic Foot
1/2 Cup Kelp Meal Per Cubic Foot
1/2 Cup Crab Meal Per Cubic Foot
4 Cups of Cal-Sul Gypsum Per Cubic Foot
I will add some Bio-Char soaked in a EWC solution.
Then top dress plants with EWC as well.

This mix was recently mixed up for less than $50 for 100 Gallons of soil. Very affordable and I'll let you know how it works. The recipe is from the 1st page of the living soil thread as suggested by ClackamasCootz.

I don't mix in any Myco's or Humics as I feel that these are better applied at transplant with myco's and during watering with the Humics.

I love the TM-7 with all the extra micronutrients combined with the uber good humics for a delivery system.... Can't go wrong with their products.

The Agsil is the most recent powdered silica that I purchased.

custom hydro nutrients dot com

Agsil16H - It is the same as Silica Blast, Pro-Tekt by DynaGro Etc.
instead of paying $15 for the most affordable and strongest solution from Dyna-Gro... This powder allows someone to mix up their own bottles at much less cost.

The Aloe Vera Juice is available at most health food stores but is expensive.

I recently started using the Organic 200x Aloe Vera Powder concentrate powder from ingredients to die for dot com Really Great stuff. 1 Gram (1 Teaspoon) Per 199 Grams water mixed makes about enough for 4 Gallons of water. Highly recommend this one.

The first part that says how many parts what measurements are these is 1 part peat the whole 3.8 cft bale? The other 2 parts how much is a part?

 

[420MAN78]

Damn forgot in the last post to say i found some bio char from a company called turtleback biochar. 5L bag is 22.99 and 15 for shipping. How much bio char are you adding to the soil mix.

 

[MileHighGuy]

Equal parts.

3.8 Cubic feet bales are perfect. Round up and This would make about 12 cubic feet.

Add 4 cubic feet Sphagnum
4 Cubic Feet Compost or Earthworm castings.
4 Cubic Feet Aeration Amendment (lava rock is cheap at my nursery...)

Just keep it all about even if you make half that much or twice that much etc....

For the Biochar I'll probably be going with a couple bags of cowboy charcoal at the grocery store.... smash it up to small perlite size and then soak it for a couple days in something good like EWC slurry or some sort of tea

All in all that mix above was like this

3.8 Sphagnum $12
4+ cubic feet of Compost $10
4+ cubic feet of Lava rock $8

Mixed on a tarp and that filled up an entire 100 gallon smart pot... I'm currently growing Clover on the top of it for fun... haha

 

[MileHighGuy]

MilehighGuy's Organic Soil Journal

Sideways I'm sure... Stupid app

 

[silver hawaiian]

Silver - The barley Tea is a different animal....



Never used SM90.

Haha I don't know if the crab meal goes bad or not.

.

Excellent, thanks! Not sure how I missed that.. (Okay, I've got a good idea..)

 

[MileHighGuy]

MilehighGuy's Organic Soil Journal

My Agent Orange x Lemon G again... I like her so far. Edit: Day 42

Some other random ladies almost finished.... Last round of the old recycled soil in this photo. Can't wait to be done with the old mix entirely.

A nice C99 that I Just put into flower.

 

[420MAN78]

Nice pics MHG.

Question which would you choose powderd gypsum that's water soluble or granular gypsum?

 

[MileHighGuy]

MilehighGuy's Organic Soil Journal

Nice pics MHG.

Question which would you choose powderd gypsum that's water soluble or granular gypsum?

Ask the guys in the ROLS thread??

I used AG Gypsum

 

[silver hawaiian]

I gotta set up camp in the ROLS thread. Done plenty of glancin' and "Okay later," but ..

MHG, what's cookin' tonight?! If you don't mind, I've got some out-aloud thinkin' to do, .. Thought this was a good place for it.

I recycle all of my dirt - and re-amend between runs, as needed, .. One a container (big ol' trash can) is full of the spent dirt, I'll dump it out, break it up, amend, mix, water, etc. The idea is to let it basically re-compost, re-cook. Again.

But here's the thing. It's in a shed, and I'll be damned if it's getting warmer'n 40 degrees here when the sun is out. Literally - it's not uncommon that I have to break up frozen clods of dirt with a spade..

Am I right in thinking that there's probably not a lot of "cooking," or biologic activity and mingling of beneficial critters doin' their thang?

Anyway - great thread MHG, great plants, and even better knowledge and discussion!