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Living organic soil from start through recycling
- Thread starter Gascanastan
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invocation
Member
And yes, I have used straight compost as a top dress instead of EWC. Worked just fine.
a little anaerobic smell shouldnt hurt much if any and yeah a little aeration {mixing} fixes it
we tend to fear the scary anaerobes ~perhaps more than necessary
NSM=neem seed meal
invocation dont want to name a 'school' of "organic" gardening but it is typically held that compost is not suitable for container amending unless it is 'finished' which is difficult for the amateur to quantify and discouraged
i have always thought {in spite of buying in to that 'school'} that finished compost can be estimated by texture {dont recognize what went in anymore} and smell {earthy not 'rot' or 'dead' or 'icky'} and had success since the mid 90s using my own compost in my container mixes
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Durdy
The last batch of soil I mixed up was only mixed once to get everything nice and homogenous. It was than placed in two 25 gallon smart pots and planted with a cover crop (oats, vetch, winter pea, rye, and barley). At 4 weeks the cover crop was chopped and dropped and top dressed with EWC / COMPOST then sprayed with molasses tea.
Two weeks later the green material was mostly broken down, and the quality / texture of the soil below was awesome! Very Loamy. The soil smelled earthy and sweet, no smells from the neem cake or fish products were detectable.
Some very root bound plants were transplanted into these pots. The J-ones are taking off like a bat out of hell! Dark green and beautiful. The God's Gift looks like it has some burn and is growing but not as fast (that being said J-one grows very quickly and from what I've seen of the GG it's pretty slow)
Two weeks later the green material was mostly broken down, and the quality / texture of the soil below was awesome! Very Loamy. The soil smelled earthy and sweet, no smells from the neem cake or fish products were detectable.
Some very root bound plants were transplanted into these pots. The J-ones are taking off like a bat out of hell! Dark green and beautiful. The God's Gift looks like it has some burn and is growing but not as fast (that being said J-one grows very quickly and from what I've seen of the GG it's pretty slow)
B
BlueJayWay
Yes!
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Durdy
@Shmalphy - It's a blend I buy. I actually have a big ole bag of Dutch white Micro Clover I throw in with the mix sometimes too. I feel like it just gets over taken by everything else though.
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Durdy
I got 50# of each, one was a tad more expensive, I think it was the coarse.
Not sure though.
Not sure though.
B
BlueJayWay
Cascade minerals is the place to look up right guys? From there find the local rep im guessin,
S
schwagg
that's what i would do bjw.
about the basalt, i thought they just changed the texture of the product. i looked at three different bags today and couldn't find anything that said coarse or fine. the bags i used in the past had more of sandy texture while the newer ones seem like crumbles and then alot of fine powdery looking stuff. hmm.... still a great product either way!
about the basalt, i thought they just changed the texture of the product. i looked at three different bags today and couldn't find anything that said coarse or fine. the bags i used in the past had more of sandy texture while the newer ones seem like crumbles and then alot of fine powdery looking stuff. hmm.... still a great product either way!
Cann
Member
BJW I know the rep and can give you his contact info if you want.
Durdy - are you sure the fine was cheaper?? Seems like it would be more costly for them to produce the fine vs the coarse (one more stage of sifting or crushing or whatever). Weird.
Schwagg you are correct that none of the bags are labeled "coarse" or "fine" (or at least mine arent) but there has to be some way that the manufacturer is differentiating the two. At least I would think so...
Durdy - are you sure the fine was cheaper?? Seems like it would be more costly for them to produce the fine vs the coarse (one more stage of sifting or crushing or whatever). Weird.
Schwagg you are correct that none of the bags are labeled "coarse" or "fine" (or at least mine arent) but there has to be some way that the manufacturer is differentiating the two. At least I would think so...
D
Durdy
Not sure at all lol
Yes... the only items in the Lawn & Garden section at NAPA.com are spark plugs...
NAPA #8822 is made by EP Minerals http://epminerals.com/index.html, they have a whole line-up of products designed specifically for horticulture/agriculture purposes... Floor-Dry is not primarily intended for soil building. And I can't help but think it is the "left-over" material swept up off the floor at their packing plant.
their horticulture grade Calcined DE product Axis, has 20x more plant available water (PAW) capacity than any Calcined clay counterpart... like Turface. Otherwise, the product is inert like perlite.
Calcined clay products like Turface, have a CeC (Turface = CEC of 33 meq/100g) since it is clay. Otherwise, the product is inert like perlite.
both are porous, water absorbent aeration amendments and function very similar to perlite.
but, between the two... personally, I would go with the clay product myself and leave the oil absorbent stuff at the auto parts store.
The oil absorbent that I got says right on it that it is for use as a potting soil additive. It wasn't the NAPA stuff, but it looked the same, just from a closer store.
I plan to try using it in the place of vermiculite in making mushroom cakes to avoid the asbestos concerns associated with it. Instead of asbestos I will breath silica dust. Moving up in the world!
Oil Dri says you can use their product to mix with soil to help retain water.
http://icemeltchicago.com/spill-absorbent.php
I plan to try using it in the place of vermiculite in making mushroom cakes to avoid the asbestos concerns associated with it. Instead of asbestos I will breath silica dust. Moving up in the world!
Oil Dri says you can use their product to mix with soil to help retain water.
http://icemeltchicago.com/spill-absorbent.php
invocation
Member
Got an issue and so glad to be planning on using my new soil asap. My toxic ass Supersoil burnt my Gods Gift plants and I'm pretty pissed hehe. I ripped those out and decided that I better start using my new soil when I transplant my new seedling to 7 gal pots in the next 2 days. The new soil has been curing for a week so I'm sure it's good to go.
Now my question is, do I toss out that hot ass shit (Super Soil) or do I incorporate small amounts in my new soil like a top dress?
Now my question is, do I toss out that hot ass shit (Super Soil) or do I incorporate small amounts in my new soil like a top dress?
SpicySativa
Member
Did your Supersoil only cure for a week, too? That ain't long enough at all (in my opinion). I shoot for at least 2 months (1 month being the bare minimum).
What amendments did you add to your new soil thats only sat for a week?
invocation
Member
No way I've used super soil many times it's just some strains don't like it. It's way too hard to guess how much to use and from my new knowledge thanks to everyone here, it sounds to me that it doesn't make sense to begin with. I get good results when running strains that can take it.
New soil:
Per cubic ft:
1/3 Sphagnum Peat from Premier Peat
1/3 Aeration material verm perlite DE (had these materials already)
1/3 EWC/Compost (Bioflora Kelp and fish)
4 cups Glacial rock dust
1/2 Cup Neem Meal
2 Cups Kelp Meal
2 Cups Fish Bone Meal
1/2 Cup Alfalfa
1/2 Cup powdered dolomite lime
1/2 Cup agricultural gypsum
Crab meal comes today so I plan to mix it.
D
dogfishheadie
sigghhh....shipper couldn't come with my order of pumice. going to have to go with lava rock from the big box store. looks to be about an inch or so, should I break it smaller? also, will I need to wash / rinse it before I mix in?
Much appreciated!
Much appreciated!
G
greenmatter
do you have a landscaping company in your area? if they have a pile of lava rock there is always a layer of "fines" at the bottom.
a 12 pack of beer is a great tool when you are asking a front loader driver to do you a favor
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