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Growing with purely peat, pumice, compost and worm castings?

R

RenaissanceBrah

Active member
I've read that all you really need is good compost (Bu's Blend) and good worm castings to grow... hoping to put that to the test :)

If I'll be growing using strictly an equal mix of peat moss, pumice and (compost + EWC), how well would my plants grow with that mix?

(Not looking for huge yields or super potency, growing for strictly positive effect, I don't mind lower potency).

I have an organic worm bin I've been cultivating for the past 8 months, so I have a ton of worm castings.

Just wondering about the ratios... For the compost part of the mix, should I do 50/50 mix of compost and worm castings? Or how should the worm castings play into the equation?

I picked up 10 three-gallon fabric pots, want to run them alongside my 30-gallon no-till pots, and plant regular seeds. If I get males, they'll be easier to move to another location, and the females I can just leave. Want to start playing with making my own seeds :blowbubbles:
 
Bio boy

Bio boy

Active member
Google coots. Mix


Ur almost there but missing a few amendments.



Its compost airation peat 33% equal the compost is only good if u follow the guides of composting.



They are wha u feed.

But ur missing ph stabilisers dolomite
Oyster shell

Neem
Kelp
Chittin
Crabmeal

Biochar
Etc
 
Azeotrope

Azeotrope

Well-known member
Veteran
I might go with 1/3 ewc/compost, 1/3 peat, 2/3 coco

Peat is really a shitty growing medium. Too hydrophobic, compacts too easily, breaks down, and the environmental imoact of harvesting peat is fairly disturbing
 
Bio boy

Bio boy

Active member
Coco is worse than peat.

Same hf reaction. Compacts down even when airated and locks ca and k easily causing deficincys.

It also has a bad harvest worse thsn peat tbh. And if it dryes out goodluck making it wet again when roots haven grown in it



Btw im a coco grower.
 
Switcher56

Switcher56

Comfortably numb!
I guess the question could have been have you grown before? Each time you grow there are lessons learned that can be applied to increase efficiency. OTOH, there is a lot of "bogusness out there as well", all dependent on environment and growing conditions.
 
G

Guest

Man ... Switcher might be saying, that: The Learning is in the Doing!
 
R

RenaissanceBrah

Active member
Switcher56 said:
No! I am saying stop chasing rainbows!!
Click to expand...

I thought I was supposed to stop chasing waterfalls!

I don't chase rainbows, I taste them. The telly has assured me of at least that much.

You're right, I do read too much. I made some big fuckups in the past though and I guess I don't want to repeat them, so I try to read up as much as I can.

That being said, I did my first no-till grow with coot's mix, it worked well enough, I guess I'll stick to that. Experience is the best teacher, that's true
 
Switcher56

Switcher56

Comfortably numb!
RenaissanceBrah said:
I thought I was supposed to stop chasing waterfalls!

I don't chase rainbows, I taste them. The telly has assured me of at least that much.

You're right, I do read too much. I made some big fuckups in the past though and I guess I don't want to repeat them, so I try to read up as much as I can.

That being said, I did my first no-till grow with coot's mix, it worked well enough, I guess I'll stick to that. Experience is the best teacher, that's true
Click to expand...
So true :) We all started somewhere and we all fumbled out of the gate. My 1st run was VPD. I thought it was some kind of STD, LOL. Looked it up, understood it, applied it and woila. A part of history.

I come to find out that some folks go helter skelter at times and forget the simple basics. Then, they try this, that and well that didn't work etc... Before I change course drastically I need the answer to why? And, when I do change something it is only one thing at a time. If you do 2 or 3 and not all goes well, which one of the 3 didn't work so well or was it 2 etc...

I am disappointed with my current run, well 1/2 of it. I thought I could exceed the previous one but I didn't. That being said I grew Bd and Dt. The Dt I grew before without any issues, and sure enough I beat my previous harvest, with my manifold technique. Can't say the same for Bd though. I never grew her before, but considering the successes I have had manifolding various strains, I have to blame it at this point in time to piss poor seeds. It took 4 beans to get 2 plants and, 1 was a runt. The good one never stacked. So I will acquire different genetics and retry. If... I have increased my yields with everything else, I have to conclude with almost certainty it was the beans fault, since I haven't modified my technique after fine tuning it the 1st couple of runs. :tiphat:
 
xerb

xerb

Member
You're on the right track

You're on the right track

RenaissanceBrah said:
I thought I was supposed to stop chasing waterfalls!

I don't chase rainbows, I taste them. The telly has assured me of at least that much.

You're right, I do read too much. I made some big fuckups in the past though and I guess I don't want to repeat them, so I try to read up as much as I can.

That being said, I did my first no-till grow with coot's mix, it worked well enough, I guess I'll stick to that. Experience is the best teacher, that's true
Click to expand...

Just give that soil time. Keep feeding it.

As far as peat is concerned, it is found in peat bogs in a self preserving state, pickled so to speak in humic and fulvic acids.
These are the compounds every plant on earth is looking for.
Peat has already broken down to an incredible level - it takes thousands of years to get to this state.

I have great respect for the Hawaiian biome and the ganga produced there. I have often wondered about the lava rock which forms a base for all soils there. I used to find ornamental lava rock for free on Craigslist and crush it. Put a layer down on your cement driveway and then put a piece of plywood on top. Run your car over it everytime you pull into the driveway.

Much easier, buy lava rock crushed down to the size you want.
It is heavier than perlite, but in no-tills who cares?

Your proposed simple mix is almost there, as others have mentioned, add a few more amendments and you're there.

But you already know this stuff if you used CC's suggestions for your no-till soil...
 
C

CrushnYuba

Well-known member
RenaissanceBrah said:
I've read that all you really need is good compost (Bu's Blend) and good worm castings to grow...
(Not looking for huge yields or super potency, growing for strictly positive effect, I don't mind lower potency).
Click to expand...

If you don't mind shitty yields and potency, it's fine. Plants probability won't be that healthy. They will be hungry but they will survive. You will get the poor yield of deficient low potency ganja you are looking for.. But can i ask why? Why not just have healthy well fed plants
 
Switcher56

Switcher56

Comfortably numb!
xerb said:
Just give that soil time. Keep feeding it.

As far as peat is concerned, it is found in peat bogs in a self preserving state, pickled so to speak in humic and fulvic acids.
These are the compounds every plant on earth is looking for.
Peat has already broken down to an incredible level - it takes thousands of years to get to this state.

I have great respect for the Hawaiian biome and the ganga produced there. I have often wondered about the lava rock which forms a base for all soils there. I used to find ornamental lava rock for free on Craigslist and crush it. Put a layer down on your cement driveway and then put a piece of plywood on top. Run your car over it everytime you pull into the driveway.

Much easier, buy lava rock crushed down to the size you want.
It is heavier than perlite, but in no-tills who cares?

Your proposed simple mix is almost there, as others have mentioned, add a few more amendments and you're there.

But you already know this stuff if you used CC's suggestions for your no-till soil...
Click to expand...
I have 2 willows that shed on my property. A sweat willow (neighbours) and a weeping willow mine. Leaves are galore around here and a complete PITA. That being said, I collect the decomposition of those leaves both, on the patio and my shed gutters and add that to my (finished) compost bin.
 
R

RenaissanceBrah

Active member
xerb said:
Just give that soil time. Keep feeding it.

As far as peat is concerned, it is found in peat bogs in a self preserving state, pickled so to speak in humic and fulvic acids.
These are the compounds every plant on earth is looking for.
Peat has already broken down to an incredible level - it takes thousands of years to get to this state.

I have great respect for the Hawaiian biome and the ganga produced there. I have often wondered about the lava rock which forms a base for all soils there. I used to find ornamental lava rock for free on Craigslist and crush it. Put a layer down on your cement driveway and then put a piece of plywood on top. Run your car over it everytime you pull into the driveway.

Much easier, buy lava rock crushed down to the size you want.
It is heavier than perlite, but in no-tills who cares?

Your proposed simple mix is almost there, as others have mentioned, add a few more amendments and you're there.

But you already know this stuff if you used CC's suggestions for your no-till soil...
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing the lava rock anecdote, I've heard great things about hawaiian-grown ganja and never thought about adding lava rock to try to recreate it, but it sounds promising.

How much crushed lava rock would you suggest adding? Or would you say just add 10 gallons of lava rock instead of pumice?

Here's my (current) soil mix (going to mix up a bit more soon, for some smaller 3-5 gallon pots):

Base Mix (1/1/1)
10 gallons Malibu's Bu's Blend
10 gallons Canadian Sphagnum Peet moss
10 gallons Pumice (or Lava Rock, or Perlite)

Amendments (4 cups = 0.95 Liters) (1 cup = 0.24L)
4 Cups Kelp Meal
4 Cups Crab/Crustacean Meal
4 Cups Malted Barley Powder
2 Cups Gypsum
4-6 Cups Basalt (1.42 Liters)
6-8 Cups Activated Biochar (1.9 Liters)
4 Cups Lime
 
flylowgethigh

flylowgethigh

Non-growing Lurker
ICMag Donor
Bio boy said:
Google coots. Mix


Ur almost there but missing a few amendments.
Click to expand...

What he said, you can call buildasoil folks and they will hook you up. Specifically plan 1 Coots mix (or is it 2?). I am totlly new at this, and one week into making mine. There are nutes you should also get.

They are great people to work with.
 
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