Building Some TLO Soil

i'll join you for another grow RA!

i'd love ta give ya a hard time about the TLO mix but i think the REV's put you through enough gathering all those ingredients!

i'm only teasing. in cali i achieved excellent results with highly diverse mixes that were not much different.

i don't think it's infringing on any copyrights to post the ingredients from the mix. i'll do it so you won't have to shoulder the karmic burden, if there is one

without ratios it's not much of a recipe anyway.

-quality organic soil mix
-thoroughly rinsed coir
-perlite
-EWC
-organicare "pure" grow or bloom
-greensand
-ground oyster shells
-dolomite lime
-blood meal
-high N bird/bat guano
-feather meal
-bone meal
-bulb food
-soft rock phosphate
-gypsum
-kelp meal
-composted steer manure
-azomite
-humic acid ore
-alfalfa meal
-organic rice

i've been making great castings in a static bin. it's as simple as just layering compost and some of your amendments in a smart pot and adding a pound of worms. water them occassionally so they don't dry out. then in a couple months it's all worked through awesome castings.

the kitchen scraps thing never worked this well for me. easier to throw the kitchen stuff into a compost pile in the yard then build bins with that when it's finished.

um wtf is a rev?
my worms live in a 50/50 sphag/horse poo medium, and run through pounds of bokashi fermented table scraps - 60 gal bins are done in 8 weeks, who needs a compost pile ? FTW

Boyd Crowder said:

um wtf is a rev?
my worms live in a 50/50 sphag/horse poo medium, and run through pounds of bokashi fermented table scraps - 60 gal bins are done in 8 weeks, who needs a compost pile ? FTW

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The Rev is a renowned grower who also is the cultivation editor of Skunk magazine.
He earned the name "the Rev" by preaching and helping so many growers.
He has been around before the internet.
He has grown all kinds of ways settling in on what he termed "TLO" meaning true living organics.
He also is the author of a book titled True Living Organics.
He is on face book.
Ratz

learn sumn new everyday , thanks ratz

heres the recipe with ratios from skunks site.he posted it so I don't think its a secret.i 've always wonder what others thought of these ratios,seems a bit much imo.

Master Soil-Mix Recipe

BASE MIX

2 gal Quality Organic Soil-mix (or good organic recycled soil mix)
2 gal Thoroughly Rinsed Coir (coconut fiber)
2 gal Perlite (small nugget size)
2 gal Earthworm Castings (fresh earthworm castings, and/or fresh compost works too)

AMENDMENTS

1½ cup Grow or Bloom ‘Pure’ by Organicare (or 1 cup 5-5-5)
½ cup Greensand
¾ cup Ground Oyster Shells (1 cup if no crushed oyster shells)
1½ cup Crushed Oyster Shells (optional)
½ cup Dolomite Lime (powdered)
1 cup Prilled (pelletized) Fast Acting Dolomite Lime
¼ cup Blood Meal (and/or High N Bird/Bat Guano 12-8-2 N-P-K if flowering 1/8 cup of each)
¼ cup (heaping) Feather Meal
1 cup un-steamed (granular) Bone Meal (like Whitney Farms brand)
½ cup Bulb Food (3-8-8 as one good N-P-K example)
¼ cup Soft Rock Phosphate (powdered)
½ cup (heaping) Gypsum (powdered)
½ cup Kelp Meal
4 cups (heaping) Composted Steer Manure (this inoculates your mix with specialized bacteria and primo organic matter)

½ cup Azomite granular (add an additional ¼ cup greensand if no Azomite)
1 cup Humic Acid Ore granular (like from Down to Earth brand)
1 cup Alfalfa Meal (or 2 cups pellets – make sure pellets are all organic no additives)
½ cup Rock Phosphate Granular (optional)
1 cup (heaping) organic rice (important for the good fungi in this soil-mix)

This mix should be moistened (Do not get it soaking wet!) with chlorine free water, and turned over every few days, for about 15 days before use. This is what I call “cooking” your soil, and letting it get pretty dry before use, is fine. The nutrients don’t evaporate or anything, so no worries there, per storage over time. If this soil-mix turns out to be too hot (powerful) for some reason, just cut it with good bagged organic soil until you get the strength your environment and genetics demands.

I find cooking mine for about 30 days works the best for me, but I have often used it sooner, like at 2 weeks, and just remember the warmer it is outside wherever the soil-mix is at, the faster the cooking processes will happen. You can use a pH meter (soil pH meter) to tell when it is done cooking too. I wait until it is in the 6.2 – 6.8 range, which normally takes about 2 weeks, because as it kicks off cooking the pH will often be very low, like around 4.9 isn’t uncommon when it first starts to cook.

ONLY FOR USE WITH PURE WATER SOURCES, LIKE REVERSE OSMOSIS, RAIN, OR DISTILLED WATER. DO NOT USE WELL, TAP, OR SPRING WATER WITH THIS RECIPE.

This soil-mix is meant to be used along with the spike and layer TLO dynamic, and while it is quite capable of standing alone, it works supernaturally when you add the spike and layering dynamics.

Killer Spike Blends...

Spike #1 vegg
½ cup blood
½ cup steamed bone meal
½ cup high N bat/bird guano
½ cup feather meal
½ cup kelp meal
1 tablespoon ground oyster shell (optional)

Spike #2 all-purpose/flowering
½ cup feather meal
¼ cup bulb food 3-8-8
¼ cup soft rock phosphate
½ cup steamed bone meal
½ cup high P bat/bird guano
½ cup kelp meal
1 tablespoon ground oyster shell (optional)


- Revski

the secret is out ! thnx canniption!

I looked at his book in the bookstore, but the bud shots Looked like shwag so It wasn't calling out to me...

What really is swag. I believe shaw is a extremely over grown microhizaral defect in our society. I think we should all smoke kind meds. What Skip said.

Not sure what's going on, but after 2 weeks of cooking the pH is still under 5. Any ideas?

Mikell said:

Spikes and Layering?

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The spikes are basically powder versions of something like a Jobe's tree spike. There are several types based on the type of flower you're growing. The theory being that the roots have to do some work to get to them as they're placed at the outer edges of the container. The layers are either high nitrogen mixes at the top and bottom of the container or a manure layer at the bottom.

Mikell said:

Spikes and Layering?

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So after 2 weeks of cooking the pH was still in mid-high 4 range. Contacted TLO and they said it was probably due to the temp in the room being too low. Sooooo, I put a 1000W florescent a few feet above the trough and surface temp is now about 75F. Hopefully the cooking can begin for real now.

Interesting. The high nitrogen components should have heated the soil on their own if it was in an enclosed container. The biological activity of the soil, as it begins to compost, should create heat and condensation.

Perhaps you never got the media damp enough in the first place to let such bio-activity to begin?

Even when I've mixed soils on hard concrete floors in the dead of winter - it still produces heat and condensation if covered...

If you're going to put a light over your soil - you might as well plant a cover crop and let some of the bacteria in the rhizosphere begin colonizing. Just cut whatever grows at the soil surface and use it as a cover mulch when ready to plant.

Temps in a soil when first mixed can easily be around 115 F for the first week or so WITHOUT any sort of external heat source. Are you checking temps at the CENTER of the pile? That is where it will matter most.



dank.Frank

dank.frank said:

Interesting. The high nitrogen components should have heated the soil on their own if it was in an enclosed container. The biological activity of the soil, as it begins to compost, should create heat and condensation.

Perhaps you never got the media damp enough in the first place to let such bio-activity to begin?

Even when I've mixed soils on hard concrete floors in the dead of winter - it still produces heat and condensation if covered...

If you're going to put a light over your soil - you might as well plant a cover crop and let some of the bacteria in the rhizosphere begin colonizing. Just cut whatever grows at the soil surface and use it as a cover mulch when ready to plant.

Temps in a soil when first mixed can easily be around 115 F for the first week or so WITHOUT any sort of external heat source. Are you checking temps at the CENTER of the pile? That is where it will matter most.



dank.Frank

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Thanks for the advice dank frank. The trough is not covered, maybe I'll try covering it instead of using the light. I think the temps did go up the first few days since it felt a lot warmer than it does now. Go info there amigo!

It's one of the primary reasons I like inputs like alfalfa and blood meal because they accelerate composting. Lactic acid producing bacteria might help as well if you are not seeing the results you are expecting.



dank.Frank

IMO you should cover it with a breathable cloth/fabric Using a light sounds a little ....well dopey