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re-charging last years soil?

Noonin NorCal

Active member
Veteran
Hello folks, its been a while. I forgot my password. It feels good to be connected once again.

Well, its a new season. I have a solexx greenhouse. Last season i got fresh soil. We did 2 runs at or about 9-10 weeks each run. The soil hasn't leached at all since we have pannels and the containers are underneath a roof. I hate to go out and buy another couple yards of fresh soil. I was wondering about getting some ammendments and try and re charge my soil i guess you can say. My buddy was trying to tell me about some fox farm bullshit, but in the past i found it to be to hot. The soil is from Cloverdale CA. Big Rootz, Thanks
 

Noonin NorCal

Active member
Veteran
Ammend with some greentrees or Dr earth 5-5-5 about a cup per 2 cubic ft,

Thanks, we picked up a 8lb bucket of Mr. B's Green Trees?, 7-4-4 last season, there is a date on it. Its expired i think? there is a number of 4-21-2017. maybe thats when it was made?

Is that the Greentrees you are talking about??
 

Easy7

Active member
Veteran
Minerals
Kelp
Some guano

And lot's of compost does wonders

I would suspect the bio life is teaming already. If not inoculated last year, doing so if in the budget, would not hurt.
 

sdd420

Well-known member
Veteran
Check the organic soil thread it has several recipes for recharging used soil aka living soil. It’s amendments for sure but you can add the beneficial microbes too check on amazon for those .
Peace sdd
 

theJointedOne

Active member
Veteran
Thanks, we picked up a 8lb bucket of Mr. B's Green Trees?, 7-4-4 last season, there is a date on it. Its expired i think? there is a number of 4-21-2017. maybe thats when it was made?

Is that the Greentrees you are talking about??

yup, they make a veg bloom and a 555 . I like it better than dr earth it has better sourced ingredients, is a bit finer milled, and is local for me. They recommend 1 cup per ft3 but i go half that since i feed with other top dress amends teas ect and also bc im amending old soil, like you. Last couple years i got the green trees recipe and bought the ingredients in bulk myself, it was a few totes for two gardens, but it was pretty easy, they call it the 'ag pack', and greentrees is just premixed and fine milled 'agpack'

Check the organic soil thread it has several recipes for recharging used soil aka living soil. It’s amendments for sure but you can add the beneficial microbes too check on amazon for those .
Peace sdd

definitely


I make a tea to water in the holes/beds/pots a few days before planting as well, activate the herd a bit
 
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bust a few bags of compost down on it an mix in with some kelp and rock dust. if you can find bio char that stuff really does wonders in the long haul. a mulch layer of leaves or wood chips on top of the bed will drastically boost microbe activity and will really help a TON with moisture retention. just some food for thought.
 

Noonin NorCal

Active member
Veteran
Thanks all, I forgot to add. That the greenhouse has 20 gallon fabric pots with drip lines to each container, No beds :( i wish i had the space to do beds though
 

Noonin NorCal

Active member
Veteran
I have a dry tea compost mixture. Its Boogie Brew, local. there is a base and boost. it calls for a half cup of each per 5 gallons of water. i was thinking of sprinkling that into the soil? my drip lines would clog if i ran a 50 gallon drum of that. Or i could hand water it into my soil, its gonna be a pain in the ass though
 

farmerlion

Microbial Repositories
Mentor
Veteran
I enjoy hand watering myself. I drive down to the lake and fill up 5 gallon containers. Early spring and late fall can be a challenge though. Tall cold waves hitting you kind of sucks, no it really sucks! But I try to enjoy every aspect of growing. My well water at the house has a very high Ph level and would quickly stress the plants. Peace
 

Sticky Sat

Active member
Rebuilding life with different compost teas would be my option. Other than that, I'm not sure if it still exists (it was in 2005) but I remember being totally amazed by the miracle a stuff called Soil Builder used to do for a soil used continuously 5 years in a row in a friend's indoor grow.
He would harvest the plants, pour some (mixed with water) around the stumps, and a week after you could pull out the left over stem with only 2 fingers cause all roots were like digested by the stuff. It was mostly leonardite, humic + fulvic acids. He used to transplant in the same pots and soil about 2 weeks after the former harvest and had great results until he was busted and barely escaped to another country... It wasn't cheap but it's a totally organic stuff and I'm sure it would be even better to help recharge soils for outdoor or greenhouses grows. If it doesn't exists anymore, it should be possible to find and reproduce the formula. I'd never seen anything like this and didn't even imagine it could exist...
 

St. Phatty

Active member
I've been parking my outdoor summer grow containers in the driveway and dumping all my food waste on top of the soil, mostly coffee grounds and banana peels.

The containers had redworms in them to begin with.

When I examined the containers last week, it was wall to wall redworms.

Re-using that soil is "Part 1".

Part 2 is mixing in forest humus I dug up during the winter. LOADED with termite and carpenter ant castings.

Part 3 would be the usual supplementation with NPK supplements, like bone meal, wood ash, and steer manure.

Part 4 is the guano tea they get, high-P seabird or bat guano (and sometimes chicken manure in solution), during afternoon waterings.

Anyway, it's kind of a slow motion re-charging, but it works.
 

farmerlion

Microbial Repositories
Mentor
Veteran
I have been using Leonardite and Icelandic kelp for amendments. Reusing last season's soil, the plants are loving it. Peace
 

clearheaded

Active member
at my local seed and feed they carry greenhouse sized ammendments find a place like that i live in a small city so if live somewhere large shouldnt be an issue. they have 25kg bags of organic nutrients.. comes in green bags bio fert or something. anyway has a balanced 1005 organic omri formula which is great for a base. 4;3;5 or something along those lines. leondorite feathermeal bat guano bone meal pelletized. although best thing to do is get those cheapo tester caps. see what the soil needs and ammend from there. but as a base and ease of use 1 bag 46 bucks cant buy bone meal for much cheaper then that.

big believer in shrimp compost chitosan plus 50% more npk then sheep manure.

get large bags of diatomacious earth used for horses. may help keep some bugs out and adds few micros and silica if u are a beleiver. RAW sells small bags of silica but its just diatomacious earth 25kg bags are cheap.

alfalpha pellets are good. if can find organic prob wise. micros aminos organic material and of course alot of N.

horses are fed kelp meal aswell cheap source. slightly more salt perhaps then liguid formulas but think benefits outweigh any issue there. actual plant will def have more enzymes and promote beneficials. folks use kelp straight off the beach so should be fine.

health food stores sell bags of micronized kelp aswell, good for heavy sprayers that can handle littel grit.

coco coir is a great amendment :) hope people move away from peat. just think about the trucks that move bulky peat from the northern tundra to cali every year. and it basically like burning coal as far as adding more carbon back to carbon cycle from being sequestered. and most places /greenhouses use once and burn.
 
I know it’s too late for this year but if you want a program that works great and is replicable year after year, check out Michael Astera’s “The Ideal Soil “. He explains how to take a basic soil test and come up for a recipe of amendments to balance the minerals. It’s great because it uses Albrect ratios, you add only what you need and you have virtually 0 mold at harvest even when neighbors lose 10%+ to mold. It cost me $500 for chicken manure and about $100 for minerals to amend 200 yards
 

Mengsk

Active member
Green trees is $43 a gallon dry geez how spoiled what a time to be alive eh. And what St. Phatty and clearheaded said.
 

farmerlion

Microbial Repositories
Mentor
Veteran
I think I'm going to all 45 gallon grow bags next season. I will have to buy some new soil to make up the difference. I will re use my existing soil a third year. Plants are doing great so far.
Peace
 

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