Guerrilla Soil Amendments

DuskrayTroubador · Apr 8, 2017

Howdy everyone :tiphat:

I want to discuss in this thread essential soil amendments for guerrillas. Obviously each person's needs will be different depending on their native soil and environment, but what most guerrillas have in common is that they can't logistically haul large amounts of heavy soil into where they'll be growing, and so they've got to haul in amendments to make their native soil as suitable as they can.

Like many others, the native soil I'm working with has lots of clay -- a mattock makes digging through this and breaking it up much easier than using a shovel. Because of my environment, I also can't use any animal-based amendments (no blood, bone, or fish) because critters and large animals alike will come and dig the soil & plants up.

Here are my main amendments that I'm planning on rolling with this year:

-Pulverized lime (raise calcium and quickly adjust ph)

-Local compost (nothing blood, bone, or fish, but manure is cool. Can't make my own this time around, any particular recommendations on what specifically I should use? I'm curious about mushroom compost, but I'll probably go with good old cow or chicken shit. I may also topdress with bat guano before flowering)

-Insect frass 2-2-2 (great source of all sorts of micronutrients as well as chitin, which is perhaps even more important because it gets the plant's SAR going to help fend off insects and disease)

-Rice hulls/lava rock/sand (whichever I can get cheaper) for aeration.

-Gypsum ( *if necessary* to increase calcium and break up the clay).

I'm probably going to go a little light on the compost for logistical reasons, and heavier on the insect frass because it's very light in comparison. Aside from compost, all of these amendments are pretty light.

Am I missing anything essential?

NemanHarpoon · Apr 10, 2017

Hey Duskray,

Now I'm confused,I thought that blood and bone meal also would work as the deer/rabbit repellent. In some deer repellent products that I came across ,blood is listed as the main ingredient.

'Boogieman' · Apr 10, 2017

Your mix sounds good DuskrayTroubador. Personally I won't go without kelp meal in my soil and I avoid adding sand too clay. I like to mix compost and sphagnum peat moss together and add gypsum and oyster shell powder and your other ammendments when I'm working with clay. The sphagnum peat moss helps lighten the load of the soil and conditions clay soil well.

Bud Green · Apr 10, 2017

My native soil is a sandy red clay and lots of rocks. (mostly sandstone)
Once my holes have been dug, rocks removed and clay broken up in very small pieces, I add compost, old cow manure and other material to keep the soil from compacting again...
The first year is always the hardest, but once your holes are established, it's easy to maintain them to use year after year..(security permitting)

After that, each year I amend a month before transplanting by adding NPK and micros by using cottonseed meal, bone meal and wood ashes.. (NPK)
I use pulverized crab shell and eggshell for calcium and chitin and Epson salt for magnesium...
I mix the proper ratios of these at home, and carry it in all mixed up, with a measuring can for getting the right amount in each of my large holes...

I also mulch with oak leaves and dry green grass and weeds, and other organic material all year round, while the plants are growing and over the winter on the empty holes...
This mulch slowly breaks down and is mixed into the holes each Spring to keep the good soil loose and full of organic material...

Joint Lock · Apr 10, 2017

Kelp and manures anything else is asking to be dug up . Bone meal and blood meal is asking for it . Blood meal is a deer deterent but a raccoon or possum will dig through it bloodmeal is used is nylons hung in trees for deer repellent

Myself I use Kelp and rabbit manure works wonders maybe a lil Epsom salt and perlite

Easy7 · Apr 10, 2017

Coir can be brought in when it's the compacted type.

Oyster shell
Compost
Guano
Kelp
Rock dust
Inoculants
Humic acid
A little garden lime
Clover seed for companion
Perlite
Goat poo

NemanHarpoon · Apr 10, 2017

Joint Lock said:
...bloodmeal is used is nylons hung in trees for deer repellent

Myself I use Kelp and rabbit manure works wonders maybe a lil Epsom salt and perlite

Thank you for an idea!

DuskrayTroubador · Apr 12, 2017

NemanHarpoon said:
Hey Duskray,

Now I'm confused,I thought that blood and bone meal also would work as the deer/rabbit repellent. In some deer repellent products that I came across ,blood is listed as the main ingredient.

Joint lock it the nail on the head. Deer won't dig it up, but other critters will go straight for it.

'Boogieman' said:
Your mix sounds good DuskrayTroubador. Personally I won't go without kelp meal in my soil and I avoid adding sand too clay. I like to mix compost and sphagnum peat moss together and add gypsum and oyster shell powder and your other ammendments when I'm working with clay. The sphagnum peat moss helps lighten the load of the soil and conditions clay soil well.

Peat moss sounds like a good idea. What is the benefit of kelp meal? I've heard some people sing its praise, others have said it's snake oil.

Bud Green Sr. said:
My native soil is a sandy red clay and lots of rocks. (mostly sandstone)
Once my holes have been dug, rocks removed and clay broken up in very small pieces, I add compost, old cow manure and other material to keep the soil from compacting again...
The first year is always the hardest, but once your holes are established, it's easy to maintain them to use year after year..(security permitting)

After that, each year I amend a month before transplanting by adding NPK and micros by using cottonseed meal, bone meal and wood ashes.. (NPK)
I use pulverized crab shell and eggshell for calcium and chitin and Epson salt for magnesium...
I mix the proper ratios of these at home, and carry it in all mixed up, with a measuring can for getting the right amount in each of my large holes...

I also mulch with oak leaves and dry green grass and weeds, and other organic material all year round, while the plants are growing and over the winter on the empty holes...
This mulch slowly breaks down and is mixed into the holes each Spring to keep the good soil loose and full of organic material...

I might also have to look into epsom salt. Do you think a covercrop (and trimming it and letting it lay like mulch) would accomplish the same thing as the mulching that you do?

Joint Lock said:
Kelp and manures anything else is asking to be dug up . Bone meal and blood meal is asking for it . Blood meal is a deer deterent but a raccoon or possum will dig through it bloodmeal is used is nylons hung in trees for deer repellent

Myself I use Kelp and rabbit manure works wonders maybe a lil Epsom salt and perlite

I try not to hang anything from trees -- could serve as an indicator (or something worth getting a closer look at) to someone passing by in the near distance.

Robrites · Apr 12, 2017

As far as blood and bone meal goes, put it in a month before planting. Coyotes will visit and dig a bit but once they realize there is nothing to eat there, they leave it alone.

VonBudí · Apr 13, 2017

alfalfa instead of blood bone. See if theres any dynamic accumulator plants nearby that can be chopped/dropped. thinking of grabbing some soya hulls/beet pulp for water retention.
sulphate of potash,superphosphate,calcified seaweed, rock dusts,vitax?

Easy7 · Apr 13, 2017

Kelp helps plants when transplanted. Also has hormones, macros and micros. Humic acids and kelp help plants tolerate stress.

Buddah Watcha · Apr 13, 2017

Down to Earth - Vegan Mix, no animal by products and very good! You can probably find big bags on amazon for a decent price! Mix that with some compost and promix and you good to go! Always did me good! Just cage your plants for the first few months... peace and good luck!

baduy · Apr 13, 2017

I work my holes straight after havest time so leaving the soil undisturbed till replanting. As said before if you do so boars,racoons etc might dig in your holes just after you came but will forget it next spring. I take several garbage bags and I collect on the way to my spot. Instead of bringing coco coir I collect rotten wood to make my calcareous clay more water retentive, wormcastings from forest soil and nettle spots (you can get a big quantity easily while walking) those wormcastings are basically good local topsoil plus all the microbes from the worm digestive system. Each hole gets a half garbage bag of wormcastings from the surrounding, a big bag of rotten wood another big bag of decayed leaves all mixed with the best part of the native soil. The only things I bring aresmall ones, a little kelp, mycorhizal fungi, lactobacillus to make sure the buried wood will be evenly decomposed when I come back, a handful of scrapped drywall per hole
Let it cook for 6 months and come back for planting
On top of each hole I drop at least three bags of dried leaves,pine needles and/or bark (depending on what I find on the way) as a mulch
I don't use much nutrients especially no phosphorous as added phosphorous like bat guano is killing fungi, fungi provide phosphorous to the plant instead
I rely a lot on EM during grow season
One thing I'm thinking about is making bokashi compost on site with dead leaves and...hum...human manure.
AlsoI don't know about the vegatation in your area but you can learn to spot the specific plants of your area under which the soil is rich in insect dungs. In my place it's Arundo Donax, top soil underneath is half made of tiny little round black dungs which are great for a top dressing along with wormcastings. Bamboos are good too usually.

Easy7 · Apr 14, 2017

Rotten tree logs are great to add to soil. They add a bit of potassium. Some fungi really love it and never had bugs in it.

baduy · Apr 14, 2017

Easy7 said:
Rotten tree logs are great to add to soil. They add a bit of potassium. Some fungi really love it and never had bugs in it.

Yes.yu just need to make sure it's well rotten If not enough it sucks out nitrogen from the soil but past this point it gets perfect.
And you feel much more confident entering the bush with just a few plastic bags in your pocket than carrying a big backpack in case someone sees you. you just look like a mushroom hunter going in the woods and are ready to have a nice small talk with anybody you might encounter.

Kygiacomo!!! · Apr 21, 2017

the vegan mix is good i used it last year. u could also use a bit of neem seed meal as it will have azadiractin in it and will help with bug control.

VonBudí · Apr 21, 2017

has anyone tried a no cook soil recipe approach?dig a hole, amend & plant immediately?

DuskrayTroubador · Feb 18, 2018

VonBudí said:
has anyone tried a no cook soil recipe approach?dig a hole, amend & plant immediately?

That's basically what I've always done. In my experience it works fairly well as long as you stay away from the hot-hot-hot amendments that need time to "cook" (though I think "cool" is the more appropriate term).

Regarding the humic acid: does it need time to settle once you use it? I've read some more about it and it seems like some serious shit, but the application directions refer to using it on acreage. So I'm a little worried about overdoing it on holes that are a few feet in diameter...

Also, thanks for the comments everyone!

DuskrayTroubador · Feb 18, 2018

Also, how much kelp meal should one use for holes 3' in diameter and 18" deep?

...should I just go with the trusty ol' handful?

Easy7 · Feb 19, 2018

Never used too much kelp. It's more about budget and getting the best bang for the buck.

Guerrilla Soil Amendments

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