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Just Mixed :-)

S

StayFoolish22

Member
After a few trips to the store I finally am done with mixing soil and additives. Probably went overboard, but I am going to be giving this stuff awhile to cook and hopefully will end up with some decent dirt.

Started off with:
20 Bags Roots Organics 707 Blend
8 Bags Worm Castings
2 Bags Alaskan Humus
1 Bag Perlite

Then Added:
12.5 Cups 5-5-5 organic long release bloom blend
25 Cups Greensand
50 Cups Ground Oyster
6 Cups Dolomite(Need to add more, didn't have nearly enough)
12.5 Cups Bloodmeal
12.5 Cups High N Guano
25 Cups Feather Meal
50 Cups Precipitated Bone Meal
18 Cups Cal-Phos
50 Cups Chicken Manure
25 Cups Diatomaceous earth
12.5 Cups Trace Minerals
25 Cups Gypsum
25 Cups Kelp Meal
25 Cups Azomite
50 Cups Dry Crumbles? 6-6-5 Long release +8%Ca (seaweed, feather meal, calcium, humid acid, some other stuff)

Needed To add
2-4 More bags of castings
4 Bags of cow manure
2-4 Bags of Humus
50 Cups Rice
More dolomite, I think 45 more cups
50 cups alfalfa meal
25-50 cups granular humid acid

So, is this mega overkill, or is this going to be a decent blend. It is already mixed, just kinda went with it. Was mixing and buying additives as I thought were needed.

My plan is to cook this for 30-45 days, turning everyday, it is inside, in a 75-85 degree room. Hopefully this is not too laden in nutrients or too hot. If anyone can throw any advice or pointers my way it would be great. This is in preparation for a mega vertical grow that I am in the process of building. All in time, slow steps.

Thanks for all the knowledge everyone, much appreciated on your time and input.
 
S

SpicySativa

Member
Approx 53 cubic feet made from already semi-hot roots soil plus over 280 cups of fertilizer (just counting the primary NPK suppliers, not the rock dusts, kelp, trace minerals, etc). That's the equivalent of adding about 11 tablespoons of more or less balanced NPK fertilizer per gallon of already semi-hot soil. That is going to be a SERIOUSLY hot soil mix.

More is not always better. Hope you've chosen some heavy feeding strains!

Good luck!
 
G

Granger2

Active member
Veteran
Yes I think you're going to find that it is way too hot. I think the mix has good ingredients, but too much. Right off the bat, I would suggest adding a volume of perlite equal to the total amount of EWC, Alaska humus, manure, and all the nutrient additives. It's best to dump and stir your mix a few times during the cooking period. You can add the perlite at the time of the first stirring. You're right that you need more dolomite, and you can add that then. I don't know what kind of granular Humic Acid you're using, but if this is leonardite, I would cut that back severely. Too late now I guess. The additional perlite is for air holding in the medium, but in this case it will serve to dilute the hotness of the mix. BTW, that's a lot of work. Good show. Good luck. -granger
 
S

SpicySativa

Member
If I were you, I'd take your mix and add an equal amount of this: 1 part peat, 1 part worm castings, 1 part perlite, and dolomite lime at 1.5 TBSP/gal of mix.

Basically cutting your mix 50/50 with a pretty standard "base mix" to mellow it out. Suddenly you have 800 gallons of soil instead of 400, but I think your plants will be happier.
 
MileHighGuy

MileHighGuy

Active member
Veteran
From "The Ideal Soil"

As a rule, don’t use Dolomite lime, regardless of what you may have read in various gardening books, unless you are sure that you need Magnesium. Dolomite is a high Magnesium limestone. Using dolomite will tighten the soil, reducing air in the soil and inducing anaerobic alcohol fermentation or even formaldehyde preservation of organic matter rather than aerobic decomposition. If the soil test calls for more Magnesium, Magnesium sulfate (Epsom salts) or K-Mag (also known as Sul-Po-Mag, sulfate of potash magnesia, or Langbeinite), are generally safer and quicker acting sources of Magnesium than dolomite.
Click to expand...
 
S

StayFoolish22

Member
So the soil is looking too hot? I can roll with it. I will add 1.25 bags of perlite, big bags, to the mix tomorrow.

Im heading to the store tomorrow also for:
4 bags cow manure
1 bag alfalfa meal
2-4 bags humus
2-4 bags ewc
More neutral dirt??

I will show the guys at the growstore my recipe thus far, see what they think and use what y'all said so far.

I don't know about the doubling up and halfing the recipe down, this is meant to be a water/tea only feeding setup. A lot of the stuff is setup for long release etc. May be wrong, but i thought my calculations were right.

I added 19 cups of dolomite today, before I read not to use it. Ive been at the other house all day working on everything. Setup our outside flowerbeds, got a chicken coop going, getting our worm farm setup tomorrow.

So how much epsom salts should I add, shit question I know. I will look into it and go from there.

I figured, if I was turning the soil everyday, added some more stuff to mellow the soil just a bit, it would be golden. I am new at this all, so i have no problem being told I am an idiot and it is all wrong. I have made way more expensive mistakes before heh.

Wet the pile down a bit today, gave it a good stirring and turned the heaters on for the room to let it be.

Thanks for your time everyone, much appreciated. Love to take all this knowledge in and process it. Slow process, but one day i will understand it all.

Much love all
 
S

SpicySativa

Member
Skip the cow manure, and (sadly...) skip the alfalfa, too. I love alfalfa, and use it in every one of my mixes, but realistically you're already overloaded with nitrogen (and phosphorus and potassium).

Regarding the dolomite lime, yes, it contains a higher than ideal amount of magnesium in relation to calcium, but the piles of oyster shell (calcium carbonate) added, you should be OK on that front.

I agree that dolomite lime is way overused as the "fixer of pH problems" (most of which aren't caused by pH in the first place). I add it initially to balance the acidity of my peat moss, but I don't generally add more when I re-amend my soil for the next round once the soil biology is kicked into gear.
 
S

SpicySativa

Member
And DON'T add the Epsom salt either!!!

Seriously, stop adding things to your soil unless they are perlite, pumice, peat moss, coco coir, or compost/worm castings. It has PLENTY PLENTY PLENTY of everything plants need. More is NOT better.
 
S

StayFoolish22

Member
I was using a small pyrex dish that said 1 cup on it. Custard Size or so.

I haven't added anything heh, thats why I come here :)

I really want to add the cow manure at least >_> Just for what it contains beyond nutrients.

Thanks a bunch for the responses, I read a bunch of different soil recipes, thought about the breakdowns of each amendment, and added what I thought I needed.

2 bags EWC
2 bags washed Coir
2 bags Humus
1.25 Bags Perlite
2 bags Cow Manure

That Is what I want to stir in tomorrow. Bad Idea? I have always been a more is better person, which has worked out id say 7/10 times. >_>
 
MileHighGuy

MileHighGuy

Active member
Veteran
Haha. You'll do fine.

I always ask myself more about the ingredients, Like right here.

I really want to add the cow manure at least >_> Just for what it contains beyond nutrients.
Click to expand...

What does is contain, beyond nutrients, besides some made up word "micro-beasties"

Meanwhile, I'm wondering what those cows were being fed.

These are all the questions I ask myself.

Whats in it? How was it made? Where did it come from?

Am I really cool with all that?

Selling cars I realized you can buy some bullshit, so when I see people using cowshit, I'm like uh oh.

Either way you slice it. Redundancies are good... but you have all the bases covered with nutrients and then some.

At this point it will be about keeping the soil teeming with life than anything.

read up on a a simple compost tea.

1.5 cups EarthWorm castings
1/3 Cup Molasses
4 gallons of water
Aerate for 30 hours approximately and use that if you have any issues, and over and beyond the reasons for the cow manure.

At the end of the day, this is a resilient plant that is very simple to grow.

There really is no one way to do this right.

Maybe mix up two different mixes and see which you like better?

Either way, have fun dude!
 
S

StayFoolish22

Member
Much respect Milehighguy and SpicySativa.

Still trying to wrap my head around it all and I really like how you both broke it down. I am going to head out to the store today, grab some mild things to tone the blend down a bit, and go from there. I already have the perlite so I will just get some filler stuff and see how it turns out.

I plan to only water them plain water and teas, I know this is assumed in this section though.
 
MileHighGuy

MileHighGuy

Active member
Veteran
Sweet!

There will be many sources telling you to mix nutrients into your tea.

The purpose of the tea is to add more biology to the soil to cycle the existing nutrients in the soil.... thus effectively keeping up with a fast growing plant in a limited amount of good soil. But when you start making "nutrient teas" you start messing with the biology big time and that creates a slower system that you will then have to maintain daily.

Keep it simple. Use a basic compost tea and then tweak from a good baseline that you understand.
 
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