Hi guys i recently made my own soil mix which consists of 80 litres of E.W.C, 100 litres of biobizz coco mix, 100 litres green waste compost, 30 litres of perlite and 15 litres of vermiculite.

My amendments are indonesian bat guano, fish blood and bone meal, kelp meal, gypsum and rock dust. Im still looking for somewhere to buy seabird guano and alfalfa meal in the uk.

The only thing is im unsure as to how much i should add to my soil mix so if somebody could help me with that it would be most appreciated! I dont want it too hot coz im worried about burning them. I just germed DP's blueberry and stardawg and they should be popping their heads up within the next few days.

Cheers lads.

[yts farmer]

hello terps dont know if you've seen this thread before https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?threadid=99282

might take a bit of reading but i know its mentioned as the thread is for uk peeps sharing info on where they get their supplies from.
peace.

cheers for that link mate.

[dank.frank]

So let me see if I got this right:

18 gallons EWC
22 gallons Coco
22 gallons Compost
6 gallons perlite
3 gallons vermiculite


So roughly 70 gallons of medium...where did you get this base mix from? Why is it primarily coco based? Why not peat moss vs coco? Why no peat moss at all?

Honestly, without seeing it drain, I'd be concerned with it's water hold capacity and if there was enough aeration amendment in the mix.

Have you checked these things first - before putting a bunch of amendments into the mix?



dank.Frank

The ratio was just something i thought would work so i put it together. It drains really well yet still retains water. No real reason for not using peat really, this is my first time trying real organic growing so im learning.

[dank.frank]

Got ya. Good an answer as any I suppose.

Have you chatted with VerdantGreen? He's a big organic head and is in the UK - so his advice my be more pertinent to what is available to you...

That being said, when I first started in organics, I too...went the straight guano route...and I'll admit, I didn't much care for the end product. Everything was great - except the taste - was much more earthy / chalky - than I was used to. And it was a direct result of using guano as a primary source of nutrition...

I learned as I keep progressing, that a blend of mostly plant based amendments - made my flowers taste more wind blown, and well...kinda like hay or like a corn field smells after it gets chopped to the stalks...hard to explain...

Also found that using nothing but ocean / fish based really brought out a taste I couldn't stand!!!

My point being - that what you put into your soil mix is going to have a direct impact on the flavor of your flowers...and in much the same way, all bottled nutrients do as well. Grow long enough and you can taste PBP vs A + B ... just because each product line, really does produce a noticeably different taste...

So what I found worked best for me personally, was trying to get a bit of EACH, from all different spectrums...that the more variety I put into my organic mixes, the more each strain began to express with it's own unique flavors that didn't seem to really represent a particular ingredient...but were more true of the plant itself.

So, with that background story / info - I'm going to suggest, you try and diversify your amendments. Or maybe - you don't - and you experiment and figure these things out as you go along and there is nothing wrong with that at all.

I could start rambling different things to add - but I'm across the big pond, so I'd hate to start mentioning things you'll not be able to get or find, ya know.

Maybe not the response you were looking for...but in the same light, I'm going to link you to one of my posts, that discuss basic organic mixes.

Primarily, I want you to pay attention to the link in the middle, that re-directs to BurnOne's post from the "Organics for Beginners" thread...and in that thread, are a couple of guano only feeding recipes in which I think could set you on the right course. At the same time, you'll see the list of 22 ingredients I prefer to use...yeah...22. HAHAHAHA. I don't expect people to follow in my footsteps, so to speak...but it'll at least give you an idea of what I'm rambling on about.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=258168



dank.Frank

Alfalfa can be found on eBay in pellet form you can break those down with warm water or grind it up I used it when I was messing around with brewing teas

Horse feed places ( dengie alfalfa pellets 100% pure )
It's in rabbit food it's those pellets that look like compressed grass

Blueberry is a light feeder and sensitive to nitrogen and stardawg would require a hotter mix than blueberry

[BigBozat]

Originally Posted by dank.frank

Got ya. Good an answer as any I suppose.

Have you chatted with VerdantGreen? He's a big organic head and is in the UK - so his advice my be more pertinent to what is available to you...

So what I found worked best for me personally, was trying to get a bit of EACH, from all different spectrums...that the more variety I put into my organic mixes, the more each strain began to express with it's own unique flavors that didn't seem to really represent a particular ingredient...but were more true of the plant itself.

So, with that background story / info - I'm going to suggest, you try and diversify your amendments...

Maybe not the response you were looking for...but in the same light, I'm going to link you to one of my posts, that discuss basic organic mixes.

Primarily, I want you to pay attention to the link in the middle, that re-directs to BurnOne's post from the "Organics for Beginners" thread...and in that thread, are a couple of guano only feeding recipes in which I think could set you on the right course. At the same time, you'll see the list of 22 ingredients I prefer to use...yeah...22. HAHAHAHA. I don't expect people to follow in my footsteps, so to speak...but it'll at least give you an idea of what I'm rambling on about.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=258168

dank.Frank

What he said :
(I agree wholeheartedly with the notion that diversity of soil components is a good thing! )

And I would be similarly concerned about proper aeration, water retention & drainage... your ratios seem like an awful lot of organic matter, and not enough minerals, etc...

I'd recommend:
- bump the perlite up substantially (and get to a ratio of Perlite-to-Vermiculite of 3:1 or 4:1),
- split the coco into half coco & half sphagnum peat moss,
- add sand (to 20%+ of the mix)... as well as diatomaceous earth,
- add BioChar aka horticultural charcoal (to, say, 10% of the total mix) (in the UK, Aitkens supplies, among others),
- maybe even some form of dried/ground seaweed / kelp meal? (e.g., in the UK, maybe Farmura Alginure Seanure, also avail thru Aitkens)
- maybe some forest humus and/or composted bark?
- add oyster shell flour (good Ca source in lieu of dol lime (which can risk Mg toxicity, if used too much), and maybe some dolomitic limestone, too, if the mix is low in Mg...
- add some rock dusts/powders/flours (esp. if you can find something w/ a high Ca:Mg ration; this side of the pond, I like St. George Black [https://www.rockdustlocal.com/st-george-black.html])
- add soft rock phosphate,
- add greensand (glauconite),
- add leonardite (or humates/humic acids derived therefrom)

For dry/granular ferts:
- alfalfa meal
- kelp meal
- crab/shrimp shell meal
- a couple diff. bat/seabird guanos (1 hi N, the other hi P)
- fish bone meal
- neem meal

And, of course, YMMV...

***** edit *****
Oh, yeah...
Unsulfured molasses = must!
AM fungi (arbuscular endomycorrhizae) & rhizobacteria = must, too!

@dank.frank i've not spoken to verdent green but i have been through loads of his and yours threads including the one you linked me too. alot of informative info in that thread thanks alot and 22 ingredients...wow lol but if it works for you then why not.

@Fields~of~green thanks for that mate i didnt realise you could use the pellets, i've seen them in the pet shop but i've been looking for powder,what a dope lol.

Well all the soil is in about 10 black bags atm so what i'll probably do is pot up the blueberries in the base mix so they dont burn, then just ammend each pot individualy for the stardawg when i suss out how much to put in.

[VerdantGreen]

hey terps, looks like you are getting some good advice already. i use kelp meal and rock dust at 5g per litre of soil. gypsum and dolomite at around 3g per litre.

see how you get on with the coco, i prefer peat myself but others get on fine with coco.

i use 30% peat 30% perlite, 20% ewc/compost and 20% bagged topsoil (westland is good)
you can get all sorts of good amnendments and ferts. neam meal is great (from the natural gardener) it keeps the gnats at bay and a good all round fert - i use 2g/litre.

you can do fine with just a few ingredients if you get it balanced, but as frank says diversity is a good thing to aim for.

GL

VG