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Clackamas Coot Mix Wrong Ratio

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bertbkill

New member
I have made 2 cu ft of clackamas mix but i have used double the ratio suggested with some of the amendments. I am still cooking this soil and will be for a while. I dont imagine i will burn my plants in this soil as long as it cooks for a while?

1/3 perlite
1/3 coco coir
1/3 compost
2 cups kelp meal
2 cups crab meal.
2 cups soy bean meal
1 cup black earth humus
1 cup soft rock phosphate
1/2 greensand
1/2 dolomite lime
8 cups rock dust
 

Granger2

Active member
Veteran
Bert,
Did you double some of them intentionally or by accident? Yeah, you could just add more base ingredients, and adjust up the stuff you didn't double. Good luck. -granger
 

xmobotx

ecks moe baw teeks
ICMag Donor
Veteran
the cootz mix will work better @ 1/2 strength than full strength ~let alone double

you could mix your stuff w/ a bale of pro-mix {NOT the pre-amended choices} & it would be real nice
 

heady blunts

prescription blunts
Veteran
coot's mix is 1:1:1 base mix---peat, compost, aeration.

per cubic foot add

1/2 c neem seed meal
1/2c kelp meal
1/2c crab shell meal

1 cup rock dust
1 cup basalt
1 cup oyster shell powder
1 cup gypsum

if you follow this recipe to the letter you shouldn't need to cook it.

i use a modified coots mix and i plant seeds in the same soil i use to flower full sized plants.

for the OP's mix i would follow granger's advice and add more base to compensate for the things you added too much of.

i wouldn't consider op's soil a coot mix since several ingredients coot recommends against have been included.
 

v7ej207

Member
I personally don't like the ratio in that mix. I prefer 3.1.1
I'm headng that way too. The 1:1:1 ratio assumes you have nearly perfect compost. Greater peat ratio seems to be more foregiving of compost quality, at least that is what I'm seeing.
 

Weird

3rd-Eye Jedi
Veteran
FWIU over 10% ewc maximum efficiency is lost, I would think compost has a relative component as well. There was a paper regarding the prior that I recall seeing posted here.

I used COM lobster and high quality castings to start, but I add little compost and castings as I continue to recycle.
 

Microbeman

The Logical Gardener
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I tend to use a much lower ratio of long lasting drainage/aeration material - more like 15-20% but this is using no-till. If available I use some very well aged/composted wood fines (or plant pieces) which contribute to aeration but degrade over time.

As time passes with no-till 'living soil' organisms in the soil create passage ways through the soil which contribute to aeration/drainage.

I do agree with pretty much equal amounts of [v]compost and soil and or peatmoss. Coot (as he told me) does not typically 'cook' his own mixes.
 

7thson

Member
FWIU over 10% ewc maximum efficiency is lost, I would think compost has a relative component as well. There was a paper regarding the prior that I recall seeing posted here.

I used COM lobster and high quality castings to start, but I add little compost and castings as I continue to recycle.

What percent of compost and ewc are you using on your recycle?
 

Weird

3rd-Eye Jedi
Veteran
Normally something like 3:1:1 which is peat:aeration:compost/ewc I have also used 3:1:1:.5 peat:aeration:EWC:compost

From the beginning I have been using old soil as one part of the peat component in my mixes. My pots are no til for some time so I do simple top dress and teas at this point.
 

v7ej207

Member
Weird/Heady: have either of you experienced inconsistent bags of COM lobster compost? I'm sitting on two 1:1:1 ratio test batches of soil using the lobster compost that are as of right now unusable. Plants show signs of heavy Mg lockout amongst other things. Samples going out to Logan Labs this week for testing. Separate thread to follow.
 

Weird

3rd-Eye Jedi
Veteran
I have been using it for some time now and know others that do as well.

I have not found it to be too inconsistent, but I do not rely on it for nutrition but use it to add to bacteria/chitin/organic diversity.

On the other hand mag def is perhaps the biggest problem for me recycling but I also feel other variables like VPD, soil temp, genetics, decaying organic matter and other dynamics that come hand in hand with no till and can effect this problem so I don't feel it is always a lack of magnesium but a dysfunction in the cycling of magnesium.
 

heady blunts

prescription blunts
Veteran
my experience with CoM products has been very consistent. every bag i've bought over the years has looked and smelled the same---dark black compost fully finished sweet earthy smell with no trace of ammonia.

i've seen bags of good compost go bad if they are saturated and then sealed---turns into an anaerobic sludge. it's obvious it's bad the moment you open the bag. had a couple bags of malibu bu's blend like that back in cali, but i blamed the garden store's poor storage, not the compost makers.

sorry to hear about the setbacks v7ej207. what else went into the mix? i'll keep an eye out for your thread.
 

bertbkill

New member
Thanks for the replies everyone. I guess i will even it out by adding what is missing. One thing i dont get is that i thought these mixes dont't burn the plants yada yada yada. Why the need to add anything more to my mix?
 

Heusinomics

Active member
Thanks for the replies everyone. I guess i will even it out by adding what is missing. One thing i dont get is that i thought these mixes dont't burn the plants yada yada yada. Why the need to add anything more to my mix?

A good mix like the one HeadyBlunts listed can b very forgiving and hasent shown any signs of burning even small plants.

But in my early days of organics n soil mixing I used lots of add ins w strong NpK's like blood meal and guanos.
Organics absolutely cann burn! Esp when not properly cooked/composted when req. or added in the wrong ratios.

I used to hav a veg mix that was abt half the stringth of my flower w N(Mexican)guano instead of P(jamacian) for bloom. Worked great. And was needed to help young clones work up to a stronger mix.


Good luck w your blend. The finest quality is always found in dirt.

Big ups respect and happy growing.
 

xmobotx

ecks moe baw teeks
ICMag Donor
Veteran
i should have read that more closely instead of assuming when you said "cootz mix" that was what you meant

what recipe are you even following & why would you refer to it as cootz if it has extra ingredients but lacks crucial ingredients?

to the conversation which has developed; i have long liked & ended up returning to 2:1:1. had zero problems w/ 1:1:1 but, peat is cheap & there's been times i didn't have the drainage to make those ratios. lately i have moved humus components down significantly as well. Just as weird has well reported, using way less amendments & then adding *if needed* gets better results than "hot mixes"

I may need to start reading things much more closely SMH
 

MedResearcher

Member
Veteran
coot's mix is 1:1:1 base mix---peat, compost, aeration.

per cubic foot add

1/2 c neem seed meal
1/2c kelp meal
1/2c crab shell meal

1 cup rock dust
1 cup basalt
1 cup oyster shell powder
1 cup gypsum

if you follow this recipe to the letter you shouldn't need to cook it.

i use a modified coots mix and i plant seeds in the same soil i use to flower full sized plants.

for the OP's mix i would follow granger's advice and add more base to compensate for the things you added too much of.

i wouldn't consider op's soil a coot mix since several ingredients coot recommends against have been included.

Thanks a bunch Heady, was just looking for the mix and found your post be just what I was looking for.

Will be my first year trying it out, gonna make a couple new mounds with it, throw a few inch's on top of our old mounds, and possibly use it for starts.

I am planning on making a small batch, and getting it tested nice and early, just to know for sure what it looks like with the inputs I can source locally.

Had a couple questions for ya Heady, if you don't mind. Almost pm'd ya but figured if you were gonna share the knowledge maybe more could benefit from it to.

Since compost quality seems to be so important, I was gonna try to use EWC instead of compost. I know it would be expensive, but curious if you can think of any problems that might incur from that switch? I assume it will be ok, just pricey, and vary in quality depending on the castings as well.

Also... would you mind posting your modified recipe? Curious to see the difference.

Thanks,
Mr^^
 

mrS0ul

Meatball in Residence
the cootz mix will work better @ 1/2 strength than full strength ~let alone double

you could mix your stuff w/ a bale of pro-mix {NOT the pre-amended choices} & it would be real nice

coot's mix is 1:1:1 base mix---peat, compost, aeration.

per cubic foot add

1/2 c neem seed meal
1/2c kelp meal
1/2c crab shell meal

1 cup rock dust
1 cup basalt
1 cup oyster shell powder
1 cup gypsum

if you follow this recipe to the letter you shouldn't need to cook it.

i use a modified coots mix and i plant seeds in the same soil i use to flower full sized plants.

for the OP's mix i would follow granger's advice and add more base to compensate for the things you added too much of.

i wouldn't consider op's soil a coot mix since several ingredients coot recommends against have been included.


Just so I am clear is X saying here that to amend at half of the rates quoted above as being beneficial and if so why?
 
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