Easy Organic Soil Mix for Beginners

[katt1337]

I have read alot of diffrent mixes, but the biggest problem for me is that you are not able to buy this stuff in my country. It´s always something in the mix that i cant find except ebay. (Shipping to expensive) I have tried to figure out my own mix and this is my conclusion:
50 % regular bagsoil weary light soil contains a lot of sand.
25 % Worm casting (Gold label)
25 % Perlite

I will add to every gallon of this mix 1 tablespoon gauno Gold Label (0-10-0) and 1 teaspoon lime. (Is this even necessary due to the absent of Sphagnum peat?) Instead of kelp meal I will use Bio weed by General Organics and just use their recommendation when watering.
Should i add some bone meal or/and blood meal?
I understand that i will need to add nutrition later on. I was thinking about using tea or/and top feeding. Last question, shall I sterilize the bagsoil before usage?

Any thoughts?
Sorry for my English...

 

[xmobotx]

sterilizing your soil is un-necessary

crab meal &/or fish bone meal would be preferable to bone or blood and even lime {both provide Ca} but, you should use what you can get & figure out how to make it work over importing exotic amendments @ exorbitant shipping cost

 

[VortexPower420]

One thing I notice from alot of peoples mixes are a severe lack of Ca and most of the time WAY to much Mg. Ca is key to plant health and yields.

Dolomite is out for using in recycled soils imho. It takes way to long to break down and supply s WAY to much Mg. Mg comes from many places for example greensand has 2% Mg.

Try hi cal lime, oyster shells, gypsum, crab shell, cal phos and/or Carbonatite.

A low pH in organics means the CE sites are running empty time to add nutrition to keep H below 10% (65%Ca, 15%Mg, 5%k, 5%Na and the rest for H or trace cations) other then that pH is a non issue with living/balanced soil

Into- I notice a lack of Ca, and I feel you dolo might just be breaking down enough to release enough Mg to cause problems. Lets not for get that Mg Def. looks alot like Mg. toxicity, and to much Mg will collapse your soil causing anaerobic soil leading to many many more problems. I feel you CEC sites are being flooded with Mg due to the lack of Ca.

I would give everything a top dressing of gypsum to supply Ca and try and knock off some of the Mg.

You could also try a Cal-phos drench. Cal-Phos is a colloidal clay so you can suspend it is water. I like to use about 1/2 cup Cal- phos in 5gal water with added ful-humics (bio-ag). When adding Ca sources it is beneficial to add Boron. I like to add 1 gram of 20 mule team Borax per 100 gal of soil at least once a cycle.

I like to do this drench a the flip to flowering. John Kempf talks about Critical points of influence, one being frame build when the plants use a lot of Ca, and Canna plants build alot of frame when they go into stretch.

Im glad more people are catching on to the benefits of Cal-phos. 20% Ca and 13% actual P with 3% available in colloidal form adsorbed to clay AND trace minerals, sound like a Win, Win.

Timbuktu