Good to know..high quality EWC is gold.
Living organic soil from start through recycling
- Thread starter Gascanastan
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Gas
Here's how I did the arithmetic....
SPM - 3.8 c.f. - around $15.00
2 bags of Worm Power - 1.33 c.f. - $26.00
1 c.f. Pumice - $4.50
About $45.00 for 6 c.f. of a rock-solid soil base. That's about $7.50 per c.f. and then just add your amendments (Basalt, neem, kelp, etc.) and you would be good to go. It's an easy way for new(er) growers to have a legitimate soil to work with.
CC
Here's how I did the arithmetic....
SPM - 3.8 c.f. - around $15.00
2 bags of Worm Power - 1.33 c.f. - $26.00
1 c.f. Pumice - $4.50
About $45.00 for 6 c.f. of a rock-solid soil base. That's about $7.50 per c.f. and then just add your amendments (Basalt, neem, kelp, etc.) and you would be good to go. It's an easy way for new(er) growers to have a legitimate soil to work with.
CC
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Looks very affordable..regardless of all the various amendments one can add at any time,if a guy wants to add comfrey,entombed ancient Chinese chalk,lizard feet,or any other personal touch with amendments,that can happen at the time of re-amend,or in a no-till situation topdressing to add materials as food/mineral sources.
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DuckDuckGoose
Member
DAMN!
that's super cheap for 1.3 cf of quality vermi-compost. if i want legitimate, living vermi-compost (not pasteurized african worm casting mud from the 'dro store) i pay $1.75 a litre, and that's a deal! $2 for the average joe!
i just got my own worms so i can make my own product. to be honest, i had no issues paying for the quality castings considering it's the most important ingredient in the mix.
DDG
Absolutely! Get this ingredient dialed-in and you're home free
Locally the FFOF & Botanicare bags of dirt are $10.00 per c.f. and Roots Organic is $16.00 per c.f. - for very little value.
If any...
RanchoDeluxe
Member
Roots Potting soil is 12 bucks around here for 1.5 cu. ft. The Big Worm/EWC they carry is 30 bucks a cu. ft. Going big w/ worms this coming year...hope to turn my entire garage into a worm farm.
D
Durdy
I love worms, ever since I kicked the all the bottles gunk for my veggie garden there EVERYWHERE!
Anytime I turn soil their there. They've found their way into all my totes of cycling soil, and all my potted plants. I love it! An invisible army working for the good of my garden.
Something interesting I noticed is after 3 weeks or so from top dressing some containers with about 1" of EWC the EWC seems to have been fully absorbed by the media. I can see the aeration and peat and all the EWC is gone.
Anytime I turn soil their there. They've found their way into all my totes of cycling soil, and all my potted plants. I love it! An invisible army working for the good of my garden.
Something interesting I noticed is after 3 weeks or so from top dressing some containers with about 1" of EWC the EWC seems to have been fully absorbed by the media. I can see the aeration and peat and all the EWC is gone.
Will be 3 weeks flower tomorrow..... been getting enzymes with every watering, along with silica and now aloe powder-before the juice from aloe nd other succulents...then a rotation of Neem/ Kelp meal botanical And Alfalfa/ Kelp meal botanical... Today they are getting Alfalfa and Kelp with aloe and enzymes best health plants grown to date.... No deficiencies or nute burn no stunting nothing..... Living Organic Soil FTW!
C
CT Guy
Got a 400 gallon smart pot in a greenhouse filled with horse manure right now and amended with rock dust and oyster shell flour. worms are slowly but surely working through it. want to setup another 400 gallon one with the Oly Mtn compost. The smaller worm bin that I used that in produced an amazing final castings product. I just want to start doing it on a larger scale.
C
CT Guy
Listening to this on audible right now....very inspiring!
C
CT Guy
Cootz,
I think Concentrates gets their shipment of Oly Mountain next week. I'm guessing it will sell for 5-6 bucks a bag for a cubic ft, based on how they price their other products.
Y
YosemiteSam
I am curious if there is any special timing with Pure Protein...like say at the beginning of flower, or?
Really nice garden
Thanks.
I used it all through Veg and up to week 4-5 in flower via soil drench and in ACT. The N being 15 seems like you wouldnt want to hit em like that in flower the amounts are half of that required in Veg. The instructions say up to week 7 in flower. I havent noticed any ill effects from using it in flower seemed to pack em in tight and form better colas. Not the typical response from hitting flowers with N during flower. The Organic Ag sales rep who hooked me up suggested to use it this way also and hinted around to knowing how it worked for cannabis. Shoot me a pm I think I have some literature on it...
Wonderful garden fatherearth Great work..
W89- looking great as well
Timbuktu
W89- looking great as well
Timbuktu
That's a serious amount of volume to start with! Yowzah!
I screwed up on a large batch of Comfrey syrup and ended up with Comfrey Sludge. It looked like mud so I mixed it with Oly Mtn. and some horse manure in a #65 SmartPots container. I added a couple large scoops of worms & cocoons and covered it with barley straw.
I'll use this batch for the MMJ garden as I believe that this will end up being a very good vermicompost to use in the potting soil mix. I added some kelp & neem meal and the Basalt rock dust.
We'll see what happens......
CC
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S
schwagg
cootz are you using manure or composted manure? i've noticed the worms fly through oly mtn and composted dairy manure but not the straight up horse manure. it seems to stay "intact" the most out of all the inputs i've been adding. i wanna try to get a nice pile heated up this summer with the horse manure and the other common goodies like fresh nettles, comfrey, borage, and the rest of them. curious to see how fast the worms go through that compared to the original horse poo.
schwagg
The horse manure has been sitting under a tarp for over a year. Often when it's loaded into the bins you will see a lot of worms, cocoons and other organisms so in a sense it's been worked to some degree. I mean I wouldn't use it in potting soil or anything like that.
This will be the last manure that I use because I found a certified organic compost that is made without manure using strictly organic materials from the organic orchards in Hood River Valley. It includes fruit, leaves, wood chips from the annual tree pruning and grasses from Eastern Oregon. Get his - $26.00 a yard! You couldn't make compost for this price - the gasoline alone from sourcing everything would be more than that. $19.00 for a half-yard and is available about 3 miles north of Concentrates.
Speaking of Concentrates, down the street about 2 blocks from Concentrates is Bob's Red Mill's company store. You've seen their products in the 24 oz. packages at grocery stores - flours, cereals, etc. At the store they have all of the retail packs but they also have everything in self-serve bulk bins including almost every grain (seed) you could want - flaxseed, barley, wheat (3 or 4 varieties), rye, corn, oats (groats) and all are available certified organic. Really cheap money compared to Whole Foods and others.
They also carry organic black-strap molasses and even Maltose. There's a lot to choose from and consider especially on seeds.
CC
The horse manure has been sitting under a tarp for over a year. Often when it's loaded into the bins you will see a lot of worms, cocoons and other organisms so in a sense it's been worked to some degree. I mean I wouldn't use it in potting soil or anything like that.
This will be the last manure that I use because I found a certified organic compost that is made without manure using strictly organic materials from the organic orchards in Hood River Valley. It includes fruit, leaves, wood chips from the annual tree pruning and grasses from Eastern Oregon. Get his - $26.00 a yard! You couldn't make compost for this price - the gasoline alone from sourcing everything would be more than that. $19.00 for a half-yard and is available about 3 miles north of Concentrates.
Speaking of Concentrates, down the street about 2 blocks from Concentrates is Bob's Red Mill's company store. You've seen their products in the 24 oz. packages at grocery stores - flours, cereals, etc. At the store they have all of the retail packs but they also have everything in self-serve bulk bins including almost every grain (seed) you could want - flaxseed, barley, wheat (3 or 4 varieties), rye, corn, oats (groats) and all are available certified organic. Really cheap money compared to Whole Foods and others.
They also carry organic black-strap molasses and even Maltose. There's a lot to choose from and consider especially on seeds.
CC
IVe been adding amendments to my worm bin lots of kelp and alfalfa mainly.. also lots of seeds after the teas.. when I make a botanical tea I chuck all the left overs in the worm bin... the neem obviously doesnt as its just powder but the alfalfa and kelp are bigger particles so I get a lot of left overs.. I'd say about 3 or 4 heaped table spoons a week of kelp /alfalfa also prob half a cup of seeds from enzyme teas.. I doubt I will need to add any kelp or alfalfa to my soil.. well only small amounts if I do.. atleast this way they are getting broken down before going onto the soil..
Hand fulls of comfrey every so often are added too dried tho so not to make the bin too moist
Hand fulls of comfrey every so often are added too dried tho so not to make the bin too moist
Just ran my fingers through some EWC from KIS Urban Farm and feed. These are high quality castings,moisture content perfect,very rich and dark,real castings. This should make some nice ACT 4 sure.
Good product!
Good product!
D
Durdy
Quality hummus is a beautiful thing!
I started my trench compositing project today! So far its about 2' x 4' x 5'
Lots more digging to do.
Its off in a distant corner of my yard that has been left alone for awhile, clay soil, not compacted. I've dug it up once before and mixed in leftover vermiculite, coco, perlite.
Added a bunch of rice hulls to the soil as it was removed.
Ultimately I'd like it to be about 3' deep. Then I'll line the bottom with a bunch of wood (mostly twiggy stuff) to do a hugelkulture style thing. After this the layering begins! Theres already many many worms present.
Hopefully in a year it will be ready for planting, and it will become a berry patch!
I started my trench compositing project today! So far its about 2' x 4' x 5'
Lots more digging to do.
Its off in a distant corner of my yard that has been left alone for awhile, clay soil, not compacted. I've dug it up once before and mixed in leftover vermiculite, coco, perlite.
Added a bunch of rice hulls to the soil as it was removed.
Ultimately I'd like it to be about 3' deep. Then I'll line the bottom with a bunch of wood (mostly twiggy stuff) to do a hugelkulture style thing. After this the layering begins! Theres already many many worms present.
Hopefully in a year it will be ready for planting, and it will become a berry patch!
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