1 cubic foot of soil mixed
3-gallons of peat moss
2- gallons rice hulls/perlite/lava rock
2- gallons of worm casting/compost
1/2- cup oyster shell flour
1- cup gypsum
1/2- cup azomite
1/4- cup basalt rock dust
1/2- cup bentonite
1/2- cup crab shell meal
1/2- cup fish meal
1/2- cup alfalfa meal
1/2- cup fish bone meal
1- cup kelp meal
1/2 gallon biochar
This is my current soil mix. It has been revised over the past 4 years or so. I had it tested in 2013 but can't remember the results. It was with logan labs.
Now for notill all rice hulls isnt the best idea, but can be done. I will mix in about half lava rock for some of the rice hulls. I have been working on a new soil mix that uses pine bark fines instead of the lava rock. So it would be a gallon of pine bark fines and a gallon of rice hulls. Also I am going to be switching to large chunks of biochar instead of the 3mm size. This way I have more aeration during the life of the notill soil.
The point of the pine bark fines is to allow for a home for fugnal growth to happen. A lot of us growers use biochar to help with bacteria etc.. to grow but we don't give the fungal hyphae a place to reside.
Also I am starting to use oak leaves, and maple leaves as part of my mulch so that I can have a layer of leaf mould right on top of the pot.
I don't know why I left some of these techniques behind when I moved from Arkansas. I used leaf mould that was from my property, and just about everyone in my area used pine bark fines for aeration, and mulch, including myself.
No better time then now to get back to what I was "brought up" on.
Nice mix Brady! Slightly similar to mine I see...
Also good point on the fungal/bacterial ratio aspect - I feel like a lot of soil is bacterial dominant until mineralization is formed, which would be a good reason to incorporate something like wood chips I think. GreensourceGardens uses a lot of alder bark and chips in their hugel beds I know, that stuff kicks ass from what it looks like.