soil recipe suggestions PLEASE

[xmobotx]

idk about all that marketing/branding stuff ~mostly i want to move people away from buying products & towards sustainable growing {as by informing that less=more}

 

[oct]

^ word. Coot saved me a lot of money by just being a smart guy who would dissect all the expensive bottled organics. And then he'd tell you exactly what was in them, where to find them, how to make them yourself. The personal distain that guy carried for over-priced shit with flashy labels and fancy names was bar none...and it was awesome

 

[Vaporizzando192]

Doing my first no till indoor , almost complete my only suggestion is keep it simple make a couple of worm bins this alone in a matter of months will in deed put you in pace as for perfect soil
What i did as base was screened top soil with that i started adding leaf matter and compost almost 50 / 50 ratio then i added my own EWC and live worms into the equation added some , cardboard as well some fresh greens and have never looked back with only one tea made through out grow here are my 2 girls there healthy n green 6 weeks in and again water only
Its going to be trial and error unless you get your actual soil tested

PS started off with like 2 pounds of live worms now i have probably 150 pounds of live worms

nice way and really nice buds
thx to share

 

[Vaporizzando192]

Depends somewhat what the other 4/5ths are. I hate buying perlight due to overall % of cost but I am going with 33% atm. I was running 40%..... IMO / IME as a cold beginner heavier ratios of perlight where critical to the how to water learning curve.

the other 4/5 should be 3/5 what i wrote in the starting point and the LAST FIFTH is what i am asking for

 

[Vaporizzando192]

i agree with the recommendations to the OP regarding increasing aeration, limiting EWC, and adding peat.
.

thx Heady Blunts, i will think about peat, increasing aeration and limiting EWC but what u suggest to complete the 100% of the elements in my list ? (considering that i should use Peat, increase aeration and diminuish EWC)....give me an idea please

 

[mrS0ul]

Jeez fella's...

....some Hammer of the Gods type shit in here.

 

[Vaporizzando192]

I'd be changing several things here, personally.

Since you seem to be content working in this percentage paradigm that I'm not quite sure I understand, but, EWC shouldn't really be more than 18-20% of the total volume.

Drainage and aeration amendments should be around 25-30% of total volume, depending on the type of aeration you are using.

I'd be adding some peat moss to the mix as well. Since you have about 35% being various soils, I'd be adding peat at whatever remaining difference exists in your desired 100% equation. I think it'd be about 15% peat moss.

Cannabis performs best in a light, airy, soil that drains well.



dank.Frank

i would be really happy if we can re-write together the starting point list...and complete the last 20% (i believe u understood correctly the percentage equation)

but first of all i forgot to say something really important about the soil mix....i will not add in a pot, but i would like to plant it in a corner (sunny enough) of my garden, outside, with a lot of cultivated earth around it (tomatoes, onions, oregan eccecc)....i would create a soil that i don't have to re-amends or "adjust" every season or harvest ...that's why i prefer not use so much PEAT (please tell me if i aam wrong) bcz i read more times that when degrading it makes acider the ph (but i could consider to add few points of percentage of it)

the plant will grow in a synergetic garden (tryn'tobe) with different other plants like Comfrey (that helps) and others...

in the overall amount of the volume am not consider the bottom drainage (big stones and some clay balls) that i have to put down the bottom of the mixed soil (or if indoor i put on the bottom of a pot)

the aeration am planned to use is perlite and maybe i could use it too (also in this function) azomite and zeolite granular stones (if u are referring to this aeration)...or u suggest me to use clay balls ?

about EWC i would like to understand more, why u suggest 20% at most? i read somewhere that 25% is the perfect quote....but they were talking generally about vegetables ...i dunno if it's fit for our plant.

am totally agree with you when u write :
"[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]... It goes back to that old adage of feeding the soil and not the plant.

I like organics because it forces me to remove myself from the equation and to simply allow nature to take over and do what it does.

Just stop and consider how many places do trees or grass or flowers grow that are never specifically "cultivated"...lol...that is the result of a living, self-fluctuating, self-controlled, independent ecosystem."

[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]exactly this is what am trying to create !! but with a slightly difference, just giving to the earth around her roots something that naturally the earth of my garden miss it, don't have in it....first of all aeration...and just somethin more

and after that let the nature do her work...with some shrewdness for the special one [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT]

 

[Vaporizzando192]

There's one entity that I always try to learn from because she is true and all knowing is mother nature.

Follow her lessons and you will not go wrong. Using the understanding that man has gathered from her and using it will bring you to your own living soil reality....

soo true !!!

am trying to follow her lessons using the understanding that we gathered from

and please help me to be in the "right path" suggesting me good advice and judging me if i planned to do something "wrong" or "right"

 

[Vaporizzando192]

Jeez fella's...

....some Hammer of the Gods type shit in here.

who wrote shit ?
send a message to admin

 

[lotus710]

1:1:1: CSPM (Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss) : Pumice/Lava rock : Compost

Amended per cuF with:

1/2 - 1 cup Neem or Karanja
1/2 - 1 cup Kelp
1/2 - 1 cup Crab/Crustacean meal
1 cup MBP (Malted Barley Powder)

1/2 cup Gypsum
4-6 cups Basalt
6-8 cups Biochar

The MOFO way

 

[dank.frank]

The starting point is :

- excellent soil of my garden 25%
(a clay-ferrous soil with good Ph for the plant)
- earthworms humus 25%
(made from Horse manure by Californian Red Earthworm)
- perlite 20%
(from Germany)
- volcanic soil 10%
(from GuanoKalong)

what about the remaining 20% ?

i would be really happy if we can re-write together the starting point list...and complete the last 20% (i believe u understood correctly the percentage equation)

garden soil + volcanic soil = 35%
perlite (aeration) = 30%
EWC = 20%
peat moss = 18%
amendments (according to Xmo) = 1.5%

I think that is the gist of what I was saying. Those are not the exact ratios I personally use, but I don't exactly measure things in percentage as much as I do by volume. The base soil mix I use was developed over many years to fit my personal preferences.

I'm trying to answer your questions without completely changing the direction you are trying to take things - we all have our own approaches to making what works for us.

I would not consider things like azomite or other pelleted amendments to be part of the aeration equation. Add those type of items to a glass of water and give it a stir and watch what happens and you'll understand why. Many years ago when I first started growing in soil and transitioned from aeroponics, I tried hydroton on the bottom of pots and found the practice to be unnecessary, ultimately.



dank.Frank

 

[Vaporizzando192]

1:1:1: CSPM (Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss) : Pumice/Lava rock : Compost

Amended per cuF with:

1/2 - 1 cup Neem or Karanja
1/2 - 1 cup Kelp
1/2 - 1 cup Crab/Crustacean meal
1 cup MBP (Malted Barley Powder)

1/2 cup Gypsum
4-6 cups Basalt
6-8 cups Biochar

The MOFO way

ah it is an interesting mix....but unfortunately doesnot fit for me...what u suggest me looking my list in the very first post of this thread ?

thanks to share the MOFO way

 

[Vaporizzando192]

garden soil + volcanic soil = 35%
perlite (aeration) = 30%
EWC = 20%
peat moss = 18%
amendments (according to Xmo) = 1.5%

I think that is the gist of what I was saying. Those are not the exact ratios I personally use, but I don't exactly measure things in percentage as much as I do by volume. The base soil mix I use was developed over many years to fit my personal preferences.

I'm trying to answer your questions without completely changing the direction you are trying to take things - we all have our own approaches to making what works for us.

I would not consider things like azomite or other pelleted amendments to be part of the aeration equation. Add those type of items to a glass of water and give it a stir and watch what happens and you'll understand why. Many years ago when I first started growing in soil and transitioned from aerponics, I tried hydroton on the bottom of pots and found the practice to be unnecessary, ultimately.



dank.Frank

i misure mix in volume too and the percentage is referring to the amount of the volume

zeolite or azomite melts in the water ? if yes they cannot be aeration u are right

in ur suggested "gist" there is something that i need to know more about :
PEAT: does it make the soil more acid when degrading ? in so big amount (18%) does it create problems when will be acid ?
AMENDS : why so small amount ? or is it enough? tell me more about it if you can

Thanks to answer without to trying to make me change my "direction" or "approach" to this

p.s. Hydroton not on the bottom, ok...but what about to use inside the mix together with perlite ?

thx

 

[milkyjoe]

I take a different approach. I would make that last 20% a good quality peat. Then I would send a sample to Logan Labs and base the amendments on what the soil actually lacks...not some wild ass guess based on ??? Especially this soil.

The peat breaking down does not make it more acidic, the plant taking base cations out of the soil is what makes it more acidic over time. You will have to reamend, there is just no way around it.

 

[Vaporizzando192]

I take a different approach. I would make that last 20% a good quality peat. Then I would send a sample to Logan Labs and base the amendments on what the soil actually lacks...not some wild ass guess based on ??? Especially this soil.

The peat breaking down does not make it more acidic, the plant taking base cations out of the soil is what makes it more acidic over time. You will have to reamend, there is just no way around it.

ok thx to explain me about PEAT, was just one of my fear
i will reamend....no way

could be a good idea to send sample to logan labs...but i live in spain...and could take a bit long time to have back the results of the soil test...anyway i could find some Lab here around

 

[lotus710]

sorry i didnt really read much just posted my recipe

 

[xmobotx]

especially where you're using what may be some fairly rich soils {or poor or, super-rich} milkyjoe's advice to make your mix minus amendments & then apply amendments according to what the soil actually needs makes perfect sense.

the 1.5% could be quite excessive?

 

[dank.frank]

AMENDS : why so small amount ? or is it enough? tell me more about it if you can

p.s. Hydroton not on the bottom, ok...but what about to use inside the mix together with perlite ?

I was only using that amendment amount as what was suggested by Xmo. I honestly have no idea what % should or shouldn't be amendments based on such a method of figuring...which is why I said I didn't really understand the % approach as a relevant means to establishing what works or doesn't work. I do understand having a set formula that is known to work and then figuring out what % that is of the total volume. However, you seem to be working at things a bit backwards, basing the % on what you think is missing.

I've never used hydroton as a aeration amendment mixing within the soil. I think that'd be much like lava rocks which for the size of containers I use, they are generally too large for my personal liking. I like a mixture of coarse/chunky perlite, permatil (expanded slate), and vermiculite.

In 11 gallons of base media I have about 6.5 cups of various amendments, which is about 3% of total volume. (you made me curious to figure it out)



dank.Frank

 

[heady blunts]

interesting thanks for takin the extra step frank!

i just did the same calculation with the classic coots: 2.75% amendments by volume.

i have always conceptualized my soil building in two stages, first the base mix, then the amendments.

so i'd also probably add peat as the last 20% of your base mix.

milky's right, there's no faster corrective course than getting a soil test done. if time is less of an issue, the longer path would be to plant some things you're familiar with in there and observe what deficiencies arise.

personally i'd be tempted to address the physical properties with the perlite and peat, and not amend the soil much further. at the most maybe mix in some ekclonia maxima if it's already washed and dried and chopped or powdered.

then i'd correct any observed deficiencies with top dressings and teas.

also i just noticed in your OP you asked about building a brewer. check out the ACT brewer sticky at the top of this forum, and microbeorganics for more information on compost tea.

i don't bubble my SST fwiw. i just top dress malted barley, or throw a handful in a bucket of water and give it a stir.

 

[oct]

This has been one helluva productive thread. Theres people like me in the very back row that don't pipe up, but sure pay attention. Keep the knowledge flowing.