Help me amend my super-soil for a round two

[Dunge]

I use a simple blend of peat, blood & bone meals, and as much ewc & compost as I care to buy.
The recipe is the result of reading done here at the farm almost two years ago.
I think that this subject was explored but I haven't figured out how to find that thread with the search function.
The blend will take a plant in a 3 gallon bag through flower.
How do I rebuild used soil?
It's getting to be quite a pile.

 

[Dunge]

This is what I have gathered from thcfarmer so far:
40 gallons used soil
4 cups alfalfa meal
4 cups bone meal
4 cups kelp meal
4 cups powdered dolomite lime
30 pound bag of earthworm castings . . .

Seems like cheating to rebuild a soil with almost 50% EWC.
I'm focusing on the absence of blood meal and the small bone meals contribution.
Where does the 'makeup' nitrogen come from in this list?

Any help would be appreciated.
I understand this is not as simple a question as I would like it to be.

 

[Bannacis]

this is from another site...
put this in a large drum, slightly moist and turn occasionally. cook for weeks
of course you can't use all ingredients but i figured it has alot of ingredients.

Master Soil-Mix Recipe

BASE MIX

2 gal Quality Organic Soil-mix (or good organic recycled soil mix)
2 gal Thoroughly Rinsed Coir (coconut fiber)
2 gal Perlite (small nugget size)
2 gal Earthworm Castings (fresh earthworm castings, and/or fresh compost works too)

AMENDMENTS

1½ cup Grow or Bloom ‘Pure’ by Organicare (or 1 cup 5-5-5)
½ cup Greensand
¾ cup Ground Oyster Shells (1 cup if no crushed oyster shells)
1½ cup Crushed Oyster Shells (optional)
½ cup Dolomite Lime (powdered)
1 cup Prilled (pelletized) Fast Acting Dolomite Lime
¼ cup Blood Meal (and/or High N Bird/Bat Guano 12-8-2 N-P-K if flowering 1/8 cup of each)
¼ cup (heaping) Feather Meal
1 cup un-steamed (granular) Bone Meal (like Whitney Farms brand)
½ cup Bulb Food (3-8-8 as one good N-P-K example)
¼ cup Soft Rock Phosphate (powdered)
½ cup (heaping) Gypsum (powdered)
½ cup Kelp Meal
4 cups (heaping) Composted Steer Manure (this inoculates your mix with specialized bacteria and primo organic matter)

½ cup Azomite granular (add an additional ¼ cup greensand if no Azomite)
1 cup Humic Acid Ore granular (like from Down to Earth brand)
1 cup Alfalfa Meal (or 2 cups pellets – make sure pellets are all organic no additives)
½ cup Rock Phosphate Granular (optional)
1 cup (heaping) organic rice (important for the good fungi in this soil-mix)

 

[vierundzwanzig]

Where does the 'makeup' nitrogen come from in this list? 4 cups alfalfa meal. 30 pound bag of earthworm castings

the alfalfa must be slow release im guessing
and the castings are readily available. its also missing trace elements. i happened to look for trace minerals a while ago and found this. so far so good

 

[Bannacis]

this is for a TLO grow, you let this cook for a bit. you add your trace and teas later.

 

[socalval]

to answer your question the alfalfa and castings both have N . and i would just use a cup of powder dolimite lime . Your going to have to cook it for three weeks with molasass and you NEED some air ,like perlite ,coir or wood bark to avoid compacting . hope that helps

 

[vierundzwanzig]

my bad:oops:

to answer your question the alfalfa and castings both have N

in your experience is alfalfa slow release?

 

[outwest]

this is from another site...
put this in a large drum, slightly moist and turn occasionally. cook for weeks
of course you can't use all ingredients but i figured it has alot of ingredients.

Master Soil-Mix Recipe

BASE MIX

2 gal Quality Organic Soil-mix (or good organic recycled soil mix)
2 gal Thoroughly Rinsed Coir (coconut fiber)
2 gal Perlite (small nugget size)
2 gal Earthworm Castings (fresh earthworm castings, and/or fresh compost works too)

AMENDMENTS

1½ cup Grow or Bloom ‘Pure’ by Organicare (or 1 cup 5-5-5)
½ cup Greensand
¾ cup Ground Oyster Shells (1 cup if no crushed oyster shells)
1½ cup Crushed Oyster Shells (optional)
½ cup Dolomite Lime (powdered)
1 cup Prilled (pelletized) Fast Acting Dolomite Lime
¼ cup Blood Meal (and/or High N Bird/Bat Guano 12-8-2 N-P-K if flowering 1/8 cup of each)
¼ cup (heaping) Feather Meal
1 cup un-steamed (granular) Bone Meal (like Whitney Farms brand)
½ cup Bulb Food (3-8-8 as one good N-P-K example)
¼ cup Soft Rock Phosphate (powdered)
½ cup (heaping) Gypsum (powdered)
½ cup Kelp Meal
4 cups (heaping) Composted Steer Manure (this inoculates your mix with specialized bacteria and primo organic matter)

½ cup Azomite granular (add an additional ¼ cup greensand if no Azomite)
1 cup Humic Acid Ore granular (like from Down to Earth brand)
1 cup Alfalfa Meal (or 2 cups pellets – make sure pellets are all organic no additives)
½ cup Rock Phosphate Granular (optional)
1 cup (heaping) organic rice (important for the good fungi in this soil-mix)

Like this. Would you mind providing some detail on how you use this? Indoors? Outdoors? What size pot? Can clones/seedlines be put directly into this? etc. . .Thanks, man.

outwest

 

[Bannacis]

this is a TLO soil mix... True living organics The Revs' formula.
indoor, you can change the amount of ingredients accordingly.
but it has to cook for a while, so the microbes and fungi and bacteria can do there job.
I wouldn't put small seedlings in this, wait till they have aged abit. rooted clones ...yes
Any size pot you can use. just add water (non chlorine/chloramine water. it will kill the micro life.
ever couple weeks add water with some unsulfered molasses, sugars to feed micro life.
also add some compost teas. once it balances out, with continued feeding and watering, you shouldn't have to adjust ph either. from veg through flowering, just adjust your tea with a little dry organic fert, for flowering, top dress with guano.
Thers a book coming out this fall, written by the Rev, he is the cultivating editor for Skunk magazine.
Its called "
True Living Organics: The Ultimate Guide to Growing All-Natural Marijuana

pre order at amazon.com
I can't wait for it to come out.....
also with this mix, after you harvest you can use your mix again, just add it,and root ball with next mix...it will get even better over time...

 

[outwest]

I always appreciate thoughtful responses. Totally into organic water/act only methods. IMO nothing produces better cannabis. Can't wait to try this out. Thanks!

outwest

 

[neverbreak]

that is one complex soil mix!

neverbreak

 

[Bannacis]

actually he has updated it some... even added some ingredients. take in mind not that you may not be able to get all the ingredients.
you don't want to substitute ingredients,just leave em out.
But its killer!!!!

 

[Dodge]

in the area that you dump your soil build a composting setup.... use the leaves you rake and your lawn clippings etc to just do a natural compost rebuild. Like a year long turn around. Then when you get that soil rivitalized a little and you could haul it back inside and soup it up like you want. I'm mean to my plants, I guess... give em bare bones treatment... lol. If deficiencies pop up then I respond. But yeah, just take that siol and keep turning it over with every king of plant clippings you have available and let the nutrients from the plant matter rebuild the soil

 

[ethnoman]

Composting is a good way to make soil. There's two basic forms of composting: hot and cold.

The one described above by Dodge is cold composting. By far the easiest, but also the slowest of the two. If you add ingredients that can be sources of pathogens (e.g. animal manure, meat, etc.) these may survive the process and then become a problem when the compost is utilised.

Hot composting requires specific ratios of N and C containing material to get it going. You can find a good deal of information on the internet by searching for it, but essentially you want a 25 - 30 part carbon ratio to 1 part nitrogen ratio. For example, 25 - 30 parts sawdust/leaves/woodchips to 1 part fruit/manure/green manure. Now obviously each of these starting materials contain differing quantities of C or N, so you want to work out how much of each to add. There are a few online calculators to help.

One the correct ratios are added, you turn the pile regularly to aerate it and the heat will skyrocket. Within a day it can hit 140° F. You want it hot enough to kill off any pathogens, but not so hot that you gas off the nitrogen. There is a true science behind all this and my description is simply a very brief overview. In as little as 3 - 6 weeks you can turn your raw, starting materials into useable compost full of beneficial bacteria and fungi which will greatly enhance plant growth.

If you have the time and energy to dedicate to studying and implementing hot composting science, you will be able to make your own soils very easily from a wide range of waste materials. I should also add it costs very, very little in monetary terms. Your largest outlay would be a decent composting thermometer with a long probe.