THCFarmer.com
121,263 Members Log In Register
Log In Register

Ideas on using local Colorado Dirt

  • Thread starter Thread starter chickenman
  • Start date Start date
  • Tagged users Tagged users None

Ideas on using local Colorado Dirt

chickenman 50 Replies 8,684 Views
Page 1 of 3 · Replies 1–20 of 51
chickenman

chickenman

Supporter
Premium Member
Posts
10,698
Reactions
34,246
Joined
Apr 15, 2011
Points
438
#1
Seems to me good old fashon dirt is the most natural and simple way to grow anything. Hats off to all you hydro growers, coco core, soiless mixes etc.,But i think Mother nature knows best IMO, and shes been doing well in dirt forever. So we have a unlimited supply of incredable chicken and goat manure, thats free from any possible GMOs cause we feed non GMO feeds to all our livestock, aged at least 3 yrs., looks like black gold, dry, fluffy, well composted little odor. We also have a unlimited supply of Colorado native soil thats never been sprayed with any chemicals, . So how would I go about mixing up what we got? Last year my starts in pots grew weird, in my mix, maybe to hot, dunno, but with all these bugs in the comercial expensive bagged dirt, and all the incredable manure we got it seems silly to keep buying FFOF. I would love to figure this out and supply others a simple soil mix real cheap. like truckloads...
So where do I start? Soil test to see whats needed? Again If we can figure this out I will be glad to share some good old fashon dirt, or manure and you mix your own.... Lets Get down and dirty...Club Mud rocks, a new club is under construction, cement floorz, flower room with drain, 8 ft tall ceilings, large Mancave area, with HD TV, lots of Budporn posters on walls,Heat, A/c, swiiming pools, movie stars, ya all come back now here... Thanks ...CM
 
#2
Yes sir. I feel the same way and have been thinking about this as well. I saved a big pile to play with myself. Getting things tested is easy enough. I think you mix up a batch with your base recipe. Store it sealed up and cook it for two months. Send it to lab and adjust from there. Much like brewing beer. Hint -The state agriculture department is happy to do this for you. I have found them to be beyond cool, open minded and happy to test anything for me from fertilizers to soil. They have been in my grow and loved it when I showed them seeds and was on the same page with germination rates, etc.... They want to do state approval on seed packs now. Local soil with no bugs would be so welcome to many people right now. You could have a super soil mix and one that fades quicker for fertigation.
 
#3
I hear ya dawg! CO needs to represent up here in the 'soil game'.
I got two bags of FFOF left to use up, and then it is off to digging up the backyard. Who knows maybe my house will get that GSHP (ground source heat pump) after all. Naw, its a rental. But I will get a good veggie garden going, this year or next (I'm starting late).

I'll try and dig up some info.
Here's one site that I have read before, linked to me by another on another place.
http://www.plantea.com/manure.htm

And your local CSU Extension office is a good resource, too.
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/


From "Organic Soil" forum.
 
#4
I mentioned this to another friend last year and he never did anything with it. one thing about this industry, is that there are a lot of nitches to be filled for entrepenuers. here is an idea i'd love to see someone run with: soil recycling. just like a garbage truck service, only picking up soil from the various warehouses and cg grows (or drop off points), then composting, mixing and reselling it. it would take a season or two to get fully running (and to burn out any pathogens and bad bugs), but the potential is big. I know some folks recycle their own, but it's impracticle for others. just sayin' ......
 
#5
Composted manure is a great source of trace minerals, potash, phosphorus, and nitrogen. You might be mixing it pretty hot. I would start with a sterile mix of either peat or something airy for your main fill, add perlite, and then use your own manures as you would EWC or other compost. Colorado dirt, especially on the western slope, is pretty sandy and full of clay. You need something to break that up and allow more drainage and aeration. I think that is really your only problem.

You may need to go out of your way for a more aerated mix, but your manure can for sure be your nutrient source via compost teas, top dress, and/or soil amendment!
 
#6
So maybe 25% well aged manure, 25 % pearlite, 3o to 40%, peat, 10 to 20% dirt, mix well, put in a black 55 gallon drum with sealed lid, filled 3/4 full, lay down in direct sun roll occasionaly wil get real hot to cook and kill bugs and finaize composting of manure, i reckon that sounds pretty simple, ....Also gots lots of old ffof, could sterelize same way add manure,peat, pearlite etc...Tired of bags, got to bea beter way.....
 
#7
Thanks all for the great input ideas and advice. I learn a lot from others and sometimes folks just may learn something from me. Thing is we can share ideas and its win win.. Dont know it all just what seems to work for me, we all got our ways and sharing ideas, thoughts, and with hands on experience one can learn a lot...
Thinking about manures and the smell of. Ive smeled the factory farm manures stench from a egg producing poultry operation. You can smell it downwind miles away. It smells like sour rotten ammonia. This is from being fed feeds containing low quality protien sources, grain by products, chemical vitamins, even arsenic is used as a dewormer. This pases thru the chicken. The feed is not totaly digested just as the by products, glyphosphates, and who knows what else. The mananure is all the same color brown and it really stinks. I question will all this crap compost down? May or may not. On our farm I ask visitors in hen house if it stinks, hardly at all everybody, even you city folk agree, nothin wrong with you city folks, hey now LOL
The reason is we have a feed mix lower in protien but more digestable. Its fortified with organic vitamans and trace minerals, the main protien source is transending soybean meal, some controvesary regarding soy but theres really no other pratical protien source Ours is 48% digestable protien,, available in the quanities we need and what we produce is way better than the more expensive certified organic commercialy highly processed feeds. Since weve enhanced abailable protien digestation, we only need about 20% of soybean meal in our mixes, way less than most. Theres definetly less manure crapped out of hens, less to clean up, less malodor, along with no GMOs in our mixes, which is over all way better for livestock health, just imigane breathing that ammonia stench all your life...So what we got is gold. Our vegetable garden has a couple hundred or so hens running around all winter. Come spring theres several inches of manure on top. We till that in, cover with landscape cloth, irrigate with drip tape. We also check and adjust water ph level by pumping well water into a cistern, adding strong applecider vinegar concentrate bringing ph down to around 6.5 to 7.5 as our ph from well is high as 10. We also add a 50% food grade hydrogen perxocide water treatment called Oxy Blast which is enhanced with many different frequencies that renergizes the water, subtle energy its called, only 2 drops per gallon, both are added with a doseatron injector. Water is then pumped thru a special filter that restructures the water back to its orignal blueprint, and dripped onto the rows. I also believe the ACV energizes the water as well also, ive seen amazing results using it.
Garden just loves it. We put all our vegetable plants directly from greenhouse outside no harding off needed, plants are not stressed at all. So much fun researching and finding out new ways to make things work and sharing with others for their input and opinions....Thanks again farmers, time now for some Choc. Chip cookies made today with todays fresh raw goat milk.. CM OUT
 
#8
I'm getting great results with brick coco fiber (20%) and biochar (20%) (basically charcoal from twigs) to fill out my reused dirt. there's PLENTY of twigs to turn into biochar in this state.
 
#10
I'm in love with that chick in the yellow blouse, blazed.
They all were blazed.

I love the "people are going to laugh at us in the soil game".
Maybe so, Miracle Gro.
Be interesting to see what they come up with.

"Empirical Gro! Formulated for Results."
 
#11
dammit! by cousin just quit working for them too ..... coulda got a bunch of free chit to 'try out' lol ;)
 
#12
Just saw this today at the local O'Tooles.
Boss_Soil_Amendment.jpg

$7/bag
Mix of sphagnum peat moss, eko compost and some mychorizzae it said.

Organix Supply Inc
15121 County Road 32
Platteville, CO 80651
303-659-6003
 
#13
wow. good info. really neat about usda testing your dirt. I've always felt a little inferior with all my knowledge about indoor gardening and none on the real kind. Glad to see some posts on the earthy kind.
 
#14
what the fuck is 'eko compost' anyway? If you yell "sustainable" in the bag, does it yell in return "you just bought a bag of dick"?

eeechoughzbndrz..
 
#15
I'm not aware if any peat bogs (spaghnum) in Colorado. Do we have any? Peat bogs are not a re-newable resource. Much of the state is decomposed granite, also not a good growing medium. The top-soil frequently is decomposed pine/spruce needles, the PH is way too low

One thing this state does have a lot of is bovine shit..... so that's a good start. But, what to amend it with? Now we are back to trucking in peat from some place in Canada.....

Personally I am growing in Coco Coir which comes from Sri Lanka..... so I would be very interested in buying something local if it performed in a similar fashion.
 
#16
if you make biochar (charcoal) from pine needles you can raise the ph by turning some of it into ash (it essentially makes lye). I'll test the ph on my pine needle char next time I head back up the mountain. I have yet to do a full run of some dank with the char but my lettuce and collard greens (test run on some cheap shit) are really doing well.

Here's a paper on biochar

http://www.biochar.org/joomla/images/stories/Pechoelbrennen/SteinerUNCCD.pdf
 
#17
Not local Colorado dirt, local Sierra foothills dirt. Heavy red clay, and based just on the weeds present and other indicators (like PVFS's Sierra Foothills Mix) I know that my soil is also acidic with low fertility (got a lotta woolly mullein growing around here, along with purple vetch, milk thistle and other weeds I have yet to identify).

I am still going by feel when it comes to my plantings. Usually it works, sometimes it doesn't. And never ever ever perlite again.

CM, is this regarding indoor (potted) growing styles, or OD?
 
#18
I was able to get some local black gold type silty soil from the animas valley (animas river banks) north of Durango that killed it in my vegetable garden. I wonder if anyone has that type of goodness around here on the front range for mixing...
 
#20
Bud Spleefman said:
I'm not aware if any peat bogs (spaghnum) in Colorado.
Click to expand...
There is mountain peat, not sure if its the same. I know of one bog up on top of hoosier pass. Its mostly private though and being wetlands the epa would be a big hassle.

I used the bagged stuff from permagreen organics, found it at home depot. They are local and sell bulk I think.
 
Page 1 of 3 · Replies 1–20 of 51
Back
Top Bottom