My cheap ass Living soil question

Garbage_bear · Feb 26, 2023

I am putting together ingredients for a greenhouse grow with living soil this summer. I have everything pretty much besides the peat moss. The recipe I am using has one part peat moss, one part compost then a whole bunch of other stuff. My question is can I use a whole bunch of indoor living soil from happy frog soil. It was used once and I am wondering if I can use that soil in stead of peat moss to save a little $$$. I like peat because you can load it up with calcium and it is acidic enough it balances out but I am low on cash. What say you?

BigBlonde · Feb 26, 2023

Garbage_bear said:
My question is can I use a whole bunch of indoor living soil from happy frog soil.

Depending on what you mean by "a whole bunch," I'd say it's okay. The microbes in the previously used soil would or could continue to do the good things they do in the new soil mix. My thinking is the old soil can basically be thought of as compost. Happy Frog has wood chips and the like in it that will decompose slowly. It doesn't have many nutrients, which may be a good thing when it comes to reuse (I'm guessing). The other amendments would need to balance the mix.

Anthem · Feb 26, 2023

Garbage_bear said:
I am putting together ingredients for a greenhouse grow with living soil this summer. I have everything pretty much besides the peat moss. The recipe I am using has one part peat moss, one part compost then a whole bunch of other stuff. My question is can I use a whole bunch of indoor living soil from happy frog soil. It was used once and I am wondering if I can use that soil in stead of peat moss to save a little $$$. I like peat because you can load it up with calcium and it is acidic enough it balances out but I am low on cash. What say you?

I have not made a living soil myself but I do remember listening to a podcast with Subcool before his passing and he had a good supercoil recipe. I just googled it and it is still around. I think you could cut the size down to meant your needs and reuse the happy frog. It is known to have very little nutrients in the mix so it would basically just be your base. Myself I would probably go half half tops with old and new soil. Just be aware these super soils need time to breakdown stuff before you start using them. I want to say the podcast I heard mentioned something about 30 or 60 days.
Have you looked into KNF at all?

Homesteader · Feb 26, 2023

You'll be fine with it. I would use any and all of it. SOM is the name of the game. Let me know if you have any questions. Peat is getting pricey and leaves are cheap in the fall.

Anthem · Feb 26, 2023

Homesteader said:
You'll be fine with it. I would use any and all of it. SOM is the name of the game. Let me know if you have any questions. Peat is getting pricey and leaves are cheap in the fall.

Homesteader how long do you let your stuff compost before you use it?

Garbage_bear · Feb 26, 2023

Anthem said:
I have not made a living soil myself but I do remember listening to a podcast with Subcool before his passing and he had a good supercoil recipe. I just googled it and it is still around. I think you could cut the size down to meant your needs and reuse the happy frog. It is known to have very little nutrients in the mix so it would basically just be your base. Myself I would probably go half half tops with old and new soil. Just be aware these super soils need time to breakdown stuff before you start using them. I want to say the podcast I heard mentioned something about 30 or 60 days.
Have you looked into KNF at all?

I have not really looked into KNF much. Right now I am at the beginners phase of living soil grows. I have done two indoor and one outdoor with "Earth Dust" but they stopped selling it so now I am going to mix my own soil. I am using basically the recipe from build a soils website.

Homesteader · Feb 26, 2023

Anthem said:
Homesteader how long do you let your stuff compost before you use it?

What do you mean by stuff? Old soil?

Garbage_bear · Feb 26, 2023

Homesteader said:
You'll be fine with it. I would use any and all of it. SOM is the name of the game. Let me know if you have any questions. Peat is getting pricey and leaves are cheap in the fall.

What does SOM stand for?

Anthem · Feb 26, 2023

Garbage_bear said:
I have not really looked into KNF much. Right now I am at the beginners phase of living soil grows. I have done two indoor and one outdoor with "Earth Dust" but they stopped selling it so now I am going to mix my own soil. I am using basically the recipe from build a soils website.

Homesteader has been making his own for sometime if I am not mistaken I would follow his advise. I really want to try KNF Korean Natural Farming. There was a guy on here a couple years back doing it and the results were amazing to say the least. Also there is a guy named Chris Tromp I believe that is well versed on it as well. He has his content on you tube as well.

Anthem · Feb 26, 2023

Homesteader said:
What do you mean by stuff? Old soil?

Your leaves and such, how long do you let them compost for before you can use the mix?

Homesteader · Feb 26, 2023

Soil organic matter. I compost leaves right away but some things are best to let stew in a separate bin outside the grow area

Homesteader · Feb 26, 2023

I have chickens and feed all my scraps in their run. Then in the summer I just dig from that run to plant. Rabbits I'm using right away. Dead carcasses become next year's pumpkin patch

Anthem · Feb 26, 2023

Homesteader said:
Soil organic matter. I compost leaves right away but some things are best to let stew in a separate bin outside the grow area

You will get a kick out of this. I use a composting bin but not in the way you would think. All of my plant material outside of hard stems goes into that composting bin with some microbes to eat it. I think I have emptied it once in like 4 years of using it. I can put a new 5 gallon buck of material in there and it just disappears. The circle of life is an amazing thing.

Anthem · Feb 26, 2023

Homesteader said:
I have chickens and feed all my scraps in their run. Then in the summer I just dig from that run to plant. Rabbits I'm using right away. Dead carcasses become next year's pumpkin patch

How long does it take for the rabbit carcass to decompose? I was out fishing one time and this guy swore by fish. He would fillet the fish and put the balance in his garden. I think he was exaggerating when he said it was totally decomposed and gone in a week.

Homesteader · Feb 26, 2023

All depends on the climate and how many worms you have but typically a year for a rabbit maybe a bit more on the fur but I don't waste much nor do I process that many. Chickens on the other hand. Chicken feathers will break down slower than the meat so you may get two years of nitrogen from them.

Stonemason7767 · Feb 26, 2023

Anthem said:
Homesteader has been making his own for sometime if I am not mistaken I would follow his advise. I really want to try KNF Korean Natural Farming. There was a guy on here a couple years back doing it and the results were amazing to say the least. Also there is a guy named Chris Tromp I believe that is well versed on it as well. He has his content on you tube as well.

@Anthem Hey bro i grow veggies and canabiss using knf.would love to help you learn.

Harpua88 · Feb 26, 2023

Garbage_bear said:
I am putting together ingredients for a greenhouse grow with living soil this summer. I have everything pretty much besides the peat moss. The recipe I am using has one part peat moss, one part compost then a whole bunch of other stuff. My question is can I use a whole bunch of indoor living soil from happy frog soil. It was used once and I am wondering if I can use that soil in stead of peat moss to save a little $$$. I like peat because you can load it up with calcium and it is acidic enough it balances out but I am low on cash. What say you?

Can you get some bulk from a farm, wholesaler....? How about manure? I don't know much about what would need to do if you started replacing, I'm sure you want to keep your desired ratio/balance....

I'll definitely be watching and hope you get to your soil sweet spot. I've got some land and I'm going to be working a patch this spring.

Garbage_bear · Feb 26, 2023

Harpua88 said:
Can you get some bulk from a farm, wholesaler....? How about manure? I don't know much about what would need to do if you started replacing, I'm sure you want to keep your desired ratio/balance....

I'll definitely be watching and hope you get to your soil sweet spot. I've got some land and I'm going to be working a patch this spring.

I moved five years worth of aged goat turds into the greenhouse already!

Jojo420 · May 8, 2023

Use that happy frog and be happy. Just remember to add oyster shell flour with your other amendments .
Cheers

My cheap ass Living soil question

My cheap ass Living soil question

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