Post your Organic Soil Mix

[Medicab]

Someone who chucks their mix after every grow would be wasting money big time. What I hear pumice doesn't biodegrade, so that would be my next choice when my soil starts to clump up. My recipe is more of a starting point, and will change over time as I learn.

 

[Seamaiden]

I let my mix cook between 4 and 6 weeks. I recycle my mix and don't plain on using any perlite or vermic for a long long time, with that said how i'm I wasting money? it was a one time deal. The next time I need aeration I plain on using pumice. Never used rice hulls so I don't know how the aeration will be effected when it starts to biodegrade.

IME rice hulls take at least 3yrs to decompose and become unrecognizable. That's about the same time it takes for soft rock phosphate to become biologically available. In the meantime, though, the hulls are a fraction of the cost of perlite, are renewable and sustainable as an agricultural waste product and did I mention they're stupid cheap? When they decompose they give up potassium silicate (or something like that, I've just drawn a huge blank on the expression, but they give up primarily K and Si).

Pumice, and really pretty much all rock dusts, are also very good to use because they do give up minerals as microbes 'access' them. However, after having used pumice, I can say that it does add weight to a mix that my back doesn't care for. Good soil should be well mineralized as well as having good organic matter levels.

 

[Dopegeist]

Don't get bent out of shape.
Just giving you alternatives for when you put that outdoor plot in and your mix calls for $1,000 worth of perlite.

I can't even begin to count how much money I 'wasted' on all sorts of shit. We all spend money, but we also let eachother know about money saving opportunities...because as time goes on...a penny saved is a penny earned, in a big way.

Just give it time, it will make sense.

 

[Dunge]

I was writing up a chunk for a grow log I started and thought this might be a good place to drop it.
I intend to reuse these texts with my next update to:
https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/threads/six-super-soil-variants-run-side-by-side.63549/

Supporting formulations for this demonstration are based off of reading done at ThcFarmer which started me in the direction of "Super Soil". The promise is a media from which a plant can draw all nutrient requirements, leaving the farmer to water only and attend to other environmental issues. This has been working well for over three years.
So why don't I know more about how it works?
Knowing things "for sure" is a slow process for me. I keep messing with things.
ie. "microbial tea"
Having six like cuttings ready to go, and an early spring in interior Alaska forced me to do the heavy lifting required to formulate my soil in small batches. I can now mix 5 gallon batches. So I made six variants of the base.

soil 1:
local pit peat - one five gallon bucket
Compost - 6 pounds 7.5 quarts
worm castings - 3.8 pounds 2.75 quarts
blood meal - 136g 210 ml.
bone meal - 136g 220 ml.
bat guano - 384 ml.
Perlite - make to 20% of volume

soil 2:
ProMix replaces local peat
no additional perlite

soil 3:
Coco replaces local peat
no additional perlite

soil 4:
refurbishment of used soil with addition of 140 ml "Peace of Mind" starter.(3-4-3)

soil 5:
refurbished with additions from the original formulation but at one third quantities.

soil 6:
original soil #1 with half the blood meal

So the outline is a head to head grow off between three base media, two soil refurbs, and a stab at the question, "why all the blood?".

Original full batch quantities are based off of three pound bags of Miracle Grow blood & bone.
The five pound box of guano, sixty pound bag of compost, and a 38 pound bag of worm castings are all from Down to Earth.

Science is hard.

 

[Medicab]

Don't get bent out of shape.
Just giving you alternatives for when you put that outdoor plot in and your mix calls for $1,000 worth of perlite.

I can't even begin to count how much money I 'wasted' on all sorts of shit. We all spend money, but we also let eachother know about money saving opportunities...because as time goes on...a penny saved is a penny earned, in a big way.

Just give it time, it will make sense.

Its all cool,no hard feelings. Perlite has been the standard for so long some of us don't even look for a better alternative. :)

 

[Medicab]

IME rice hulls take at least 3yrs to decompose and become unrecognizable. That's about the same time it takes for soft rock phosphate to become biologically available. In the meantime, though, the hulls are a fraction of the cost of perlite, are renewable and sustainable as an agricultural waste product and did I mention they're stupid cheap? When they decompose they give up potassium silicate (or something like that, I've just drawn a huge blank on the expression, but they give up primarily K and Si).

Pumice, and really pretty much all rock dusts, are also very good to use because they do give up minerals as microbes 'access' them. However, after having used pumice, I can say that it does add weight to a mix that my back doesn't care for. Good soil should be well mineralized as well as having good organic matter levels.

Thanks for the info, the next time I need aeration i'll remember the rice hulls.:D

 

[Medicab]

I was writing up a chunk for a grow log I started and thought this might be a good place to drop it.
I intend to reuse these texts with my next update to:
https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/threads/six-super-soil-variants-run-side-by-side.63549/

Supporting formulations for this demonstration are based off of reading done at ThcFarmer which started me in the direction of "Super Soil". The promise is a media from which a plant can draw all nutrient requirements, leaving the farmer to water only and attend to other environmental issues. This has been working well for over three years.
So why don't I know more about how it works?
Knowing things "for sure" is a slow process for me. I keep messing with things.
ie. "microbial tea"
Having six like cuttings ready to go, and an early spring in interior Alaska forced me to do the heavy lifting required to formulate my soil in small batches. I can now mix 5 gallon batches. So I made six variants of the base.

soil 1:
local pit peat - one five gallon bucket
Compost - 6 pounds 7.5 quarts
worm castings - 3.8 pounds 2.75 quarts
blood meal - 136g 210 ml.
bone meal - 136g 220 ml.
bat guano - 384 ml.
Perlite - make to 20% of volume

soil 2:
ProMix replaces local peat
no additional perlite

soil 3:
Coco replaces local peat
no additional perlite

soil 4:
refurbishment of used soil with addition of 140 ml "Peace of Mind" starter.(3-4-3)

soil 5:
refurbished with additions from the original formulation but at one third quantities.

soil 6:
original soil #1 with half the blood meal

So the outline is a head to head grow off between three base media, two soil refurbs, and a stab at the question, "why all the blood?".

Original full batch quantities are based off of three pound bags of Miracle Grow blood & bone.
The five pound box of guano, sixty pound bag of compost, and a 38 pound bag of worm castings are all from Down to Earth.

Science is hard.

How about 1 tablespoon of azomite per gal of soil for trace minerals, and 2 tablespoons of dolomite lime per gal of soil for CA, MG, and PH.

 

[Seamaiden]

I don't think that amount of DL will be sufficient for Ca, or allow for sufficiently available Ca, that's where something like bone meal and crab shell meal can help (easy on the crab shell, those are high in carbonates, too). I have heavy clay soils that I'm trying to build up, so I use gypsum. Because it's pH neutral I also like using it in my soil mixes. I tend to stay away from anything with the CO3 molecule because my well water is so heavy with carbonates (almost off the scale I used to measure, dKH, measured in degrees of).

 

[Dunge]

My mistake.
I should have named this Search for the Simplest Super Soil.
The question is, what MUST I have in the mix.
A future test might explore how much compost and worm castings are REQUIRED to get good results.
Reduce the expensive stuff first.
I'd love to be rid of the bat guano, but I made that decision years ago, and now it's a crutch.
I even limit myself to the same guano NPK profile, and they sell at least three distinct types.
I also don't want to ignore things just because I can't understand them.
If magnetized water "works wonders, and freshens the breath", I want to know this.
This is in no way criticism for those offering suggestions. I love you guys.
Just trying to give a view of where this investigation is going.

If it turns out to be coco and milk, that would be interesting. 2% or whole?

 

[Seamaiden]

Whole, pastured, raw. Dilute to about 10% and spray everywhere.

 

[OfficialHaze]

I use a few different mixes for the whole of my grow cycle, varying a bit with each transplant.

Base Mix:
- 2 gallons Ocean Forest organic potting soil.
- 2 gallons of locally produced worm castings, (or wiggle worm co.'s castings).
- 2 gallons of organic horticultural perlite.
- 2 gallons organic sphagnum peat moss, or coco-gro from Botanicare.


All Purpose Container mix layers:

1) 1- 1/12 tsp of blood meal (or feather meal on bottom) high nitrogen supplement.

2) about a 1/2 through inch thick layer of chicken and horse manure, ( composted).

3) I add some of the base soil mix at this point and fill close to half the container.

4) I add 1 tsp of Fox Farms all purpose organic "Bulb Food", (3-8-8).

5) the rest of the container is filled up to about two-three inches.

6) a nice layer of freshly composted earthworm castings and cover the top of the soil mix with it blend lightly, and then add one more layer to the top.

7) A 1/4"-1/2 " layer of mulch to help retain moisture as well as maintain good aeration & air penetration in and through the entire container.

This mix is pretty simple, organic, and it has always kept my plants real happy. Theres not a lot to be able to mess up so it's good for people just starting in organics as well.

I have a bulk mix I like to prepare before my grow sometimes. It's a bit more complex and takes a variety of ingredients, which is the main reason I don't always use it. Sometimes the items are hard to find or have to be ordered to my location. I will be back to post this and the ingredients as soon as the rest get here. I just ordered three different supplements for the mix and then I'm pretty sure ill have enough to get a batch of it made. I plan to post the process and ingredients here after I get it ready for the grow cycle coming up.

 

[Seamaiden]

Thank you for sharing that mix. It is indeed pretty simple. I know I say this a lot, but if you're able to, consider replacing the perlite with rice hulls.

 

[OfficialHaze]

Thank you for sharing that mix. It is indeed pretty simple. I know I say this a lot, but if you're able to, consider replacing the perlite with rice hulls.

Rice hulls?? Does the micro life colonize on and around them the same way or as well as it does with perlite? I just haven't heard of this as a substitution. The reason use so much perlite, specifically, is because my soil mixes seem to break down organic matter at really fast rates, wile the perlite last's a long time especially considering it's resistance to decomposition. That makes it a great place for the micro life to colonize. Would rice hulls offer the same qualities as far as this is concerned?

 

[Seamaiden]

Yes, they certainly do. You can even make biochar with the hulls. They don't break down very quickly, 2-3yrs in my experience. But they are a FRACTION of the cost of perlite and being sustainable and renewable, I find them far preferable. Also, they never float up to the top like perlite. If you turn it into biochar then it will make a far superior home for microbes than perlite. As they decompose, they offer up potassium silicate as well.

I've made biochar using an open fire method where the fire is then smothered with whatever you want to be charred. That can be wood chips, wood shavings, rice hulls, anything that can be shoveled over the burn vents as they form.

 

[Tnelz]

So I plan on making a batch of my own soil soon. Have all the components just a question. If I start with one cubic foot of peat then add my cubic foot of rice hulls and a cubic foot of ewc/compost mixture that's three cubic feet. Do I add my lime at one cup per cubic foot of mix or one cup per cubic foot of peat. I'll gladly post my mix if that would better help answer. Just a little confused on the lime issue.

 

[masshole61]

Sea, is there an online source for rice hulls you can direct me to?
Or what type of local businesses should I look to that may use rice hulls?
Thanks.

 

[outwest]

Sea, is there an online source for rice hulls you can direct me to?
Or what type of local businesses should I look to that may use rice hulls?
Thanks.

The only place I was able to find them locally was a brew supply store.

outwest

 

[Tnelz]

Sea, is there an online source for rice hulls you can direct me to?
Or what type of local businesses should I look to that may use rice hulls?
Thanks.

Mass I'm assuming u are also in Massachusetts as I am. I contacted a couple one brewing places in my area(Worcester) and found them no problem. There is also a place in Mitford that has them. So wherever u are just check the yellow pages for a home brew place and they should have them. I paid a dollar a pound.

 

[Tnelz]

Sea, is there an online source for rice hulls you can direct me to?
Or what type of local businesses should I look to that may use rice hulls?
Thanks.

Home brew emporium has them in bulk in West Boylston MA and strange brew has them in one pound bags or bulk in Marlboro MA. Hope this helps.

 

[masshole61]

Thank you guys. That's why I love the farm!