Preparing live soil

[SparcOne]

Hi, I’ve had a few bags of mediocre potting soil lying around the house the reason I haven’t been using them is because the quality isn’t aerated enough for my liking so recently I put out some black plastic under a tree and emptied all the soil there raked out in an even approx 12inch thick pile and since I’ve been adding worm casting compost tea and the Korean Natural Farming(KNF) microorganism solution(JMS) to the pile so in other words I’ve been adding benificial microorganisms back in to the soil. The pile is receiving some rain too so everything I add is being run through the soil with rain. The plan is to finally amend a soil mix with added worm castings, compost, limestone, cured chicken manure and perlite. My question is ‘is it possible to turn the quality of an average potting mix in to a rich quality soil teaming with microbes’? I know if your adding microbes to land where the quality of the soil is bad it will over time change the soil web so I’m basically wondering if the soil web in potting soil can be stimulated and ‘fed’ the same way that it’s possible in the ground. Obviously in the ground there’s a more complex layering that runs deeper in to the earth so there is major differences. So far I’ve already noticed(I think) the soil to be more fluffy and of darker texture, or I could be imagining this. All my compost and worm castings are made by me so there’s no outside products coming in. Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated. TIA

 

[oldskol4evr]

Hi, I’ve had a few bags of mediocre potting soil lying around the house the reason I haven’t been using them is because the quality isn’t aerated enough for my liking so recently I put out some black plastic under a tree and emptied all the soil there raked out in an even approx 12inch thick pile and since I’ve been adding worm casting compost tea and the Korean Natural Farming(KNF) microorganism solution(JMS) to the pile so in other words I’ve been adding benificial microorganisms back in to the soil. The pile is receiving some rain too so everything I add is being run through the soil with rain. The plan is to finally amend a soil mix with added worm castings, compost, limestone, cured chicken manure and perlite. My question is ‘is it possible to turn the quality of an average potting mix in to a rich quality soil teaming with microbes’? I know if your adding microbes to land where the quality of the soil is bad it will over time change the soil web so I’m basically wondering if the soil web in potting soil can be stimulated and ‘fed’ the same way that it’s possible in the ground. Obviously in the ground there’s a more complex layering that runs deeper in to the earth so there is major differences. So far I’ve already noticed(I think) the soil to be more fluffy and of darker texture, or I could be imagining this. All my compost and worm castings are made by me so there’s no outside products coming in. Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated. TIA

very much so friend,any medium can be acheived with right hands working it,you say you have it 12 in thick on a tarp? might have read it wrong,anyway keep in mind that reguardless of how much your leaching ,on the bottom it cant get threw to finish leaching out,so you can get a build up,try taking plastic or tarp out and just put down a thick layer of cardboard instead,worms will eat it and help your task ,lay clear plastic on top and let it sit couple weeks were weeds will show there face ,after a mess show up,put black plastic over it and it will block sunlight killing all the weeds from rot to stem if you dig,just a tip i use,i like the sound of your amends i wouldnt use lime but it does job too,if your gonna use this soil outdoors maybe think play ground wood chips for your air instead of perlite,it absorbs nutrients and stay moist longer preventing so much watering if you dig,but ya sounds great,wood ash instead of lime,wood chips instead of perlite,what i would use,if you live in country burn some logs and branches and make some char,that really helps with texture ,absorbing nutrient of the soil,teaming with microbes was a excellant chose,another thing if you plan to use the mix a lot,might amend some slow release meals and stuff for p and k,they take time but is there for the long haul

 

[SparcOne]

very much so friend,any medium can be acheived with right hands working it,you say you have it 12 in thick on a tarp? might have read it wrong,anyway keep in mind that reguardless of how much your leaching ,on the bottom it cant get threw to finish leaching out,so you can get a build up,try taking plastic or tarp out and just put down a thick layer of cardboard instead,worms will eat it and help your task ,lay clear plastic on top and let it sit couple weeks were weeds will show there face ,after a mess show up,put black plastic over it and it will block sunlight killing all the weeds from rot to stem if you dig,just a tip i use,i like the sound of your amends i wouldnt use lime but it does job too,if your gonna use this soil outdoors maybe think play ground wood chips for your air instead of perlite,it absorbs nutrients and stay moist longer preventing so much watering if you dig,but ya sounds great,wood ash instead of lime,wood chips instead of perlite,what i would use,if you live in country burn some logs and branches and make some char,that really helps with texture ,absorbing nutrient of the soil,teaming with microbes was a excellant chose,another thing if you plan to use the mix a lot,might amend some slow release meals and stuff for p and k,they take time but is there for the long haul

Thanks for the reply mate and great idea with the cardboard instead of the current tarp I’m using and then allowing a ‘cover crop’ to form and then covering it to return the nitrogen and other goodness back to the soil, very smartI like the wood ash idea too, I have plenty of land to burn wood but the limestone was more for a CalMag source but if there is a DIY alternative I’m all for it. I live in the jungle in Central America so plenty of nature around
to utalize. It’s funny you mention the wood chips/shavings I have a whole bag and was using them instead of perlite but I’ve since been told they leach the nitrogen out of the soil and can carry fungus spores so I stopped using them but maybe I was misinformed Jah Bless

 

[oldskol4evr]

Thanks for the reply mate and great idea with the cardboard instead of the current tarp I’m using and then allowing a ‘cover crop’ to form and then covering it to return the nitrogen and other goodness back to the soil, very smartI like the wood ash idea too, I have plenty of land to burn wood but the limestone was more for a CalMag source but if there is a DIY alternative I’m all for it. I live in the jungle in Central America so plenty of nature around
to utalize. It’s funny you mention the wood chips/shavings I have a whole bag and was using them instead of perlite but I’ve since been told they leach the nitrogen out of the soil and can carry fungus spores so I stopped using them but maybe I was misinformed Jah Bless

wood ash has cal in it,as long as you keep 65% of total nutreint on the K side you cant go wrong,then25%magnese for your P side and cal and mag be happy happy,i use potash for my K amend,gypsum is a great addition for you to,i go at least 8 inch into soil with 0-46-0 triple phosphrus,potash is 52%soluble potash,18%sulfur,that there takes care of the P and the K,deep were the roots are for strength and vigor,put a inoculated seed 3inch above it and watch it go,both that mentioned are slow release and it takes both to become available with in a year for best result, nitrogen is fast so feeding in with compost is what i use for the N side.
i mentioned the card board because you want it to leach if it has too,the tarp traps that from happening,the soil will stink on bottom and has become anerobic,the paper will slow it down so it can cook like it needs to,a little spray of water keeps the heap hot ,then your cooking.

 

[oldskol4evr]

any plant fruiting or flowering needs more k than p,as for end rot and such,that said next time you go into a garden shop,look at the top selling bags of fertilizer,now me i notice the rates before ingrediants,just about every one has 7-16-30 for example,they are putting more K than any thing,then the P is split in half same for N,so the balance comes up to right around the 65% K 25%P 10% N,the PandK work together for proper saturation exchange of cal and magnese.same thing with the bags of difrent feeds