I came back to this thread, because the notes I write here are better than the ones on the clip board, and I need to mix more soil.
Imagine my surprise to find them missing.
I had written the following for placement here, but stashed it in an organic soil thread, and forgot it.
So this here is what I'm up to in this thread.
Nine (9) soil 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.
And the three new soils are:
7- “Three Little Birds” refurb. I got this from a large soil compilation. (
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=228020)
I like it because I need more refurb soil, and it calls for worm castings and rock phosphate, two things I have in abundance and want to use.
The full list is old soil, worm castings, rock phosphate, alfalfa, kelp, bone,
diatomaceous earth, and dolomite.
8- soil 2 with rock phosphate replacing guano.
9- soil 8 with half blood meal.
In review:
I, 2, &3 are different base components.
4,5,&7 are soil refurbs.
6, 8, &9 are rock phosphate for guano substitutions with 6 & 9 testing lower blood meal quantities.
All nine are water only.