Welcome to the Living organic soils section

[White Punk on Dope]

You must be growing photo's, not auto's. Correct?

 

[RicanBlazer]

Doing both right now in separate tent, same soil for both, though.
The photos I veggged for about 8 weeks and that autos I have going are 31 days (speedy Gonzales auto) and 2 weeks old (Walter white).


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[White Punk on Dope]

I assume you have the photo's on 12/12. Every plant drinks differently. I water my soil and let the plant help itself to the nutrients available.
I ph my water/molasses mix and I wait till the pot is light. I use air pots. I water heavy and wait till it is light. Simple stuff. A liter a day is not unusual for a healthy growing plant. Don't overthink this stuff. It messes with your confidence. You are doing fine keep blazing and asking questions.

 

[RicanBlazer]

Yeah, 12/12 for 2 weeks so far. And true , there's this other site I go on (growweedeasy.com) and it sure is a lot of info trying to diagnose the problems when it looks like there's deficiencies. For air pots, does the water just drop out all those holes? I'm
Using smart pots and it drips through unless I water slowwwww...


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[White Punk on Dope]

Oh sure a little does but when you get the hang of them they are the cats meow. Very forgiving to over watering. I set mine in a sink tub bought at the Dollar Store for a dollar. Smart pots are good too. These pots allow the roots to breath.

 

[captcold]

hey @Ripper . I've been using my wood stove to heat the home all winter. I've got 30 litres of wood ash atm. I saw a post here that gave some nifty formulas for natural fert.

I'm blending some soil this week for growing.

Any use for the ash in it?

 

[Ripper]

hey @Ripper . I've been using my wood stove to heat the home all winter. I've got 30 litres of wood ash atm. I saw a post here that gave some nifty formulas for natural fert.

I'm blending some soil this week for growing.

Any use for the ash in it?

I am not sure maybe @Eyes on Fire can advise

 

[hecno]

@capcold use small amounts as it will raise your ph -
“Since wood ash is derived from plant material, it contains most of the 13 essential nutrients the soil must supply for plant growth. When wood burns, nitrogen and sulfur are lost as gases, and calcium, potassium, magnesium and trace element compounds remain. The carbonates and oxides remaining after wood burning are valuable liming agents, raising pH, thereby helping to neutralize acid soils” (soil scientist, Dan Sullivan).

 

[Noons]

G'day again from down under. After a bit of reading and collecting of amendments I'm just about ready to start composting a new batch of soil. From what I've read there are many ways to skin a cat with this between super soil, coots mix, revs mix and everything in between. Im sure they all work but some really seem made more complex than they need to be.

I think that I (like many of us) over complicate things in the pursuit of perfection. So the below proposed recipe is complex in that there are many amendments and could be doubling up on the same concepts, but these are all things I have on hand now so I'm going with the idea that a diversity of microbial food sources is going to be good. In the same way that while we as humans can get certain nutrition from meat, we are healthier for getting a more balanced nutrient profile of a combination of red meat, plant & fish sources for example. ANYWAY...

Here is the base which should be around 90 litres or just over 3 cubic feet

• Bagged organic potting mix** 6gal / 24 litres - good, trusted local source certified organic mix
• Organic compost 2 gal / 8 litres
• Worm castings 3-4 gal / 15 litres - this is roughly all I have left
• Coco and some peat 3 gal / 12 litres - budget brands but well washed
• Aeration 7-8 gal / 30 litres - contains zeolite, pumice, scoria & a little vermiculite

List of amendments

• Aged manure - 2 cups - certified organic, trusted source.
• Neem cake/meal - 2 cups - this looks like awesome stuff, full slow release nutrient profile with added pest control benefits
• Crushed & ground seashell - 3 cups - I do not have powdered but the ground is quite fine.
• Kelp meal - 2 cups - so many benefits. Great bio activator and great profile of micro and macro nutrients
• Soy meal - 1 cups - great compost activator and powerful, quickly available source of nitrogen with a neutral ph.
• Feather meal - 1/2 or 1 cup - nitrogen in the form of keratin which is harder for microbes to break down, therefore a slower release source of nitrogen
• Alfalfa meal - 1 or 2 cups - 3% nitrogen with a perfect carbon:nitrogen ratio, meaning it will break down slower and remineralise the soil. Also contains growth stimulant triacontanol.
• Rock dust *** - 3 cups - this particular brand is a blend of basalt and granite and a few other things as a catalyst. I've seen anything from a 1/2 cup to 4 recommended per cubic foot. My thoughts are that with the kelp meal and other things in this mix 1 cup per cubic foot should work well
• Bentonite clay - 2 cups - powdered clay amendment soil conditioner. Increases cation exchange
• Organic blood and bone - 1/2 cup - may not be required with all the above? But a small amount to diversify the microbial food sources may be useful.

Here's the one I'm really not sure about:

Dolomite lime - this seems to be drummed in that we need it but some of the reading I've been doing has suggested it may not be needed and may be detrimental in large quantities as it can tighten the soil and remove air. There should be more that enough magnesium in the above and I would expect the shell grit and mineral amendments should balance ph in time with composting. I could always add a small amount (1/2 cup or something) if there are other benefits I'm missing?

Mulching

I will use a mulch (wood chips) with a little compost, alfalfa, malted barley in the pots throughout. This should be a good balanced mulch to feed both bacteria and fungi.

Top dressing

I will use the following as top dress when flowering

• Coconut meal (pre & early flower) - 3% potassium, a great food for soil microbes and fungi. Mix it with compost & rock dust for top dress, maybe apply AAC tea
• High phosphorus seabird guano (mid to later flower) - do something similar to above and apply AAC tea.

So to summarise, below is what I'm wanting to sanity check (thanks for reading this far!)

• This isn't supposed to be a super soil, more a living organic soil (and process) to share based on my reading. I'll layer a seed raising soil on top if needed for seedlings. Is the total amount of fertilisers/amendments appropriate to the volume of soil? Maybe a sanity check on the ratios too?
• Dolomite lime? As per above, yes? No? A little bit? Leaning towards no.
• Any other feedback? Mineral amendment volumes, add more or less of things & so on

Cheers, superstars!



** Certified Organic Potting Mix is toxin free and made from environmentally sustainable organic materials, making it ideal for growing herbs and vegies. It contains composted manure, composted seaweed and worm castings as well as an extensive range of trace elements, amino acids and naturally occuring growth stimulants. It promotes healthy microbiology, plant growth and disease resistance.

*** rock dust fertiliser table - 5% calcium, 2.5% potassium, 6% iron, 2% magnesium, 0.65% manganese, 0.45% carbon, 0.16% phosphorus, 600ppm sulphur, 270ppm zinc, 70ppm copper, 31ppm boron, 24ppm cobalt, 7ppm molybdenum.

 

[Noons]

As I read it back I think I could replace the bagged soil with more vermicast/compost/peat and coco as the amendment list is extensive. May not matter too much either way