My amended soil, please help a guy go organic.

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BRANDON77

Well-Known Member
I use Fox Farms Coco Loco (coco coir). Ide like to use my resevoirs for plain water. Ill Foliar with neem and compost teas weekly.

Here is the starting point for my amended mix. I have 5 pounds min of each ingredient and can get more of any. Should I add more perlite even though im using coco coir and it alreay has perlite in it? 5 gallon buckets watered with drippers.


POTTING SOIL RECIPE

8 CU FEET OF FOX FARMS COCO LOCO (4 CU FT BAGS)
1 15 POUND BAG OF EARTH WORM CASTINGS
2 CUPS GRANULAR MICROCHAZAE
2 CUP KELP MEAL
2 CUP ALFALFA MEAL
2 CUP AZOMITE
2 CUP SEABIRD GUANO
2 CUP LANGENBRITE
2 CUP CRAB MEAL
2 CUP DOLOMITE LIME
2 CUP EPSOM SALTS
2 CUP DIAMACEOUS EARTH
2 CUP OYSTER SHELL FLOUR
2 CUP FEATHER MEAL
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Get some neem seed meal into your mix & you won't ever need to folar feed. That and granular myco doesn't do anything unless it is in contact with the roots. Put it in the hole at each transplant...ez breezy beautiful. Yes more perlite is never a bad thing; aeration is key
 
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BRANDON77

Well-Known Member
ok bought the neem seed meal....that only helps the pot through right? it wont keep thrips etc off the plants themselves?
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
BRANDON77 said:
are my ratios ok? works out to about 1/4 cup per cubic foot of coco loco
Click to expand...
BRANDON77 said:
ok bought the neem seed meal....that only helps the pot through right? it wont keep thrips etc off the plants themselves?
Click to expand...
Yes it will and it also provides a meager NPK value. It gets into the flesh of the plants and if a thrip munches your leaves it will harden like concrete in their bellies and they forget to eat and die horribly. But you need to cook it into the soil first for a month and then after awhile it can be taken up by the plants. Since I've been amending with it for a couple years I have not seen one thrip or gnat. A sprinkle of your diatomaceous earth on the top layer will keep any gnats away and provide silica; again that is once it breaks down which takes some time. How long depends upon how active your mix is.
I'm not the guy to ask about ratios because I don't even actually measure out my amendments with any kind of precision. I just cover the palm of my hand with each amendment and toss it in. If you've added in some good active compost it will all even out in like a month. Keep it simple the plants know what to do as long as there is active compost working in the mix or if it added back to the soil in the form of compost tea.
 
Chunky Stool

Chunky Stool

Well-Known Member
BRANDON77 said:
I use Fox Farms Coco Loco (coco coir). Ide like to use my resevoirs for plain water. Ill Foliar with neem and compost teas weekly.

Here is the starting point for my amended mix. I have 5 pounds min of each ingredient and can get more of any. Should I add more perlite even though im using coco coir and it alreay has perlite in it? 5 gallon buckets watered with drippers.


POTTING SOIL RECIPE

8 CU FEET OF FOX FARMS COCO LOCO (4 CU FT BAGS)
1 15 POUND BAG OF EARTH WORM CASTINGS
2 CUPS GRANULAR MICROCHAZAE
2 CUP KELP MEAL
2 CUP ALFALFA MEAL
2 CUP AZOMITE
2 CUP SEABIRD GUANO
2 CUP LANGENBRITE
2 CUP CRAB MEAL
2 CUP DOLOMITE LIME
2 CUP EPSOM SALTS
2 CUP DIAMACEOUS EARTH
2 CUP OYSTER SHELL FLOUR
2 CUP FEATHER MEAL
Click to expand...
Looks decent, but you don't need the seabird guano, dolomite, feather meal, or epsom.
Not sure about the measurements. Why did you choose 2 cups of everything?
Also, just curious why you chose coco as your base for custom organic soil. Peat has more humic acid and higher CEC.
 
B

BRANDON77

Well-Known Member
Chunky Stool said:
Looks decent, but you don't need the seabird guano, dolomite, feather meal, or epsom.
Not sure about the measurements. Why did you choose 2 cups of everything?
Also, just curious why you chose coco as your base for custom organic soil. Peat has more humic acid and higher CEC.
Click to expand...
Great questions, thank you for the response. I chose it randomly. Seemed like a fair example to give. Im asking for imput because I have been completely ignorant of organics my entire life until I found these forums.

I like Hydro/Grodan. I thought coco coir was a good medium medium (ha!) between soil and hydro.

At the reccomendation of a guy I saw buying 20 bags, I tried Canna and loved it. Ended up at a Hydro store who did not have that in stock one time and bought Coco Loco by Fox Farms and planted it side-by-side in the grill and holy cow was there a huge huge difference in the quality of the plants from the Fox Farms versus the canna it was obvious that I was not feeding enough to the unamended canna.
 
Chunky Stool

Chunky Stool

Well-Known Member
BRANDON77 said:
Great questions, thank you for the response. I chose it randomly. Seemed like a fair example to give. Im asking for imput because I have been completely ignorant of organics my entire life until I found these forums.

I like Hydro/Grodan. I thought coco coir was a good medium medium (ha!) between soil and hydro.

At the reccomendation of a guy I saw buying 20 bags, I tried Canna and loved it. Ended up at a Hydro store who did not have that in stock one time and bought Coco Loco by Fox Farms and planted it side-by-side in the grill and holy cow was there a huge huge difference in the quality of the plants from the Fox Farms versus the canna it was obvious that I was not feeding enough to the unamended canna.
Click to expand...
It sounds like you've had good luck with coco. Everything changes when you go from synthetic hydro to organic soil. Not saying one is better than the other, but they are *very* different.
Don't get me wrong, I like coco in my organic soil -- but I blend it with peat.
Peat has a lower ph than coco, which is why it needs to be buffered. Coco also has a low CEC, which means it doesn't exchange nutrients well at a molecular level. You can get around this by adding things with higher CEC like peat, biochar, or clay (non-clumping of course).
Have you considered starting with something like ProMix HP as your base for organic soil? It is already buffered and has lots of aeration.
One more thing...
WTF is 'LANGENBRITE'?

Langbeinite? :wink:
 
B

BRANDON77

Well-Known Member
POTTING SOIL RECIPE

8 CU FEET OF FOX FARMS COCO LOCO (4 CU FT BAGS)
1 15 POUND BAG OF EARTH WORM CASTINGS
2 CUP KELP MEAL
2 CUP ALFALFA MEAL
2 CUP AZOMITE
2 CUP SEABIRD GUANO
2 CUP LANGBEINITE
2 CUP CRAB MEAL
2 CUP DOLOMITE LIME
2 CUP NEEM SEED MEAL
2 CUP OYSTER SHELL FLOUR
2 CUP FEATHER MEAL

TOP DRESS DIATOMACEOUS EARTH DURING VEG
TOP DRESS EPSOM SALTS DURING BLOOM

MYKOS DURING TRANSPLANT



HOW DOES THAT LOOK?
 
Chunky Stool

Chunky Stool

Well-Known Member
BRANDON77 said:
POTTING SOIL RECIPE

8 CU FEET OF FOX FARMS COCO LOCO (4 CU FT BAGS)
1 15 POUND BAG OF EARTH WORM CASTINGS
2 CUP KELP MEAL
2 CUP ALFALFA MEAL
2 CUP AZOMITE
2 CUP SEABIRD GUANO
2 CUP LANGBEINITE
2 CUP CRAB MEAL
2 CUP DOLOMITE LIME
2 CUP NEEM SEED MEAL
2 CUP OYSTER SHELL FLOUR
2 CUP FEATHER MEAL

TOP DRESS DIATOMACEOUS EARTH DURING VEG
TOP DRESS EPSOM SALTS DURING BLOOM

MYKOS DURING TRANSPLANT



HOW DOES THAT LOOK?
Click to expand...
Your mix has plenty of nitrogen without the feather meal -- and it contains arsenic.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969711014306
 
hillbill

hillbill

Well-Known Member
Just choosing a set amount of al those components seems like a fuck up waiting to happen. I don't think I have used 2 cups of azomite total in my entire life! Just like a food recipe doesn't call for 2 cups of flour, 2 cups of sugar, 2 cups of salt, 2 cups of cumin, or 2 cups of oil and mix well!

So much good info on mixs that work on RIU or other forums. Read and research and so as to learn the basics of putting a workable mix together.
 
O

old shol4evr

Well-Known Member
i buy a bag of dr.earth with ewc and aleo vera,,go threw fist harvest,then buy a soil cutter starter kit of kelp4less and done for 3 years before it needs amended,,and done,,water only,,but i do day one of flower use a kool bloom boast and every other week there after,,thing is building soil as fun as it is,costly as hell ,and the idea of me growing my medicine is to save money and kick the street corner hood to the curb,,but the time you finish that recipe,you looking at 400 easy,,and honestly,i dont think it will work,,to many things of same compounds
 
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