Am I missing anything?

King Avitas

King Avitas

Well-Known Member
Ok, so after years of wanting to try something more natural, I am finally ready to give living soil a try.

Today I am gonna mix my soil up and let it do its thing for about 6-8 weeks.

I think I have most of everything I will need but maybe someone could check my list and see if I am good to go.


5x 20 gallon pots = 16.05cu.ft.

Peat:
-7.5cu.ft. Sphagnum Peat Moss

Compost:
-1cu.ft. Sheep Manure Compost
-1cu.ft. Mushroom Manure Compost
-1cu.ft Sea Soil Fish Compost
-3cu.ft. Worm Castings

Aeration:
-4cu.ft. Coarse Perlite
-2cu.ft. Rice Hulls
1cu.ft Charged Bio-Char (not traditional airation but...)

Fertilizer Amendments:
10 Cup Kelp Meal
10 Cup Neem Cake

Mineral Amendments:
20 Cups Basalt Rock Dust
10 Cups Oyster Shell Flour
10 Cup Gypsum

I wanted to add crustacean meal but it's very expensive and not available anywhere around me. Is it ok to skip it or should I substitute anything else for it?
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Y

youraveragehorticulturist

Well-Known Member
I think your mix of different composts is cool. And size different aeration plus biochar is awesome too. Your soil should be cool.

If you can't find the crustacean stuff, but you've got Gia Green, consider Gia Green's all-in-one bloom amendment instead (Power Bloom 2-8-4). Maybe just use half as much of the Gia as you would crab, because it's pretty strong in phosphorus.

If you don't wan to mess with that you could look for Bone Meal or Fish Bone Meal instead. High P bat or seabird guano could work. Or maybe Rock Phosphate if you want to keep it Vegan.
 
green_machine_two9er

green_machine_two9er

Well-Known Member
I would add crab meal if you can. Or insect frass in a pinch. and alfalfa for diversity.
also biochar can cause issues if not properly charged or to much. 2-3% biochar should be sufficient.
The only other thing I would think about is a fungal food source. Simple Carbohydrate like malted barley, brown rice, baby oatmeal. Something like that will really keep your ratio of fungi to bacteria in check and decrease cook time.
Malted barley powder should be top dressed often through grow as well to keep a living soil happy.
 
RIS

RIS

Well-Known Member
King Avitas said:
So I ended up building the soil as I posted above. When I plant, I will mix in some malted barley, some insect frass & alfalfa. I don't think it will be an issue adding it later after the cook....or am I wrong?

As for the crustacean meal it's just too hard to get here.

View attachment 5166139
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Never thought id say this about dirt, but, that's some good-looking stuff right there. I might see what I got local and make a poor man's knockoff lol
 
Rozgreenburn

Rozgreenburn

Well-Known Member
King Avitas said:
So I ended up building the soil as I posted above. When I plant, I will mix in some malted barley, some insect frass & alfalfa. I don't think it will be an issue adding it later after the cook....or am I wrong?

As for the crustacean meal it's just too hard to get here.

View attachment 5166139
Click to expand...
Looks good, you're gonna love organics. I switched about 1and a half years ago. I wish I'd switched 40 years ago. Keep us posted on your progress!
 
C

c.shell

Member
King Avitas said:
So I ended up building the soil as I posted above. When I plant, I will mix in some malted barley, some insect frass & alfalfa. I don't think it will be an issue adding it later after the cook....or am I wrong?
Click to expand...
Be careful with the alfalfa. It's quite hot and would be better if you could give it a few weeks to cook in with the rest of the soil, IMO.
 
King Avitas

King Avitas

Well-Known Member
c.shell said:
Be careful with the alfalfa. It's quite hot and would be better if you could give it a few weeks to cook in with the rest of the soil, IMO.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for that info. I would have never guessed alfalfa would be so hot.

I go back home in a couple weeks, I will add the alfalfa then. I was going to start my grow in August but it is being pushed off until after hunting season so the alfalfa should have time to cook then.
 
PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
King Avitas said:
Ok, so after years of wanting to try something more natural, I am finally ready to give living soil a try.

Today I am gonna mix my soil up and let it do its thing for about 6-8 weeks.

I think I have most of everything I will need but maybe someone could check my list and see if I am good to go.


5x 20 gallon pots = 16.05cu.ft.

Peat:
-7.5cu.ft. Sphagnum Peat Moss

Compost:
-1cu.ft. Sheep Manure Compost
-1cu.ft. Mushroom Manure Compost
-1cu.ft Sea Soil Fish Compost
-3cu.ft. Worm Castings

Aeration:
-4cu.ft. Coarse Perlite
-2cu.ft. Rice Hulls
1cu.ft Charged Bio-Char (not traditional airation but...)

Fertilizer Amendments:
10 Cup Kelp Meal
10 Cup Neem Cake

Mineral Amendments:
20 Cups Basalt Rock Dust
10 Cups Oyster Shell Flour
10 Cup Gypsum

I wanted to add crustacean meal but it's very expensive and not available anywhere around me. Is it ok to skip it or should I substitute anything else for it?
View attachment 5166013
Click to expand...
Looks like a good mix. Oh and sorry aboot your Oilers, :lol:.

IMG_7034.JPG
 
Rozgreenburn

Rozgreenburn

Well-Known Member
myke said:
I buy alfalfa pellets from UFA,50lb bag like $18.Just hydrate them, then as they dry you crush them up into powder.
Way cheaper then the Gaia.
Click to expand...
You should be able to purchase alfalfa meal, no crushing necessary! I get mine at the local farm feed store, along with perlite, vermiculite in large bags for cheap. They also supply me with crushed oyster shells and pelletized lime at unbeatable prices!
 
King Avitas

King Avitas

Well-Known Member
So I have finally started my plants and they have been in the living soil for about two weeks now. The plants really look good and healthy. Been giving them nothing but tap water so far.

My new concern is when should I start adding dry amendments to the top of the soil? And what should I be using? It would be nice to keep this simple but I generally grow big plants and I am only in 20 gallon pots so I do not want to get myself into a situation where the plants are stripping the soil of its nutrients putting me into catch up mode.

My cover crop is a clover/rye grass mixture that supposedly boosts nitrogen. I let it grow about 3-4" tall then trim it every few days, letting the trimmings decompose in the pots but I know this is a drop in the bucket of what I should be doing.

I was thinking of using the gaia green veg and bloom dry ferts but what else should I be adding and when should I be adding it?

IMG_20221010_102110.jpgIMG_20221010_102106.jpgIMG_20221010_102103.jpgIMG_20221010_102100.jpg
 
King Avitas

King Avitas

Well-Known Member
Well I went ahead and got some Gaia Green 4-4-4 and 2-8-4. Also got some Bokashi Pro-Gro Fermented Fertilizer. I still have a bunch of things like kelp, neem cake, and all the rock dusts I used to make my soil. Still need to pick up some alfalfa meal to throw in there.
 
King Avitas

King Avitas

Well-Known Member
Added ¼ cup of Bokashi Pro-Gro & ¼ cup of Gaia Green 4-4-4 to each plant. This is the first amendments added since planting in the 20 gallon pots. Almost a month in. Probably gonna need another 20-30 day of veg before flipping to 12/12 cycle.

Things look good for a first timer with organic-ish living soil.

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