BC River Soil

So rather than buy some organic bagged soil, I thought maybe Id make my own from the river banks I fish. The thought crossed my mind after seeing how many fish are in those rivers (they are thick). When they spawn, they wash up on shore and decompose to make the soil incredibly rich. We are talking about near a hundred thousand salmon a year decomposing on those shores. And every thing you see is lush as hell around these parts.

Would you guys start with that soil? If so, what would you add to it? Id think that I definitely need some pearlite to help with drainage, but Im not sure how much boost it really needs with all the salmon. If anyone has any ideas, Id love to hear em. Is cooking it and killing everything in it really necessary?

I wouldn't risk plants I can't replace but you could take a couple extra clones of a strain you're growing and then compare soil side by side.

I'd love to see the results from a grow in that soil.

I would think that soil would be excellent but the only way to tell is to try it.You should add pearlite for drainage and i would add dolomite lime for a ph buffer.As far as cooking it,IMO its a double sided sword. If you do cook it you can be sure its pest free,however along with all the bad stuff being killed all the good stuff is killed to.With that being said if you dont cook it you might be in for a pest or disease or mold problem.I would probably cook it and then reintroduce benefinicial bacteria by adding some worm castings.Also if its too sandy you might wanna add some other type of medium(coco,peat,soil) to it.Too sandy of a medium will grind your roots up or so Ive heard.You should post your results you might be sitting on a gold mine there.You might be able to sell your insanely priced soil how FF does lol.

Thanks for a bit of encouragement. I think Ill give it a go with at least some pearlite for drainage and maybe some lime. I might run it side by side with enhanced bagged organic.

Im going to be brave first and try a bit uncooked. If I have a critter disaster, I can always try again and be cautious. I really would like to preserve any beneficial organism and bacteria if possible and keep it all in its natural state.

When I get my stuff together, Ill start a journal in January maybe. Maybe these chum salmon will be good for something afterall

I have a feeling that soil would do amazing, so many nutes in there from it, its purely washed up river bed..mud etc,. should produce AMAZING results

Krokaine said:

I have a feeling that soil would do amazing, so many nutes in there from it, its purely washed up river bed..mud etc,. should produce AMAZING results

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There could be some bad stuff in there too though. It's got potential, though.

Well, aside from damaging the environment, it sounds like it wouldn't be to bad.

You can do a soil structure analysis using a calgon solution. Then amend it from there to improve water retention, drainage, etc..