Can someone help me explain what “parts” mean in a mixture

2 parts blood meal
2 parts kelp meal
1 part ground oyster shell
1 part feather meal

What does “parts” mean in this mixture? Sorry I’m new to this and just trying to understand.

I think there must be more to this recipe?

If a part equals a cup for example
You would use
2 cups
2 cups
1 cup
1 cup

But nothing in your post clues us in.

When speaking parts, it usually refers to your base soil mix.
1 part Peat Moss
1 part Airation (Perlite, Rice Hulls)
1 part Compost/EWC

You add amendments per 1 cubic foot of base soil (7.5 gallons), usually 1/2 cup of each amendment per 1 cubic foot base soil mix.

Here is what I use as my mix.

Amending 15 Gallons (2 Cubic Feet) of Soil:

• 5 Gallons Peat Moss
• 5 Gallons EWC
• 5 Gallons Perlite
• Fish Meal - 1 Cup
• Crab Meal - 1 Cup
• Kelp Meal - 1 Cup
• Alfalfa Meal - 1 Cup
• Neem Seed Meal - 1 Cup
• Oyster Shell Flour - 1 Cup
• Langbeinite - 1 Cup
• Rock Phosphate - 1 Cup
• Glacial Rock Dust - 1 Cup
• Garden Gypsum - 1 Cup
• Oatmeal - 1 Cup
• Biochar - 15 to 30 Cups

Thanks for the explanation

It's just a ratio unrelated to a specific volume measure. So a "part" could be a cup, a gallon, ten gallons or a millimeter depending on your needs. As long as the ratio is the same (in your op 2:2:1:1) then it'll work fine.

Nrc707 said:

2 parts blood meal
2 parts kelp meal
1 part ground oyster shell
1 part feather meal

What does “parts” mean in this mixture? Sorry I’m new to this and just trying to understand.

Click to expand...

The 'part' is whatever sized container you are going to scoop your ingredients with whether its a coffee cup or a 5gal pail. You want something that's going to give you the same amount in each scoop to be more accurate.

Say you are just mixing enough soil for a small pot and you want 25% perlite in the soil. That's 1/4 of the total so you want 4 parts.

3 parts soil
1 part perlite

It's an old and simple method of mixing bulk ingredients.

Nrc707 said:

Thanks for the explanation

Click to expand...

This is what I used. Go easy with the blood meal !

5 parts Canadian Sphagnum Peat or Coir or Pro-Moss
3 parts perlite
2 parts worm castings or mushroom compost or home made compost
Powdered (NOT PELLETED) dolomite lime @ 2 tablespoons per gallon or 1 cup per cubic foot of the soiless mix.
Wood ash insted of lime provides potash to soil mix
1 cup of ashes per cubic feet on loam to clay-loam soil, and half as much on sandier soils.

1 tablespoon Blood meal per gallon or 1/2 cup per cubic foot of soil mix
2 tablespoons Bone meal per gallon or 1 cup per cubic foot of soil mix

Wow..... Schools don't teach ratios any more. Must be an APPT for it.