Do you have a secret ingredient?

go go kid said:
your the only other grower that's mentioned zeolites, i too add some to the pot.
i cut n polish gemstones for a living, and i use the sedament from the cutting and grinding machines and add it to the soil too. also, any dust from the minerals go into the soil too
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Makes sense rock dusts and such may be slow to become in a available form for uptake but the micros love that stuff for sure it definitely helps with overall soil health ime
 
go go kid said:
you have to be carefull with larger bits of wood n stuff in the soil, the bacteria will concentrate on devouring the wood and not be acvailable to the plants roots
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Not sure I can buy that. Its not like the bacteria can move around and choose to move to the wood. Maybe if there's wood chips all throughout the soil but I still have a hard time with that one. Where did you read about that?
 
crimsonecho said:
thats a great practice and zeolite was just something i read and said what the hell it shouldnt hurt anything and as far as i can tell after a couple of years since i started adding zeolite it still doesnt hurt to have it. yeah rock dusts are very important micro nutrient sources as well as soil conditioners. you gotta reuse the medium to get the full benefits though.



in the end its free, its porous, its carbon. even if it has lower cec it will still provide aeration and a good surface area for microbial activity while also holding considerable amount of water in drought conditions. if you ask me way better than perlite which i dont use at all except for cloning.
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I'm not saying it's bad. I'm sure it's great for the soil. I've heard of people adding used fish tank carbon so I'm gonna read up some more. Seems like it would be somewhat like pre-charged biochar.
 
go go kid said:
you have to be carefull with larger bits of wood n stuff in the soil, the bacteria will concentrate on devouring the wood and not be acvailable to the plants roots
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I have read that decomposing wood can deplete nitrogen, but I think bacteria will grow wherever they have the right conditions.

I can only hope decomposing wood depletes N. I have too much!
 
As far as another “ ingredient “ i use in several different soil mixes - mushroom compost.

I tend to add to my mild top layer of soil ( tilled in ) as a bump in macronutrient and organic matter for my container grows. Mushroom compost ingredients can vary from manufacturer but i use Espoma. The only thing i don’t like is “ aged forest ingredients “ AKA wood shavings or some other “ filler “ .

But , it works pretty well with container grows .
The wood aspect may increase salt within mix but since i am trying to make a “ water only “ type mix it works well that way. Letting the host medium power the feeding alone until i have to amend feeding like in a tea feed or drench .
 
For real though …plants dig Jobes AP spikes; they fertilize for 8 weeks. I put 2 into each final size bloom pot 180 deg apart perpendicular to each other and approximately 2 inches inside the perimeter of the container. You just push em in…easy AF. Slow release & no burn; common use for houseplants but I don’t see you many using them for their weed grows:
Jobes AP spikes on Amazon
 
GenericEnigma said:
I have read that decomposing wood can deplete nitrogen, but I think bacteria will grow wherever they have the right conditions.

I can only hope decomposing wood depletes N. I have too much!
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Yes adding wood can lower your available nitrogen but only temporarily. Some microbes need nitrogen for fuel to break down the wood but after they die and decompose the nitrogen is available again. At least that's how I understand it. This explains it better than I can.

The urban myth about woodchips and nitrogen (soil forum at permies)

This brings the "nitrogen loss" caused by wood into the magical realm of "Urban Myth" since such quantities of nitrogen are small (minute really) when put into proper comparison. Why is that?
permies.com permies.com
 
Cousin Bo said:
Yes adding wood can lower your available nitrogen but only temporarily. Some microbes need nitrogen for fuel to break down the wood but after they die and decompose the nitrogen is available again. At least that's how I understand it. This explains it better than I can.

The urban myth about woodchips and nitrogen (soil forum at permies)

This brings the "nitrogen loss" caused by wood into the magical realm of "Urban Myth" since such quantities of nitrogen are small (minute really) when put into proper comparison. Why is that?
permies.com permies.com
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Well for what its worth it dont seem to make too much of a difference imo i remember having this argument years with my old boss he was doing his masters in horticulture over here at the time and well the guy was a boer ex soldier but he had spent most of his life growing all sorts from regular crops to dream herb and weed honestly that guy had what a green thumb i learned alot from him anyway i think it depends more on what wood some are better than others he was of the opinion that a lil wood chips in the mix wont do any harm long as it isnt alot and back then i thought they might but over time i changed my mind i think a little in there dont make so much difference its only if you got alot of wood in the mix you will have problems i think
 
conor c said:
Well for what its worth it dont seem to make too much of a difference imo i remember having this argument years with my old boss he was doing his masters in horticulture over here at the time and well the guy was a boer ex soldier but he had spent most of his life growing all sorts from regular crops to dream herb and weed honestly that guy had what a green thumb i learned alot from him anyway i think it depends more on what wood some are better than others he was of the opinion that a lil wood chips in the mix wont do any harm long as it isnt alot and back then i thought they might but over time i changed my mind i think a little in there dont make so much difference its only if you got alot of wood in the mix you will have problems i think
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I'm considering running an online journal using stick-soil, just in case there are some interested folks out there. My aim is to test aeration. I want to buy as little as possible from the store.

The pile of sticks has been rotting for a few years, so I'm not worried about the nitrogen dynamic. The compost I would add is through the roof with nitrogen anyway.

I ordered a soil home test kit. It tests N, P, K, and pH. I'm not yet sure how far down this rabbit hole I will go.
 
I collect IMO on local hikes and whenever I go camping. My living soil beds have local IMO’s and a lot of decomposing wood I collected in national parks like Yosemite.

I added a few handfuls of alfalfa on top of the wood before burying it to counter the nutrient stealing.

Rice hulls for silica and biochar that I activated with my IMO’s.
 
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