Living soil mix and feeding help please

Currently have a mix of my own vermicompost with Kellogg raised bed potting mix and worm castings mixed in between. I’m noticing red soil mites (not spider mites thankfully), spring tails, white mites, and I’ve added about 50 worms from the compost. I mulched it with garden debris and straw.
It’s been sitting about three to four weeks now and before I start my germination I wanted to make sure I didn’t mess up on the blend. It’s been watered twice with liquid kelp/worm tea/molasses and I’ve put down a top dressing of craft blend about two weeks ago.
I noticed my mix does not have very much perlite inside of it and was wondering if this would be a problem? I could still add perlite now and have roughly 2-3 weeks for whatever disturbances I may of caused to remedy themselves.
Was also curious if I could go the entire grow with craft blend and the occasional tea mix I mentioned earlier.
Any tips or advice highly appreciated

Your mix should contain 30% perlite..

HydoDan said:

Your mix should contain 30% perlite..

Click to expand...

HydoDan said:

Your mix should contain 30% perlite..

Click to expand...

Thank you, and do you know about the craft blend?

BuildaSoil has an educational tab on their websites main page. They provide a chart that indicates how much and when.

Pumice is also an alternative that i finds suspends in the soil better ..over perlite which has a tendency to 'float'

I havent added any aeration amendments since my intial setups... I employ the resident worms which also prevents them from being lazy...

Chronikool said:

Pumice is also an alternative that i finds suspends in the soil better ..over perlite which has a tendency to 'float'

I havent added any aeration amendments since my intial setups... I employ the resident worms which also prevents them from being lazy...

Click to expand...

Actually bought me a little bag to mix in two days ago I was little short of the 1/3 so added perlite. What do you use for fertilizers? I currently have craft blend by build a soil and will do the occasional worm tea.

LungExpansion said:

Actually bought me a little bag to mix in two days ago I was little short of the 1/3 so added perlite. What do you use for fertilizers? I currently have craft blend by build a soil and will do the occasional worm tea.

Click to expand...

Oh nice - that craft blend seems like a well thought out and selected product

I used to be a lot more proactive preparing various brews such as compost, comfrey and swamp water concoctions and employ different cover crops

These days i usually amend my beds at 'reset time' (blumat service and set, general tent inspection, dim LED fixtures)

Amendment usually consists of rock dust, blood and bone, fish meal and chicken and sheep pallets sprinkled over bed.

A chopped up fresh comfrey layer covers that

Then i spread a layer of homemade active vermicast (worms included) over that.

A good watering of seaweed soup - maybe some molasses mixed in

Plant new girls with a quick preventative neem and mineral oil spray then lights out for 2 hours.

Will water randomly throughout the grow with a few different home brews

Chronikool said:

Oh nice - that craft blend seems like a well thought out and selected product

I used to be a lot more proactive preparing various brews such as compost, comfrey and swamp water concoctions and employ different cover crops

These days i usually amend my beds at 'reset time' (blumat service and set, general tent inspection, dim LED fixtures)

Amendment usually consists of rock dust, blood and bone, fish meal and chicken and sheep pallets sprinkled over bed.

A chopped up fresh comfrey layer covers that

Then i spread a layer of homemade active vermicast (worms included) over that.

A good watering of seaweed soup - maybe some molasses mixed in

Plant new girls with a quick preventative neem and mineral oil spray then lights out for 2 hours.

Will water randomly throughout the grow with a few different home brews

Click to expand...

Wow so youre essentially water only? thats awesome man and seems like the way to go. I cant imagine testing ppm nad ph while trying to pinpoint deficiencies. I tried doing a lot of research before i got into this and i kept seeing the build a soil name thrown around organic forums. Ive read their complete feeding list and it seemed like some lab experiment list of items/measurements at certain growth cycles. Im doing this to save not spend

LungExpansion said:

Wow so youre essentially water only? thats awesome man and seems like the way to go. I cant imagine testing ppm nad ph while trying to pinpoint deficiencies. I tried doing a lot of research before i got into this and i kept seeing the build a soil name thrown around organic forums. Ive read their complete feeding list and it seemed like some lab experiment list of items/measurements at certain growth cycles. Im doing this to save not spend

Click to expand...

Yeah pretty much water only - soil largely takes care of its self with a blumat watering system keeping the soil at optimal moisture levels. Thay suits my style of growing, lifestyle and im happy with the harvest/product i pull.

Doesnt matter what growing style/medium/equipment you use...its what feels and makes sense to you. The 'organic soil recipe' world is vast and can seem daunting but it is setup for lots and lots of experimentation and thats the fun part.

Yeah...i dont have the faintest idea when it comes to synthetic nutrients. Another language to this simpleton.;;

Chronikool said:

blumat watering system

Click to expand...

That’s badass! How many of those would you need in like a 20 gallon? My biggest fear with living soil is over/under watering seems to be most detrimental to the microbiology.

Chronikool said:

Yeah pretty much water only - soil largely takes care of its self with a blumat watering system keeping the soil at optimal moisture levels. Thay suits my style of growing, lifestyle and im happy with the harvest/product i pull.

Doesnt matter what growing style/medium/equipment you use...its what feels and makes sense to you. The 'organic soil recipe' world is vast and can seem daunting but it is setup for lots and lots of experimentation and thats the fun part.

Yeah...i dont have the faintest idea when it comes to synthetic nutrients. Another language to this simpleton.;;

Click to expand...

I don’t know how to like things either I’m new and don’t see option on mobile

LungExpansion said:

That’s badass! How many of those would you need in like a 20 gallon? My biggest fear with living soil is over/under watering seems to be most detrimental to the microbiology.

Click to expand...

Biggest fear with living soil is over/underwatering? Well, that problem has been solved! Hehe. Check out this thread!


Basically, the plant waters itself as much, or as little, as it needs.

LungExpansion said:

That’s badass! How many of those would you need in like a 20 gallon? My biggest fear with living soil is over/under watering seems to be most detrimental to the microbiology.

Click to expand...

Yeah they are a awesome bit of kit.. takes the guess work out thats for sure.

When i was growing in 5 gallon fabric bags i would use one 'carrot' or emitter.

Yeah same sort of wicking priniciple as sips ..except tropf blumats use a ceramic material and osmosis