Living soil

4ftRoots said:

2 cups of alfalfa in 20 gal seems like a lot. Was that a typo? How long do you cook a mix like that?

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No cook that's the beauty of it, its all pretty much available once added. No that's not a typo, in fact if you read my org. post it's 2 cups per 28 litres so on 20 gal that is 2.7 cups. Because your not adding too much total amendments it won't be strong. 2/3 of the mix is low in nutes and you gotta make it up somehow. I'd also add a readily available P source, can't think of anything at the moment.

Bignutes said:

No cook that's the beauty of it, its all pretty much available once added. No that's not a typo, in fact if you read my org. post it's 2 cups per 28 litres so on 20 gal that is 2.7 cups. Because your not adding too much total amendments it won't be strong. 2/3 of the mix is low in nutes and you gotta make it up somehow. I'd also add a readily available P source, can't think of anything at the moment.

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Well thats awesome! I always thought alfalfa was coots only hot amendment.

4ftRoots said:

Well thats awesome! I always thought alfalfa was coots only hot amendment.

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A good source of P is wheat bran, NPK is 2.6 - 2.9 - 1.6. $22 for 44 lbs at the ag store, not a fast release but if you put it in a bokashi it would be.

Great thread. Looks like its been a month. How are you plants doing?

I have been growing in this mix:
1 bale promix mp (7 cuft)
5 gallons ewc
1 gallon frass
4 cups azomite
3 gallons perlite

I had mixed result and felt like i was missing some nutrients and was having to supplement too much, so i'm going to add some mother earths meal mix:
1 bale promix mp
5 gallons ewc
1 gallon frass
1.5 gallons mother earths meal mix grow
3 gallons perlite

Once i use up my current stock of promix, azomite and perlite, i plan to switch to:
15 gallons peat moss
15 gallons compost
18 gallons rice hulls
5 gallons ewc
1.5 gallons mother earth
1 gallon frass

*Mother earth meal mix grow*
Feather meal
Fish bone meal
crustacean meal
alfalfa meal
neem seed meal
kelp meal
dolomite
gypsum
langbeinite
basalt
potassium sulfate

Well. Mother Earth meal mix was a strike out. I can’t have it or most of the down to earth amendments shipped to my state!

I did manage to find redbud soil in OKC so I’m going to pick up amendments from them this weekend. My plan is (with correction of some significant mistakes from my previous recipe)

1 bale of promix MP (52 gallons)
20 gallons ewc/4 gallons insect frass
20 gallons rice hulls
8 cups azomite/basalt
6 cups kelp meal
3 cups fish bone meal
3 cups neem seed meal
3 cups gypsum
3 cups alfalfa meal
3 cups crustacean meal
3 cups oyster shell meal
3 cups langbeinite

So much for keeping it simple

rkmcdon said:

Well. Mother Earth meal mix was a strike out. I can’t have it or most of the down to earth amendments shipped to my state!

I did manage to find redbud soil in OKC so I’m going to pick up amendments from them this weekend. My plan is (with correction of some significant mistakes from my previous recipe)

1 bale of promix MP (52 gallons)
20 gallons ewc/4 gallons insect frass
20 gallons rice hulls
4 cups azomite/basalt
6 cups kelp meal
3 cups fish bone meal
3 cups neem seed meal
3 cups gypsum
3 cups alfalfa meal
3 cups crustacean meal
3 cups oyster shell meal
3 cups langbeinite

So much for keeping it simple

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What state are you in?

You guessed it! When i struck out on mother earth, my backup was DTE bio-live, but that isn't allowed here either. Redbud however has a great menu of amendments though, so finding them was awesome

I do need to point out to the OP that the above recipe is not only untested, but it was put together by a complete living soil noob, so caveat emptor!

BTW @PadawanWarrior, I plan to use a strainer at first, but at some point I need to have a conversation with you about your no bag, no strain compost tea method you have posted about

rkmcdon said:

BTW @PadawanWarrior, I plan to use a strainer at first, but at some point I need to have a conversation with you about your no bag, no strain compost tea method you have posted about

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I just throw everything in the tote, add an aquarium heater set to like 71-72 degrees if it's cold, and bubble it for 24-48 hrs. Then I pump it to my plants. I also took the filters out of the pumps so all the goodness goes through. Nothing gets strained.



These are the pumps I use. They haven't failed me yet and I abuse them.

thisis the pump I use, but I have a feeling your pump handles abuse better than mine wood

rkmcdon said:

View attachment 4571024
thisis the pump I use, but I have a feeling your pump handles abuse better than mine wood
View attachment 4571024

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I don't know. The little one was like $10 and the bigger one was close to $20 at my hydro shop. Super cheap, so if I ever do burn one up, I'll just buy another.

rkmcdon said:

You guessed it! When i struck out on mother earth, my backup was DTE bio-live, but that isn't allowed here either. Redbud however has a great menu of amendments though, so finding them was awesome

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Hey! I live around okc, and ordered DTE bio live from Amazon for $20/5lb.
Also check nw 10th and Penn grow warehouse. For sure carries DTE.
HTG off I-35 and SW 59th.maybe carries
And organics okc 2800 N Penn. For sure.

Thanks @Dreaming1 ! Unfortunately i need the 50 pound bag and the only places i've found that will ship to me charge twice msrp.
I was actually in grow warehouse this weekend! They can get the 50 pound bags, but they have to order it to there colorado store and then pallet ship store to store. I may actually end up doing that. In the meantime i'll check with HTG and Organics OKC.
I really appreciate the input, especially from a fellow Okie!

Cool.thank you. Totally missed out on redbud. Nice to see a hippy/holistic approach here. That was first time I heard about them. I'm organic outside (naturally,) but inside I kind of like playing god. Moving more towards organic inside. Maybe not ever hardcore no till.

Redbud was definitely a nice surprise. All of there amendments (they tell me) are OMRI listed and i was able to get my entire list from them. They make their own living soil as well, but i wanted to be able to make it myself. They sell red wigglers and cover crop seed too! Good luck with moving towards organic. I started out just wanting to beef up our amended soil-less mix and things just got out of control and now i'm going full living soil and starting a worm farm!

hey guys i have recently been studying on a recipe for a super soil i have recently come across this subcools small batch mix:

1 ten gallon bag of high quality Organic Potting Soil Such as “Roots Organic Soil”

 3 to 6 pounds of Organic Earthworm Castings (1 lb. of casting = about 1 gal.)

 10 ounces of Blood Meal ( 10 oz. of blood meal = about 1 & 1/2 cups)

 10 ounces of Bloom Bat Guano ( 10 oz. of guano = about 1 cup)

 10 ounces Fish Bone Meal ( 10 oz. of bone meal = about 1 cup)

 6 ounces Rock Phosphate

 1&1/2 tablespoons Epsom Salt (magnesium sulfate)

 2 tablespoons or 1 oz. (liquid measure)of Dolomite Lime

 1 tablespoons or 1/2 oz. (liquid measure) of Azomite (trace elements)

 1 teaspoon of powdered Humic Acid


how does this mix look iam only looking for roughly 10 gallons of soil for my grow i plan on doing 1 photoperiod in my small space i want to move on from autoflowers now any other things i could add to this mix would be much appreciated. iam also open to other mixes aswell any helpp is apprciated, just a little question aswell i have a Kingbrite 240W HLG QB288 led light in a 1.5x2 she will be enough for 1 photo right ?

I believe thats a good breakdown and critique on supersoil recipe in case you want to read it.

looks ok but im not looking for any where near that amount i need a small batch mix thanks tho buddy

I use a simple mix,40/20/40 peat,compost ,perlite.
Per 7.5g
1 cup dolomite lime
1.5 cup gaia 444
1 cup kelp
4 cup rock dust