Organic Grow newbie

Rasta Roy

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
i would definitely up your perlite ratio to around 30%, youre gonna have some compaction issues and slow root growth in the beginning with all that compost and castings and insufficient drainage. I run a high compost ratio in my soil, but my compost is homemade and the coffee chaff i add makes it pretty fluffy, and im also growing in beds mostly, not containers.
 
organics dubwise

organics dubwise

Member
hey man, thanks for your reply. 30% seemed high to me (at first) since i only have 3,5 liter containers and i thought perlite was a 'dead' medium.... but my soil was pretty compact towards the end...how about more peat moss and/or coco instead ? or up all 3?
 
Rasta Roy

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
organics dubwise said:
where do you get it and how much does it cost?
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it doesn't cost anything, it is a waste byproduct from roasting coffee beans. I run a compost business in my town, I collect coffee chaff and coffee grounds from a couple local coffee and roasters and coffee shops. They were just throwing it away before i started coming around. If you have any local coffee bean roasters in your area you could do the same. Coffee shops are just gonna have coffee grounds, which are pretty valuable for a compost operation as well.
 
Rasta Roy

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
organics dubwise said:
hey man, thanks for your reply. 30% seemed high to me (at first) since i only have 3,5 liter containers and i thought perlite was a 'dead' medium.... but my soil was pretty compact towards the end...how about more peat moss and/or coco instead ? or up all 3?
Click to expand...
Professional plant nurseries will use about 15% aeration in their soil beds and 30% aeration in their container potting mixes.

I would shoot for

30% perlite
15% worm castings
20% compost
35% peat moss or coco coir (or combination of the two if you wish)
 
organics dubwise

organics dubwise

Member
Thanks man, that sounds really reasonable and fun! After having sourced horse poop and chickn poop from friends for my bokashi, ill try getting the coffee chaff for the worms! Its so satisfying doing it all...
 
Kjudah420

Kjudah420

Active Member
This is all I used mostly because it's all I have at the moment next run going all FFOF cut with pro-mix and amenities.
GOING 4 SOMETHING LIKE THIS
.SHOUT OUT S420

I used this soil mix:
-1.5cubic feet Fox Farm Ocean Forest
-38cups Wiggle Worms Earthworm Casting (1-0-0)
-10cups Perlite(may add more eventually)
-11tsp Rooters Mycorrhizae
*Soil Base
__________________________
-1.5cups Indonesian Hi-P Bat Guano (.5-13-.2)
-1.5cups Algamin Kelp Meal (1-0-2)
-1.5cups Espoma Tomato Tone (3-4-6)
*Nutritional Amendments
__________________________
-1.5cups Azomite(used as a rock dust)
-0.5cup Espoma Green sand
-1.25cups Hi-Cal Lime
*Mineral Amendments
To Grow This Happy Plant:
 

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DonTesla

DonTesla

Well-Known Member
organics dubwise said:
Hallelujah indeed!!....Greetings fellow Rastas! I really dig the keep it simple approach but i would like to double check the numbers with you, if I may. this is where i'm at: I want a ready to use mix i can transplant my 5 week old plants in before the switch. I dont want to layer it because i have limited space and want all the good stuff (in moderate doses) and especially the microbiology thriving right from the start ..... So this is my recipie, inspired by you @DonTesla and @Rasta Roy in a dubwise style and fashion!!! (and in metric system):

20% coco
20% light mix or peat moss
10% perlite

25% Worm castings
20% compost
2-3% bokashi

250 ml/100l or (1 cup / 22 gal ) volcanic loam
250 ml/100l or (1 cup / 22 gal ) tuff
100ml/100l or (~1/2 cup / 22 gal ) rock powder/dust
100 ml/100l or (~1/2 cup / 22 gal ) dolomite lime
1l/100l or (~4 cups / 22 gal ) Biochar

100 ml/100l or (~1/2 cup / 22 gal ) cow manure
100 ml/100l chicken manure
100 ml/100l seabird n guano
100 ml/100l bat p guano
100 ml/100l palm tree ash
100 ml/100l horn meal
100 ml/100l seagrass powder
100 ml/100l guano with leonardite
150 ml/100l neem meal
1 tablespoon / 100l leonardite
1 teaspoon epsom salt

damped with effective microorganisms, water, and molasses, cooked for 30 days +

mycos are added to water in seedling stage and after transplants

my intuition tells me to cut down on worm poop and compost to 15% and 10% and fill up with coco and peat moss.....

what do you guys think? feedback is greatly appreciated! greetings!!
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Blessings Rasta!

Love to see some good organic soil building gwan on.

As per my 2 cents... well, alright!
I personally would lower the EWC too, like you said, and imo replace with 10% biochar if you have access to it / space to make it. or leaf mould aka just leaf compost if you have any forest floors around you.

I do like my aeration in the 25-45% range (40 to 45 lately actually) but with a combo of aerations of different particle sizes as well as different types too if I can, always performs better (decompacting, humus based, vs permanent types of rock mineral aeration like pumice and Biochar)

So if possible or not too late, I would try keep that EWC in the 15 to 20% max range.

Also, if you up your beneficial fungus and neem %'age a point or two, you could get away with running a slightly cleaner mix devoid of so many animal ingredients, not that you're using much, but neem and kelp along with microbes and fungus can grow potent herb alone, so that might be of some interest to you.

I also think I would up the rock dust (even as a mix) to about 4% of total volume, since minerals themselves can easily rep 30 to 40% of a fertile, living, productive, healthy soil, themselves.. at that rate yes this would include a portion of mineralized aeration so to me pumice is a no go but these are just basic guidelines to help you build..

above all, respect for going organic my friend!!!
 
organics dubwise

organics dubwise

Member
Hey thanks you guys!
i realized my recipie is not a recipie but more a list of the stuff i have , so i welcome your keep it simple approach !!
To my understanding it is nonetheless important to give a variety of materials to encourage diverse microbiology...

So here goes a combination on @Rasta Roy 's and @DonTesla 's versions inna dub style & fashion:

Aeration:
35% Peat or Coco or both (or replace 10% with Biochar, Woodcompost, etc ?)*
30% Perlite *
65%

* @Rasta Roy : I didnt understand if you were trying to tell me to skip the perlite too and
replace whith biochar and compost? or just the pumice? im confused...

Compost
20% Compost (wide variety)
15% EWC
(opt: max. a few % of bokashi)
35%
+

300g Neem / 100l ?
4l Rock Dust ??? (Are you really sure? I thought this was potent stuff...)
200g Seaweed Powder (I have one made from Gracilaria red algae 0.5 - 2 - 0)

Does this sound better? Thanks guys, peace and love!
 
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Rasta Roy

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
organics dubwise said:
Hey thanks you guys!
i realized my recipie is not a recipie but more a list of the stuff i have , so i welcome your keep it simple approach !!
To my understanding it is nonetheless important to give a variety of materials to encourage diverse microbiology...

So here goes a combination on @Rasta Roy 's and @DonTesla 's versions inna dub style & fashion:

Aeration:
35% Peat or Coco or both (or replace 10% with Biochar, Woodcompost, etc ?)*
30% Perlite *
65%

* @Rasta Roy : I didnt understand if you were trying to tell me to skip the perlite too and
replace whith biochar and compost? or just the pumice? im confused...

Compost
20% Compost (wide variety)
15% EWC
(opt: max. a few % of bokashi)
35%
+

300g Neem / 100l ?
4l Rock Dust ??? (Are you really sure? I thought this was potent stuff...)
200g Seaweed Powder (I have one made from Gracilaria red algae 0.5 - 2 - 0)

Does this sound better? Thanks guys, peace and love!
Click to expand...
I was just saying up your perlite ratio, pumice works as well. Your aeration ratio should be at least 30% regardless if your using perlite, pumice, or course sand.
 
organics dubwise

organics dubwise

Member
I found coot's organic mix and it seems to overlap alot with what you guys suggested so i mixed up the folowing with what i have:
100l
vol%
- 30% peat moss based light mix
- 30% perlite ( will get lava next time )
- 25% compost (12,5% compost, 4% EWC, 2% Bokashi) instead of crab / crustacean meal
-15% Topsoil

+
1/2l Neem
1/2l Seaweed powder (can hopefully replace the kelp)
1/2l Manure pellets (chicken, cow, bat), a bit of Hornmeal

+ Minerals:
2l fine Lava
6l Biochar
2l Rock Dust
2l Volcanic loam
1l CaCO3 (97%) MgCO3 (1%) (Do you think this could replace the oystershells and gypsum?i dont have access to these atm.)

Watered with bokashi juice
 
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