I'll tell you what I'm using that's worked pretty well for me and I hope I don't get roasted on my ingredients but I'm enjoying the results. Note* That not everything that I use comes of out of pocket. I get plenty of schwagg and samples from the Emerald Cup every year. Not to mention I've got a really cool hydro shop here in the east bay that I broh' with super hot chile pepper plants for display in their store under lights and they broh' me back with killer prices and freebies.
Using a big blue tarp I remove the end of season soil from every smart pot that I used and then remove as much of the seasons root matter as possible. I then dust Azos to what's spread on the tarp and mix together thoroughly. Then I scoop everything back up into the same smart pots that I started with and let them set out under open raining skies all winter long.
Once things dry up a bit and the sun comes out in the spring I lay out the tarp and pull the smart pots over that have been washed by the rains over the last few months and add more of the original recipe from the previous year as follows:
I use a 50/50 mix of Roots Organic Regular to VermiFire soil and that's what I use as a base and comprises most of my total cost. Depending on what's laying on the tarp that I've recycled from the previous year I'll add a half a part of newly mixed RO/VF and blend accordingly. This way it's diluted and isn't so hot.
Now, I don't have exact measurements of the following amendments in that it's reliant on how much base I'm working with. I do a light dusting of each of the following and then blend it all together.
Oats
Organic brown rice powder
Crushed egg shells
Mykos
Plant Success Great White
Roots Organic Uprising Foundation (ie:
http://www.aurorainnovations.org/uprising-foundation.html )
Insect Frass
Self harvested, aged and fossilized sparrow/native east bay bird guanos
Ancient Forest Alaskan Humus
Wood ash
OG Tea Veganic Special Sauce(both mixed into the base and I water using it as well) (ie:
www.ogtea.com )
The mixture is then loaded from the tarp into a couple of Rubbermaid trashcans that I leave in the sun with the lids on until ready for use come late March. Now, when my babies are ready for transplant from their 4 inch containers I scoop the mixture into the desired smart pots and once transplanted I leave them out in the rain to wake everything up in the mixture.
VermiFire and Roots alone as a 50/50 mix cover just about everything and what's breaking down in the Roots Organic Uprising Foundation fills in the gaps(Hit the link and spy the ingredients). The oats and brown rice powder act as food and are quickly colonized by any number of the 17 species of mycorrhizal fungi and 14 species of bacteria between the Great White, Mycos and whatever leftover Azos that was planted last winter. The sparrow guano breaks down as a nitrogen source and the wood ash buffers the ph and insect frass complete the mix.
