What if my soil dried out a little? Only got hot for a few days? And never got the mycellium web?

Is it still a good soil? My mix is

5 gallons FFOF and HF
5 gallons of EWC
5 gallons perlite

7 cups total of
Kelp, Alfalfa, Neem seed, Oyster shell, Fox Farm Fruit and Flower

7-8 cups of azomite
2 cups of Dolomite Lime

I watered it down using Recharge by Real Growers to help inoculate. Soil got pretty hot for a few days then stopped then when I went to check on it it dried out a good amount but I put more water back into it to keep it wet and it's all in a trash can with the lid on.

It sounds like your nutrients are being cycled nicely to me, I'd just be cautious of going too far the other way now, with keeping the lid on. Keep it moist and turn it occasionally to prevent anaerobic conditions.

If you're still worried, it's handy to have a spare plant to put into the soil, a week before you plan to use it. This way you can watch how that plant reacts to your soil over the next week. If it responds well you're good to go, if your plant dies or is weak and sickly, you know action is needed before that soil can be used and you haven't killed your main crop.

DonBrennon said:

It sounds like your nutrients are being cycled nicely to me, I'd just be cautious of going too far the other way now, with keeping the lid on. Keep it moist and turn it occasionally to prevent anaerobic conditions.

If you're still worried, it's handy to have a spare plant to put into the soil, a week before you plan to use it. This way you can watch how that plant reacts to your soil over the next week. If it responds well you're good to go, if your plant dies or is weak and sickly, you know action is needed before that soil can be used and you haven't killed your main crop.

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Thanks for the reply. I keep hearing differing opinions on whether or not to leave a lid on or not lol. I started with leaving it open a crack to let hot air escape and as it cooled I started capping it, afraid I was letting out "the heat", but I know that's a wrong way of thinking.

Woyaboy said:

Thanks for the reply. I keep hearing differing opinions on whether or not to leave a lid on or not lol. I started with leaving it open a crack to let hot air escape and as it cooled I started capping it, afraid I was letting out "the heat", but I know that's a wrong way of thinking.

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That's because it's down to individual circumstances and many changing variables. As long as it's moist, aerated and not smelling bad, you should be good

if your soil mix dried out. water it with a compost tea and labs

you have to turn or mix around the soil at least once a week. The soil at the bottom of the trash can could be soaked while the top layer is dry. You don't want the bottom to become too anaerobic. labs will also help with that or gro kashi. Speed up.the cooking time too.

Normal healthy heat from microbes. Now give it a few weeks minimum to be fully active and gentle. Compost tea is friendly and gentle like so much in organic growing.

Got lax on watering thru with some waste lately. Salts really do build up in organics

Woyaboy said:

Is it still a good soil? My mix is

5 gallons FFOF and HF
5 gallons of EWC
5 gallons perlite

7 cups total of
Kelp, Alfalfa, Neem seed, Oyster shell, Fox Farm Fruit and Flower

7-8 cups of azomite
2 cups of Dolomite Lime

I watered it down using Recharge by Real Growers to help inoculate. Soil got pretty hot for a few days then stopped then when I went to check on it it dried out a good amount but I put more water back into it to keep it wet and it's all in a trash can with the lid on.

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Damn buddy..you're using way too much azomite imo and generally too much lime for just 10 gallons of medium. Just tryn to save you sum $$. back on topic; my last batch of soil never formed a myco web. I did achieve condensation on the container lid though. Just recently harvested some big beautiful buds and am currently having a problem with not getting a fade soon enough. My soil is usually slightly moist out of the bag and I've never added additional water. never stirred. just let it do its thing. I'm pretty confident you're soil will be just fine

It think you are good; if you let it sit for a month it's fine. I always put a lid loosely on my recycled soil bins just to help retain moisture. I've been adding vermiculite to my mix because it seems my plants in the warm months just don't always retain enough moisture especially when you grow in smart pots.
If my recycling mix gets dried out i just rehydrate it & add more fresh EWC from my worm bin; best thing you can do for your grow imo is to raise composting worms. I agree though that's a lot of azomite and DL; probly way too much.

Richard Drysift said:

It think you are good; if you let it sit for a month it's fine. I always put a lid loosely on my recycled soil bins just to help retain moisture. I've been adding vermiculite to my mix because it seems my plants in the warm months just don't always retain enough moisture especially when you grow in smart pots.
If my recycling mix gets dried out i just rehydrate it & add more fresh EWC from my worm bin; best thing you can do for your grow imo is to raise composting worms. I agree though that's a lot of azomite and DL; probly way too much.

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Hmm, I read from decent resources those proportions were correct. Oh well, in the future how much per cubic foot should I use of DL and Azomite?

JelloMafia said:

Damn buddy..you're using way too much azomite imo and generally too much lime for just 10 gallons of medium. Just tryn to save you sum $$. back on topic; my last batch of soil never formed a myco web. I did achieve condensation on the container lid though. Just recently harvested some big beautiful buds and am currently having a problem with not getting a fade soon enough. My soil is usually slightly moist out of the bag and I've never added additional water. never stirred. just let it do its thing. I'm pretty confident you're soil will be just fine

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Oh shit, I am just now realizing I didn't use 15 gallons cuz the perlite doesn't count. Fuck. Is this soil wayyyyyyy to hot even if I let it marinate?

Just add some coco and more perlite if you need to cut it down. Not a big deal; I give about a handful of azomite to my recycling soil bin which I think holds 65 gal of soil and about a half a handful of lime..maybe that's about 6 cu ft. I add other minerals as well like gypsum, srp, and rock dust; i find its better to give lower amounts of a lot of different amendments instead of a lot of one thing. You really do not have to be deadly accurate with organic ratios. Put a clone or young plant in your mix; of it's ok after a couple days you know it's good. Get a soil probe to check the ph if you are unsure but that's hardly even necessary imo.

^^ Drysift is right on the money with that one. Don't sweat it man. You didn't ruin your soil