Living No Till Soil Recipe, Coots Base

DeeCee112

DeeCee112

Well-Known Member
Plant of the Month
March 2020
Hi organic growing friends! I’m looking for some feedback from you experts, after some reading and shopping I am looking at building my own living no till soil for my outdoor grow this year. I will likely be using 20gal fabric pots filled with the Build-A-Soil / Coots mix basically for cannabis and then mixing in the leftover into my two 2x4x2 raised vegetable beds that I filled with triple mix before I was enlightening on what real soil was!

Here is where I am at:

Base
3cuft Canadian Spaghum Peat Moss
3cuft compost / 15% worm castings
3cuft perlite (rice hulls, pumice was cost prohibitive)
5-10% charged biochar

Amendments 1/2cup / cuft each
Karanja Pellets - Do I grind these up?
Kelp Meal - all good here
Crab Meal - also good
Malted Barley Flour - all good

Minerals - 4 cups / cuft total containing even mixture of each
Basalt - Huplaso
Gypsum Dust - Water Soluble
Oyster Shell Flour

Extras
4 seed blend cover crop
Straw for mulch
Beneficial nematodes
Red wrigglers from vermicompost bin
Yucca powder thermx added as wetting agent
24hr bubbled tap water (going to have to be good enough for now!)

I’m coming in about $300 to make 9cuft or 65ish gallons of soil. A little bit of a punch but if the soil can be used for years with minimal expensive inputs added then it’s worth it! Plus the quality piece.

I don’t fully understand all of the inputs since I don’t see NPK and that is the world I know. I have access to a few other amendments as well like Fishbone Meal, Feather Meal, Alfalpha Meal, a pile of other rock dusts as well. I don’t feel the need to splurge on the expensive aloe and coconut and beneficial microbe products just yet or maybe never if I get the results I need without!

How am I looking here friends?
 
Follow the recipe you will be fine.

Not sure what you meant by "water soluble" for the gypsum.

Gypsum is not very soluble... its "slightly" soluble maybe like 2-3% Ca .. if that.

Dont worry about NPK - that's for fertilizer.

The whole idea is to grow your soil. The soil will grow your plant. The microbes break down the inputs and they work with the plants root exudate to break down what the plant actually needs.
Symbiotic relationship between mircobes/fungi and plants roots is whats going on.
You're not feeding the plant like you wood if you were using fertilizer.

Its a leap of faith. Jump right on in. You will be ok.

Karanja Cake - should be fine as is, what was your source?

Did you purchase the Coots kit from BAS or you mixing your own?
I dont see Neem Cake in your list.

Here's my Coots mix recipe:


Acadian Kelp Meal @ 1/2 Cup per cubic foot
Neem Cake and Karanja Cake 50/50 Mix @ 1/2 to 1 cup per cubic foot
Crustacean Meal @ 1/2 Cup per cubic foot
Malted Barley @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot (ground fine in a coffee grinder)

Gypsum Dust @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot
Brix Blend Basalt @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot
Glacial Rock Dust @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot
Oyster Flour @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot

Mix with:

Quart of EWC (can be as much as 25% of the humus portion)
EWC = earth worm casting
1/3 humus = Compost/EWC/Vermicompost
1/3 aeration = Rice hulls or Perl-lite
1/3 CSPM = Canadian Spagnum Peat Moss
 
bobrown14 said:
Follow the recipe you will be fine.

Not sure what you meant by "water soluble" for the gypsum.

Gypsum is not very soluble... its "slightly" soluble maybe like 2-3% Ca .. if that.

Dont worry about NPK - that's for fertilizer.

The whole idea is to grow your soil. The soil will grow your plant. The microbes break down the inputs and they work with the plants root exudate to break down what the plant actually needs.
Symbiotic relationship between mircobes/fungi and plants roots is whats going on.
You're not feeding the plant like you wood if you were using fertilizer.

Its a leap of faith. Jump right on in. You will be ok.

Karanja Cake - should be fine as is, what was your source?

Did you purchase the Coots kit from BAS or you mixing your own?
I dont see Neem Cake in your list.

Here's my Coots mix recipe:


Acadian Kelp Meal @ 1/2 Cup per cubic foot
Neem Cake and Karanja Cake 50/50 Mix @ 1/2 to 1 cup per cubic foot
Crustacean Meal @ 1/2 Cup per cubic foot
Malted Barley @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot (ground fine in a coffee grinder)

Gypsum Dust @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot
Brix Blend Basalt @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot
Glacial Rock Dust @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot
Oyster Flour @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot

Mix with:

Quart of EWC (can be as much as 25% of the humus portion)
EWC = earth worm casting
1/3 humus = Compost/EWC/Vermicompost
1/3 aeration = Rice hulls or Perl-lite
1/3 CSPM = Canadian Spagnum Peat Moss
Click to expand...

Thanks Bob! I have no idea what they mean by water soluble either it’s what the product is listed as.

I will add Neem Meal as well and will grind the malted barley. Karanja Cake is from Black Swallow, see below. It was very hard to find.

I am mixing my own - I’m in Canada so I found a company nearby that seems very similar to Bas called Black Swallow where I’ll be purchasing the ingredients.
 
DeeCee112 said:
Minerals - 4 cups / cuft total containing even mixture of each
Click to expand...
Just out of my own curiosity- this means 1- 1/3 cup of each per cubic foot- right?
 
Weaselcracker said:
Just out of my own curiosity- this means 1- 1/3 cup of each per cubic foot- right?
Click to expand...

Yes and if I added another mineral the total mineral content would still be 4 cups so 1 cup each.
 
DeeCee112 said:
Thanks Bob! I have no idea what they mean by water soluble either it’s what the product is listed as.

I will add Neem Meal as well and will grind the malted barley. Karanja Cake is from Black Swallow, see below. It was very hard to find.

I am mixing my own - I’m in Canada so I found a company nearby that seems very similar to Bas called Black Swallow where I’ll be purchasing the ingredients.
Click to expand...
I'm familiar with Black Swallow for sure you in the GTA? I've got a cottage near Bancroft ona lake near there. Cottage 420! No kidding. lol

Black Swallow also I think has a mix they make very similar to Coots mix. Minus the Karanja or the neem cake cant remember which. Canada wasn't allowing one of them to be shipped in.... maybe that has changed now??

If you're close enough you could opt for the already mixed?? Not sure of the price diff.

I'd be happy as heck to drive to the plant nursery and get a load of coots mix already mixed up load it in the back of my pu truck.

Gypsum is considered soluble but its really not very soluble. Adding Ca to soil while plants are growing isn't going to do that much really. It needs to be made available to plants via microbes and fungi. Why I like to use EWC/Kelp meal as a Ca source more so than Gypsum - I use that for long term availability along with crustacean meal due to the low solubility.
 

Why Gypsum in your Organic Soil? – BuildASoil

Agricultural Gypsum Uses Agricultural Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate - CaSO4) is one of those rare materials that performs in all three categories of soil treatment: an amendment, conditioner, and fertilizer. Soil conditioners, such as gypsum, are seriously undervalued compared to fertilizer usage. Dr...
buildasoil.com

If the Gypsum is micronized like a fine flour its more soluble.
 
bobrown14 said:
I'm familiar with Black Swallow for sure you in the GTA? I've got a cottage near Bancroft ona lake near there. Cottage 420! No kidding. lol

Black Swallow also I think has a mix they make very similar to Coots mix. Minus the Karanja or the neem cake cant remember which. Canada wasn't allowing one of them to be shipped in.... maybe that has changed now??

If you're close enough you could opt for the already mixed?? Not sure of the price diff.

I'd be happy as heck to drive to the plant nursery and get a load of coots mix already mixed up load it in the back of my pu truck.

Gypsum is considered soluble but its really not very soluble. Adding Ca to soil while plants are growing isn't going to do that much really. It needs to be made available to plants via microbes and fungi. Why I like to use EWC/Kelp meal as a Ca source more so than Gypsum - I use that for long term availability along with crustacean meal due to the low solubility.
Click to expand...

Yeah I’m in Durham Region. Bancroft is beautiful, my father in law owns a small resort on Balsam Lake so we are spoiled for cottaging!

Black Swallow does has pre mixed Coots style soil but the shipping from Brantford was pricey and I hate driving across the GTA! They do have an amendment pack as well but if I buy the individual inputs I’ll have more leftover for reamending my triple mix vegetable garden with it.

That’s my plan anyway, still haven’t pulled the trigger on an order, but got my base ready today and next crop of seeds dropped as well so it’s time to make a decision ASAP lol!
 
Nice I mix up my own and have all the inputs handy. Make our own vermi-compost as well. So Just need to purchase a few bales of peat moss when I need a new batch.

I just mixed up a new batch. Probably about 200gal or more like 8 or 9 30 gal totes full.

I sprinked grow-kashi on top of each tote full of soil. Santa's beard is growing. As soon as thats done I'm putting my next round in some pots.

Balsam Lake looks mighty fine. We have a cottage on Weslemkoon Lake south of Bancroft. Haven't been there in a bit since covid - the border been closed and its not looking that good for this year either.

They still want me to pay taxes tho...
 
Hey guys so I finally got around to mixing the soil up! I made a few mathematical errors to n the amounts but I feel like some of the fun of organic is being able to wing it and not have everything dialed in to a tee!

I bought a 3.8cuft compressed bail of peat moss instead of the 2.2cuft! I set some aside but probably ended up with a base around this:

4cuft peat moss
5cuft compost (60L sea compost, 100L vegetable compost, 40L Worm Castings)
3.5cuft or so aeration (3/4 perlite, 1/4 organic cedar mulch)

A little short on aeration I know, I ran out of perlite, hoping the mulch does well. It looks and feels pretty good anyway.

I had enough amendments to get the 1/2 cup per cubic ft for the crab meal, kelp meal, malted barley flour and 60/40 Neem to Karanja.

The only mineral I came short on was the oyster shell flour - about 2 cups short. Lots of gypsum, glacial rock dust and basalt though.

Putting the kids to work mixing
3B66E9C6-7BF1-4FB5-89A1-7121465BE3E8.jpeg


Mixed pile came out to about 80gallons of medium, I watered 6gallons to a lightly moistened consistency and it’ll now sit for a week or two. I have 4 20gal fabric pots ready to rock! One for lettuce, two for cannabis and one for whatever else I decide!
99DC1DAF-EE7D-4B37-BD38-7A99B2C22A4B.png
 
Looks excellent... cool thing about this mix is you don't hafta be perfect.

As long and you have all the ingredients you'll be fine.

I mixed up a new batch a month ago and I used some different compost not my own since my vermi-bins weren't ready I hadda buy bagged that I've used before.

I have 2 plants going in flower in it already and its got too much Nitrogen. I've never had that happen... plants leaves are not what I like. It will get better next round.

Water and cover.... with the neem in there you should start to see santa's beard growing pretty quick - just water it good - make a volcano and put some water in there and mist the surface really well.
 
Not sure about the cedar mulch that might not work very well.
If you can get some pumice or rice hulls or pre-charged biochar I would add a bit more aeration.

Also need some straw mulch, cover crop.
And if you don't get some rove beetles and predator mites you will be covered in fungus gnats in a couple weeks.
 
The cedar mulch I bought was high quality - organic and ph neutral so I don’t see why it wouldn’t, not unlike rice hulls it will break down and feed the soil as well. We’re emulating nature here aren’t we!?

I will be getting some predator mites when I plant, not sure about rove beetles yet and yes I have a bail of straw for mulch or I might use the cedar mulch still. I’m using it on my 3G pots right now and it’s working great.
 
If I can wander in with a question for you guys. I mulched my indoor LOS plants with hay a couple nights ago. I’m kind of having second thoughts on it.

The hay is about an inch and a half thick and going to be pretty damp from the auto watering system and the soil. I’m sure it’s going to go fairly mouldy -but maybe that’s OK? I left a little air space around the stems.

The goal is basically -to have a more even moisture spread in the pots which only have a single watering line each. I considered planting clover instead. It’s quite shady down in the pots so I’m not sure how well it’s going to grow down there. Maybe I will try some of each to see which seems better.

I’m leaving home in a couple days for about a month so I don’t have time to observe. I’m just gonna have to set it up and leave. Any mulch tips are appreciated thanks.
 
Thanks for the answer Nunyabiz.

I’m not frightened of mould for its own sake. It just looked a bit odd putting in that amount of mould-prone material in an indoor grow where mould/bud rot can sometimes be an issue for me in later flowering.

I’ll go ahead and run it as is though. Or maybe try a couple pots planted with clover for variety.
:thumb:
 
I dont use straw in my indoor grows. I know a lot of folks that do tho. The worms like it fer sure.

I like to add comfrey as a top dress sorta like a mulch layer. But it breaks down a lot faster than straw.

I saw the cedar mulch in the recipe.

I just mixed up a new batch of Coots soil. My new soil is high in N - prolly from the compost.... my thought was initially the same as Nunya but now that I have too much N in my mix I'd actually prefer something that holds some in check.

These cannabis plants dont really like a lot of N. I got a few plants that are not liking my new/fresh soil mix.
 
Well in flower just try to keep humidity below 50% with lots of airflow, maybe a mild defoliation before you leave anywhere.
Use Silica all through your grow and keep plants as healthy as possible with a brix above 12 and you should be fine.
Also give a few foliar sprays with aloe vera and it will trigger the plants SAR response kind of like a vaccination.
Use it in your water along with Yucca Extract and they will help control any bad pathogens.
Plus if your mycorrhazae population is strong and healthy then it will ward off bad fungi like Botryis.
 

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