Can you help me with my living soil mix?

[Jungle Joseph]

Hey there 420,
I'm about to add some dry amendments to my base soil mix and I was hoping for some advice.
It's had one grow to harvest so far, so I'm thinking it could do with a booster.
The base soil mix is advertised as 'living soil'.
It contains sphagnum peat moss, pumice, worm castings, compost, bio-char, paramagnetic rock dust, soft agricultural lime, gypsum, mussel meal, neem meal, kelp meal, and ground malted barley.
I'm aiming for a 15 gallon mix which is going into a 15 gallon fabric pot (around 60 liters).
I have added some peat moss (around one gallon), kelp meal (2cups), and worm castings (around 5 cups) so far.
I don't have the means to test the soil in a laboratory, so I'm going to wing it.
I got some extra goodies yesterday and I was wondering if anyone has any tips or advice so I don't mess it up. The amendments I have are as follows:
Alfalfa meal,
Organic acids (amino, fulvic, humic)
Rock phosphate,
Mussel meal,
Sugarbeet molasses meal,
Feather meal,
Volcanic rock dust,
Inoculated bio-char,
Kelp meal,
Mealworm frass,
Fish meal,
Diatomaceous earth,
Seabird guano (phosphorus)
I also got some mycorrhizae and trichoderma fungi.
If anyone has any advice on how much of each I should add to the base soil mix to make up a 15 gallon mix, I would be really grateful.
Thanks for your time, I appreciate it.

 

[Emilya Green]

Balances of things in your soil is very important. Too much of one thing can permanently lock out another. I suggest not winging it, but try to be smart with it and go by one of the known good recipes, and substitute with that balance in mind. You sure do have a lot of amendments though... I am jealous! Surely you will be able to make a great soil as well as teas with all that good stuff.

 

[Pat Puffer]

Addition of langbeinite will bring Mag. Cal is addressed with the phosphate, but it is a strong K supplement.

 

[Vegan4life]

Quite the grocery list you have there... You should find a recipe like Coot's mix and try and stick with that. @bobrown14 uses Coot's recipe and has been reusing the same soil for a number of years. I am just learning to re-amend it myself. Maybe BoBrown14 will chime in here.

 

[Jungle Joseph]

Balances of things in your soil is very important. Too much of one thing can permanently lock out another. I suggest not winging it, but try to be smart with it and go by one of the known good recipes, and substitute with that balance in mind. You sure do have a lot of amendments though... I am jealous! Surely you will be able to make a great soil as well as teas with all that good stuff.

Thanks for the reply,
I had some money burning a hole in my pocket, so I bought everything the grow shop had
The amendments have a guide on the back of how much to use, so maybe I should start with that?
I forgot to mention I also got a couple of premixed bags of amendments. One is 4-4-4 and the other is 2-8-4.

 

[bobrown14]

Look up "coots mix"

1/3 each - peat moss - aeration - humus then add amendments and granite dust.

Amend with compost EWC and malted barley between runs use the soil over.

Edit: if its not on coots mix recipe there's no subbing its like cake baking recipe.

Go extremely easy with rock phosphate/langebenite they are the same thing and WAY too strong for a container. Best to use that stuff in a field.

 

[Jungle Joseph]

Addition of langbeinite will bring Mag. Cal is addressed with the phosphate, but it is a strong K supplement.

Cool, thanks,
I also have 4-4-4 and 2-8-4 premixed blend that has langbeinite in it.
Does the mussel meal have calcium carbonate in it?

 

[Jungle Joseph]

Quite the grocery list you have there... You should find a recipe like Coot's mix and try and stick with that. @bobrown14 uses Coot's recipe and has been reusing the same soil for a number of years. I am just learning to re-amend it myself. Maybe BoBrown14 will chime in here.

Thanks for that info.

 

[Jungle Joseph]

Look up "coots mix"

1/3 each - peat moss - aeration - humus then add amendments and granite dust.

Amend with compost EWC and malted barley between runs use the soil over.

Edit: if its not on coots mix recipe there's no subbing its like cake baking recipe.

Go extremely easy with rock phosphate/langebenite they are the same thing and WAY too strong for a container. Best to use that stuff in a field.

Thanks, I'll have a look at the 'coots mix'.

 

[bobrown14]

Sources of Ca are:

Gypsum
Oyster shell flour
crustacean meal
Fish bone meal
crab shell meal


Egg shells you can soak in vinegar for a few weeks and make a soluble version.
Egg shells on their own wont break down takes a few years or more.

 

[Jungle Joseph]

Sources of Ca are:

Gypsum
Oyster shell flour
crustacean meal
Fish bone meal
crab shell meal


Egg shells you can soak in vinegar for a few weeks and make a soluble version.
Egg shells on their own wont break down takes a few years or more.

Awesome, thanks for that.

 

[bobrown14]

They need to be a part of the soil mix - you can add gypsum it wont mess up the pH but the others can.

 

[Jungle Joseph]

They need to be a part of the soil mix - you can add gypsum it wont mess up the pH but the others can.

Thanks again.

 

[Azimuth]

Here's @bobrown14 's COOT'S MIX RECIPE

 

[Azimuth]

Although with all the stuff you have going on in that mix it reminds me a lot more of VAN STANK'S Soil recipe

 

[Azimuth]

And, finally, HERE'S A GOOD ARTICLE from Build-A-Soil.

They highlight three approaches including the Coots Mix, but also give you some good background on building your own mix.

 

[SmokingWings]

Interesting and fun project ahead of you.

As Emilya and some of us are thinking that is a nice list of amendments to have on our grow room shelves; a really nice list.

What I want to bring up is that you are on the right track but looking at the bigger picture wrong.

I'm aiming for a 15 gallon mix which is going into a 15 gallon fabric pot (around 60 liters).
I have added some peat moss (around one gallon), kelp meal (2cups), and worm castings (around 5 cups) so far.
I don't have the means to test the soil in a laboratory, so I'm going to wing it.

If anyone has any advice on how much of each I should add to the base soil mix to make up a 15 gallon mix, I would be really grateful.

It is impossible for us to help come up with what to add and the volume to use. We do not know how much of your base soil is in the pile. We cannot just keep throwing cups of this and that into the pile until it hits the 15 gallon goal.

Example is if the pile of soil left over from the previous grow is 12 gallons. If 1 cup of each of the listed amendments is added then the pile is 3 quarts larger. (16 cups to a gallon and all that math stuff.)

Time to measure the left over soil. Then make up a batch of new soil that is enough to bring the total up to your 15 gallon goal when it is added in. Mix this new soil using the centuries old ratio of 1/3 Peat moss, 1/3 Perlite or other aeration material, and 1/3 compost or compost and remember that this is ratio and not quantity. Oh, and remember that one gallon of Peat Moss was already added. Since the micro-organisms digested a portion of the organic materials during the previous grow maybe add a bit more compost than 1/3, or maybe not.

Time to think about the amendments. First thing to consider is which ones to use. What signs of deficiencies did the plant or plants show during in the previous grow? At what stage of growth did the plant start to show any of the deficiencies? Was it corrected by adding anything to the water or by top dressing? Did any of the deficiencies affect the harvest quantity or quality?

It all falls into place eventually.

 

[Vegan4life]

And, finally, HERE'S A GOOD ARTICLE from Build-A-Soil.

They highlight three approaches including the Coots Mix, but also give you some good background on building your own mix.

BAS is a good resource for information, articles and videos, also good source for amendments. I’ve been doing the sprouted seed teas and mulching and red worms in my 20 gallon pots with great results.

 

[Jungle Joseph]

Interesting and fun project ahead of you.

As Emilya and some of us are thinking that is a nice list of amendments to have on our grow room shelves; a really nice list.

What I want to bring up is that you are on the right track but looking at the bigger picture wrong.



It is impossible for us to help come up with what to add and the volume to use. We do not know how much of your base soil is in the pile. We cannot just keep throwing cups of this and that into the pile until it hits the 15 gallon goal.

Example is if the pile of soil left over from the previous grow is 12 gallons. If 1 cup of each of the listed amendments is added then the pile is 3 quarts larger. (16 cups to a gallon and all that math stuff.)

Time to measure the left over soil. Then make up a batch of new soil that is enough to bring the total up to your 15 gallon goal when it is added in. Mix this new soil using the centuries old ratio of 1/3 Peat moss, 1/3 Perlite or other aeration material, and 1/3 compost or compost and remember that this is ratio and not quantity. Oh, and remember that one gallon of Peat Moss was already added. Since the micro-organisms digested a portion of the organic materials during the previous grow maybe add a bit more compost than 1/3, or maybe not.

Time to think about the amendments. First thing to consider is which ones to use. What signs of deficiencies did the plant or plants show during in the previous grow? At what stage of growth did the plant start to show any of the deficiencies? Was it corrected by adding anything to the water or by top dressing? Did any of the deficiencies affect the harvest quantity or quality?

It all falls into place eventually.

Wow that's a lot to digest,
I didn't really notice any deficiency with the last grow. The first grow was just the base soil, top dressed with kelp meal, worm castings and herbi 2-8-4 dry amendment once during bloom. I found out I should have top dressed more frequently but I'm still learning. The plant was going well but I got hit with budrot, so I had to destroy it. Real bummer. I was under the impression that the plant will take only what it needs from the soil, but I'm starting to realize it's a little more technical than that. I just felt like the soil could do with a booster. I've been researching 'coots mix' as well as 'subcools mix'. I may end up making 2 different mixes and see how each one performs. I'll definitely err on the side of caution, I don't want to fry the girls. Thanks for the info, it's giving me plenty to think about. I appreciate your time.

 

[Azimuth]

Just be sure to note the "cooking time" the organic mixes need before you plant stuff in them. While they are assimilating together the microbes start breaking things down and the mix can get a bit hot for a few weeks which can fry you plants if you plant too early.