manicbotanic
New Member
Hey folks, as the title suggests I'm hoping some of you TLO/living soil vets will pick apart my recipe and tell me where I could do better/balance things out. I'm on my 2nd living soil recipe and I'm loving every minute of the method. It's taken me to strive for an entirely localized, sustainable soil recipe that is impossible with current commercial organic fertilizers, so I'm branching out and building my own. I plan to use worm castings, peat moss, and rice hulls in a 1-1-1 ratio, with Vetch, Rye, and Fava Beans as companion plants. I'll be growing potted Stinging Nettles, Garlic, Chamomile, and a couple others and using water runoff to grab their exudates for watering (using leftover light on the sides of the grow).
Molasses does not grow in the midwest, so I would like to use Maple Syrup/Sap. I've heard lots of people talk down to this but test results I've seen on the internet (so it must be true) show that the syrup contains manganese, zinc, calcuim, potassium, iron, and magnesium along with the sugar, so I find it hard to believe it would be a poor substitute (maybe use the sap before turning it into syrup? I have a Black Maple Tree)
Here's the organic ferts going into the soil:
Comfrey (1.8-.5-5.3)
Stinging Nettle Leaf (1.7-.6-4.5)
Alfalfa Meal (2.5-.5-2.5)
Soybean Meal (6-1.5-2)
Eggshell Meal (1.2-.4-0, calcium rich)
Wheat Bran (2.4-2.9-1.6)
Steamed/cooked Bone Meal (2-21-0)
What I don't know is how the ph would turn out, the bioavailability of said nutrients, and the decomposition time of each (I've read bone meal takes awhile to become available). Obviously, I'd have earthworms, pill bugs, myco, protozoa, etc. as well as a worm bin, pill bug bin, and shroomery (above the lights) in the same room to add to the co2 (maybe not a lot, but hoping to maintain 700-900 naturally). I'm hoping to get composting this spring and having a mixed soil, possibly even finished test run, by this time next year. Care to tell me why this would or would not work?
Molasses does not grow in the midwest, so I would like to use Maple Syrup/Sap. I've heard lots of people talk down to this but test results I've seen on the internet (so it must be true) show that the syrup contains manganese, zinc, calcuim, potassium, iron, and magnesium along with the sugar, so I find it hard to believe it would be a poor substitute (maybe use the sap before turning it into syrup? I have a Black Maple Tree)
Here's the organic ferts going into the soil:
Comfrey (1.8-.5-5.3)
Stinging Nettle Leaf (1.7-.6-4.5)
Alfalfa Meal (2.5-.5-2.5)
Soybean Meal (6-1.5-2)
Eggshell Meal (1.2-.4-0, calcium rich)
Wheat Bran (2.4-2.9-1.6)
Steamed/cooked Bone Meal (2-21-0)
What I don't know is how the ph would turn out, the bioavailability of said nutrients, and the decomposition time of each (I've read bone meal takes awhile to become available). Obviously, I'd have earthworms, pill bugs, myco, protozoa, etc. as well as a worm bin, pill bug bin, and shroomery (above the lights) in the same room to add to the co2 (maybe not a lot, but hoping to maintain 700-900 naturally). I'm hoping to get composting this spring and having a mixed soil, possibly even finished test run, by this time next year. Care to tell me why this would or would not work?