Looking to build a compost based mix

[Crane]

So I've started thinking about doing my next grow in some kind of a compost based organic "add water only"-mix. I'm just unsure how build the mix, as I don't live in the USA and many of the ingredients mentioned in the most quoted recipes are not available here.

So I would need help and recommendations baout ratios and amounts. This is what I have:
- about 20 gal of home made kitchen scrap compost
- perlite
- pre-limed and pre-fertilized peat moss

Amendments and fertilizer I can get locally:
- bat guano
- dolomite lime
- blood meal
- bone meal
- epsom salt
- gypsum
- composted chicken manure with kelp added

I have couple of months time here to make a mix and let it sit. Should I only amend the compost part by itself and after that has sat there cooking by itself,mix it with the other ingredients? I was thinking about a 1/1/1 mix of compost/peat moss/perlite.

So I guess the bottom line I'm going after here is which fertilizers and in what amounts should I add into the compost?

 

[Nunyabiz]

Whatever you toss together from what's available in your area you just need to remember that the final product needs to be around a 6.4 pH

 

[bobrown14]

Here's the mix I use. Can re-use it over and over.

Notice very few amendments. Compost and EWC are the important part of the humus portion.

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 (look on bag for country of origin = Canada)

Amend at up pot with 1 cup of the amendment mix and 1 cup EWC then into flower.

This is the soil mix I use - "Coots Mix" as it were. I thank Clackamas Coots for this soil recipe. Can stand behind, on top and in the can with this mix. Can go no-til for several rounds without needing to change it out. Amend at up pot, water FTW. All you need.

Substitute like you're baking a cake ... not really many subs for the above. It's a balanced soil mix. I get this soil mix tested at our state Extension Service every time we mix a batch and it's damn near perfect every time.

 

[Nunyabiz]

Pretty much what I use also.


Base Soil:

• 2 CuFt Sphagnum moss
• 1 CuFt Pumice lava rock
• 1 CuFt charged Biochar
• 1 CuFt Rice Hulls
• 2 CuFt Humus composed of 1/3 Compost(Oly Mountain fish compost) and 2/3 EWC, and
• a few handfuls some probiotic herbs – comfrey, nettle, dandelion, etc..

Nutrients included in the soil:

• (Per cu.Ft of Base Soil)
• 1/2 cup organic Neem meal
• 1/2 cup organic Kelp meal
• 1/2 cup organic Crustacean meal
• 1/2 cup organic insect frass
• 1/3 cup Gro-Kashi
• 1/3 cup Karanja Meal
• 1/4 cup of fish bone meal
• 1/16th cup of Modern Microbes
• 3 cups of some Rock/Mineral Mix
• (Rock/Mineral Mix)
• 2 part Oyster Shell Flour
• 2 part Gypsum
• 1 parts Glacial Rock Dust
• 1 part Basalt
• 1 part Calcium Bentonite

Then amendments used when needed as grow progresses.

Gro-kashi
Sprouted seed tea of corn and Alfalfa
Yucca
Coconut water
Aloe vera
Rootwise microbes

Plus a blend of amendments called Craftblend that consist of.
Ingredients all Equal by Weight:

1. Thorvin Premium Kelp Meal
2. Karanja Cake - Terviva
3. Alfalfa Meal
4. CalPhos
5. Camelina Meal
6. Crustacean Meal
7. Fish Meal
8. 3x Fish Bone Meal
9. Soybean Meal
10. Sul-Po-Mag (Also Known as K-Mag or Langbeinite)
11. Malted Barley Grains (3 Varieties)
12. Azomite
13. Basalt - Local Colorado
14. Gypsum
15. Oyster Flour

 

[Crane]

Thanks guys! I'll try to find subs for what I can't get,but the actual amounts you listed are super helpful!

 

[bobrown14]

Pretty much what I use also.




Plus a blend of amendments called Craftblend that consist of.

I tried out the CraftBlend from BAS. Good stuff.

Some of those parts are hard to source.

I used it as an amendment when I planted new plants.

It worked great.

I went back to the original coots blend since I have everything already on hand.

Just keep using that soil over and over. You eventually wont even need to add teas. Water only after I'd say 2 runs.

Then all I add is kelp meal and EWC with mycos at up pot and of course Malted Barely ground fine.

 

[bobrown14]

Thanks guys! I'll try to find subs for what I can't get,but the actual amounts you listed are super helpful!

I can find most all of this stuff at the local feed store. Just be aware of the coarseness of the rock dust - dust = dust (not chips).

Same with Oyster Shell flour - its ground up into a flour consistency not pcs of shell.

Very important to make this distinction.

If you have trouble with finding the oyster shell flour. Hit us back. The feed store will have something similar. Its what the farmers feed chickens and other animals to keep them healthy. Specially chickens in winter it helps with keep egg shells hard, they wont lay eggs if they dont have enough Calcium. Pretty much the same as all the "meals" on the ingredient list.

Good time of year to visit the feed store - they likely have left overs from the winter and maybe you can get smaller qty - no need to worry about "freshness".

We gonna put it in dirt! lol

 

[Crane]

Ok, I now have about 15 gal of compost amended with fine marble dust (10/2% cal/mag), composted chicken manure, blood meal, bone meal, bat guano. I'll probably add a little gypsum and epsom salt as well. Then I'll mix in an equal amount of pre-limed peat moss, and about 5 gal of perlite. Do you think this mix will work? I'll water it with liquid kelp meal.

Can I fill the containers all the way with this mix, or should I make a lighter peat moss/perlite mix for the upper part, and only fill the bottom half of the container with the "super soil"?

 

[bobrown14]

Mix in the per-lite to all the soil. There's no benefit for really dense soil in the btm of the container.

More oxygen in the root zone is good thing.

I would skip adding in any Epsom Salt. That will mess up your Ca:Mg ratio big time. Your marble dust will have plenty of Mg in it.

Epsom Salt = Magnesium Sulfate.

IF you feel your plants need more Mg or more likely Sulfur (the sulfate part), this stuff is very soluble so you can mix some up with water and foiler (spray) it on the plants. It's actually a better way to use this product than as a soil amendment due to the high solubility.

Mg is not an element in high demand in plants.

Here's the reason:

Photosynthesis the plants way of processing light into food/energy uses Chlorophyll.

Chemical formula of Chlorophyll = C55H72O5N4Mg <---- see the Mg on the end there. Only 1 molecule.

Plants need Mg, but not very much. For Sulfur that will also be in many of your amendments.

If you use worm castings there will be plenty of both - same with Kelp. Kelp actually has EVERY micro and macro nutrient needed for plants.

 

[Crane]

Thanks again! I was reasoning that there must be a big amount off worm castings in the compost as it was composted outdoors and had plenty of worms munching on it at one point. But yeah, I'll skip the Epsom for now. I'll mix everything together this week and then it'll have 4 weeks or so sit and mellow out. I'll make a grow log out of this next grow for sure

 

[bobrown14]

You can always add Epsom later if you need it (doubtful). You cant take it back tho.

Ounce of prevention worth it.

Epsom Salts are actually very very healthy for hoo-mans, more so than for plants.


Soak your feet in some hot water and a handful of it stirred in. Take a load off.