No-till soil mix

[medigreen]

So I'm making the switch to no till with coot's mix with living mulch and im trying to settle on a blend. Shooting for Albrecht ratios, heres what i got:
10cuft total
3cf premier peat(no added anything, just peat)
3cf grow stones(cant get pumice here)
3cf humus consisting of 2/3 worm gold plus and 1/3 malibu compost
1cf biochar activated with heavy fungal castings(kis) and biorighteous tea
5 cups of 50/50 neem/karanja meal
5 cups crustacean meal
5 cups kelp meal
10 cups glacial rock dust
10 cups basalt
and it gets a little tricky here b/c in the 2.1 cuft of wormgold is 3% each of both Elemite and Kelzyme. All i really can find on the Elemite is that its a sodium-calcium-aluminosilicate, so like bentonite/azomite marketed as better than azomite. the Kelzyme is mined fossilized kelp comes in at less than 70% calcium carbonate and 30% calcium oxide plus micro nutrients. if calculated by weight it comes to roughly 6.75 cups total for each. So i figure it'll take
3.25 cups oyster shell meal
3.25 cups calcium bentonite(or should i use azomite, as i have it on hand?)
mix it and let it sit for a week or two then hopefully send some in for testing to get the right boron/manganese/copper /zinc etc ratios.(i know it'll be tiny amounts)
heres a few questions but any comments would be good!
am i wack for wanting to mix it up and then have it tested? should i be concerned about ph being too high? and when ever i see a base coots mix it has 4 cups a Cu.ft mineral mix in it but the mix is 4 parts glacial, 1 part oyster, 1 part basalt and 1 part bentonite. so thats more than 2 cups glacial rd a cu/ft/ but all the places selling premade mixes are doin equal ratios of each. also see gypsum sometimes used. So whats better? was that a typo that got reposted?

 

[bobrown14]

Late to the party here but I do no-til with Coots mix. - get about 5-6 runs of flowers only. transplant into large no-til pots right before flip to 12/12.

I stopped using Azomite and bought Basalt dust called BrixBlend Basalt.

Mix that with another rock dust Glacial rock dust....

hth

 

[Ancient3328]

I've recently switched over solely to basalt and haven't noticed any ill effects over the glacial rock dust. May help you save some money!

 

[bobrown14]

I've recently switched over solely to basalt and haven't noticed any ill effects over the glacial rock dust. May help you save some money!

They all work... for pennies actually ... I think I have a 10 year supply... I'm feeding it to my worms in the compost bins so it comes back inside eventually and it helps the worms break down their food.

 

[PCaddict]

So I'm making the switch to no till with coot's mix with living mulch and im trying to settle on a blend. Shooting for Albrecht ratios, heres what i got:
10cuft total
3cf premier peat(no added anything, just peat)
3cf grow stones(cant get pumice here)
3cf humus consisting of 2/3 worm gold plus and 1/3 malibu compost
1cf biochar activated with heavy fungal castings(kis) and biorighteous tea
5 cups of 50/50 neem/karanja meal
5 cups crustacean meal
5 cups kelp meal
10 cups glacial rock dust
10 cups basalt
and it gets a little tricky here b/c in the 2.1 cuft of wormgold is 3% each of both Elemite and Kelzyme. All i really can find on the Elemite is that its a sodium-calcium-aluminosilicate, so like bentonite/azomite marketed as better than azomite. the Kelzyme is mined fossilized kelp comes in at less than 70% calcium carbonate and 30% calcium oxide plus micro nutrients. if calculated by weight it comes to roughly 6.75 cups total for each. So i figure it'll take
3.25 cups oyster shell meal
3.25 cups calcium bentonite(or should i use azomite, as i have it on hand?)
mix it and let it sit for a week or two then hopefully send some in for testing to get the right boron/manganese/copper /zinc etc ratios.(i know it'll be tiny amounts)
heres a few questions but any comments would be good!
am i wack for wanting to mix it up and then have it tested? should i be concerned about ph being too high? and when ever i see a base coots mix it has 4 cups a Cu.ft mineral mix in it but the mix is 4 parts glacial, 1 part oyster, 1 part basalt and 1 part bentonite. so thats more than 2 cups glacial rd a cu/ft/ but all the places selling premade mixes are doin equal ratios of each. also see gypsum sometimes used. So whats better? was that a typo that got reposted?

I was thinking about buying some of the Coots mix soil. Not sure what the cost is for all the ingredients would be compared to buying the mix. It is good to have the recipe Thank You for the post.

 

[bobrown14]

Buy it already mixed and dont forget the mineral mix.

Then source your peat moss, compost and per-lite locally.

I've got all the ingredients on hand. Likely have a lifetime supply.

You really only need to make 1 mix and amend every up-pot. Will last forever.

 

[PCaddict]

Buy it already mixed and dont forget the mineral mix.

Then source your peat moss, compost and per-lite locally.

I've got all the ingredients on hand. Likely have a lifetime supply.

You really only need to make 1 mix and amend every up-pot. Will last forever.

The mix is cheaper then buying all the ingredients I found it on a site for 45 bucks enough to do 17 cubic feet of soil

 

[bobrown14]

Yes this is probably true. I have all the ingredients plus extras. I add the extra stuff on hand to my vermi-compost bins & compost piles.

 

[PCaddict]

I ordered the Coots mix it was $45.00 for enough to make up 75 cubic feet of soil but it cost $28.00 for shipping Ouch I ordered it anyway along with some other stuff on Amazon , Peat moos, more worm castings some more FF Ocean Forest , some Gypsum , Grow stones , Dolomite Lime , Alfalfa meal , Blood meal , along with the other stuff I already have , Azomite , Bat Guano , Maykos , Diatomaceous Earth Powder , Compost my buddy makes from grass clippings , fruits and vegetables, egg shells, saw dust, leaves etc. I also have some Perlite and Coco along with a little potting soil so I think I should be good to mix my living soil as soon as the rest comes in. Any suggestions from members would be appreciated. What else should I add if anything... I do plan to add some clover for a cover. I have heard Bio Char is good as well so I may add that too and one member suggested using Gro Kashia. I hope to make up a good compost tea to feed, Any suggestions on that ?

 

[bobrown14]

You ordered the coots mix you wont need all that extra other stuff.

The compost is the most important part of the mix. We make our own but I've bought Coast of Main lobster compost and/or Malibu BU Blend. Coast of Main east coast, BU blend west coast. These 2 are the best you can get in a bag.

The stuff I use extra that I keep on hand that I use are:

Kelp Meal
Worm Castings
Vermi-compost
Coots mix (add a few tbs at up pot)
Malted Barley
Pro-tekt
Ful-power

I use the kelp meal to make kelp tea and foliar that on with pro-tekt and ful-power weekly with my IPM.

 

[PCaddict]

You ordered the coots mix you wont need all that extra other stuff.

The compost is the most important part of the mix. We make our own but I've bought Coast of Main lobster compost and/or Malibu BU Blend. Coast of Main east coast, BU blend west coast. These 2 are the best you can get in a bag.

The stuff I use extra that I keep on hand that I use are:

Kelp Meal
Worm Castings
Vermi-compost
Coots mix (add a few tbs at up pot)
Malted Barley
Pro-tekt
Ful-power

I use the kelp meal to make kelp tea and foliar that on with pro-tekt and ful-power weekly with my IPM.

I put the COM and BU blend on my list at Amazon how do you mix your compost tea up and is the list of other ingredients what you add to your tea or is that for amendments ?

 

[PCaddict]

I must retract a comment , I bought enough Coots mix to do 17 cu. ft. of soil not 75 cu. ft. Lol still enough to get me started. I looked at what the mix had in it and compared it to what others use in their soil. It didn't have what the FF Ocean Forest has in it and some of the other ingredients like blood meal Dolomite lime etc. was missing that's why I got other stuff I also needed the peat moss and grow stones. I figured with my buddy's compost some potting soil the peat moss and the FF Ocean forest and worm castings would make up the bulk of the mix. Should I mix some of it in or keep it to amend with ?

 

[bobrown14]

The Coots mix has everything except peat moss, aeration and compost/humus.

I wouldn't mix in FFOF - that already has fertilizer added thats what you see on the label.

Do Coots mix OR FFOF - don't mix them together.

I'd do a side by side and see what you like the best. Coots is water for the win all the way.

We do compost teas when the soil is young (coots mix) to give the micro-herd a lift. They are just getting going.

The best compost tea is:

1 cup EWC
1/2 cup Kelp meal
bucket of water

You can aerate that or just stir and leave sit 24 hours stir a few times. Ready. No need to strain. Just stir and water in.

Suggest you start looking at foliar spray feed if you wanna feed the plant.

In soil feeding the plant is how the fertilizer companies make money instead of you.

 

[PCaddict]

The Coots mix has everything except peat moss, aeration and compost/humus.

I wouldn't mix in FFOF - that already has fertilizer added thats what you see on the label.

Do Coots mix OR FFOF - don't mix them together.

I'd do a side by side and see what you like the best. Coots is water for the win all the way.

We do compost teas when the soil is young (coots mix) to give the micro-herd a lift. They are just getting going.

The best compost tea is:

1 cup EWC
1/2 cup Kelp meal
bucket of water

You can aerate that or just stir and leave sit 24 hours stir a few times. Ready. No need to strain. Just stir and water in.

Suggest you start looking at foliar spray feed if you wanna feed the plant.

In soil feeding the plant is how the fertilizer companies make money instead of you.

Thank You !! What is EWC ???

 

[bobrown14]

Earth Worm Castings! Good stuff