Need opinion for SOIL, from local mother earth

So I been sitting here looking at soil and ways to make my own soil.
I was thinking of buy a lot of Perlite, coco fiber, manure to mix in with gathered top soil (dirt) found in nature. Well actually a lot more of randomness as well.

But, I am interested now in mostly using the resources around me. I have the whole forest to help me out, I'm sure I could find most of it there.

So I am trying to find substitutes for things like perlite, cocofiber, ect. I have looked at loads of sites and everyone seems to run to the store. I know that I may need to get things like lime, kelp, worm casting, trace elements, blood meal, bone meal to add into the soil.


Please give me your opinion for making my own soil more my own soil from my natural surroundings?

im not sure about using stuff from the forest. people use all different kinds of manures from farms. perlite is pretty cheap i think, why not just buy some? is your soil really hard?

Luger187:

The dirt here looks great, some clay deep though. I was wanting to add perlite and cocofiber to it, but wanted to know if there is natural things I could use around me. There is a nice creek too

youd probly be better off buying some sorry man, but if i wer a detemined you, go out to your nature and note whats ther then google the names of your surroundings and see if its all compatible as soil additives

im not sure about anything in a forest u could use as a replacement for stuff. id just buy some honestly. but if your down, do what norcal said. at the very least u will learn about the area around you. maybe take a camera for things u dont know the name of. look at it in the pic, and describe it to google. usually u can find out what it is

that creek may be good for making compost teas and just general watering. as long as its not contaminated. how far away is it from the grow? do u have to walk far to get to the grow? or is it like your backyard?

i would dig the dirt, put it back in the hole and take and handfull of it and squezze it together then break it apart, if it breaks apart easy its good if it clumps together tight then you need, dead grass,sand, compost, any or but your best bet will be peat moss, as peat moss will seperate the clay and suck up water real good,
too late in the season for anything to big.

also peat moss will make the soil acidic, so youll need that dolomite lime in there

You can attempt making leaf mold and natural compost from the things around the woods. Forest litter which is the dark decomposed layer or mat of leaves that is on a lot of forest floors underneath that is usually some really good dark humus but not for more than an inch or 2 usually so you gotta kinda rake it to collect it. Bark can obviously be shredded and used as a mulch but i believe there is a little bit of a decomposition process that has to occur before its considered mulch otherwise its breakdown may tie up nitrogen from your soil temporarily. But a good general rule of thumb when cutting your soil with peat moss is 25/75 if its excellent soil 50/50 if its alright and 75/25 if its a very clay like or very sandy soil.

http://www.knowyourfarmeralliance.com/resources/downloads/cultivation of microorganismspdf
http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/20040401/Hamilton
http://www.permaculture.org/nm/images/uploads/Indigenous_Microorganisms.pdf

The links i posted above is something very similiar to the process of making compost tea but you instead you basically collect the natural bacteria and fungi from the forest in the area your growing in, multiply and cultivate the microorganisms and then innoculate and fertilize your plants with them. By using what is coming from your natural growing area your plants are more resistant to pests and diseases. The first link describes a process of making a dry innoculant which you can mix with your soil or topdress your plant with. The 2nd and 3rd links are methods based on a phillipino farmers findings and have been receiving a lot of positive light in the last few years.

I have a little farm mostly fruit trees and flowers with of course grass and such. I only buy a few things to put into my soil and mostly then only buy it because I am waiting for my version to be ready. I do buy a local tierra negra which is a biochar basically here in Central America, this stuff is great in the soil and better than I can make from my tree trimmings. Cheap too, 100 lbs for $2.00 delivered to the front gate.
I use some wheat hulls that I have to buy when my other stuff isn't ready. I use bird of paradise stems and many other plants I couldn't tell you the name of down here. They are the fiberous flowers stems with 3/8 ths to 1/2 dia. they breakdown slowly help keep the soil loose, the roots love them and so do the worms. When my plants are done and empty them from the containers I remove them fromt the soil and dry them. Once they are dried well I chop them up and mix into the new soil going into the container.
Manures are going to be important to you for your N, the babies are so hungry they tear through the soil in a container. I have never found it in any form in the ag stores down here. So I live in a small village about 200 people 23kms from the nearest town, they move their livestock from pasture to pasture down the downs here. I walk the roads with my sack, shovel and pipe to gather the fresh manures, lol.
I mix lots of you need a good balance of brown and green type things in a compost to get it to decompose where it kills all the weed seeds and such. I have one pile that is all yard scrape including small woody branches, nothing bigger than my little finger though. this pile never heats up too much but the worms go crazy in there and I add all my eggshells and coffee grounds to it.
another pile of with most of my veggie scraps and greenmanures with a light mix of soil to help break everything up.
Sorry, the pipe has me and I ramble. Many ways to work this type of set up. Send me a PM if you would like to talk about it further
Canefan and Welcome to RIU