ph and soil amnedments

Tangerine_ said:

Maybe a cup each of the OSF and DL. The only other thing I would add is neem cake/meal for the extra N and for your IPM.

I also water with BioAGs Ful-Power. Really digging it.

Click to expand...

that's funny

the build a soil re-amend mix
is almost exactly like whats here if you add 2 cups neem cake

would I be just a s well off using 2 cups dolomite to get more magnesium and void the oyster shell flour

does anyone see any benefit to using 2 types of rock dust, and does anyone have a preference as to which and why?

3 cubic ft/20 gallons soil ( used fox farm OF)

1/2 gallon rice husk (every)
1/2 gallon EWC (every)
1/2 gallon compost (every)
1.5 cups neem cake (every)
1.5 cups alfalfa meal (every)
1.5 cups kelp meal (every)
1.5 cups crab meal (every)
1.5 cups gypsum (every)

1.5 cups dolomite (every)
1/2 cup azomite (every)
2 cup granite rock (every other)

edited;

im4satori said:

that's funny

the build a soil re-amend mix
is almost exactly like whats here if you add 2 cups neem cake

Click to expand...

All of my soil/tea recipes have come from here. I have countless bookmarked. I've never ordered from BAS but use it as a reference often.

IME, outdoor organics is easy as pie. You have a LOT of "helpers" outside. Indoor requires some finesse and patience.
Once you get the soil down you can move on to teas and such.

I recently started using aloe and I couldn't be more impressed with the results. Though I've chopped my aloe plant down to a pathetic state in the process. It may be time to actually place an order through BAS bc I haven't found the aloe powder available anywhere else.

im4satori said:

3 cubic ft of soil.... 20 gallons

1/2 gallon rice husk
1/2 gallon EWC
1/2 gallon compost
2 cups kelp meal
2 cups alfalfa meal
2 cups crab meal
1 cup oyster shell
1 cup lime
1/4 cup egg shell flour (because I save them)
2 cups gypsum
1.5 cups fishbone meal
2 cups tomato tone fertilizer
1 cup basalt rock dust ???? (not sure on amount)

Click to expand...

whats up man
so rice hulls are fine to use, but you want other aeration, rice hulls on their own are a poor aeration ingredient
try and fine perlite, volcanic rock, vermiculite etc.
especially with an organic mix, it'll be too thick.

but you are reaaaally shy on aeration my man.
you want around 10 gallons of it, no joke.
that's the 33% standard
if you are using more compost and castings you'll need even more, around 40% or so.
speaking of... only a gallon isn't ideal for the humus inputs
what is the base of this soil mix (sorry if I overlooked it before)
peat? coco?
i'd nix the azomite though, don't need it with basalt

Tangerine_ said:

All of my soil/tea recipes have come from here. I have countless bookmarked. I've never ordered from BAS but use it as a reference often.

IME, outdoor organics is easy as pie. You have a LOT of "helpers" outside. Indoor requires some finesse and patience.
Once you get the soil down you can move on to teas and such.

I recently started using aloe and I couldn't be more impressed with the results. Though I've chopped my aloe plant down to a pathetic state in the process. It may be time to actually place an order through BAS bc I haven't found the aloe powder available anywhere else.

Click to expand...

aloe is badass man, I suggest going to the hardware store and buying a live one
WAY better
and cheaper too, and a blind monkey could grow it

greasemonkeymann said:

whats up man
so rice hulls are fine to use, but you want other aeration, rice hulls on their own are a poor aeration ingredient
try and fine perlite, volcanic rock, vermiculite etc.
especially with an organic mix, it'll be too thick.

but you are reaaaally shy on aeration my man.
you want around 10 gallons of it, no joke.
that's the 33% standard
if you are using more compost and castings you'll need even more, around 40% or so.
speaking of... only a gallon isn't ideal for the humus inputs
what is the base of this soil mix (sorry if I overlooked it before)
peat? coco?
i'd nix the azomite though, don't need it with basalt

Click to expand...

happy your here

im re-amending 1x used FFOF

so maybe dump the rice husk all together

how much gallons of perlite and vermiculite would I add?


also notice,,ii edited my last mix post

greasemonkeymann said:

whats up man
so rice hulls are fine to use, but you want other aeration, rice hulls on their own are a poor aeration ingredient
try and fine perlite, volcanic rock, vermiculite etc.
especially with an organic mix, it'll be too thick.

but you are reaaaally shy on aeration my man.
you want around 10 gallons of it, no joke.
that's the 33% standard
if you are using more compost and castings you'll need even more, around 40% or so.
speaking of... only a gallon isn't ideal for the humus inputs
what is the base of this soil mix (sorry if I overlooked it before)
peat? coco?
i'd nix the azomite though, don't need it with basalt

Click to expand...

fill in the blanks


3 cubic ft/20 gallons soil ( used fox farm OF)

? perlite
? vermiculite
? EWC (every)
1/2 gallon compost (every)
1.5 cups neem cake (every)
1.5 cups alfalfa meal (every)
1.5 cups kelp meal (every)
1.5 cups crab meal (every)
1.5 cups gypsum (every)

1.5 cups dolomite (every)
1/2 cup azomite (every)
1.5 cup granite rock (every other)

the build a soil re amendment looks like this for 3 cubic ft

1.5 cups neem cake (every)
1.5 cups fish meal (every)
1.5 cups kelp meal (every)
1.5 cups crab meal (every)
1.5 cups gypsum (every)


my thought is to also add the dolomite and rock dust since I feel the ffof is light to start
and I switched the fish meal for alfalfa meal

on the perlite

because im not starting from scratch im only looking to replace whats lost from the previous grow

assuming ffof uses 33% perlite how much would I want to add back in?

the reason I choose rice husk was I read it was better than perlite cuz it doesn't float to the top or whatever
but I have no affinity to one over the other

im4satori said:

fill in the blanks


3 cubic ft/20 gallons soil ( used fox farm OF)

? perlite
? vermiculite
? EWC (every)
1/2 gallon compost (every)
1.5 cups neem cake (every)
1.5 cups alfalfa meal (every)
1.5 cups kelp meal (every)
1.5 cups crab meal (every)
1.5 cups gypsum (every)

1.5 cups dolomite (every)
1/2 cup azomite (every)
1.5 cup granite rock (every other)

Click to expand...

ahh gotcha
ok, so the typical mix is 33/33/33 but with old soil you can change it a lil.
so you are reamending the used soil then, correct?
if so those ratios are a lil high, believe it or not commercial soils will retain some macro value after being used
how many runs did you use the soil?
what sized container?
how big were the plants?
in other words if you had them in 3 gallon pots, with 3-4 foo plants, then yea, it'll be rather "dry"
but if you had them only in 5 or 8 gal pots and only for flowering?
then you may have a significant amount of nutrients left.
always, always, always better to have too little than too much, just like salt in a soup... you can always add more, but how do you subtract?

I really like neem meal, I won't do a run without it, so take that for what its worth, same with kelp meal, and the same with my fresh comfrey (another subject though)
i'm not a subscriber of having to reamend with the minerals, not unless it's been a WHILE, like 3-4 runs or a yr or so
I also prefer basalt to granite because it's not potentially radioactive (no shit, 5% of granite naturally has radioactive materials)
Gimme a sec I just got a rush of customers
i'll post more in a bit
main thing is try and source more fresh humus, compost or castings

im4satori said:

on the perlite

because im not starting from scratch im only looking to replace whats lost from the previous grow

assuming ffof uses 33% perlite how much would I want to add back in?

the reason I choose rice husk was I read it was better than perlite cuz it doesn't float to the top or whatever
but I have no affinity to one over the other

Click to expand...

nah, for aeration rice hulls are nearly useless, just too small, it is good for building humus though, it'll disappear after the microbes get to it
I have like 5 types of aeration in my soil at least
rotten tree log chunks, coco wool patches and small strips, volcanic rock, perlite, pumice, vermiculite, rice hulls, hell even greensand acts like it
so that's eight actually
I like variety though, and each of those do different things
oops, forgot oyster shell (chicken scratch)
so that's nine

so you are reamending the used soil then, correct?yes
if so those ratios are a lil high, believe it or not commercial soils will retain some macro value after being used
how many runs did you use the soil? 1x but its light
what sized container? 6" pot 50/50 ffof/happyfrog to 5 smart pot gallon ffof...to 20 gallon smart pot ffof 3 weeks before 12/12
how big were the plants? 9 weeks veg

picture is in the wrong spot

im transplanting from 5 gallon into #20 pots 3 weeks before flower

veg 9 weeks

3 cubic ft 20 gallons soil

1 gallon perlite (every)
1 quart vermiculite (every)
3/4 gallon ewc (every)
1/2 gallon compost (every)

sources of NPK
1 cups neem cake (every)
1/2 cups alfalfa meal (every)
1/2 cup fish meal (every)
1.5 cups kelp meal (every)

sources of magnesium and calcium
1 cups crab meal (every)
1 cups gypsum (every)
1cups dolomite (every)
1/2 cup oyster shell (every)

sources of micro nutrient
1/2 cup azomite (every)
1 cup basalt rock 1x

heres another

I cut the amounts down and diversified it slightly

I cut the alfalfa meal in half and added fish meal

I left the kelp meal heavy (should I bump it up to 2 cups?)

I added oyster shell.... should I reduce the gypsum since the addition of oyster shell?

bumped up the EWC and perlite

im4satori said:

3 cubic ft 20 gallons soil

1 gallon perlite (every)
1 quart vermiculite (every)
3/4 gallon ewc (every)
1/2 gallon compost (every)

1 cups neem cake (every)
1/2 cups alfalfa meal (every)
1/2 cup fish meal (every)
1.5 cups kelp meal (every)

1 cups crab meal (every)
1 cups gypsum (every)
1cups dolomite (every)
1/2 cup oyster shell (every)

1/2 cup azomite (every)
1 cup basalt rock 1x

Click to expand...

ok, so ditch the azomite, use the oyster shell if it's flour not shells
basalt is fine on its own.
for reamendment ratios i'd go WAY lighter on all the nutrients
like a third of each of them, or a qtr
more humus (castings, compost)
i'd add no more than 2 cups total of nutrients for a reamend
i'm still a lil tied up with car repairs ATM so in my extra time i'll post more

greasemonkeymann said:

aloe is badass man, I suggest going to the hardware store and buying a live one
WAY better
and cheaper too, and a blind monkey could grow it

Click to expand...

Really is that easy. Back in SoFl had 3 beds around the house that were pretty much ignored unless you were cutting a leaf. I mean, no water, no nutes, no nada. Make a hole, stick the plant in, water it so it wouldn't fall over and that was pretty much it, other than not hitting it with the mower or weed whacker.

Now, I usually just buy a leaf from the grocery store, ~$2 for a 2' long leaf. I mainly use this for cloning. WalMart also has a gallon of pure Aloe juice for $7 that I'm going to snag to use as a wetting agent for a couple hundred gallons of mix left outside all winter, along with the raised bed gardens.

Have heard good things about this stuff, but I really prefer the fresh leaf for cloning. Might give it a try though.

Wet

20 gallons soil 1x used ffof

perlite
vermiculite
earth worm castings
compost

alfalfa meal
fish meal
kelp meal
crab meal

gypsum
dolomite
oyster shell flour
basalt

ok so this is whats on the shopping list

@greasemonkeymann

maybe you can fill in the amounts

is there any standard rule of thumb or literature as to what point EC level in a chemical fertilizer solution begins to displace microbes/BB

for example maybe some studies showing what % of microbe /BB production is reduced at X,Y& Z EC levels

I assume as the EC goes up the negative effects go up