Soil without cooking?

bizarrojohnson said:

One last question. Do u need a base soil to mix this into or is this the actual soil. Sorry I'm a super noob when it comes to organics. I started with FFOF and fox farms nutes. Trying to move away from that.

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Do not go buy bags of fox farm as this is what we're trying to replace. They're ridiculously over priced and the ingredients sourced are sub par quality. That's why they sell their bottled line, so when your soil web dies in 3 weeks you can start pouring the Chems all over them. Make your own base soul for a fraction of the price. Very simple, one part compost, one part peat moss,one part lava rock and you have a solid base soil. To each cu ft of base soil that you make add the recommended amounts (above) of amendments and minerals..A cu ft of base soil costs me around 8$ after all the amendments and minerals and such its around 15$. The thing is, it will last forever.

bizarrojohnson said:

Any idea where I can find neem? Also what would you say is best for aeration? Thanks for the info btw.

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I source my Neem online. You can go to buildasoil.com or neemresource.com

I personally use Neem resource because they're located in Michigan and give me a break on shipping for living close.

I would advise using something porous like pumus or lava rock for aeration. You can also throw some biochar in it to aerate it. All of these things like I said, are porous and give the microbes a nice place to nestle in. Like forte said, don't use perlite, no advantages other than light weight aeration.

I personally use a mix of rice hulls and lava rock because I can't get my hands on pumus.

MistaRasta said:

A huge game changer. I was using oat bran, which worked fine, but the barley blows it out of the water. I use a mixture of red wigglers and European night crawlers in my pots and my worm bin. They coexist excellent with each other and each have their own advantages. The red wigglers will not burrow past 4 inches below the soil line whereas the night crawlers will go down to 12 inches. I highly recommend using both

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Just received 1.5kg red wrigglers to go with my ENC's...................buzzing, let the munching commence.

MistaRasta said:

A huge game changer. I was using oat bran, which worked fine, but the barley blows it out of the water. I use a mixture of red wigglers and European night crawlers in my pots and my worm bin. They coexist excellent with each other and each have their own advantages. The red wigglers will not burrow past 4 inches below the soil line whereas the night crawlers will go down to 12 inches. I highly recommend using both

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I've been using 6-row barley. According to CC it has the most enzymes. I was going to buy European Nightcrawlers, but went with African Nightcrawlers. I have my african nightcrawlers mixed with red wigglers, and from observation the african nightcrawlers produce more castings than red wigglers. When I only had my red wigglers, it took longer to get castings, and now that I've added ANC my bin has way more castings. They are very voracious.

And you want to buy sphagnum peat moss, not peat moss. You can buy that at home depot (3cf for like $13). Go with the premier brand, if they don't have that, then sunshine will do.

Forte said:

And you want to buy sphagnum peat moss, not peat moss. You can buy that at home depot (3cf for like $13). Go with the premier brand, if they don't have that, then sunshine will do.

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I like coco as a base over peat moss. Anyone doing a coco based no till with red wigglers?

Forte said:

I like using malted barley as well. Game changer. Same here. No going back once you've taken this road. What kind of worms are you using? red wigglers?

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With neem and malted barley I suspect you got some stinky sticky herb man.
Terpines are where the magic happens

shorelineOG said:

I like coco as a base over peat moss. Anyone doing a coco based no till with red wigglers?

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Most people aren't using coco as An alternative because the cec of coco doesn't compare to peat.

greasemonkeymann said:

With neem and malted barley I suspect you got some stinky sticky herb man.
Terpines are where the magic happens

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Sulfur is also great for increasing terp production.

shorelineOG said:

Sulfur is also great for increasing terp production.

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that's why I mentioned neem.
GREAT for terpines, well beyond it's NPK value.
Also why I love langbeinite

Forte said:

I've been using 6-row barley. According to CC it has the most enzymes. I was going to buy European Nightcrawlers, but went with African Nightcrawlers. I have my african nightcrawlers mixed with red wigglers, and from observation the african nightcrawlers produce more castings than red wigglers. When I only had my red wigglers, it took longer to get castings, and now that I've added ANC my bin has way more castings. They are very voracious.

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2 row, 6 row it doesn't matter. I've had the same exact results with both.

I get castings way faster with night crawlers in my bins. Especially when you supply enzymes, they help out a lot

MistaRasta said:

Most people aren't using coco as An alternative because the cec of coco doesn't compare to peat.

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exactly, and the difference is pretty large, I noticed that even further when I started to use leaf compost, NOTHING beats the cec from that... they act like millions of tiny sponges loaded with humus..

shorelineOG said:

Sulfur is also great for increasing terp production.

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Coco contains 0 sulfur which is key in getting the exchange wheels turning. You can supplement all you'd like. but with peat theirs no worrying about this as it will hold all the sulfur you'll give it

MistaRasta said:

Coco contains 0 sulfur which is key in getting the exchange wheels turning. You can supplement all you'd like. but with peat theirs no worrying about this as it will hold all the sulfur you'll give it

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What about a mix? What is cec?

shorelineOG said:

What about a mix? What is cec?

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cation-exchange_capacity

short story is the soils ability to hold nutrients.
SHORT story

greasemonkeymann said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cation-exchange_capacity

short story is the soils ability to hold nutrients.
SHORT story

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I am also a hydro grower using hydroton. I pull better yields when I feed everyday vs a super soil. Any thoughts on this?

MistaRasta said:

2 row, 6 row it doesn't matter. I've had the same exact results with both.

I get castings way faster with night crawlers in my bins. Especially when you supply enzymes, they help out a lot

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You just perked my interest........what enzymes are you adding to your worm bin? the malted barley?

shorelineOG said:

What about a mix? What is cec?

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What grease monkey man said, it's the total capacity of a soil to hold exchangeable cations. It influences a soils ability to hold minerals and nutrients and buffers it and keeps it from going acidic.

DonBrennon said:

You just perked my interest........what enzymes are you adding to your worm bin? the malted barley?

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Yes, mainly the malted barley. I'll water the bin with coconut water every once in a while. But a top dress with malted barley every week makes the worms go crazy. They love it

shorelineOG said:

I am also a hydro grower using hydroton. I pull better yields when I feed everyday vs a super soil. Any thoughts on this?

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I don't understand your question, are you asking why you don't pull as much when using synthetics vs organics?

shorelineOG said:

I am also a hydro grower using hydroton. I pull better yields when I feed everyday vs a super soil. Any thoughts on this?

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did you use THE supersoil?
if so that's why.