Quick question befor I start this experiment

Ok I'm about to do a ll experimenting with a couple growing methods. 18 plants in my usual foxfarm soil + ferts, 18 plants in coco, and 18 in this "organic atempt. So I was about to try a simple recipe I found on here that goes like

2 c.f. of organic soil 40%
3.8 c.f. peat moss 60%
Add 30% perlite
1 cup worn castings
1 cup bone meal
1 cup dolimite like

Instructions say to mix and just add water threw the grow After i transplant into the mix. My question is do i need to ket it sit and cook using the lime or am i good to go with this ? Also any tips would be great. I'm pretty much stuck with buying amendments from Home Depot and Lowe's for this

It needs to cook to break down the bone meal. Dolomite isn't fast acting and needs time to stabilize the soil ph. Consider a month setting in direct sunlight to heat. Turn over the soil during the cook. About once a week. Stir it up and rotate the bottom soil with the top. After a month, use simple compost tea for the first watering. Worm crap and black strap. That's on top of the additional worm crap added to the soil.

that mix is good but will not support her through flowering cycle properly without more amendment during.

Awesome. Thank you. He I'm reading up on top dressing with work castings before flip

chemphlegm said:

that mix is good but will not support her through flowering cycle properly without more amendment during.

Click to expand...

Yeah I agree. Bone meal as the only ammendment will fall way short. Looking into. Kelp. Alfalfa. Crab. Neem. Could skip the dolomite if you have oyster she'll. and gypsum or other rock dust would be good too.

Might as well make a good soil for your side by side. I'd skip the bone meal completly.

I miss read the worm castings. It said blood meal with the bone meal

I would do 15% worm castings of the whole base's volume, vs a cup only

And closer to 45% Aeration, and try get something better than perlite if you can, like free leaf compost or rotting wood compost, rice hulls, eggshells, sand, lava rocks, biochar, etc, but if not, ok fine. Lets move on..

Then I would split the remainder 40% on your peat and soil down the middle

Theres your base..
15% EWC
45% Aeration
20% Soil
20 % Peat

Then to that, for a basic but effective very near a water-only approach..add the following per every 1 cu. ft. (7.5 us gal)

Meal Mix, 1.5 Cups [per each cu. ft.]
Consisting of equal parts kelp, neem, and shell meal

Rock Mineral Mix, 4 Cups [per each cu. ft.]
Consisting of 1 part basalt, 5 parts glacial rock dust

Or say equal parts of gypsum, oyster shell flour, and basalt

I think I'm going to start acquiring more ingredients

oilfield bud said:

I think I'm going to start acquiring more ingredients

Click to expand...

Glad to hear!

Ps basalt is for paramagnetism but pretty much everything has a replacement or two..

the beauty of nature is she is able to provide in a variety of scenarios and regions

oilfield bud said:

I think I'm going to start acquiring more ingredients

Click to expand...

Glad to hear this an option for you! There are much better things to use than blood/bone meals, other than that your recipe seems good. Just replace the bone meal with crab meal and neem meal, should only need a box of each and they go for around $15 on Amazon. Also, replace the dolomite lime with Oyster Shell Flour. The OSF is more readily available and will buffer your pH just like the lime. OSF is also great to have on hand if you happen to have your own worm bins, worms love the stuff. Gives them the grit they need and encourages reproduction.

I started off with FFOF and perlite, then switched to coco, and then switched to supersoil, and now I'm on an organic no-till very similar to the recipe you always see DonTesla posting (which is the soil that CC made famous in the cannabis community I believe?). If you have the option, don't even bother with the FFOF and coco and just do all organic. Trust me when I say that because once your experiment is over and done with and you see the quality and quantity that your organic soil yields, you'll be wishing you just went without the coco/FFOF in the first place That's just me though.

Another thing to keep in mind too, Coots says he takes it easy on the phosphorus in his mix because there are certain microbes that can't live in soil that is too high in phosphorus. Before I started using his recipe, I did a ridiculous amount of research to see which mix was best and Coots came out ahead pretty much every time. Don't get me wrong, you'll get good results with Sub's recipe, Rev's recipe, and Moonshine's recipe, but Coots soil is on another level. The growth that I'm getting in veg in 2 gallon pots destroys anything I've done in the past. I haven't even put them in the final pots yet, but I'm expecting stellar results.

Best wishes to you and your venture into organics! You'll love it for sure.