Okay so heres the background. This is my first go at organic soil growing. I started a soil mix about a month and a half ago. I started with roots soil/ewc/20-20-20 compost/perlite. I amended it with fish bone meal, lobster shell/ kelp meal, azomite, dlime and humic acid. After a few days the mix smelled terrible, like poop. I dumped it out and spread it thin, got it bone dry over the last month. The smell was gone. So yesterday i reamended the mix lightly. I also added another bag of perlite as well as a bag of compost and a half bag of worm castings. I was in a rush so i didnt water the mix. I went in the basement today to finish, and the smell is back. Its not an ammonia smell though, its more of a manure smell, but it stinks. Its not super strong either but you can definitely smell it. I am so confused right now because i didn't even water the mix yet and it smells bad already. Is this normal or did i do something wrong? I really dont want to waste this soil, it was pretty expensive. Any help is appreciated.
Soil help
- Thread starter jgrizzly
- Start date
cannabineer
Ursus marijanus
Time.
The smell will resolve but the key is time.
PadawanWarrior
Well-Known Member
Well the microbes were doing their job, and as they break down some of that stuff, it will smell, that's a good thing. Drying it out didn't help anything, but just only killed some of the microbes. Keep the soil moist but not wet and the smell will go away after the microbes have done their job. Some amendments smell more than others. My guess would be you're smelling the fish bone meal and kelp breaking down. It's all good.
PadawanWarrior
Well-Known Member
It will go away once the microbes have done their job. If you keep them happy, the smell should go away pretty quick, and will get better each day. Some dry amendments smell more than others.
cannabineer
Ursus marijanus
week or two give or take
Cool thanks Padawan! Im gonna do my best to keep the mics happy.
Great thanks. Thats not too bad.
Bignutes
Well-Known Member
As a final step after its cooked buy a ph pen and check your runoff, can't stress this enough. Starting water ph of 7 should end up between 6.1 and 6.3 when you run it thru your soil. Just make sure your water ph that you will normally water with isn't above 7.5.
I did two small test batches, one at ph of 6.65 and one at 6.1, the only difference was I added more peat to lower the ph of the mix to get it to 6.1. The plants in the 6.65 soil had nute lockout, the ones in the 6.1 soil were kicking ass.
I did two small test batches, one at ph of 6.65 and one at 6.1, the only difference was I added more peat to lower the ph of the mix to get it to 6.1. The plants in the 6.65 soil had nute lockout, the ones in the 6.1 soil were kicking ass.
Thanks Bignutes I'll keep that in mind.
Question about water though. I dont have access to RO so ive been using purified water. The problem is the ph is rather low. How can i raise the ph without ph up?
Bignutes
Well-Known Member
The cheapest way that is to take tap water and let it sit out for 24-48 hours and cut your purified water with tap water to the desired ph. Your tap water ph and ppm will most likely be north of 7 and 150 ppm (usually) so this works to your favour. Also the tap water will most likely have calcium and magnesium as the top two elements both of which your plant will appreciate. (usually).
I collect runoff from my roof, it is 25 ppm and ph starts at about 6.3ish. When left to sit it raises it's ph to about 6.8-6.9. If you can collect runoff or snow , lol we have enough of it here, not sure if these are options for you,
Okay I'll try cutting my tap with purified water. I'll try and catch some rain when it rains again, havent had much snow this season.
Well i dont have a ph pen, so I'm using the liquid. My pen broke. But the purified water comes in at around 5ish. And thats before adding anything. Its crazy. Will the dolomite help even when it's that low?
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Snoopy808
Well-Known Member
Wow! Yeah that can be problematic. You've added some great ferts and amendments. The 'poop' smell might be anaerobic decomposition. Maybe look into adding some bokashi preparation.
Are you going to add this activated fertilizer to your soil base? If so maybe more lime to raise pH and more aeration in the soil-large size pumice or perlite. If not wanting to ping pong soil pH from lime and the buffers added to water or nute mix, calcium sulfate (gypsum) or calcium phosphate will give you calcium. And calcium will aid in drainage and aeration in heavy soils.
Are you going to add this activated fertilizer to your soil base? If so maybe more lime to raise pH and more aeration in the soil-large size pumice or perlite. If not wanting to ping pong soil pH from lime and the buffers added to water or nute mix, calcium sulfate (gypsum) or calcium phosphate will give you calcium. And calcium will aid in drainage and aeration in heavy soils.
Yeah i figured it would be. I'll also look into that Bokashi stuff, been hearing about it. I want to transplant into this mix. I have a few plants that are almost two months old. So I'll try and get my hands on those amendments. Thanks Snoop!