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 dumbfounded1800
Registered: 04/20/08
Posts: 182
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 Organic Soil Mixes 
#86087 - 07/17/08 10:24 AM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
I'm not taking the credit because this is from ICMAG Organic Soil Mixes For Beginners
Here are some tried and true recipes for getting started in organic growing. Pick one of the first two soiless mix recipes for your grow medium. Then, choose a nute recipe that will work best for what you have available.
Enjoy...
Here are two very good organic soiless mixes...
LC’s Soiless Mix #1:
5 parts Canadian Spaghnam Peat or Coir or Pro-Moss
3 parts perlite
2 parts wormcastings or mushroom compost or home made compost
Powdered dolomite lime @ 2 tablespoons per gallon or 1 cup per cubic foot of the soiless mix.
...Wal-Mart now sells worm castings.
Or, if you use Pro Mix or Sunshine Mix...
LC's Soiless Mix #2:
6 parts Pro Mix BX or HP / Sunshine Mix (any flavor from #1 up)
2 parts perlite
2 parts earthworm castings
Powdered dolomite lime @ 2 tablespoons per gallon or 1 cup per cubic foot of the soiless mix.
If you use a 3 qt. saucepan as “parts” in the amounts given above, it equals about 1 cu. ft. of soiless mix and you can just dump in a cup of powdered dolomite lime.
But, a "part" can be anything from a tablespoon to a five gallon bucket. Just use the same item for all of the "parts".
Now for the plants organic food source
RECIPE #1
If you want to use organic nutes like blood, bone and kelp...
Dry Ferts:
1 tablespoon blood meal per gallon or 1/2 cup per cubic foot of soil mix
2 tablespoons bone meal per gallon or 1 cup per cubic foot of soil mix
1-tablespoon kelp meal per gallon or 1/2 cup per cubic foot of soil mix or Maxicrop 1-0-4 powdered kelp extract as directed
1 tablespoon per gallon or 1/2 cup per cubic foot of Jersey Greensand to supplement the K (potasium) in the Kelp Meal and seaweed extract.
Mix all the dry ferts into the soiless mix well and wet it, but don't soak it with Liquid Karma and water @ 1 tbs./gal. Stir and mix it a few times a week for a week or two so the bacteria can get oxygen and break down the bone meal and make it available. And don't let the mix dry out, keep it moist and add water as needed. It'll also have time to get the humic acids in the Liquid Karma going and the dolomite lime will be better able to adjust the pH of a peat based mixture too.
RECIPE #2
If you want to use guano in your soil mix...
Bongaloid's Guano Mix.
Use all these items combined with one gallon of soil mix.
1/3C hi N Guano (Mexican Bat Guano)
1/2C hi P Guano (Jamaican or Indonesian Bat Guano)
1TBS Jersey Greensand
1TBS Kelp Meal
RECIPE #3 (My favorite)
If you want to use guano tea and kelp...
Guano Tea and Kelp:
Seedlings less than 1 month old nute tea mix-
Mix 1 cup earthworm castings into 5 gallons of water to make the tea.
Add 5 tbs. Black Strap Molasses.
Use it to water your seedlings with every 3rd watering.
Veg mix-
1/3 cup Peruvian Seabird Guano (PSG)
1/3 cup High N Bat Guano (Mexican)
1/3 cup Earth Worm Castings (EWC)
5 tsp. Maxicrop 1-0-4 powdered kelp extract
(That makes the "dry mix". You can make all you want and save it to use later.)
Mix with water @ 1 cup of dry mix into 5 gallons of water to make the tea.
To that 5 gallons of tea add:
5 tbs. Liquid Karma
5 tbs. Black Strap Molasses
Use it to water with every 3rd watering.
Flowering nute tea mix:
2/3 cup Peruvian Seabird Guano
2/3 cup Earth Worm Castings
2/3 cup High P Guano (Indonesian or Jamaican)
(That makes the "dry mix". You can make all you want and save it to use later.)
Mix with water @ 2 cups of dry mix into 5 gallons of water to make the tea.
To that 5 gallons of tea add:
5 tbs. Liquid Karma
5 tbs. Black Strap Molasses
Use it to water with EVERY watering.
You can use queen size knee high nylon stockings for tea bags. 3 pair for a dollar at the dollar store. Tell 'em you use them for paint strainers. Put the recommended tea in the stocking, tie a loop knot in it and hang it in your tea bucket. The tea should look like a mud puddle. Agitate the bag in the water vigorously. An aquarium pump and air stone will dissolve oxygen into the solution and keep the good bacteria (microherd) alive and thriving. Let it bubble a day or two before you use it. If you find you are making too much tea and having to throw it out, use 2 1/2 gallons of water and cut the nute amount by half.
RECIPE #4
Three Little Birds Method
40 gallons used soil
4 cups alfalfa meal
4 cups bone meal
4 cups kelp meal
4 cups powdered dolomite lime
30 pound bag of earthworm castings . . .
That’s the basic recipe . . .
However we also like to use
4 cups of Greensand
4 cups of Rock Phosphate
4 cups of diatomaceous earth
RECIPE #5
Fish and Seaweed (This is sooo easy)
For veg growth…
1 capful 5-1-1 Fish Emulsion
1 capful 0-0-1 Maxicrop liquid
1 gallon H2O
For early flowering…
1 tbs. Neptune’s Harvest 2-3-1 Fish/Seaweed
1 gallon H2O
For mid to late flowering…
1 tbs. Neptune’s Harvest 2-4-1 Fish
1 gallon H2O
And now for some more good tips...
Organic pH issues
I hear a lot of people asking or talking about the pH of their organic soil mix or organic nute solution and how they might correct or adjust it. pH in organics is not an issue like it is in synthetic growing.
The best place to settle the pH issues in organics is within the grow medium. A medium rich in humates (humus) is the place to start. Humates work to "buffer" the pH of organic mediums and the nutes you pour (or mix) into it.
Humates come from compost, worm castings and bottled humus. If you use a peat based medum, use dolomite lime to raise the pH of the acidic peat. Dolomite should be used in any soil or soiless medium to provide magnesium and calcium. But since we are talking about pH here, I'll mention dolomite lime's pH correction benefits.
A medium of coir has a pH near neutral (or 7.0). But humates are still neded to allow uptake of organic nutrients that are outside a near neutral pH range.
With an active medium rich in humates you can pour in nutes like Pure Blend Pro, Earth Juice and guano teas way outside the optimum pH range without worry. The humus will allow the nutes to be taken up through the roots, even at such an extreme pH reading.
So throw those pH meters away folks and enjoy the ease and safety of organic gardening.
Chlorine tap water
Just a word of caution for you organic heads out there...
If you are tapped onto a municipal water supply that uses chlorine to kill bacteria in the water, it'll do the same thing to the bacteria (microherd) in your organic food source.
Always bubble your municipal water in an open container (5 gallon bucket) for 24 hours before adding ANYTHING organic to it.
Flushing
There is absolutely no reason to "flush" organic nute solutions from your soil mix. In an organic grow, the plants don't take up the organic nutes (guano, bone, blood or kelp). The bacteria eat the organic nutes and excrete food that the plant can feed off of. So the organic nutes don't need to be flushed because they never enter the plant. And besides, meals like kelp, bone and blood along with worm castings and dolomite can't be flushed from your soil mix anyway. If you use guano and seaweed, try using plain water or worm casting tea for your last watering or two so the plant can use up what's left in the soil. But drowning your soil with water isn't necessary.
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dumbfounded1800
Registered: 04/20/08
Posts: 182
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I will update more on this but for now, I'm writing down some literature on the German Language.
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captain.koons
Failed Botanist
Registered: 06/25/08
Posts: 6,170
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DJ Short's soil mix
35% spaghnum moss (coarse cut)
35% perlite
15% worm castings
10% bat guano
5% equal mix of trace mineral elements, washed sand, granulated charcoal, volcanic ash
Big Buddha soil mix
35% Coco
35% Perlite
20% soil
10% worm castings
1hand full bat guano
they also use 2inches of clay pebbles for drainage.
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TROLLS NEED LOVE TOO!
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 Chronica
Registered: 04/20/08
Posts: 114
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 14 years, 5 months
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If you made something like
35% spaghnum moss (coarse cut)
35% perlite
15% worm castings
10% bat guano
Does this acts as a normal soil, and mean you dont fertilize it and add just micronutes to the grow?
And why would you use spaghnum instead of peat? Any difference?
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Sirius
Saturn Ascends
Registered: 04/20/08
Posts: 1,540
Loc: The Milky Way
Last seen: 8 years, 10 months
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Re: Organic Soil Mixes [Re: Chronica]
#90418 - 07/22/08 06:37 AM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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Using peat moss is absolutely horrible for the environment.
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Chronica
Registered: 04/20/08
Posts: 114
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 14 years, 5 months
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Re: Organic Soil Mixes [Re: Sirius]
#90420 - 07/22/08 06:59 AM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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Does it make a difference which moss you use? Im able to buy both types, and ive been using peat, wondering whats the difference?
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coda
Registered: 04/20/08
Posts: 4,736
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Re: Organic Soil Mixes [Re: Chronica]
#90423 - 07/22/08 08:12 AM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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it probably has to do more with water retention and consistency, im sure there's not much difference between spaghnum and other types of peat. In fact you could probably substitute coir for the peat in this case.
Quote:
Does this acts as a normal soil, and mean you dont fertilize it and add just micronutes to the grow?
depending on the guano you get you could probably get away without feeding it anything. However, i'd still keep some nutes around just in case.
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MFDoom666: sobriety kills my buzz every time.
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Chronica
Registered: 04/20/08
Posts: 114
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 14 years, 5 months
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Re: Organic Soil Mixes [Re: coda]
#90424 - 07/22/08 08:15 AM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
coda said:
it probably has to do more with water retention and consistency, im sure there's not much difference between spaghnum and other types of peat. In fact you could probably substitute coir for the peat in this case.
Quote:
Does this acts as a normal soil, and mean you dont fertilize it and add just micronutes to the grow?
depending on the guano you get you could probably get away without feeding it anything. However, i'd still keep some nutes around just in case.
For some reason I cannot find coir, but peat moss is everywhere.
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coda
Registered: 04/20/08
Posts: 4,736
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Re: Organic Soil Mixes [Re: Chronica]
#90426 - 07/22/08 08:48 AM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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go to a pet shop like petsmart and go to the reptile section. You'll find bags of the stuff listed as "reptile bedding"
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MFDoom666: sobriety kills my buzz every time.
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Eleutherios
Registered: 07/05/08
Posts: 76
Last seen: 13 years, 10 months
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Re: Organic Soil Mixes [Re: coda]
#90431 - 07/22/08 09:39 AM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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You can get 3 three brick package at Petco rather than Petsmart. I think its a little cheaper that way. I just did a quick search and found a 35lb bag for $20 at a gardening website. Go by well stocked local nurseries and see if they can order some for you. I think this would be cheaper than the pet store route. I know that Petsmart sells small bags of peat as reptile bedding for about $10 which is the same price for a bale at Home Depot. You are paying for packaging. They also sell "pet specific" bottled water for hermit crabs and betas. Its the same stuff that you get for $0.30 if you bring your own jug at the store.
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Harry_Ba11sach
cannoisseur
Registered: 04/20/08
Posts: 11,753
Loc: Nepal 
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Re: Organic Soil Mixes [Re: Sirius]
#90488 - 07/22/08 11:09 AM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Sirius said:
Using peat moss is absolutely horrible for the environment.
How so?
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Eleutherios
Registered: 07/05/08
Posts: 76
Last seen: 13 years, 10 months
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From Wikipedia:
[edit] Conservation
Moss Peat
Large-scale peat harvesting is not sustainable. It takes thousands of years to form the peat "bricks" that are harvested in just a week. In particular, the extraction of large quantities of moss is a threat to raised bogs [1].
Conservation in New Zealand
In New Zealand, care is taken during the harvesting of sphagnum moss (not to be confused with moss peat) to ensure that there is enough moss remaining to allow regrowth. This is commonly done using a 3 year cycle. If a good percentage of moss is not left for regrowth, the time that it takes for the swamp to revert to its original state can be up to a decade or more if serious damage has occurred.
This "farming" as done in New Zealand is based on a sustainable management program approved by New Zealand's Department of Conservation. This plan ensures the regeneration of the moss, while protecting the wildlife and the environment. Most harvesting in New Zealand swamps is done only using pitchforks without the use of heavy machinery. During transportation, helicopters are commonly employed to transfer the newly harvested moss from the swamp to the nearest road. This is an important component of the transportation process, as it prevents damage to other components of the ecosystem during the initial transportation phase. The removal of sphagnum moss in a managed environment does not cause a swamp to dry out. In fact the swamp environment is improved such that the regrown moss is normally better quality than the original moss that was removed.
The greatest threat to the existence of sphagnum moss swamps is the intentional draining for encroaching farmland.
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captain.koons
Failed Botanist
Registered: 06/25/08
Posts: 6,170
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Re: Organic Soil Mixes [Re: Eleutherios]
#90525 - 07/22/08 02:06 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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using peat isn't nearly as bad as people think.
1.) we'll never run out of peat
2.) theres peat conservation projects (ex. you can't harvest all the peat in a area - as mentioned above)
3.) theres national parks with like hundreds of square miles of peat bogs.
4.) spagnum moss isn't peat moss.
5.) your silly if you think using peat is horrible.
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TROLLS NEED LOVE TOO!
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Sirius
Saturn Ascends
Registered: 04/20/08
Posts: 1,540
Loc: The Milky Way
Last seen: 8 years, 10 months
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Quote:
captain.koons said:
1.) we'll never run out of peat
2.) theres peat conservation projects (ex. you can't harvest all the peat in a area - as mentioned above)
3.) theres national parks with like hundreds of square miles of peat bogs.
It isn't a question of "running out of peat", or the fact that there are "conservation" projects. The issue is with damaging the ecosystem that relies on peat moss. Sphagnum (the family of plants that peat moss is made from) might be able to grow back if it isn't completely harvested, but it takes a long time, and, in the meantime, everything else that relies on its natural presence suffers or is destroyed.
Quote:
4.) spagnum moss isn't peat moss.
Yes it is, as far as the topic of the environment is concerned. Sphagnum moss is the plant itself and Spahagnum peat moss is after it has been decomposed.
Quote:
5.) your silly if you think using peat is horrible.
Not at all. It is absolutely senseless to utilize a product that results from destroying a natural environment that took thousands of years to develop its delicate balance by removing its foundation when there are other equal alternatives, especially something like coco, which is an industrial by-product that sits in piles outside the mills.
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captain.koons
Failed Botanist
Registered: 06/25/08
Posts: 6,170
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Re: Organic Soil Mixes [Re: Sirius]
#90935 - 07/23/08 12:13 AM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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no sense arguing
your right it damages eco systems using it
and coco is a biproduct your doing the world a favor by using.
I just don't have the same eco values as you.
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TROLLS NEED LOVE TOO!
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coda
Registered: 04/20/08
Posts: 4,736
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Quote:
your right it damages eco systems using it
personally, i disagree with this statement. More along the lines that, when done right, the environment is not impacted by a sphagnum harvest. It takes only three years to regrow a sphagnum harvest done right, this is considerably shorter then the decades it would take if it was harvested improperly.
Yes, i can agree that there is potential for a negative impact. But, with the way things are done in a conservatory sense, that chance is pretty small.
potatoe patatoe, it doesn't matter too much in the end. Personally i would use coir because it's easier to work with.
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MFDoom666: sobriety kills my buzz every time.
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captain.koons
Failed Botanist
Registered: 06/25/08
Posts: 6,170
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Re: Organic Soil Mixes [Re: coda]
#91280 - 07/23/08 05:36 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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coir is also a biproduct so it's use is beneficial and I'd prefer using it over peat but that's just me.
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TROLLS NEED LOVE TOO!
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captain.koons
Failed Botanist
Registered: 06/25/08
Posts: 6,170
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Re: Organic Soil Mixes [Re: Chronica]
#91285 - 07/23/08 05:40 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Chronica said:
If you made something like
35% spaghnum moss (coarse cut)
35% perlite
15% worm castings
10% bat guano
Does this acts as a normal soil, and mean you dont fertilize it and add just micronutes to the grow?
And why would you use spaghnum instead of peat? Any difference?
with that kind of mix you probably wouldn't feed till a few weeks into flowering.
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TROLLS NEED LOVE TOO!
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Chronica
Registered: 04/20/08
Posts: 114
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 14 years, 5 months
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How should I go about adding guano to a plant thats already potted and flowering?
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coda
Registered: 04/20/08
Posts: 4,736
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Re: Organic Soil Mixes [Re: Chronica]
#91614 - 07/23/08 10:29 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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make a tea with it. Soak the guano pellets in warm water for at least 24 hrs. 1-2 tbsp per gal of water.
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MFDoom666: sobriety kills my buzz every time.
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