85.5 Gallon Organic Soil Build

[m4s73r]

Grease, Actually this whole thing has sorta changed. I spent some time after yours and other comments and have decided on a few changes.
I found a source for compost. $3/cubic foot. And HD carrys Peat at 10/cft. I should be able to get all of my base soil mixed for around $30. They also have a Premium mulch for 3 bucks/ 2 cft. After a little back and forth with Build a soil, im going to pick up their Coots Nutrient/mineral pack with added Biochar.

On your suggestion, im picking up some 15 gallon smartpots. They'll have just over 11gallons of dirt per pot. Should give me some room to grow. I'm also wondering if i can skip the peat and use my local compost sources top soil. I have noticed that coots is soiless based. Would that really matter? Id still mix it in thirds of top soil, compost, perlite.

 

[greasemonkeymann]

Grease, Actually this whole thing has sorta changed. I spent some time after yours and other comments and have decided on a few changes.
I found a source for compost. $3/cubic foot. And HD carrys Peat at 10/cft. I should be able to get all of my base soil mixed for around $30. They also have a Premium mulch for 3 bucks/ 2 cft. After a little back and forth with Build a soil, im going to pick up their Coots Nutrient/mineral pack with added Biochar.

On your suggestion, im picking up some 15 gallon smartpots. They'll have just over 11gallons of dirt per pot. Should give me some room to grow. I'm also wondering if i can skip the peat and use my local compost sources top soil. I have noticed that coots is soiless based. Would that really matter? Id still mix it in thirds of top soil, compost, perlite.

i wouldn't skip the peat, if you can get compost that cheap, i'd stick to the 33% compost/ewc, 33% aeration, and 33% peat.
Maybe skip the mulch, as more often than not it's not fully composted materials, and those can rob your soil pretty quickly.
Use biochar as part of your aeration, for your 33% aeration I like one third bio char, one third pumice, one third volcanic rock.
if you are re-using your soil, use oyster shells (not ground) for your aeration as well, I don't like perlite for aeration, it's ok, but volcanic rock/pumice/biochar works lightyears better.
And whatever you do, I HIGHLY recommend using neem meal, kelp meal, crab meal,mychorrizhae and insect frass or meal, for your soil amendments, the roots on the plants go insane, and I've never seen so much hairy white fuzzy roots on transplant, then when I switched to this recipe.
----edit---- I didn't mean skip ALL mulch, just the bought kind, you can find mulch anywhere, best stuff is shredded old cannabis leaves, redwood moss, spaghnum moss, hell even shredded cardboard like for your wormbin works well

 

[m4s73r]

Here is a list of the minerals/nutrients in the build a soil pack.
1. Crustacean Meal - NPK along with Chitin and Calcium

2. Kelp Meal - Acadian Seaplants Brand

3. Neem Cake - Ahimsa Brand

4. Karanja Cake - Ahimsa Brand

5. Brix Blend Basalt - Rock Dust Local Brand

6. Gypsum Dust - Mined in Colorado - Calcium and Sulfur

7. Glacial Rock Dust - Gaia Green

8. Oyster Shell Flour - Calcium
The pack is enough to do a cubic yard. Ill have enough left over to build another 9 cubic feet. So ill have some left over for teas/wormfood/topdressing.
Part of my reason for using the super course perlite is i already have 3 cubic feet of it. So i will need to get an additional 3 cft. Part of the issue is its winter here. Finding this stuff locally isnt easy. If i can ill try to get 1 cft each of the pumice, lava rock, biochar.

 

[keysareme]

I was thinking about getting some neem meal. May just have to find a place to get it. Amazon has it in only 40lbs bag.
I have searched long and hard for local compost/ewc. Sadly, cant find a good source. So im stuck on ordering it. But its a one time deal as i will be utilizing my own worm farm for teas/topdressing. On amazon EWC is $36 for 30 lbs. Mushroom is $18 for 10lbs. (Charlies Compost)
Im going to assume that Biochar is Charcoal Soil Conditioner?

Thank jorge that 1lb isnt 1 cup. So help me out, how much should i be getting?
85.5 gallons divided by 12 pots is 7.125gallons. I also have around 6 gallons of old soil that i can mix in (old FFOF that was used) bringing me to 7.625 gallons. It sounds like your saying i should be aiming more at 120 gallons in 12 gallon pots. Giving me 10gallons of soil per pot. So i would need an additional 3.8 cft of soil.

I can go up to a 10 gallon fabric pot. Cant find 12 gallon, and 15 is more then i want to do deal with.

For sure add in the BioChar, will help will sequestering mucho carbon. If you are still looking for good EWC, and can drop $80, get those Worm Gold Plus, its about $40 for a 20lb bag shipped. Stuff is real good man, real good.

 

[m4s73r]

Thanks for the suggestion Keysareme. However for the amount of ewc i would need to build my base soil i would need 6 cu. ft. or around 140 lbs.

 

[greasemonkeymann]

t

Here is a list of the minerals/nutrients in the build a soil pack.
1. Crustacean Meal - NPK along with Chitin and Calcium

2. Kelp Meal - Acadian Seaplants Brand

3. Neem Cake - Ahimsa Brand

4. Karanja Cake - Ahimsa Brand

5. Brix Blend Basalt - Rock Dust Local Brand

6. Gypsum Dust - Mined in Colorado - Calcium and Sulfur

7. Glacial Rock Dust - Gaia Green

8. Oyster Shell Flour - Calcium
The pack is enough to do a cubic yard. Ill have enough left over to build another 9 cubic feet. So ill have some left over for teas/wormfood/topdressing.
Part of my reason for using the super course perlite is i already have 3 cubic feet of it. So i will need to get an additional 3 cft. Part of the issue is its winter here. Finding this stuff locally isnt easy. If i can ill try to get 1 cft each of the pumice, lava rock, biochar.

hats a solid blend of minerals, I approve 100%, I like the mixed mineral ingredients, personally i would add greensand, I like that it takes yrs to breakdown, one thing I've noticed though, is packs like those are $$$, try and see if you can find a box of each of each, I know its a bitch, but you won't need more than a box on each ingredient.
Who know though, its easy here in CA, not to rub it in or anything...
I'd go buy two or three bags of cowboy charcoal, or whatever charcoal you can get that is HARDWOOD, make sure it's not briquettes, must be actual chunks of blackened wood, then go get a good hard surface to smash them up, I used an Olympic 45lb weigh plate, and another 15 lber to smash them up, I had a cardboard box that fit the base plate so the charcoal wouldn't go everywhere... it's a bitch, and it takes time... about 2-3 hrs per bag... less if you are caffeinated.
NOTE---- contrary to some information, I do NOT recommend a pillow case and a baseball bat as a means to break up the charcoal.....
Don't ask me how I know....

 

[m4s73r]

t

hats a solid blend of minerals, I approve 100%, I like the mixed mineral ingredients, personally i would add greensand, I like that it takes yrs to breakdown, one thing I've noticed though, is packs like those are $$$, try and see if you can find a box of each of each, I know its a bitch, but you won't need more than a box on each ingredient.
Who know though, its easy here in CA, not to rub it in or anything...
I'd go buy two or three bags of cowboy charcoal, or whatever charcoal you can get that is HARDWOOD, make sure it's not briquettes, must be actual chunks of blackened wood, then go get a good hard surface to smash them up, I used an Olympic 45lb weigh plate, and another 15 lber to smash them up, I had a cardboard box that fit the base plate so the charcoal wouldn't go everywhere... it's a bitch, and it takes time... about 2-3 hrs per bag... less if you are caffeinated.
NOTE---- contrary to some information, I do NOT recommend a pillow case and a baseball bat as a means to break up the charcoal.....
Don't ask me how I know....

You know, i thought so at first as well on the $$$$. but after putting everyting in a amazon cart/driving to my nursery, it came out to be $10 more for the kit. And it had a better variety then what i was going to be able to get locally/amazon. I think a $5 bag of greensand thrown in the mineral portion will be a good idea.

I found Royal Oak All-Natural Hardwood Lump Charcoal at walmart for $7 a 8.8 lbs bag. Do i use that total per mix or do i use it proportional to my aeration?

 

[greasemonkeymann]

You know, i thought so at first as well on the $$$$. but after putting everyting in a amazon cart/driving to my nursery, it came out to be $10 more for the kit. And it had a better variety then what i was going to be able to get locally/amazon. I think a $5 bag of greensand thrown in the mineral portion will be a good idea.

I found Royal Oak All-Natural Hardwood Lump Charcoal at walmart for $7 a 8.8 lbs bag. Do i use that total per mix or do i use it proportional to my aeration?

I hear people saying not to use it for more than 10% of your total mix.
I used one bag for mine, but at the end it looked a lil shy, so I broke down and bought a bag meant for orchids (didn't feel like getting a whole big bag)
I really like it, I have pumice, volcanic rock, oyster shells, biochar, and a lil residual perlite from the original vermifire.
Those make a nice aeration.
Plus it looks cool, with the oyster shells, volcanic rock and the biochar

 

[m4s73r]

Well i need to do a total of 6 cu ft of aeration.

So im thinking im going to do 3 cuft of lava rock, 1 of biochar, and 2 oyster shells. Ill have a variety.
Would the 50 lbs bag of "pelletized oyster shell" be what i am looking for? They have it at Tractor Supply for 10 bucks a bag. Its chicken feed / calcium suplement pretty much.

 

[greasemonkeymann]

Well i need to do a total of 6 cu ft of aeration.

So im thinking im going to do 3 cuft of lava rock, 1 of biochar, and 2 oyster shells. Ill have a variety.
Would the 50 lbs bag of "pelletized oyster shell" be what i am looking for? They have it at Tractor Supply for 10 bucks a bag. Its chicken feed / calcium suplement pretty much.

yeah that would work, but be careful using that much, i'd add pumice and go lighter on the oyster shells, remember they counter your peat's tendency to go acidic, so you don't want to use a lot, especially with crab meal being in the mix also.
I'd go a half cubic foot, and make up the rest with either pumice/bio char or volcanic rock.
I think 2 cubic feet of biochar would be fine for how much soil you are making, just precharge it first
But yeah, the chicken meal is exactly the same stuff I use

 

[m4s73r]

Where would you look for pumice. Ive been to HD, Lowes, local Nursery, Menards, Hydro store, and Earl May. I havent been to the landscaping supply store yet.

 

[earthling420]

What is the recommended fabric pot size for organic plants? Do you have to get at least certain gal? or you can use the soil in anything?
And I used biochar in my mix but didn't know you had to "charge" it. would watering my soil with a tea help the biochar?

 

[greasemonkeymann]

What is the recommended fabric pot size for organic plants? Do you have to get at least certain gal? or you can use the soil in anything?
And I used biochar in my mix but didn't know you had to "charge" it. would watering my soil with a tea help the biochar?

if you haven't planted your plants you'll be ok, just water with an alfalfa tea or something with nitrogen in it.
You could use blood meal, urine, or bat guanos too.
I would stick to alfalfa , or comfrey... I suppose maybe an insect frass tea could work?

 

[greasemonkeymann]

Where would you look for pumice. Ive been to HD, Lowes, local Nursery, Menards, Hydro store, and Earl May. I havent been to the landscaping supply store yet.

Don't sweat it, if you can get volcanic rock, that'll work the same.
Careful with landscaping stuff, sometimes they "coat" their stuff

 

[earthling420]

if you haven't planted your plants you'll be ok, just water with an alfalfa tea or something with nitrogen in it.
You could use blood meal, urine, or bat guanos too.
I would stick to alfalfa , or comfrey... I suppose maybe an insect frass tea could work?

Sweet. ill gets me tea a going. I forgot. why should one avoid blood, bone, and bat guano?