Need a lil help
- Thread starter maxamus1
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Miyagismokes
Well-Known Member
Kelp and Epsom salt, but wait for a second opinion, I'm not good at judging test results.
Growitpondifarm
Well-Known Member
We discussed the ironite, Recomended via Wet, and it appeared to work wonders for my garden.
I also bought a bottle of biomin 153 off the kis site. It appears to be a nice option for boosting micros without negatively effecting your soil biology. I applied a light dose of 1/2 tbsp in a couple gallons of water to days ago. Plants are still happy as can be. This stuff is designed for the ag community and didn’t have any container application rates so I just went with a super lite dosage out of caution. Might want to check it out. Has a small amount of N in it too, 1-0-0
maxamus1
Well-Known Member
Yeah but my iron is decent. I did get an email from them after my call they had some suggestions on the kis site for me that would help all the way around. He also sent some other links to further help me out. Also just to update i added blood meal to my mix for the N so it could start breaking down for my next grow. And will be checking the web site for their recommendations which was the same as yours the biomin so might have to find the $$ to get it.
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MustangStudFarm
Well-Known Member
Mn sulfate, Zn sulfate, and Borax... It was hard to read the #'s but your Ph looked high enough that it might not be affected by the sulfates. If you have an excess of Ca, then the sulfates shouldn't matter anyways. I think that it will just turn into gypsum.
Remember, if you cut your soil again. You are also dropping the micros. I'm in the same boat that you are with the micros/trace elements. Let me drop another big hint, keep a very close eye on your P inputs and do not use P for re-amending soil! P is responsible for locking up Fe & micros. I stay far away from bone meals, fish meal, and rock phosphates. Look at my soil test, I only used fish meal in that batch. I am going to switch to crab/crustacean meal for my only P source, it has chitin.
Work on using less nutrients and more rock dusts. Per cu.ft of soil, I use 1c nutients and 2c rock dusts. I think that my soil needs more time to break down the rock dusts, so I am using Mn, Zn, and Cu sulfate. I am about to send in another soil test, so this test is before I treated it with the sulfates.
I took a picture of my computer screen and made sure to leave my name out of frame. It's really hard to read your #'s.
maxamus1
Well-Known Member
Sory i havent posted back here but yeah after i talked to them i figured i would leave my soil as is with out cutting it. I still need to add my micros as i have added bloodmeal for my low N.
i checked out the micro blend they recommended but dont have the $50 to drop on it right now. So i checked build a soil to see if i could get 1 or 2 but would be just as expensive so hopefully by the next round i can get something and get my soil up to par.
When i talked to them he sent me a link about about rock dust if its good ill put the link up here so everyone can see it may do it anyways not sure yet.
Growitpondifarm
Well-Known Member
Stang
I agree on the rock dusts taking time. I gave some of my soil to a friend for a few of his plants recently. It had been cooking for almost three months now and he is seeing no defiencies like I was. I think that’s where a lot of us are having problems is making a batch of soil and planting in it 2 or 3 weeks later. Stang, you concerned at all about having those sulfates negatively effect your soil biology ? I’m asking because I had to use some as well for this current run but wasn’t sure on their effect. Still seeing plenty of worms eating my top dressing and nice white fuzz growing on my mulch.
Maxam, your results are very similar to mine. I agree with stang concerning the high level of P having a bad effect on mineral uptake. I haven’t added a drop of P to my soil since I planted my current run in them two months ago and I feel like they are just not getting ove th hump. Keep feeding them micros and give it some time, they’ll come around
I agree on the rock dusts taking time. I gave some of my soil to a friend for a few of his plants recently. It had been cooking for almost three months now and he is seeing no defiencies like I was. I think that’s where a lot of us are having problems is making a batch of soil and planting in it 2 or 3 weeks later. Stang, you concerned at all about having those sulfates negatively effect your soil biology ? I’m asking because I had to use some as well for this current run but wasn’t sure on their effect. Still seeing plenty of worms eating my top dressing and nice white fuzz growing on my mulch.
Maxam, your results are very similar to mine. I agree with stang concerning the high level of P having a bad effect on mineral uptake. I haven’t added a drop of P to my soil since I planted my current run in them two months ago and I feel like they are just not getting ove th hump. Keep feeding them micros and give it some time, they’ll come around
MustangStudFarm
Well-Known Member
I see that you are not too high in calcium. I had to add oyster shell flour with my Mn, Zn, and Cu sulfates. It dropped the Ph to 5.5. I am high in sodium and sulfur, so I am currently rinsing the soil with a garden hose.
I got a Kelway Ph meter and it seems to be very accurate. I made the mistake of buying a Chinese made Ph meter and there was no comparison, the Kelway has almost zero "needle bounce" and it takes 1 minute instead of 5-30 minutes. Amazon let me return the crappy meter. I am never going to send in another soil sample with a Ph of 5.8! I didn't have it for the last test.
It looks like your Ph is OK even with a normal amount of Ca, your K and/or Mg must be sky high.
Keep in mind that this is a Mehlich 3/Saturated paste test, so it will not show high P locking out micros!!! This is why I HATE the Mehlich 3/Saturated paste test, you really have no fucking clue what is going on. Anyways, the P is almost 10x too high! This is Build-a-soil's "Modern mix V2 with Oly mnt fish compost". 400gallons of it!!!
I got a Kelway Ph meter and it seems to be very accurate. I made the mistake of buying a Chinese made Ph meter and there was no comparison, the Kelway has almost zero "needle bounce" and it takes 1 minute instead of 5-30 minutes. Amazon let me return the crappy meter. I am never going to send in another soil sample with a Ph of 5.8! I didn't have it for the last test.
It looks like your Ph is OK even with a normal amount of Ca, your K and/or Mg must be sky high.
I've dealt with Build-a-soil and I really wasn't impressed! I spent $1K on 400gal of soil thinking that I was going to be able to use it straight out of the package. It wasn't any better than my compost that had extreme excess of phosphorus. They are just rip-off artists that repackage supplies... I was horribly disappointed in the soil that I bought from them!
Keep in mind that this is a Mehlich 3/Saturated paste test, so it will not show high P locking out micros!!! This is why I HATE the Mehlich 3/Saturated paste test, you really have no fucking clue what is going on. Anyways, the P is almost 10x too high! This is Build-a-soil's "Modern mix V2 with Oly mnt fish compost". 400gallons of it!!!
MustangStudFarm
Well-Known Member
I think that it could have an indirect affect like Ph dropping below 6, that is when stuff starts dying. That is also another problem that I had for a while, my Ph was always around 5.8! Otherwise, the Zn and Mn sulfate are mined straight from the ground, I don't think that they are chemicals that are man-made. I could be wrong though? You could go to the grocery store and buy a box of borax for the boron, that is natural stuff too.
MustangStudFarm
Well-Known Member
Look at how much Aluminum was in that Build a soil!!!
TheBeardedBudzman
Well-Known Member
Peace-
See I’m wondering for my own here- I am at the beginning of building my own soil. I’m under the impression that after my compost(s) finish cooking, and I make my base mix (compost WC coco perlite), i then have to add all my amendments and let that bitch cook together, let the ph balance out. I have been under the impression that if I mix in those amendments into my base that my plants will get beat the hell up by all the amendments that haven’t, well... cooked?
Idk man what am I missing here. I want to skip as much “waiting” as possible. What dummy-newb shit am I missing.
Miyagismokes
Well-Known Member
I haven't tried this "soil cooking" (at least not intentionally, so I can't much compare hot-mix to it, but hot-mix works.
My method is thusly-- I use last year's soil and per 200g of dirt, I add a full 2cf bag of steer manure, half a 1cf bag of poultry manure and mix thoroughly. Then I top dress with a two cups or so of seabird guano (pelletized), anywhere from two to four cups of Dr. Earth 5-5-5 general fertilizer, and two cups of oyster shell or dolomitic lime.
Water in to set, plant in it at your leisure.
I find my mix runs out of steam about transition time, though.
In a word, what you're missing is "Patience".
Organics in general and microbes in particular work at their own rate and time. You can nudge them a little, but generally you have to adjust to their schedule since they really aren't going to adjust to yours and their's is really on the slow side.
LOL After 30+ years of using chemical nutes and seeing effects in a day or so, the lag time in organics took a lot of getting used to. Now, I consider 2 weeks to be really 'fast'.
Something you ought to look into though is the leaching of sodium(?) and K from coir in a LOS environment. Does fine with liquid nutes, but problems seem to happen when microbes get involved. No personal experience, just something I've noticed mentioned over time.
Wet
TheBeardedBudzman
Well-Known Member
Well, I really don’t care much between using coir or peat. Both are cheap and easy for me to obtain here. And I had that feeling about coir actually. It’s such a hardy natural material that takes forever and ever to break down, makes me wonder how well it gets along with other decomposed organic materials in a living soil. But it’s all the hype, so whatever. Peats cool with me.
It’s not that I mind waiting, I just don’t want to wait LONGER than I have to. I understand doing things organically takes time in general and I’m cool with that, but I don’t want to set myself up for using twice the time necessary just cuz I don’t know any better, ya feel me? Everything I’m doing takes time I just don’t wanna be a dumbass and do it wrong. LOL
What I really worry about is having my pots full of what I think is a balanced, cool mix of earthly growing medium and amendments, but really the center is like a damn steamy oven, imbalanced and not fully decomposed, nutrients not available to my plants but rather harmful or burning or whatever....
I’m worried because of the time and money and effort I’ve put in already lol but I’m sure it’ll all work out great. Good mentors here.
TheBeardedBudzman
Well-Known Member
Man I’d be too nervous about adding all those composted manures together and the amendments and throwing it right in. I’d worry about high nitrogen and just overall imbalances idk, I’m new tho.
DonTesla
Well-Known Member
heres a no cook recipe from my friend rasta roy..
and no need to worry about salts on Coir thats been rinsed for 2 years..
@TheBeardedBudzman Don't stress brotha.. u got this..
TheBeardedBudzman
Well-Known Member
I’ve got this recipe written down! I listen to Roy! Lol
What if my worms are getting Oyster shell, fresh seaweed, alfalfa and crab meal? Still add em to mix?
TheBeardedBudzman
Well-Known Member
Some people say 50% compost. Some people say 80% peat and aeration with 20% WC. Lmao I guess I gotta just pick a route and fuckin try it, and change it up after I screw something up.