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Rice hulls will supply carbon and silica ... eventually, so they aren't a waste and I add some to my worm bins for that very purpose. If I had to rate the top 3 aeration amendments (perlite, graded pumice and lava rock), lava rock would rate ~#15. It's heavy, dense and hard to break into a...

If those rice hulls are intended for aeration you really need to rethink that. They break down and turn to mush in fairly short order and end up doing the opposite., making the mix way too dense. Use something inert like perlite or graded pumice that will not break down. Your aeration should be...

^^^ THAT ^^^ Once again, ShLUbY saves me a bunch of typing since I would have said nearly the exact same thing. For sure, forget the powders. They usually end up clumping up and becoming useless way before running out and just become a very expensive lesson. What works well for me is the...

Have you considered a 'base mix' from scratch that doesn't use a hodge podge of bagged mixes? Knowing just where you started from goes a long way towards correcting any issues down the line. Guessing where FFOF or 'Just Rite' started from is a bit more problematic. I have a nice solid base mix...

Alfalfa in the US, Lucerne everywhere else, same thing. Azomite comes from one place in the US, so ?????? Wet

I would also see about sourcing some MaxiCrop or Thorvin for immediate usage and mixes while you figure out just what you're going to do with your seaweed. Just like you, I learned the hard/expensive way to carefully read the bag before plonking down the$$ and for sure before you walk out the...

It should be simple enough to google either MaxiCrop or Thorvin for the MDSS (Material Data Safety Sheet). They have to have that info available and both are essentially the same thing, same species, harvested in the same general area, both organic.... Wet

I use dolomite. Not only is it local and cheap ($4.50/40lb bag), I never have cal/mag issues. 1cup/cf Stuff like FFOF or ProMix have enough lime in them to get listed, but not nearly enough to carry you through a grow. Do some at the 1:1 inert to hot mix first and observe. Like 10 or 15...

You're sorta going at this ass backwards. First, just how much mix are we talking about? Forget about the N for the moment, it's about the easiest thing in the world to add and I use bloom meal also for just N situations. What you need is a neutral base like pro mix + more aeration and lime...

Actually, basalt contains slightly more aluminum than Azomite, both are a bit over 11%. aluminum But with aluminum being the 3rd most abundant element in the earth's crust it's pretty much impossible to avoid. To actually get it to release and cause a toxicity would pretty much kill your plant...

Cool! When you get done adding stuff, the amount of perlite should look very much like the pics in OldMedUser's reply #24 earlier in this thread. Good to learn how to eyeball stuff like that and good aeration is essential. "When it looks like there's too much, it's just right" Me Wet

I totally agree. What many don't seem to grasp is that fully completed lump charcoal is pretty much pure, inert, carbon. I've never noticed one iota of difference using lump charcoal from different hardwoods. I've also never charged biochar and never noticed and deficiencys. I was using...

20l of peat sounds good, just remember it won't affect pH right away, more like a couple of weeks AFTER you wet it, so wait to check the pH. You will also need more perlite with the extra peat. I'd steer clear of the coco in the future if you aren't using liquid nutes. Just stick with the peat...

No actual experience doing that, but I DID notice when I bought another mat that they now have narrow ones made to be wrapped around the 1/2gal mason jars for making kombucha and such so you should be Ok with it. It's a guess, but an educated one since I do keep a gallon jug of water on a spare...

Don't worry, if temps are a bit low it can take a week or longer. If it's much under 80* figure on a week at least. Sounds good so far. Wet

It's great in the worm bins, added to mixes, or added to compost piles. Plus, you really can experiment with it. Besides the wheat bran I've also made bokashi bran with alfalfa meal and coffee grounds. Some even use newspaper. Get the smallest bottle of concentrate you can. For 10lbs of wheat...

Yes, you can expand the concentrate a good bit. For example, the 12oz bottle can be expanded to make 2 gallons of expanded EM-1. I've found that bokashi bran works best for me over using just the liquid. Locally a big bag of wheat bran is $16 and lasts for years, There is a bunch of 'how to'...

Kelp is a "must have", plain and simple. The kelp used is harvested in the N Atlantic, mainly around Nova Scotia or Iceland, very cold and not very polluted. I get THORVIN from Iceland and 100% organic. For me it's just easier to source and cheaper than the Canadian, but both are the exact same...

Man, I thought you were talking about biochar/charcoal. Rotted wood chunks is a different story and I use those also. Check out hugelkulture for a search term, especially for gardens. As soon as I read 'roots grow into them' it clicked that you weren't talking about charcoal. From what I've...

Aeration, to be effective, should be about the size of a pea or a bit smaller. Big chunks of anything actually contain less surface area than smaller pieces and just don't work well. You could do a SxS with regular, horticultural grade perlite vs the "chunky" perlite and see this for yourself...