Cooks Organic Soil - Slightly Altered - Need Feedback

H

Hazephase

Active Member
*Title should be Coots not Cookes*

Hello,
This is my second batch of soil and i have a bit less of a few items but some other items to add and I was wondering if I could get away with the following:

20 gallons perlite
20 gallons peat moss
10 gallons EWC
10 gallons Mushroom Compost

4 cups of each:
- neem
- kelp, crab and alfalfa meal

6 cups of Dolomite Lime
21 cups Rock Dust Mix:
(Rock Blend Basalt, Carbonatite, Oyster, Soft Rock & Woolastonite)

*** I should have 32 cups of rock dust but only have 21 cups... however Cooks doesn't call for dolomite lime due to oyster shell which i have in my Rock dust ... also i am adding in 6 cups of dolomite lime so I was wondering if this blend would be okay?

Thx Everyone
 
Last edited:
ShLUbY

ShLUbY

Well-Known Member
Hazephase said:
Hello,
This is my second batch of soil and i have a bit less of a few items but some other items to add and I was wondering if I could get away with the following:

20 gallons perlite
20 gallons peat moss
10 gallons EWC
10 gallons Mushroom Compost

4 cups of each:
- neem
- kelp, crab and alfalfa meal

6 cups of Dolomite Lime
21 cups Rock Dust Mix:
(Rock Blend Basalt, Carbonatite, Oyster, Soft Rock & Woolastonite)

*** I should have 32 cups of rock dust but only have 21 cups... however Cooks doesn't call for dolomite lime due to oyster shell which i have in my Rock dust ... also i am adding in 6 cups of dolomite lime so I was wondering if this blend would be okay?

Thx Everyone
Click to expand...
I would split the dolomite and oyster shell half and half. 3 cups of each should be fine. This will give you some slow release magnesium and still keep
The calcium content high.

Other than that.... i would add greensand for a potassium source as the ingredients you listed are
Lacking that.

Good luck!
 
H

Hazephase

Active Member
ShLUbY said:
I would split the dolomite and oyster shell half and half. 3 cups of each should be fine. This will give you some slow release magnesium and still keep
The calcium content high.

Other than that.... i would add greensand for a potassium source as the ingredients you listed are
Lacking that.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
How much greensand do you add per cu.ft?
Also i cant really asses the mix as i don't know how much oyster is in the rock dust mix as I bought a blend.
 
ShLUbY

ShLUbY

Well-Known Member
Hazephase said:
How much greensand do you add per cu.ft?
Also i cant really asses the mix as i don't know how much oyster is in the rock dust mix as I bought a blend.
Click to expand...
1/2cup - 1 cup of greensand per cu ft. you could use the dolomite at 1/4 cup per cu.ft. and that should be fine. it's a decent long term magnesium source.
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Ok so the rockdust mix is a blend? It's probably fine; minerals take a super long time to break down. Green sand like a lot of amendments takes frikkin forever to show its benefits. Does seem like a lot of lime though. I put about half that amount to a 60gal tote when I recycle the soil but I also add in other stuff like gypsum. Never heard of wool-ass-tonite either but it sounds fun
 
ShLUbY

ShLUbY

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
Ok so the rockdust mix is a blend? It's probably fine; minerals take a super long time to break down. Green sand like a lot of amendments takes frikkin forever to show its benefits. Does seem like a lot of lime though. I put about half that amount to a 60gal tote when I recycle the soil but I also add in other stuff like gypsum. Never heard of wool-ass-tonite either but it sounds fun
Click to expand...

but you gotta remember... greensand is 7% K by weight.... and there's a lot of weight in that 1/2 cup compared to 1% by weight in say 1/2 cup Kelp Meal. so even though it's slow release... it's probably releasing more than the kelp is, and sticks around longer! bonus in my book ;)
 
W

Wetdog

Well-Known Member
ShLUbY said:
but you gotta remember... greensand is 7% K by weight.... and there's a lot of weight in that 1/2 cup compared to 1% by weight in say 1/2 cup Kelp Meal. so even though it's slow release... it's probably releasing more than the kelp is, and sticks around longer! bonus in my book ;)
Click to expand...
Sorta, kinda. I've never used greensand as a sole K source, it's just too damned slow. However it does compliment and work beautifully with kelp meal and I've always used both together, getting both the relative fast and slow release.

If there is only one though, kelp meal is that one. It is a must have, must have.

Really don't understand all the hand wringing over the lime. It's really hard to over apply and even if the OP did the 6 cups he mentioned, it wouldn't be excessive IMO. Reamends are something else, but in a fresh mix I frequently go beyond the 1cup/cf. The peat and all those organic amendments are breaking down with a resultant pH drop in those first 6 months or so. Once everything reaches a 'balance' of sorts things get much more stable. Big difference in the buffering needs of a fresh mix vs say a 2YO mature soil.

Just stuff I've noticed over the years.

Wet
 
ShLUbY

ShLUbY

Well-Known Member
Wetdog said:
Sorta, kinda. I've never used greensand as a sole K source, it's just too damned slow. However it does compliment and work beautifully with kelp meal and I've always used both together, getting both the relative fast and slow release.

If there is only one though, kelp meal is that one. It is a must have, must have.

Really don't understand all the hand wringing over the lime. It's really hard to over apply and even if the OP did the 6 cups he mentioned, it wouldn't be excessive IMO. Reamends are something else, but in a fresh mix I frequently go beyond the 1cup/cf. The peat and all those organic amendments are breaking down with a resultant pH drop in those first 6 months or so. Once everything reaches a 'balance' of sorts things get much more stable. Big difference in the buffering needs of a fresh mix vs say a 2YO mature soil.

Just stuff I've noticed over the years.

Wet
Click to expand...

i don't use is as a "sole" source either... but in my recipe it's a must have. the kelp just needs to be applied more frequently during flower because it breaks down so fast! so the greensand kinda gives a little easy from that. and kelp can be used for the majority of its other benefits rather than the K. :)
 
Yodaweed

Yodaweed

Well-Known Member
I'd stay away from mushroom compost , in my experience with it, it is a sub par product that's used as a cheap outdoor garden amendment.
 
W

Wetdog

Well-Known Member
ShLUbY said:
i don't use is as a "sole" source either... but in my recipe it's a must have. the kelp just needs to be applied more frequently during flower because it breaks down so fast! so the greensand kinda gives a little easy from that. and kelp can be used for the majority of its other benefits rather than the K. :)
Click to expand...
We are in total agreement on that score!


Yodaweed said:
I'd stay away from mushroom compost , in my experience with it, it is a sub par product that's used as a cheap outdoor garden amendment.
Click to expand...
Been my experience as well. Bought 2 bags about 5 years ago. After using part of the first bag, the second bag is still unopened. The rest of the first bag got tossed. It really is sub par.

Wet
 
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