Denver/boulder stores for organic amendments?

Greetings rollitup!

I'm getting closer to starting up an organic grow using living soil specifically cootz recipe. I'm going to start by making my own vermicompost and read that he gives most of the amendments to his worms as well.

I would like to make this as inexpensive as possible while still using quality ingredients so I was wondering if anyone from the boulder had a favorite shop? I'm trying to avoid using online sites as much as possible. The rock dust is what I figure will be the hardest to find but maybe some quarries around here will have it? Unsure if they will sell on such a small scale though..

I hope this is in the right subthread and any help is greatly appreciated.

Arti

Check local nurseries. In Denver, Paulino Gardens usually has a wide variety of soils/amendments in stock. I'm sure there are similar stores in Boulder. Good luck!

Way to Grow has an excellent supply of organic amendments, the best I've come across in local gardening/hydro stores. They have a Boulder location.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have heard of both those places and will probably end up making a trip to paulinos next week(the lady wants more house plants) and then will stop by way to grow to get anything pualino's is missing.

Thanks again
Arti

Artificia1 said:

Thanks for the suggestions. I have heard of both those places and will probably end up making a trip to paulinos next week(the lady wants more house plants) and then will stop by way to grow to get anything pualino's is missing.

Thanks again
Arti

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Paulinos is pretty good. Not really big on the variety of admendments to add. For rock dust check out what they call Breeze. The stuff I've seen there in bags is a mix of powder and small pebbles, a lot like the BuildaSoil Basalt consistency if you've ever ordered from them. I've seen it come in red and gray. I've also seen them selling small bags of leaf mould although I feel like they sometimes try and hide them. I haven't been to Way to Grow yet. Also, O'Tooles Garden Centers have a pretty decent selection.

RandomHero8913 said:

Paulinos is pretty good. Not really big on the variety of admendments to add. For rock dust check out what they call Breeze. The stuff I've seen there in bags is a mix of powder and small pebbles, a lot like the BuildaSoil Basalt consistency if you've ever ordered from them. I've seen it come in red and gray. I've also seen them selling small bags of leaf mould although I feel like they sometimes try and hide them. I haven't been to Way to Grow yet. Also, O'Tooles Garden Centers have a pretty decent selection.

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Right on, I will definitely check out Breeze and the worms will go crazy for some leaf mold from what I've read. Do you just use one form of rock dust? I see cc soil recipe calls for a variety of dust but from what I've gathered its more for harboring bacteria than nutrients.

Arti

Artificia1 said:

Right on, I will definitely check out Breeze and the worms will go crazy for some leaf mold from what I've read. Do you just use one form of rock dust? I see cc soil recipe calls for a variety of dust but from what I've gathered its more for harboring bacteria than nutrients.

Arti

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Sorry for the late response. Currently I am just using one rock dust that I grabbed from Rock Dust Local called Ruby Mountain Rock Dust. They have free shipping and decent prices to get it to you.

RandomHero8913 said:

Sorry for the late response. Currently I am just using one rock dust that I grabbed from Rock Dust Local called Ruby Mountain Rock Dust. They have free shipping and decent prices to get it to you.

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No worries random, life gets busy. I got all the supplies to setup my worm bin just need to get some worms now. Wish I would of done this earlier because its going to be a while before I can harvest the casting and I am really eager to grow lol . Oh well allows me to research more.

Arti

From what I noticed local hydro shops near me were very skimpy on amendments. I had to order a few from amazon

papa canna said:

From what I noticed local hydro shops near me were very skimpy on amendments. I had to order a few from amazon

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Yeah papa I tried to avoid buildasoil as much as possible but ended up grabbing a few things there. I went to a otooles and then way to grow. If anyone stumbles on this thread from a search, way to grow was a bit cheaper but not by much.

I don't want to derail this thread but with my space I'm working with I'm leaning towards a scrog. Would it be fairly easy to accomplish this? Not too many journals on this from what I saw. The plan would be something like start in solo cup, up to 1 gallon, then up to something like a final 10 gallon pot right when I want to place the screen over it. I understand a lot of new growers over water so I'm trying to avoid that.

Arti

Artificia1 said:

Yeah papa I tried to avoid buildasoil as much as possible but ended up grabbing a few things there. I went to a otooles and then way to grow. If anyone stumbles on this thread from a search, way to grow was a bit cheaper but not by much.

I don't want to derail this thread but with my space I'm working with I'm leaning towards a scrog. Would it be fairly easy to accomplish this? Not too many journals on this from what I saw. The plan would be something like start in solo cup, up to 1 gallon, then up to something like a final 10 gallon pot right when I want to place the screen over it. I understand a lot of new growers over water so I'm trying to avoid that.

Arti

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If you can it's always better to let them grow in the final container as soon as possible. I would skip the 1 gallon and as soon as they fill out the solo cup put them in the 10 gallon.

RandomHero8913 said:

If you can it's always better to let them grow in the final container as soon as possible. I would skip the 1 gallon and as soon as they fill out the solo cup put them in the 10 gallon.

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That's what I originally wanted to do but read a lot about root rot especially with first time growers. So after transplanting from the solo cup would I just give it less water than what a mature plant would need? I understand you want to keep the whole pot moist and water it just before it dries out. We live in a pretty dry area though so maybe it won't be much of a problem.

Arti

Yup. If you're worried about overwatering at first you can always add some clovers as a living mulch to help out. They help increase soil structure and also will drink up any extra water.

Another thing you can do is see how much water the plant in the solo cup needs and once you transplant start with a little bit more and water from the plant outwards.

You'll get the hang of it. Just remember underwatering is way better than overwatering. Also, don't try and go by someone else's watering schedule, water when your plants need it.

If you have the desire, Blumats can take care of all your watering needs without the threat of over/underwatering.