Fu#k Hydro

MistaRasta

MistaRasta

Well-Known Member
JayY2015 said:
Would Bricks of canna coco work as the peat I have a bunch left over?
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CannaOG said:
Yes you could sub coco for peat
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You can yes, but peat and coco are two entirely different mediums. I stated to use peat for a few reasons, the main one being CEC.

In organics we rely heavily on CEC as it our source of mineral composition (calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc etc..)

Peat's CEC is high and Coco's CEC is very low, you'll be supplementing minerals very often along with gypsum because coco doesn't hold sulfur either..

Not only that but given enough time the amount of K in coco will always eventually lock out the calcium as it breaks down.. No Bueno

@greasemonkeymann can attest to this,even mixing coco with peat is a bad idea..
 
JayY2015

JayY2015

Well-Known Member
MistaRasta said:
You can yes, but peat and coco are two entirely different mediums. I stated to use peat for a few reasons, the main one being CEC.

In organics we rely heavily on CEC as it our source of mineral composition (calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc etc..)

Peat's CEC is high and Coco's CEC is very low, you'll be supplementing minerals very often along with gypsum because coco doesn't hold sulfur either..

Not only that but given enough time the amount of K in coco will always eventually lock out the calcium as it breaks down.. No Bueno

@greasemonkeymann can attest to this,even mixing coco with peat is a bad idea..
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Peat it is lol
 
JayY2015

JayY2015

Well-Known Member
MistaRasta said:
No



1/3 Peat
1/3 Worm Castings/Compost
1/3 aeration

^^This is your base mix

To each 1 cu ft of base mix add:

1/2 cup kelp meal
1/2 cup neem meal
1/2 cup crusteacean meal

1/2 cup gypsum
1/2 cup oyster shell flour

2-4 cups of Rock dusts (basalt,glacial,granite)

Mix up and plant in directly if you'd like. No cooking.. Or you can let it cook to let the smells go away if you'd like.. Either way is fine.
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do you use anything for ph ?
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
MistaRasta said:
You can yes, but peat and coco are two entirely different mediums. I stated to use peat for a few reasons, the main one being CEC.

In organics we rely heavily on CEC as it our source of mineral composition (calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc etc..)

Peat's CEC is high and Coco's CEC is very low, you'll be supplementing minerals very often along with gypsum because coco doesn't hold sulfur either..

Not only that but given enough time the amount of K in coco will always eventually lock out the calcium as it breaks down.. No Bueno

@greasemonkeymann can attest to this,even mixing coco with peat is a bad idea..
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hmm, well, my experience was solely from blackstrap molasses locking it out, i'm not sure that coco would degrade enough potassium to do that, but I've never done that before, when the molasses locked out my calcium it was in a peat mix, not coco, I never had too many complaints regarding coco with the exception that it seemed to lessen my yields about 10-15%.
I don't have any concerns with mixing coco and peat, I just don't have any experience with using coco as the majority of the mix.
that being said I know of a lot of growers that love coco, I just don't prefer it personally.
but you are SPOT on in regards to the CEC, although I don't remember coco as being really low, moreso just in comparison to the peat, but that's all symantics
 
MistaRasta

MistaRasta

Well-Known Member
greasemonkeymann said:
hmm, well, my experience was solely from blackstrap molasses locking it out, i'm not sure that coco would degrade enough potassium to do that, but I've never done that before, when the molasses locked out my calcium it was in a peat mix, not coco, I never had too many complaints regarding coco with the exception that it seemed to lessen my yields about 10-15%.
I don't have any concerns with mixing coco and peat, I just don't have any experience with using coco as the majority of the mix.
that being said I know of a lot of growers that love coco, I just don't prefer it personally.
but you are SPOT on in regards to the CEC, although I don't remember coco as being really low, moreso just in comparison to the peat, but that's all symantics
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You're right about the CEC. Not as low as I initially thought, but peat does a lot better.

The problem with coco and the organic gardener lies within its abilities to hold sulfur and phosphorus. Which is probably why your yields diminished 10-15% which in my world is a lot, considering how much I rely on my harvest.

Another being K.. This is why we have to buffer coco, the coco itself is very high in potassium. Which is why it takes up so much calcium, to balance the CEC, though it quickly falls back out of balance.

Makes sense being that it comes from a coconut. Coconut water has more potassium than the average sports drink.
 
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Rasta Roy

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
MjAeJdIiK said:
I got a big bail of Canadian peat, 3 bags of cow manure, big bag of perlite, small bag vermiculite, some roots organic bat guano, and 5 big bags of (I forget the name) organic potting soil with worm castings.

I mixed it all up in a baby pool and got it moist with water from my koi pond(figured that would help add microbes and other good stuff to get it going).

Let it sit for 5 weeks.

Then I got all the soil in six 10 gallon grow bags and watered it with a mix of roots organics buddah grow, trinity, and catalyst, also added kelp meal and blackstrap mollases. That's been cooking for about a week.

Gonna transplant my girls at the end of the week into the 10 grow bags/soil mix. I didn't measure anything, did it all by eye and my mix is nice and spongy and drains good but holds water good too. I'm still a newb at making my own organic soils but I'm confident my mix will be good.
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As a dude that has done a lot of work with bat guano I hope you don't mind some advice. I'd leave it out of your soil mixes. It's super water soluble and you're flushing a lot of it down the drain when you put it in your soil mixes. It works best when applied as a top dressing or as a Guano tea. In all my side by sides. Seabird guanos are even better though...and they don't leech as heavily (so they fertilize your plants for longer and have more trace minerals than Bat) and come packed with their own humates.
 
thumper60

thumper60

Well-Known Member
MjAeJdIiK said:
I got a big bail of Canadian peat, 3 bags of cow manure, big bag of perlite, small bag vermiculite, some roots organic bat guano, and 5 big bags of (I forget the name) organic potting soil with worm castings.

I mixed it all up in a baby pool and got it moist with water from my koi pond(figured that would help add microbes and other good stuff to get it going).

Let it sit for 5 weeks.

Then I got all the soil in six 10 gallon grow bags and watered it with a mix of roots organics buddah grow, trinity, and catalyst, also added kelp meal and blackstrap mollases. That's been cooking for about a week.

Gonna transplant my girls at the end of the week into the 10 grow bags/soil mix. I didn't measure anything, did it all by eye and my mix is nice and spongy and drains good but holds water good too. I'm still a newb at making my own organic soils but I'm confident my mix will be good.
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don't forget ya lime that peat going to need it:bigjoint:
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
thumper60 said:
don't forget ya lime that peat going to need it:bigjoint:
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you could sure, but I personally like to use crab meal, oyster flour and shells, and biochar instead.
d-lime does have it's place but in a re-useable soil I like those options bit better, plus the plant itself will "adjust" the PH as it grows, a fascinating concept to be honest with you.
and you guys are spot on with the guano advice, personally I don't use it much anymore for my cannabis, I DO use it for my jasmine and lavender though, a topdress of that and my compost and they BUST with flowers, and reaaaally nice smelling too, but the jasmine is in a container, and has been for ten plus yrs, so those types feedings are crucial for those types of scenarios, but with cannabis we have the luxury of it never being in a container for too long before harvesting, and sure many like a no-till setup, which I admit does work well, but only to a degree, after three runs it's pretty much spent, at least the ways I grow, so every yr it does have to be boosted back up with amended-compost/ewc.
guanos are VERY good for orchids, if you guys ever grow any those are tough as shit to keep blooming each yr, they don't have soil, and they are picky as hell
 
JayY2015

JayY2015

Well-Known Member
Just Mixed my first batch up using

5 gallon bucket Premier sphagnum peat moss
5 gallon bucket Worm Castings
5 gallon bucket perlite
1 cup kelp meal
1 cup neem meal
1 cup crusteacean meal

1 cup gypsum
1 cup oyster shell flour

6 cups of Rock dusts (basalt,glacial,granite)


what is the Biochar is it needed or just an extra?
 
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Rasta Roy

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
JayY2015 said:
Just Mixed my first batch up using

5 gallon bucket Premier sphagnum peat moss
5 gallon bucket Worm Castings
5 gallon bucket perlite
1 cup kelp meal
1 cup neem meal
1 cup crusteacean meal

1 cup gypsum
1 cup oyster shell flour

6 cups of Rock dusts (basalt,glacial,granite)


what is the Biochar is it needed or just an extra?
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I'm not the expert resident on biochar unfortunately... So I'll leave that to someone else... But I would say it looks like you've got a pretty well rounded good to go soil. It would be a good idea to top dress with some more worm castings and kelp every few weeks.
 
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