Help Tweaking My Soil Mix

Hello organic growers! I've decided it's time to put down the bottles and start mixing up my own super soil of sorts. I'm trying to source as much as possible locally (New England area if possible) and have kept it simple so far. Obviously the coco isn't local but I don't love using peat moss because I'm not sold on it's sustainability. There is some peat in the Coast of Maine products I'm using though.

My current blend is as follows for a 5 gallon mix:
Quoddy Blend Lobster Compost: 50%
Coast of Maine Seed Starter Mix: 20%
Organic Coco Coir: 20%
Biochar: 10%
Few tablespoons of seabird guano

So far it's been great for some indoor autos so I'm going to expand on it for my outdoor grow this season. But I'm really new to this and was wondering what people would suggest adding. Id really like to only add one or two things to the mix for now and see how everything does but I'm really new to super soils so I was hoping to get some opinions from you guys. I'm leaning towards adding some worm castings and alfalfa meal next, maybe some perlite for additional drainage. Thoughts?

First, educate yourself on this whole "sustainabilty" thing about peat moss. In Canada, where they keep a VERY close eye on the peat bogs, they've found the bogs are increasing faster than it is being harvested. Do a search or 2 and be sure to stick a .edu on the end so you get actual university studies, not 'alternative facts' usually put out by the coco industry. They are really doing a number on habitat, clear cutting forests to mono culture for palm oil and such.

Coco is great for hydroponic use with chems, but not so much for organics. Start off right with a peat based mix. It's a steep enough learning curve without doing it twice by trying to make coco work.

Please do your research first.

Wet

Wetdog said:

First, educate yourself on this whole "sustainabilty" thing about peat moss. In Canada, where they keep a VERY close eye on the peat bogs, they've found the bogs are increasing faster than it is being harvested. Do a search or 2 and be sure to stick a .edu on the end so you get actual university studies, not 'alternative facts' usually put out by the coco industry. They are really doing a number on habitat, clear cutting forests to mono culture for palm oil and such.

Coco is great for hydroponic use with chems, but not so much for organics. Start off right with a peat based mix. It's a steep enough learning curve without doing it twice by trying to make coco work.

Please do your research first.

Wet

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So I actually went to school for biology with a focus on wildlife management and sustainability so most of my concerns about peat do come from actual scientific research, though admittedly based on US peat harvesting. And my understanding of how peat moss comes to be makes me skeptical that it's long term sustainable even if at this exact moment the peat bogs are recovering faster then they are harvested. A sudden increase in demand could rapidly change the equation. Not long ago people believed we had unlimited fossil fuels as well. Also, most of the research I've seen supporting peat harvesting are funded by Canadian trade firms that benefit from the industry. If you have any good, peer reviewed papers you could share I would love to see them (and I don't mean that sarcastically at all, I really would). Whenever I look into it on my own it's just an endless cycle of people vehemently arguing either side without a willingness to budge in either direction.

That being said, I do understand that there's plenty of drawbacks to how coco is harvested even from suppliers who claim to do it sustainability, and I'd love to find an alternative to either, but like I said, I'm new to this.

And my point of this post wasn't really to rehash an argument that's been had a hundred times on this forum or anything either. I really just wanted some to take a look at the compost and soils I'm using and give me some tips on amendments they would suggest.

Also I guess I should mention I have a strong personal connection to peat bogs that may affect my ability to view the situation objectively. I spent months out on bogs in Maine and Vermont for bird counts and they are just such a surreal and wonderful place to be. So fragile and yet so vibrant. The idea of losing them hurts my soul.