how can i stretch one bag of soil?

SnakierGrizzly

SnakierGrizzly

Well-Known Member
i need something to mix with regular potting soil...sand, clay etc.
anythings fine as long as it doesn't hurt my ladies
trying to save a little $
 
Rasta Roy

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
SnakierGrizzly said:
i need something to mix with regular potting soil...sand, clay etc.
anythings fine as long as it doesn't hurt my ladies
trying to save a little $
Click to expand...
Sand would be the cheapest things to stretch it out. Just make sure it's course sand (commonly known as builders sand). Next in line would be compost by the cubic yard from a landscape supplier. Rice Hulls are cheaper than perlite but more expensive than sand. But they add silica as they break down.
 
vostok

vostok

Well-Known Member
SnakierGrizzly said:
i need something to mix with regular potting soil...sand, clay etc.
anythings fine as long as it doesn't hurt my ladies
trying to save a little $
Click to expand...
CAUTION: its here when later you relised you cut yourself off at the knees

if you can't reuse old soils use perlite

even clean river sand ..will do even up to 50%

foilar spray 2x per week as a backup

good luck
 
DonTesla

DonTesla

Well-Known Member
get a 30L $3 bag of peat-free high humus dirt (no liming or sweetening needed)

If you need more drainage, add one or more, and make a mix that makes up to 30-50% air.

Free options may include: local Rotting wood, leaf mould, buckwheat hulls, rice hulls, non river sand, crushed burgandy or black lava rock, and for sure, any biomass converted to biochar, def run that to 10% vol, just convert some sticks to biochar, I can help you set up a burning can
 
SnakierGrizzly

SnakierGrizzly

Well-Known Member
Rasta Roy said:
Sand would be the cheapest things to stretch it out. Just make sure it's course sand (commonly known as builders sand). Next in line would be compost by the cubic yard from a landscape supplier. Rice Hulls are cheaper than perlite but more expensive than sand. But they add silica as they break down.
Click to expand...
much apprec.
Rasta Roy said:
Sand would be the cheapest things to stretch it out. Just make sure it's course sand (commonly known as builders sand). Next in line would be compost by the cubic yard from a landscape supplier. Rice Hulls are cheaper than perlite but more expensive than sand. But they add silica as they break down.
Click to expand...
never heard of perlite about to google....
thanks 4 info
 
Rasta Roy

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
SnakierGrizzly said:
much apprec.

never heard of perlite about to google....
thanks 4 info
Click to expand...
Perlite is that white shit you see in most potting soils. Great for drainage, doesn't really break down much, great for aeration. But it is costly in comparison to sand. A 4 cuft bag is 20-45 bucks depending on if you buy it at a nursery or a grow store (grow stores always charge more)

It is also super light, where sand is very heavy. So if you're not an able bodied person, the perlite is worth the money.
 
SnakierGrizzly

SnakierGrizzly

Well-Known Member
Rasta Roy said:
Perlite is that white shit you see in most potting soils. Great for drainage, doesn't really break down much, great for aeration. But it is costly in comparison to sand. A 4 cuft bag is 20-45 bucks depending on if you buy it at a nursery or a grow store (grow stores always charge more)

It is also super light, where sand is very heavy. So if you're not an able bodied person, the perlite is worth the money.
Click to expand...
you know of anywhere i can find it ?i live close to a river - and a pond
DonTesla said:
get a 30L $3 bag of peat-free high humus dirt (no liming or sweetening needed)

If you need more drainage, add one or more, and make a mix that makes up to 30-50% air.

Free options may include: local Rotting wood, leaf mould, buckwheat hulls, rice hulls, non river sand, crushed burgandy or black lava rock, and for sure, any biomass converted to biochar, def run that to 10% vol, just convert some sticks to biochar, I can help you set up a burning can
Click to expand...
good info..
tell me more about the biochar
i could use some help or type of method for making my own soil with easy to obtain materials
i would google it but you seem to know more about it than any thread ive found on google
 
SnakierGrizzly

SnakierGrizzly

Well-Known Member
just started making my own soil .. so far ive added (1) reg. bag of store bought potting soil---1/3 content horse shit--- couple bucketss top soil from nearby pond( it had a lot of dead-shreded up leaves on top ...the doesnt clamp up too much when squeezed has a dark color) heard chicken shit was good to add...not sure
 
DonTesla

DonTesla

Well-Known Member
SnakierGrizzly said:
would that mixture be safe for seedlings?
Click to expand...
I would: Try one seedling, see how often it needs watering. Add more aeration if need be. Generally I like to go to 40-50% aeration, but I use fresh high quality worm castings high in fulvic and humic acids and enjoy refining my compost finer, so I can push it a bit more.

Here's a good workshop from our buddy Bob out East. Great way to turn debris from nature into energy heat and soil amendment. Note that one gram of biochar has a full THOUSAND square feet of surface area. It can also last for thousands of years, and is a great microbe carrier. This system is a light it and leave it design although I insist if doing this you try it a couple times before leaving it alone. Normally you can light it, and return the next day to a fresh batch, but you could get 2 loads a day if quenching it properly. Piles can be dangerous so always wet it down and spread it to avoid any safety issues.

You can also burn in a trench in the ground, if you don't have barrels, after a rainfall for example, the key is to limit the oxygen, light from the top, cook the wood inside by burning wood on the outside, so it pushes the water out, drives off gases and burns the middle without oxygen.

When done properly, there is no smoke. Clean burn is the goal.


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Rasta Roy

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
SnakierGrizzly said:
you know of anywhere i can find it ?i live close to a river - and a pond

good info..
tell me more about the biochar
i could use some help or type of method for making my own soil with easy to obtain materials
i would google it but you seem to know more about it than any thread ive found on google
Click to expand...
You'd have to go to store of some sort my friend! It's not something you could harvest in the wild, unless you got mining machinery lol.
 
DonTesla

DonTesla

Well-Known Member
You can clear land that's been weathered/neglected, and use the bio-Slash to make biochar.

OR hardwood from furniture or pallets, just note the nails, if going for ultra clean

Even corn can be made into biochar. For example, 2000 lbs of hardwood fit in a 45 gal contort (barrel) and yields about 500-600 lbs of char, in a half to full day, 25-33% yield on avg. You want 3" max diameter, and more like 1 to 2 btw

Corn, you could fit 300 lbs in this set up and make about 70lbs a day or half day if quenching.

Now that said,

Generally speaking, even though most guys use peat and lime, which is cool, all due respect to them, I usually like to mix basic living soil something like this, for my reasons:

1 part aeration [Aluminum free if possible]
1 part aeration [2nd choice]
1 part vermicompost [home made if possible]
1 part humus-rich earth [thermophilic compost / leaf mould etc]
1 part coir fibre, rinsed [ideally for 2 years outside, salt free]


Once that base is made, if mellowing directly in the "soil", I make the following to add:

a meal recipe [neem, kelp, alfafa, shell crab, etc]
a mineral recipe. [basalt for paramagnetism, glacial rock dust for minerals, etc]
and a microbe recipe. [AACT, chia seeds and organic oats, ground into powder, applied]

The meal mix usually get applied at one cup per cubic foot at least, roughly, per year.

and the mineral mix, usually get applied at the rate of 3 or 4 cups per cubic foot, or per 7.48 US gal.

Now that said, there are tweaks... a lot of guys like 33% castings but we actually like 15%. the remainder 5% is usually used for either more aeration, or biochar, if the castings were ran finer or if the vermicompost (bacterial dom) and thermophilic compost (fungal dom) got mixed ahead of time.

Speaking of which, ahead of time is where its at so you could plan for next year at the same time.. to simplify further, I would make from scratch and then mix my all my composts to create mix A, and use 6 types of aeration to create mix B, and I would mix A and B to 50/50 if all my ratios were bang on. For example, I like to push my kelp higher in year 1 and then not reamend for 2 years. I like biochar at 10% of the mix, as one aeration, cause Aeration can also break down, over time.

My personal favs, in rough order of most fav to least:

BioChar. (permanent microlife station, breathable, porous)
Rotting WoodChunks, like Redwood (hold water and air, convert to humus and organic matter)
Rice, Cocoshell, or Buckwheat hulls. (decompaction)
Burgandy & Black Lava Rock
Leafmould
Pumice
Builder's Sand

Perlite
Vermiculite
 
SnakierGrizzly

SnakierGrizzly

Well-Known Member
hol
DonTesla said:
You can clear land that's been weathered/neglected, and use the bio-Slash to make biochar.

OR hardwood from furniture or pallets, just note the nails, if going for ultra clean

Even corn can be made into biochar. For example, 2000 lbs of hardwood fit in a 45 gal contort (barrel) and yields about 500-600 lbs of char, in a half to full day, 25-33% yield on avg. You want 3" max diameter, and more like 1 to 2 btw

Corn, you could fit 300 lbs in this set up and make about 70lbs a day or half day if quenching.

Now that said,

Generally speaking, even though most guys use peat and lime, which is cool, all due respect to them, I usually like to mix basic living soil something like this, for my reasons:

1 part aeration [Aluminum free if possible]
1 part aeration [2nd choice]
1 part vermicompost [home made if possible]
1 part humus-rich earth [thermophilic compost / leaf mould etc]
1 part coir fibre, rinsed [ideally for 2 years outside, salt free]


Once that base is made, if mellowing directly in the "soil", I make the following to add:

a meal recipe [neem, kelp, alfafa, shell crab, etc]
a mineral recipe. [basalt for paramagnetism, glacial rock dust for minerals, etc]
and a microbe recipe. [AACT, chia seeds and organic oats, ground into powder, applied]

The meal mix usually get applied at one cup per cubic foot at least, roughly, per year.

and the mineral mix, usually get applied at the rate of 3 or 4 cups per cubic foot, or per 7.48 US gal.

Now that said, there are tweaks... a lot of guys like 33% castings but we actually like 15%. the remainder 5% is usually used for either more aeration, or biochar, if the castings were ran finer or if the vermicompost (bacterial dom) and thermophilic compost (fungal dom) got mixed ahead of time.

Speaking of which, ahead of time is where its at so you could plan for next year at the same time.. to simplify further, I would make from scratch and then mix my all my composts to create mix A, and use 6 types of aeration to create mix B, and I would mix A and B to 50/50 if all my ratios were bang on. For example, I like to push my kelp higher in year 1 and then not reamend for 2 years. I like biochar at 10% of the mix, as one aeration, cause Aeration can also break down, over time.

My personal favs, in rough order of most fav to least:

BioChar. (permanent microlife station, breathable, porous)
Rotting WoodChunks, like Redwood (hold water and air, convert to humus and organic matter)
Rice, Cocoshell, or Buckwheat hulls. (decompaction)
Burgandy & Black Lava Rock
Leafmould
Pumice
Builder's Sand

Perlite
Vermiculite
Click to expand...
holy shit
 
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