Organic no till, probiotic, knf, jadam, vermicomposting, soil mixes, sips etc... Q & A

projectinfo

projectinfo

Well-Known Member
hyroot said:
My soil mix - coots mix adjusted

Equal parts peat moss, wormcastings / compost and garden pumice.

per cubic foot
1/2 cup kelp meal
1/2 cup crab shell meal
1/4 cup ahimsa indian neem cake
1/4 cup karanja cake
1/2 cup malted barley seed
2 cups basalt rock dust
2 cups gypsum rock dust
1/2 cup em1 bokashi or grokashi

Mix and cook in a tote or trash can for 4 weeks ( all soil mixes must be cooked). Cooking is basically fermenting the soil. Allowing everything to be broken down by microbes so everything is readily available for uptake when the plant wants. If you don't cook your soil you will be running into deficiencies early on.

If you use a more amended mix with any bone meals (fish or cattle) you will have a much hotter soil and could burn your plants. With bone meals ( fish or cow) you should cook the soil for 2 months minimum for them to break down fully.

Green sand and dolomite lime are both useless as they take up to 2 years to break down. Dolomite lime has the wrong ratio of cal and mag. You want more of a 5:1 cal:mag ratio with liming. Oyster shell flour or gypsum rock dust is a better option. Dolomite lime is a 2:1 ratio


Never use perlite. It floats to the top of the soil ( not aerating the rest) and over time it breaks down into a powder and clogs the soil.

Rice hulls are better for a mulch as the break down pretty quick. Worms love them

2nd round plant new clone or seedling off to the side of the main stalk.. The main stalk from the last grow will break down eventually. Top with worm castings and water

Also add red wigglers and night crawlers to your pots or sips

Use mulch or cover crops.

Pot size 15 gallons minimum. 25 is better. If you run octo pot style sips you can get away with 10 gal pots
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You say 15gal minimum.

How many plants do you put in a tote that size .

And how many in a 25gal

How tall would you veg these . Or just flower when you cover the tote with veg basically? Sog style.
 
hyroot

hyroot

Well-Known Member
projectinfo said:
You say 15gal minimum.

How many plants do you put in a tote that size .

And how many in a 25gal

How tall would you veg these . Or just flower when you cover the tote with veg basically? Sog style.
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I 5 gal - 1 plant

30 gal - 2 plants.

With seeds i aim for at least 2 females. I usually get half males sometimes more.
 
DankTankerous

DankTankerous

Well-Known Member
@hyroot the pH of my soil is at 7.5, because I over amended it gave it too many pH buffers as well as biochar . It has been in that soil for 2 months and was getting rainwater waterings for a while. I top dressed it with 2 cups of used coffee grinds but the pH is still off. How can I take it down?
 

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DankTankerous

DankTankerous

Well-Known Member
Here is the soil recipe
2gal Vermisoil

VermiSoil™ Premium Potting Soil is designed as a complete growing medium for heavy fruiting and flowering plants.

VermiSoil’s diverse fibrous content stems from Grower’s White Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss, low salt coco coir and Vermicrop’s own CocoNot.


List of ingredients:

  • The base is built with core humic ingredients: VermiGreen (thermophilic OMRI compost) and VermiWorm (Eisenia foetida worm castings)
  • Fortifed with fossilized kelp and inoculated it with endo and ecto mycorrhizae
  • Other ingredients include oyster flour, greensand, feather meal, blood meal, bone meal and bat guano
2gal Black Gold Organic and N atural Potting Soil

Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss, Composted or Aged Bark, Compost, Earthworm Castings, RESiLIENCE®, Horticultural Grade Perlite, Pumice, or Cinders, Organic Grade Fertilizer

1/2 gal BioChar
1/2 gal Perlite
5 tbsp Alfalfa Meal
5 tbsp Oyster Shell
1/2 gal premium Worm Castings

Top dressed with Worm Castings and Cedar Mulch
 
hyroot

hyroot

Well-Known Member
DankTankerous said:
@hyroot the pH of my soil is at 7.5, because I over amended it gave it too many pH buffers as well as biochar . It has been in that soil for 2 months and was getting rainwater waterings for a while. I top dressed it with 2 cups of used coffee grinds but the pH is still off. How can I take it down?
Click to expand...

Water with lab or em1. Then water with a compost tea. Top dressing bokashi and malted barley would work too.
 
DankTankerous

DankTankerous

Well-Known Member
hyroot said:
Water with lab or em1. Then water with a compost tea. Top dressing bokashi and malted barley would work too.
Click to expand...
I don’t have access to any of those things, I’m planning on making lab, but that would take a month. What do you think about the em1 that build a soil sells? Would it be better to buy the bokashi and malted barley?
 
Strudelheim

Strudelheim

Well-Known Member
DankTankerous said:
I don’t have access to any of those things, I’m planning on making lab, but that would take a month. What do you think about the em1 that build a soil sells? Would it be better to buy the bokashi and malted barley?
Click to expand...
Elemental sulphur lowers ph as well. I would say your best bet though is maybe cut the mix with some peat moss which has ph of 5 ish. Then re amend with ph neutral ingredients. Coffee grinds don't lower ph, if they are used coffee grind they are close to neutral already and don't have any acidifying effect. Don't water with hard water as this has high alkalinity and will raise ph. Replace dolomite lime with gypsum as this doesn't raise ph. Oyster shells is calcium carbonate and also raises ph. I don't know anything about bokashi (other than that it is low ph) or malted barley to say how effective they are at lowering ph through the whole medium.
 
hyroot

hyroot

Well-Known Member
DankTankerous said:
I don’t have access to any of those things, I’m planning on making lab, but that would take a month. What do you think about the em1 that build a soil sells? Would it be better to buy the bokashi and malted barley?
Click to expand...
Gypsum will lower ph
vinegar or citrus will lower ph. 1 tbsp per gallon.
Used coffee grounds will lower ph.
Molasses will lower ph.
Aloe juice will lower ph..
Rain water will lower ph..

Em1 would be faster acting. And not affect microbes.. You can order it from build a soil or teraganix. You can get bokashi from either of them too. Check amazon too. They both have amazon stores.

Malted barley you can get at any beer supply for a $1 - $2 a pound
 
DankTankerous

DankTankerous

Well-Known Member
hyroot said:
Gypsum will lower ph
vinegar or citrus will lower ph. 1 tbsp per gallon.
Used coffee grounds will lower ph.
Molasses will lower ph.
Aloe juice will lower ph..
Rain water will lower ph..

Em1 would be faster acting. And not affect microbes.. You can order it from build a soil or teraganix. You can get bokashi from either of them too. Check amazon too. They both have amazon stores.

Malted barley you can get at any beer supply for a $1 - $2 a pound
Click to expand...
I ordered Kashi blend and Malted Barley Grain from Build a Soil. I just want to nip it in the bud, this whole ordeal has had me on hold for a few weeks now. How much should I top dress with either? The plant is in either a 5 or 7 gallon
 
hyroot

hyroot

Well-Known Member
DankTankerous said:
I ordered Kashi blend and Malted Barley Grain from Build a Soil. I just want to nip it in the bud, this whole ordeal has had me on hold for a few weeks now. How much should I top dress with either? The plant is in either a 5 or 7 gallon
Click to expand...
Just cast a thin layer. Water in. Cover with mulch. Once mycelium mat develops (1-2 days) top dress compost or castings. Then cover with more mulch. Or you can pull back the mulch then re- cover with same mulch after top dress.
 
DankTankerous

DankTankerous

Well-Known Member
hyroot said:
Just cast a thin layer. Water in. Cover with mulch. Once mycelium mat develops (1-2 days) top dress compost or castings. Then cover with more mulch. Or you can pull back the mulch then re- cover with same mulch after top dress.
Click to expand...
Top dress castings over the mulch? I use barley hay as mulch
 
Strudelheim

Strudelheim

Well-Known Member
Do not want to hijack your thread, its yours, and I appreciate the lessons and info you are sharing, when you say coffee grinds lower ph, what are basing that statement on. Have you done side by side tests and extensively and precisely monitored and logged PH data?

I would hope with the amount of information you are sharing, that it is deeply researched and experienced with no bias on your part and your not just spitting whatever techniques have simply worked for you so they must be.


Also from what I have read Gypsum will not have an effect on soil PH, are you assuming that because it has sulfur in it? Because the form the sulfur is in, it does not lower ph, the way elemental sulfur for example does. Without getting too deep into the chemistry that is what I have learned, if you know more than me on that I would love to hear it.
 
DankTankerous

DankTankerous

Well-Known Member
Strudelheim said:
Elemental sulphur lowers ph as well. I would say your best bet though is maybe cut the mix with some peat moss which has ph of 5 ish. Then re amend with ph neutral ingredients. Coffee grinds don't lower ph, if they are used coffee grind they are close to neutral already and don't have any acidifying effect. Don't water with hard water as this has high alkalinity and will raise ph. Replace dolomite lime with gypsum as this doesn't raise ph. Oyster shells is calcium carbonate and also raises ph. I don't know anything about bokashi (other than that it is low ph) or malted barley to say how effective they are at lowering ph through the whole medium.
Click to expand...
Do you mean cutting the recipe in half? Or repotting the plant? I am going to try some methods before I rip half of the root ball out of the soil and repot it in better soil
 
hyroot

hyroot

Well-Known Member
Strudelheim said:
Do not want to hijack your thread, its yours, and I appreciate the lessons and info you are sharing, when you say coffee grinds lower ph, what are basing that statement on. Have you done side by side tests and extensively and precisely monitored and logged PH data?

I would hope with the amount of information you are sharing, that it is deeply researched and experienced with no bias on your part and your not just spitting whatever techniques have simply worked for you so they must be.


Also from what I have read Gypsum will not have an effect on soil PH, are you assuming that because it has sulfur in it? Because the form the sulfur is in, it does not lower ph, the way elemental sulfur for example does. Without getting too deep into the chemistry that is what I have learned, if you know more than me on that I would love to hear it.
Click to expand...
From experience. I use gypsum rock dust to lower ph for blueberry (fruits) plants after being told to try that by Jeremy at bas.... Used coffee grounds always invites pot worms into my worm bins which is a sign of low ph... Used coffee grounds have to be rinsed thoroughly to remove fatty acids which are supposed to be soluble but they don't end up in the liquid coffee. I used Columbian grounds. I think it still lowers ph from what I've seen. I stopped adding it to worm bins last year.

I had to add a bunch of pulverized egg shells to get rid of the pot worms.
 
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