Side by side organic soil mix's

I've just mixed both soils, but, I caved in and added 1/2 cup of bone meal and 1/4 cup of high P bat guano to both mixes(I've already got them so why not?), the lack of 'P' in the mix really worried me. I've also omitted the coco because I wanted to balance the neutral/high Ph of my old used soil with more peat, and the rotted wood chunks have been left out for now, due to the amount of larvea/grubs I found inside the rotting logs, I'll blitz, screen, charge, and add them later.

new 'full' ingredient lists the measurement

Base mix

1/2 (30L per mix) pre used soil mix - This has been used for 2 runs, then left in a bin for around 3-4 months, it looks very good, all old roots have been fully broken down.
1/6 (10L per mix)Fresh wormcastings
1/6 (10L per mix)Peat moss
1/6 (10L per mix)aeration (50/50 biochar/pumice)

I also added around 10L of fresh cannabis leaf and about 5L of mixed dried cereal meals to aid composting/nutrient cycling

Mineral mix (per 60L of soil mix)

Basalt/volcanic rock dust - 4 cups
Gypsum - 1 cup (1/2 powder - 1/2 granular)
Oyster shell Flour - 1 cup
Calcified seaweed - 1 cup
Bentonite - 1 cup
Humate powder (salts of humic acid) - 2 Tbsp


Soil 1

1 cup kelp meal 0.5 - 0.08 - 0.2
1 cup neem meal 4 - 1.5 - 1.5
1 cup Insect Frass 3 - 2 - 3
1 cup Comfrey meal 0.7 - 0.2 - 1.2
1/2 cup Bonemeal 5 - 16 - 0
1/4 cup bat guano 3 - 15 - 4

Mean NPK = 2.4 - 3.3 - 0.8


Soil 2

1 cup kelp meal 0.5 - 0.08 - 0.2
1 cup neem meal 4 - 1.5 - 1.5
1/2 cup krill meal 8 - 7 - 2
1/2 cup fish meal 9 - 6 - 2
1/2 cup hempseed meal 6.5 - 1.5 - 1.7
1/2 cup silkworm chrysalis meal 10 - 1.8 - 1.1
1/2 cup Bonemeal 5 - 16 - 0
1/4 cup bat guano 3 - 15 - 4

Mean NPK = 5.6 - 5.3 - 1.3

IMG_2557.JPG IMG_2562.JPG IMG_2565.JPG IMG_2564.JPG IMG_2580.JPG
 
If anybody's wondering how the blueberry is doing & why I've not posted much recently............................
IMG_2590.JPG

with another jar at least still drying......................no weight yet, these need to be aired a few times yet before the humidity's right.
 
That is some nice nice nice soil! Omg I'm jelious. I've been working on a mix too, just on paper now but I'll get around to ordering soon. You have certainly done your homework on your NPK ratios and I would feel confident running that mix. If your a tad shy on K, turn some banana peels to ash and use that.
 
DonBrennon said:
List of things that went into charge, nothing measured, just a little bit of everything lol:

lacto bacillus serum
great white (microbial inoculate)
seaweed meal
neem meal
alfalfa pellets
comfrey pellets
fermented cannabis leaf extract
fermented clover SST
organic compost starter
fish hydrolysate
prawn hydrolysate
Immunity boost (various fermented herbal extracts)
fulvic acid
humic acid
bat guano
worm casts
molasses
Click to expand...
I was about to charge some bio-char myself. The first couple of batches that I made was from soaking rabbit bedding. The bedding was alfalfa hay and it was soaked with urine and mushy with manure. I put all this into the compost that I am making, but that will take a couple of months. I have been sifting my fireplace ashes, and my soil will be ready in 14-21 days and I was hoping to get this in there charged. Is this an experiment or is there something to this? I have several things on your list that I didnt think about using like guano... I came across a youtube video about a guy that makes it in Hawaii, and he said that he soaks it with fish hydrolysate and it is ready within a week. I dont have any on hand, but I do have a AACT brew that is ready.. Compost was drying out and I have plenty of it left.
 
MustangStudFarm said:
I was about to charge some bio-char myself. The first couple of batches that I made was from soaking rabbit bedding. The bedding was alfalfa hay and it was soaked with urine and mushy with manure. I put all this into the compost that I am making, but that will take a couple of months. I have been sifting my fireplace ashes, and my soil will be ready in 14-21 days and I was hoping to get this in there charged. Is this an experiment or is there something to this? I have several things on your list that I didnt think about using like guano... I came across a youtube video about a guy that makes it in Hawaii, and he said that he soaks it with fish hydrolysate and it is ready within a week. I dont have any on hand, but I do have a AACT brew that is ready.. Compost was drying out and I have plenty of it left.
Click to expand...
Pretty much everything I do is experimental to some extent, lol. I have read a bit about the science to it all, but there has been so little research done on the benefits of biochar and different charging substances/biology. I've just gone for the scatter-gun approach here, hoping for a good diversity of nutrients and microbes.
I definitely believe it's beneficial to an organic living soil outdoors. How beneficial it is to our/my application in 20Gal fabric pots, I'm not so certain about, but it's got to be good for aeration even if it's not bringing the rest of the beneficial goodies to the table(which I do think it would be).
 
DonBrennon said:
Pretty much everything I do is experimental to some extent, lol. I have read a bit about the science to it all, but there has been so little research done on the benefits of biochar and different charging substances/biology. I've just gone for the scatter-gun approach here, hoping for a good diversity of nutrients and microbes.
I definitely believe it's beneficial to an organic living soil outdoors. How beneficial it is to our/my application in 20Gal fabric pots, I'm not so certain about, but it's got to be good for aeration even if it's not bringing the rest of the beneficial goodies to the table(which I do think it would be).
Click to expand...
The "Professional" that I watched on Youtube was still experimenting! He said that he had his best results was after thermophilic composting, and the fish did this in a week! He said that it would heat up really well!!! This might be my experiment lol. I know a couple of fishermen, and hell, I might go with them. Here is an article on fish fertilizer...

http://theunconventionalfarmer.com/recipes/fish-fertilizer/
 
I have AACT and fish powder on hand, I think that it should be enough? From what I have read, biochar is a cutting edge technology that is thousands of years old! I thought that it was funny when I heard that...
https://downtoearthdistributors.com/node/144898
12004.jpg
 
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MustangStudFarm said:
I have AACT and fish powder on hand, I think that it should be enough? From what I have read, this is a cutting edge technology that is thousands of years old! I thought that it was funny when I heard that...
https://downtoearthdistributors.com/node/144898
12004.jpg
Click to expand...
I think you should be ok there, I'm no expert, but I'd soak in the diluted fish powder before adding the aact, I've read about adding stuff to a finished aact killing off microbes. If you soak the fish solution first, the char should soak the nutes up then add the aact for the microbes to go and attack them nutes and hopefully colonize the char. My theory anyway
 
DonBrennon said:
Here's the vid I learn't to make biochar from
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We are on the same page, this is the video that I watched also! I got stuck on the 2 part interview before the tech section, so I didnt really finish it. In the interview, he was talking about the fish, I didnt see the charging section. I will have to spend more time with it.
 
MustangStudFarm said:
We are on the same page, this is the video that I watched also! I got stuck on the 2 part interview before the tech section, so I didnt really finish it. In the interview, he was talking about the fish, I didnt see the charging section. I will have to spend more time with it.
Click to expand...
Hahaha, that's the exact vid I learn't from and stole the design for my burner from. I like the way he explains exactly what's going on within each part of the chambers, I'd never have got my burner dialed in right without the great explanation.

My char comes out just like his......with the glassy sound when dropped.........his method of testing the quality of the char
 
Found a fantastic video from grow your greens John, about charging biochar, the guy he visits is very knowledgable about this subject and gives you all his methods, I fookin love the chicken coup thing, gives me a new reason to start firing the burner up again

 
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