building your soil pre-planting

[kovenant]

so, im not a scientist or anything. im not new to farming, but new to being a farmer... and i have a question.

to me it only makes sense to prepare your soil a week or weeks before using it. what i mean by this is... and correct me if im wrong here:

mixing up a good composition of soils, mosses, pumice, perlite, vermiculite, silicas, molasses and natural sugars/carbs, blood meal, bone mean, dolomite lime, humus, worm castings, horse manure, bat shit, kelp extract, beneficial bacteria, beneficial fungi, root excellerator, enzymes...........

who mixes this up a couple weeks early to get all the organics doing their thing together, promoting a good grow environment/medium for the beautiful girls we are wanting to grow so well?

i mean - without the roots in the soil - the soil can still begin to interact and work toward 'being better' than just throwing all the mix together at the time of planting (or transplanting) right?

so i have this notion... and im wondering who (if anyone, or if everyone) pre-mixes their soils, nutes, and addatives and lets it sit for days or weeks prior to using it. what are the benefits? what do you have to watch out for, or be careful of? what should go into the mix, and what should be left out until a live plant is added to the equation? how long is too long - is there an optimal time period these parts should all be mixed and left to play together?

any help, experienced advice, or discussion would be great. thanks!

 

[jaykush]

almost everyone here "pre mixes" there soil. and a few recycle there soil over and over again.

 

[kovenant]

so of all you pre-mixers...

can you answer these questions for me?

what are the benefits? what do you have to watch out for, or be careful of? what should go into the mix, and what should be left out until a live plant is added to the equation? how long is too long - is there an optimal time period these parts should all be mixed and left to play together?

thnx!

 

[jaykush]

-what are the benefits?
some benefits would be the amendments would break down into minerals and nutirients the plant can take in. increase is soil microbial population.

-what do you have to watch out for, or be careful of?
mixing soil too "hot" with too many amendments would burn the plant before it had a chance to grow

-what should go into the mix, and what should be left out until a live plant is added to the equation?
theres tons of different amendments you can add to the soil, check out the organics for beginners for some or the organic fanatic collective.

-how long is too long - is there an optimal time period these parts should all be mixed and left to play together?
2 weeks to a month is good, a little longer wont hurt anything and neither will a few months. the longer the more materials get "broken down" and are ready for intake to make it simple.

 

[Highlighter]

^^^ditto that^^^

I'm in the process of building up soil for future transplanting and future winter crops. I like to add chicken manure, and want to make sure that breaks down
for easy absorption to the plant, so the N will get used up by mid-flower.
I also add Espoma's Bio-tone. That's it for me, besides extra perlite.
I have a large garden cart, that a large cement mixer tray will fit into perfectly. I mix in there, leaving it. Most times I walk by it, I'll give it a mix. I'll work it like that for a month, than bag it and start a new batch.

But yeah, I want it to be activated before using.

"If it's hot, let it cook!"

 

[Guest]

I beleive it would be good to pre mix soil a couple weeks prior to planting. I will do it on my current grow. It sure gives the dolomite lime a chance to do its thing. I use a very rich organic soil and will get some leave damage if dolomite lime is not allowed to do its thing.

 

[kovenant]

awesome. thanks for the great response. exactly what i was looking for. im going to transplant into 3 gal bags in a week or two... so i will work at mixing ASAP so it has a chance to do its thing. a big concern of mine is the bioherd. i want a healthy beneficial bioherd waiting to take care of my girls!

as to not mix a 'hot' mix... i wont be adding any organic bottled nutes (like teas or liquid karma).. just some bene's (pirahna, root excellerator, multi-zyme) and the actual soil mix im making (soil, big & chunky perlite, FF light warrior, vermiculite, worm castings, dolomite lime, bone & blood meal) so that it will be ready

 

[jaykush]

hey kovenant an initial soaking with wormcastings tea or compost tea will help jump start the soil. when i said "hot" mix i ment adding too much blood, or too much guano. im sure you got that under control though.

 

[kovenant]

jaykush -> good lookin out. and thanks for clarifying going to try to mix some up tonight... but just finished bottling my harvest so i may mix it up tomorrow instead

 

[D.W.A.I.]

mixing up a good composition of soils, mosses, pumice, perlite, vermiculite, silicas, molasses and natural sugars/carbs, blood meal, bone mean, dolomite lime, humus, worm castings, horse manure, bat shit, kelp extract, beneficial bacteria, beneficial fungi, root excellerator, enzymes...........

who mixes this up a couple weeks early to get all the organics doing their thing together, promoting a good grow environment/medium for the beautiful girls we are wanting to grow so well?

Ooh ooh, I do! In fact it's an ongoing process. Started back in early February when I bought an 18 gallon rubbermaid, a couple bags of Black Gold Coco Mix, perlite, castings, blood/bone/kelp/alfalfa meal, lime. I made my initial batch following one of the many recipes found here. Since I have more soil than I need, I decided to turn it into a compost pile of sorts. Most of my organic waste goes into the mix, with one catch: fruit/vegetables go through the blender first. My goal with the medium isn't to eliminate the need for feeding...rather, I wanted to create a living, rich, and stable growing environment. I like using teas, so that's how I feed...it's fun. I have a pH pen, but I never use it anymore...maybe I will one day, but my plants are happy. Oh yea, I also toss the spent contents of my tea bags into the soil mix too. I remember reading How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons and he talked about "growing" soil in order to grow plants. There's something to that, and the experience has been nearly as much fun as growing plants themselves.

Have fun!

 

[Tortuga]

Thanks for all of the great info folks! I believe I am going to have to start this tomorrow.

 

[NamelessCitizen]

How to Make Composting: A Composting Guide

Just wanted to pass along a link to a good read for newbies like me...

Nameless

 

[kovenant]

Ooh ooh, I do! In fact it's an ongoing process. Started back in early February when I bought an 18 gallon rubbermaid, a couple bags of Black Gold Coco Mix, perlite, castings, blood/bone/kelp/alfalfa meal, lime. I made my initial batch following one of the many recipes found here. Since I have more soil than I need, I decided to turn it into a compost pile of sorts. Most of my organic waste goes into the mix, with one catch: fruit/vegetables go through the blender first. My goal with the medium isn't to eliminate the need for feeding...rather, I wanted to create a living, rich, and stable growing environment. I like using teas, so that's how I feed...it's fun. I have a pH pen, but I never use it anymore...maybe I will one day, but my plants are happy. Oh yea, I also toss the spent contents of my tea bags into the soil mix too. I remember reading How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons and he talked about "growing" soil in order to grow plants. There's something to that, and the experience has been nearly as much fun as growing plants themselves.

Have fun!

great to know! i was just thinking i need to go out and get a heavy-duty plastic trash can today to start mixing my soil and ammendments up today! the logic of growing soil in order to grow plants makes alot of sense - it was the logic behind my question

How to Make Composting: A Composting Guide

Just wanted to pass along a link to a good read for newbies like me...

great link - thanks!

 

[kovenant]

so yeah, i have a couple more questions

first, let me start by saying i was planning on using Blazeoneup's soil mix. i also have read about MoonshineMan's mix. and i kind of came up with my own mix - which is a meld of the two (mostly because Pro-mix isnt available near me and i didnt want to order it online.)

now, because the products i used came in different size bags, i based my ratios off 1 cu ft portions... i used a 32 gal rubbermaid trash bin to mix it up. 1 trash bin will not provide enough soil for my grow, so i will have to mix more... but also i realized that to mix such a huge amount may not distribute all the parts equaly - so i am hoping for some feedback on that.

so anyway - let me start by giving the ingredients i used:

Miracle Grow Organic Choice Garden Siol - 1 cu ft. (.1-.05-.1)
Gardner & Bloom Soil Building Compost - 1 cu ft.
Fox Farm Light Warrior - 1/2 cu ft.
Big & Chunky Perlite - 1/2 cu ft.
Vigoro Premium Organic Blood Meal - 1 cup (12-0-0)
Vigoro Premium Organic Bone Meal - 1 cup (1-11-0)
http://www.poolandgarden.com/espoma-garden-lime.html ]Espoma Organic Traditions Garden (Dolomite) Lime[/url] - 1/2 cup
Uni-Gro Premium Organic Pumice - 2 QT
Uni-Gro Premium Organic Vermiculite - 2 QT (how is vermiculite organic?)
Soil Moist Granular Polymer - 2 tbsp


now i realize this is kinda a lot of crap. but i wanted to do 3 things.... 1 was make it as completely organic as possible, 2) create a mix like Blazeoneup's and Moonshine Man - where you can go start to finish with just water (even though i plan on using some teas and addatives), and 3) use products that can be found at Home Depot, OSH, etc... as i am moving to Maui soon and will have limited sources to draw from.

if anyone isnt familiar with the Gardner & Bloom Soil Building Compost... it consists of: Forest Humus, Chicken Manure, Worm Castings, Bat Guana, Gypsum, Kelp Meal, Oyster Shell & Dolomite Lime, and Mycorrhizae.

-edit-
im guessing its hard to have opinions on a mix if you havent used it... but im hoping that some of you long time organic gardners may have an opinion of wether or not this seems like a good mix. I should prob just KISS (keep it simple stupid) but i thought each portion i added would be beneficial.

feedback? THANKS EVERYONE!!

 

[NamelessCitizen]

Quick question...

Quick question...

My mix consists of Black Gold Garden Compost, worm castings, FF POM Tomato & Vegetable 7-4-5 (contains Mycorrhizae and humic acid), perlite and dolomite lime. After mixing these together would I have to moisten the mix to get things activated? Should the mix be kept moist and for how long? Thanks!

Nameless