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no worm casting/mushroom compost help!

varTy

Member
I cant find worm casting or mushroom compost for LC's #2 mix,and i only found manure compost and cotton burr compost. Will one of these be a good alternative? This question needs answered quickly too,because i have seedling popping,and i need to have this mix incubating as soon as possible.
 
O

OrganicOzarks

You have not tried hard enough.
Mushroom Compost
http://www.amazon.com/Markman-Peat-Company-Mushroom-0830-Rdc01/dp/B000VT3MFA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1317053212&sr=8-4

Worm Castings
http://www.amazon.com/Unco-Industri...3?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1317053260&sr=1-3

Buying online should be a last resort. There are plenty of people all over everywhere that have these items available. Independent garden centers should handle this. If you went to Home Depot, or Lowes then you are headed in the wrong direction. There is an organic garden center 45 minutes from me, and I buy so much they give me distributor pricing. It averages out to a 40% savings from retail. They have even had me test out new products, and document my results. That is the direction you need to be going in. There should be something like this in your area.
 

Scrappy4

senior member
Veteran
varTy, there is no substitute for planning well. If you want to do an organic grow based on a living soil most of the "work" will be before your plants have sprouted. The soil mix is key, and it needs time for the microbes to start cycling those nutrients. At this point you may as well just buy some planting mix for your plants and start reading and learning....scrappy
 

varTy

Member
ok let me rephrase my question,cause i dont think i made it clear. Im setup for perpetual harvest,and i want to buy the medium locally to cut back on costs. I wanna know if either manure compost or cotton burr compost has the same beneficial bacteria as worm casting or mushroom compost,and if i should use it in the same ratio as worm casting in LC's #2 soiless mix.
 
No, you can't use it the same way. LC's mix while it works, will most likely leave you with some defs. Make your own worm casting or compost. Shouldn't be that hard to find a decent bagged compost. Also goat manure can be used as a substitute.

If you were to use steer manure in this application you will likely burn your plants.
 
V

vonforne

Steer manure will be fine. Make sure you mix the soil ahead of time. It is after all compost.......just a different source. I used it for years. In my area I have seen Cotton burr compost also but have never used it.

Steer manure is 0.5-0.5-0.5 the same as any other commercial compost.

Good luck.

V
 

h.h.

Active member
Veteran
As long as it is compost. Any steer manure I've bought at the store, whether it said compost or not, wasn't composted. A little for top dress may be fine. Don't mix it in.
Horse manure is preferable. I think Jay pointed out to me once about the use of dewormers being a concern. There may be a few other drugs or antibiotics used with horses as well. The worms don't seem to mind, but if you're trying to stay clear of that kind of stuff...I imagine steer manure has it's share of crap as well.
While I think horse manure is possibly one of the best mj growing mediums, steer is just too strong, producing dark green plants that stay dark green, with leafy flowers.
Check Craigslist.
 

jaykush

dirty black hands
ICMag Donor
Veteran
id go with animal manure compost and such before i ever touched cotton compost, do you know the shit they put on cotton? its ok for them to spray killer deadly stuff because no ones going to eat it. that is until you use cottton burr compost on your food or medicine.
 

OPT

Member
Buffalo Loam is good shit as well. As long as you let it sit and let the micro beasties do there thang, any type of compost should work just fine.

OPT
 

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