Tutorial Organics for Beginners

[azmeds]

I have a couple of questions. I bought some worm castings and of the three bags I mixed one of them smelled like straight manure after I wet the soil. I had already potted plants in it and I am wondering if A: is it anaerobic and B: is there anything I can do, or should I even worry about it?

 

[Luther Burbank]

I'll try to address both of these since no one else has, but apologies because I don't know that I'm qualified to answer.

Hitman: Theoretically that sounds fine - I'd say if you're vastly increasing the amount of castings and molasses that you should probably increase the amount of aeration to support the larger amount of microbial life, assuming the limiting factor once you've increased food supply is oxygen.

Az: Straight manure? Like how so? Fresh smelling, or off and noticeably anaerobic? I've had bags of manure get waterlogged and smell absolutely awful, but unfortunately have near to zero experience with bagged castings. Most are low quality(most, not all) and I wouldn't be surprised if a waterlogged bag smelled pretty well. I wouldn't worry too much about the anaerobic thing - I'd say if you're mixing them with other ingredients, don't worry about it! Once your soil is mixed conditions should be adverse to anaerobic bacteria if they're present.

 

[dank.frank]

It will smell of ammonia if it is anaerobic...

Just to add to that...



dank.Frank

 

[Holdin']

It will smell of ammonia if it is anaerobic...

Just to add to that...



dank.Frank

I remember when I first started mixing my own organic soil years ago, I used the recipe #1 in the original post of this thread, and for the first 5+ days of "cooking", it would smell like straight ammonia, terribly. Then after 10-14 days it would begin smelling like fresh, moist, lovely, earthy soil.

Not sure exactly what was causing it, as nowadays I never notice such a thing, although my recipe is quite drastically different.

 

[Luther Burbank]

Holdin, the ammonia smell was likely caused by excess Nitrogen. Same thing happens in compost heaps when C:N gets skewed towards N.

 

[dank.frank]

Or excessive moisture upsetting the balance of oxygen in the soil...and thus fostering anaerobic bacteria.

One or the other....yep.



dank.Frank

 

[azmeds]

The bag did have a noticeably different texture to it which I realized after opening the second bag. It was pretty wet and clumpy as well. It already smells better and none of the plants are showing signs of being stressed though. Thanks for the help.

 

[Luther Burbank]

Unless you're in the NW and willing to pay through the teeth I'd make my own castings. There are too many low quality bags that look like unfinished compost too me.

 

[azmeds]

I actually found a guy locally that sells worms and castings now. He has a special "grotto" that is supposed to make it easier to keep the worms in our extreme climate. Maybe I will give it a shot in the future.

 

[brolex]

Hey guys, newbie here.

I like the idea of LC's mix (where only straight water is needed throughout the grow).


However, my country prohibits the use of blood and bone meal, largely out of fear that porcine sources are used.

Is there any way to combine LC's and Bongaloid's recipes, i.e. substituting the blood and bone portion with appropriate guano types? I've got four types of guano at hand, and it would be great if I can use them instead.

Ideally, I just want to delegate the task of watering to my blumats.

 

[xmobotx]

sure. a lot of us don;t use blood or bone. you might think of something to bump Ca a little ~maybe fish bone ~maybe some crab shell or oyster shell

 

[brolex]

Hi mobot, thanks for the reply.

I'd be piling on the dolomite - is calcium from shells still necessary?

 

[Luther Burbank]

Oyste shell or crab/fish meal is a superior source than dolomite. Use a bit of dolomite for your MG but the 50/50 Ca/Mg ratio is not optimal. Dolomite isn't the devil, it just isn't a perfect stand alone Ca source.

 

[brolex]

Sweet... thanks for the that, Luther.


I didn't manage to reply in time, but thanks heaps to the poster who lead me to the nutrient pack source. Exactly what I needed!

 

[ct guy2]

Apparently my post violated the TOU so it was removed. I'm glad it helped though or at the very least gave you an ingredient list for what I think is are good soil ingredients.

 

[ct guy2]

Hey guys, newbie here.

I like the idea of LC's mix (where only straight water is needed throughout the grow).


However, my country prohibits the use of blood and bone meal, largely out of fear that porcine sources are used.

Is there any way to combine LC's and Bongaloid's recipes, i.e. substituting the blood and bone portion with appropriate guano types? I've got four types of guano at hand, and it would be great if I can use them instead.

Ideally, I just want to delegate the task of watering to my blumats.

You could use fish meal and fish bone meal instead. I would go with that over guanos personally.

The equation to use is this:

Actual Material = Recommended Rate/% analysis

So if you have a soil test or an amount of Bone Meal recommended you can do a conversion to another ingredient with a different % analysis.

Make sense?

 

[Luther Burbank]

CT, if that's you under a fresh handle, it's good to have you back.

 

[ct guy2]

CT, if that's you under a fresh handle, it's good to have you back.

Thanks buddy, I'm around. Blame Spurr, he got me paranoid one day and I deleted my account! Busier these days, but still out there. Cheers!

(I'm over on the logical site more but still like to check in over here, provided I can keep the mods happy and stick around).

 

[dank.frank]

As long as you don't use the site as a means of promoting your business without paying for advertising like every other vendor, it's not hard to keep the mods happy.



dank.Frank

 

[ct guy2]

As long as you don't use the site as a means of promoting your business without paying for advertising like every other vendor, it's not hard to keep the mods happy.



dank.Frank

Yeah, but if I know of a link or product that I think would help the original poster, I'm probably going to post it, regardless of the company. I think I post a lot of information on here and don't do marketing or advertising. But whatever...if it violates TOU then I probably should be banned. Though the tea article sticky I wrote technically violates TOU too and should probably be removed as well. I sent a message to the mods, so we will see!