Topsoil in the mix.

[mad librettist]

so far what I can tell about fafard topsoil is that it has a whole bunch of varying particle size silt. There is a bit of sand, some clay. Mostly silt though, from coarser to finer. lots of organic material floating in the sample.

mixed some up with dawn dishoap in a mason jar with water.

 

[VerdantGreen]

i have to admit to still using bagged topsoil myself - because i have access to a good quality loam one (westlands) and my native soil is heavy clay. one day i'll get round to experimenting with that but its no good trying to change more than one factor in a grow at a time because it then becomes harder to evaluate results. atm im messing about with lighting and stuff.

VG

 

[bigwity]

its all agricultre land round my way, apart from the woodland and ive often wondered what ditch soil would be like, because the old ditchs round here only need a trickle of water and BANG! they are full of massive stingers and cats tails, water cress and suchlike.

if i get a few samples in jars from diff areas would you take a look guys ill get on it this week.

i have wetlands around me to, as well as meadows full of wild flowers, floodland its all chalky i think though when you get down far enough.

 

[Scrogerman]

Been reading into this for a while, i think knowing your mix/soil is major important before throwing plants in, luv the jar shake test! lets you see whats needed in ammendments. alot of clay ground around my way, sandy/silt in the lower lands(by the rivers & streams). mostly Ag land! Very Green out the window!!

 

[bigwity]

very green in the window ;-)

 

[ChickenChaser]

I've always thought mole mound soil looks like good stuff, anyone tryed it? It would be easy to collect as the moles have done the digging!

 

[bigwity]

he meant mole as in the true weight of a molacule.

but yeah mole mound mud sounds ok depending on where its from, plant straight into it and see what happens

 

[vonforne]

This thread is now a part of the Sticky library.

Good job VG

 

[guest2012y]

This very thread was the push for me to take the jump into topsoil myself. Thanks VG!
My experience and methods were demonstrated in the thread in my sig....check it out man.

 

[CC_2U]

CC1

This is CC

Check out Jaykush's thread on 'soil' in the stickies. I jumped the shark - check out the potting soil I'm running this cycle.

Heh............

CC_2U

 

[mad librettist]

bump.


this recipe works great with the perlite switched out for screened turface or calcined DE

 

[VerdantGreen]

cheers for the bump mad!

im limbering up for trying the perlite subbed for calcined clay - you cant get calcined DE in the UK

im considering 2 parts calcined clay and 1 part aged bark fines for the 3 parts perlite. the bark i hope will help keep the mix a little more acid as there are a lot of liming agents in there (P guano, rock phosphate and dolomite lime)
and i still think 3 parts calcined clay may hold a little too much water

VG

 

[mad librettist]

cheers for the bump mad!

im limbering up for trying the perlite subbed for calcined clay - you cant get calcined DE in the UK

im considering 2 parts calcined clay and 1 part aged bark fines for the 3 parts perlite. the bark i hope will help keep the mix a little more acid as there are a lot of liming agents in there (P guano, rock phosphate and dolomite lime)
and i still think 3 parts calcined clay may hold a little too much water

VG

mind you VG, I've been running 15 gallon smart pots. I am fighting water loss issues.

like i said before, total water isn't the problem, it's a sticky medium that is the problem. Increasing screened turface percentage would help, or you could add perlite, or the pine bark (which I find holds little water).


I find the pine bark works better with some kind of clay in the mix to help it get wet.


this is a more advanced recipe that depends on the user being able to work with the available topsoil. I used a relatively light topsoil when I used this recipe.

 

[VerdantGreen]

yeah the topsoil i use is pretty heavy - what they might call Kettering loam which is regarded as the best soil and has about 25% clay.

 

[mad librettist]

25% of 2/10 parts is 5% total clay, which is bang on according to the videos in my sig.

 

[H&L]

I've been using topsoil for awhile in addition to peat, love the results. I feel like lends itself better to reuse than a predominately peat-based mix.

 

[McSnappler]

Nice thread VG, ty. I'd like to start using more locally available parts in the mix, as I can definitely get some decent bagged topsoil and compost around here. Think my new base mix will be..

3 parts peat
2 parts topsoil
3 parts perlite
1 part ewc
1 part mushroom compost

How are you getting on with your no perlite experiment? I'd love to be able to stop buying perlite

 

[VerdantGreen]

hey snap im going to try replacing the perlite with sophisticat pink /seramis at some point soon. last time i did it i used a whole different mix - but this time it'll be a lot closer to my regular mix which is what you list above.

im testing other new things atm so it would be meaningless to try a new soil mix... and i have half a 100 litre bag of perlite to use up as well

VG

 

[soursmoker]

just read through here. would like to bump this. VG how waas the no perlite experiment. Im about to start sourcing products for a new soil mix and no perlite sounds interesting as does topsoil in the mix

 

[VerdantGreen]

hi soursmoker. i found the calcined clay (that i replaced the perlite with) made the soil a little to water retentive and heavy (i have to lift the pots regularly).
having said that it does bring properties that perlite doesnt, like better cation exchange.

so now i have compromised with 15% Calcined clay and 15% perlite - which seems to be the best of both worlds.
using good loamy topsoil will in itself help the mix to retain water, so its a case of balancing each element and its properties against another...

perlite is not a 'fashionable' amendment atm and tends to be maligned... but actually it does it's job rather well and the fact that it weighs almost nothing is very useful for me.

VG