Reusing FFOF: Amendments

Hey so I have a ton of FFOF I used last year. I used 1/2 used indoor FFOF/Half new bagged FFOF with great results. Since I have more soil than I know what to do with I'd like to just amend it this year. Here's the mix I was thinking of doing:

Per 300 gallon container:

-1-2 bags earthworm castings (30 LB. Bags)
-10 cups dolomite lime
-8 quarts bone meal
-16 quarts blood meal
-16 quarts kelp meal
-some perlite

The other idea I had was just mixing per 300 gallon container:

-2 bags earthworm castings (30 Lbs/bag)
-compost (not sure how much yet)
-10 cups dolomite lime.


Any constructive criticism? Only issue I had last year was a couple of grubs and a little bit of PM. Yield/quality still turned out great!

I'm waiting for soil to thaw out then I'll start amending.

Since I'll only be able to let the soil cook for roughly 1.5 months, would I be better off using like 1/4-1/2 bagged soil to 3/4-1/2 used soil or not amending at all and just "tilling" the soil and using organic nutes + lots of beneficials? (I already only use organic nutes)

Thank you so much in advance!!

I never understood why people rarely reuse soil... Sounds like you have a good idea what to do already. Just ammend with what you already stated and maybe add some manure if you have access for cheap effective ammendments. I bet you'll be all set with what you listed. Good luck

GreenThumby said:

I never understood why people rarely reuse soil... Sounds like you have a good idea what to do already. Just ammend with what you already stated and maybe add some manure if you have access for cheap effective ammendments. I bet you'll be all set with what you listed. Good luck

Click to expand...

Thank you so much!!!

Would you go with the first one of:

1-2 bags earthworm castings (30 LB. Bags)
-10 cups dolomite lime
-8 quarts bone meal
-16 quarts blood meal
-16 quarts kelp meal
-some perlite


Or the second one of:

-2 bags earthworm castings (30 Lbs/bag)
-compost (not sure how much yet)
-10 cups dolomite lime.


I'm worried the first will be to hot with only 1.5 months to cook?
I'm new to amending/Reusing soil.

Also, would you add neem cake or something for pest like the grubs I had?
I read neem cakes are really good in small amounts.

I used something similar to the first last year. Added glacial rock dust, green sand, and a few other things I forget haha! Looks like a god mix.

ForeverGreen42 said:

Thank you so much!!!

Would you go with the first one of:

1-2 bags earthworm castings (30 LB. Bags)
-10 cups dolomite lime
-8 quarts bone meal
-16 quarts blood meal
-16 quarts kelp meal
-some perlite


Or the second one of:

-2 bags earthworm castings (30 Lbs/bag)
-compost (not sure how much yet)
-10 cups dolomite lime.


I'm worried the first will be to hot with only 1.5 months to cook?
I'm new to amending/Reusing soil.

Also, would you add neem cake or something for pest like the grubs I had?
I read neem cakes are really good in small amounts.

Click to expand...

6 weeks should be plenty of time for all that stuff to decompose, but imo there are better methods/amendments to use.

I run CC's soil mix, very easy to transition that into a no-till so long as you keep top dressing it.

Personally, if it were me in your shoes, I'd just grab myself some crab/kelp/neem meal as well as some basalt/gypsum/oyster shell flour and top dress with all of that. Then I'd cover the top dress with some EWC and call it a day. I'm not sure if your Fox Farm is still in the pots or not, but if so, you can get away with a simple top dress like that and just keeping things moist. Bonus points if you add worms into the pots. The nice thing about all of the stuff I just listed is that it isn't as hot as blood meal or bone meal and a lot of the nutes are readily available.

Just reamend your soil with the above ingredients, then keep things moist until you're ready to transplant into the reammended soil. Then after you chop your next harvest down, just top dress the soil with the same amendments, keep it moist, and keep planting and top dressing.

The crab/neem/kelp meals are plenty for a balanced diet for your girls, they also provide pest management and a plethora of trace elements/micro nutrients. The oyster flour is a much better option than dolomite lime. OSF buffers your ph like lime does, but it doesn't take as long as lime does. The OSF also provides your soil with many micro nutrients/trace elements that dolomite lime doesn't, I stopped using the stuff years ago because OSF is just so much better in every aspect.

Also, look into a product called "Grower's Recharge". It's pretty much a jar that contains all the microbes that keep our soil alive, it "recharges" your soil with more microbes so that you can give the process a bit of a jump start. I highly recommend it.

Would this mix be to hot?

Per 300 gallon container:

-10 cups agricultural lime
-20 cups oyster shell
-20 cups neem meal
-20 cups blood meal
-40 cups kelp meal
-5-10 cups bone meal
-60 Lbs earthworm castings