Compost opinion

what’s up guys,

I’m putting together a big batch of soil for my next run. I’m basing my mix off the 1/3 peat, 1/3 hummus source 1/3 aeration rule of thumb. For the humus portion, which from research appears to be the most important, I’m going to use a combination of a local worm farm castings, along with some compost. There is a small farm near me that sells this compost for cheap and they claim it is 2-3 years old and is a combination of manures(cow, horse, chicken), leaves and grass clippings. I picked some up for my veggie garden and would like to use it for the other half of my humus mix.

After going through a few bags it appears to be relatively clean of sticks and other unwanted material and there are a decent amount of worms too. Here’s a picture of a handymful, does it pass the eye test from experienced soil people on here ?

Looks good to me. All compost should have millions of beneficial microbes

Goldrunfarms said:

Looks good to me. All compost should have millions of beneficial microbes

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Thanks for the input man, I’m excited for this run. Trying to source all local ingredients

Looks good to me.

I mean I don't See anything wrong w it...but as far as telling if it's good compost that's pretty much impossible..well..revise that..high quality compost...I'm sure it'll work well though...mix in half casting and half compost for one of the 1/3 part...or like 1/4 castings and the other 3/4 compost...this should get all kinda activity bouncing around... The compost looks like it's a lil on the clumpy side ..not bad though...small clumps ..but it might break up a lil better once u mix it all up and get to fooling w it

GoRealUhGro said:

I mean I don't See anything wrong w it...but as far as telling if it's good compost that's pretty much impossible..well..revise that..high quality compost...I'm sure it'll work well though...mix in half casting and half compost for one of the 1/3 part...or like 1/4 castings and the other 3/4 compost...this should get all kinda activity bouncing around... The compost looks like it's a lil on the clumpy side ..not bad though...small clumps ..but it might break up a lil better once u mix it all up and get to fooling w it

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Ok cool, I fully understand that picture isn’t enough to get a full diagnosis but was just looking to make sure there wasn’t anything glaringly bad with the stuff. I’m going to mix everything up today and hope for the best. I will probably get the mix tested after a couple of weeks.

Thanks for the input everyone!

I would mix it all up..and brew a microbial tea to wet it all down with..I would cook it in the pots or place u are gonna grow in if that's possible..smart pots are good to let soil cycle in too if u have em

GoRealUhGro said:

I would mix it all up..and brew a microbial tea to wet it all down with..I would cook it in the pots or place u are gonna grow in if that's possible..smart pots are good to let soil cycle in too if u have em

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if the pots are large (20+ gal), that is fine... but if they are small, it's better to inoculate in one big mass.

Yep..I should of said that...I have 45s...

ShLUbY said:

if the pots are large (20+ gal), that is fine... but if they are small, it's better to inoculate in one big mass.

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I’m gonna mix in a big 50 gallon tote, I’m only running 10 gal smart pots, 4 plants. So I’ll cook everything together. Brew a nice tea with these fresh castings/composy I got and let it ride. If I put my seeds in solo cups now, I’m hoping by the time they’re ready to transplant the soil will be ok.

Quick question on “cooking”, for lack of better term. If I mix soil up real good, wet it down what is best way to keep it going forward ? I’m assuming I don’t want to put an airtight lid on it. Some sort of hay or something to keep top layer moist while letting it breath?

Growitpondifarm said:

I’m putting together a big batch of soil for my next run. I’m basing my mix off the 1/3 peat, 1/3 hummus source 1/3 aeration rule of thumb.

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I could tell you some of the problems that I have, but it does not mean that it applies to EVERY situation. First, I use rabbit manure, oak leaves, and grass clippings for compost. I had my compost tested several times and it is always 10-15x too much phosphorus and potassium, but the K is not a problem. I had to cut back on the manure compost and think of it more as a P amendment. Too much P will lock-out iron and trace minerals mostly. High P is a real problem around here and I think that it is in the native soil too.

The other problem that I ran into is the Ph of peat. Right now, I have a batch of peat that I have in my yard that I added the liming agents to over a month ago and the Ph is still between 5.8 and 6.0. It seems to take more than a couple of weeks to change Ph. The initial reading prior to aging 1 month was 5.4. You can't just mix peat and use it the same day! I know that you were talking about letting it age, but if you were to make your own "Pro-Mix" before hand, it would make the process faster. Pro-Mix is crazy expensive around here and I can make it for a fraction of the cost but it takes time.

Here is a soil test from my rabbit manure that has aged 2yrs. I have not added any amendments to this.

Growitpondifarm said:

Quick question on “cooking”, for lack of better term. If I mix soil up real good, wet it down what is best way to keep it going forward ? I’m assuming I don’t want to put an airtight lid on it. Some sort of hay or something to keep top layer moist while letting it breath?

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Most of the "Cooking time" is from the peat adjusting Ph. Here is a Ph meter that I just bought and I am very happy with it. I expected to have to wait several minutes before I got a reading, like the Chinese brands, but this meter reads very quickly. No batteries

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DQHZBUW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Growitpondifarm said:

Quick question on “cooking”, for lack of better term. If I mix soil up real good, wet it down what is best way to keep it going forward ? I’m assuming I don’t want to put an airtight lid on it. Some sort of hay or something to keep top layer moist while letting it breath?

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If u can get a big smart pot ..that's the way i would cycle my soil .some ppl cover it but I don't and won't... Keep it moist . I'd wet it with a microbial tea...u def don't have to do this..but making a lacto serum might help speed up microbial growth ..which will speed up everything else..and just make a better soil..don't keep it air tight however u do it...if u have some burlap that will work too...a lot of ppl just use trashcans...id poke holes in it just in case..on the sides too...but I wouldn't put any hay oon it Imo...if u were growing in larger pots ..smart pots ...I would put it in my sp and let it cycle so it is building the food web and when u plant into it everything is ready kinda ya know ...honestly idk how small u can go and cook ur soil...pot size I mean

I never have worried about my pH....if u mix in some oyster shell flour ..I prefer that over lime...u should be OK...but I didn't even mix in any pH buffer with my recycled ff moonshine mix with my homemade compost and amendments snd i was fine...I usually water w Creek water, rain water, or my well water ..which is 7.0

Cool, yea I forgot to mention originally that I will be adding amendments including, oyster shell flour, gypsum, basalt and a bit of dolomite lime. I’m hoping between the mineral amendments and the compost/EWC the PH will be in the proper zone by the time I put plants in it. 100% will check PH prior to planting anything.

Shouldn't need lime if u add oyster shell flour bub.. actually..if this is the right thread..I don't think u need to add a few things u were gonna add...but it won't hurt necessarily...I wouldn't add lime though

The problem with messing with pH in organic soil ..especially when cycling..is you are messing with the process the living soil is creating to do what it needs to do...unless my pH was just really outa wack I wouldn't do a damn thing

I was gonna ditch the dolomite but had a bit leftover that I want to get rid of. It won’t be in addition to the oyster shell but rather part of the ratio.

Nutrient amendments are
Crab shell
Neem meal
Kelp meal
Marked barley powder
And a small amount of alfalfa

Oh OK..I was thinking of a diff thread ..my bad..that's pretty good man..some minerals in that...and if u wanna get a lil fancy ..a really good grower and friend of mine swears by insect frass...u could put that in it...def neem..def kelp..crab shell . awesome..I'd use the oyster shell flour and minerals w that alfalfa and you have a killer mix buddy