Cooking soil.

machinegreenkelly

machinegreenkelly

Well-Known Member
Just wondering if I have the process down correctly or not?
First I will mix all my ingredients into a cement mixer. My questions are...
1.) Can I put the mixed soil in trash bags to cook? And is it better to tie the bags shut or leave them open for air to get in?
2.) I will be mixing 20 gallons of soil for each bag. Should and how much water should I mix in with the soil before cooking it?
Any suggestions would be welcomed. Thanks!
 
You Want It To Be Able To Breath OR It Will Turn anerobiC and get an ammonia smell to it. Buy a trash can and put into that so you can remove lid or leave it cracked
 
machinegreenkelly said:
Just wondering if I have the process down correctly or not?
First I will mix all my ingredients into a cement mixer. My questions are...
1.) Can I put the mixed soil in trash bags to cook? And is it better to tie the bags shut or leave them open for air to get in?
2.) I will be mixing 20 gallons of soil for each bag. Should and how much water should I mix in with the soil before cooking it?
Any suggestions would be welcomed. Thanks!
Click to expand...
I always keep lids off( trash can or Rubbermaid) and also drill many small breathing holes throughout entire container. One thing I routinely did wrong when first building my own soil was mixing my cooking soil. Once you mix and start te process just leave along. A good batch should have visible mylicium ( white) fungal growth and smell like earth never rancid or poopy smelling. It's should become chunky as it ages. Which means the food web is happy
 
Thank you. So the soil is fairly moist out of the bag. But I am sure drying will occur during the cooking process. Should I water at any time?
 
If using coir the moisture from expanding the brick may be enough. If in peat I would moisten one time. After mixing. And maybe once a coupple weeks in. That's a judgment call though. If it really dries in whatever conditions you have. I've heard people at you should be able to squeeze a handful of dirt and have a few drops of water come out.
 
I would water with an aact. It willike help inoculate the soil faster. This is the way I do it. I take all my soil I will be mixing and lay it on a tarp. I then add all ammendments. I use a rake to help mix as well as grabbing the tarp and pulling the tarp over each other so the soil will roll as I pull the tarp. I do That for a problem 10 minutes. Then I place it all into 55 gal drums filled about 2/3rd up. And push it around with my lawnmower for a few to mix it well like a cement mixer would. I then water it with a aact. I put roughly 1.5 gallons of an aact nto each barrell. I then push around a few more minutes to help distribute or evenly wet the soil. I thends stand it up and let it sit.
 
Never let it dry out I leave my lids "loose" . So it can have some air flow. Stagnant air is bad air so I let mine breath and water once in starts getting dry. Which is not very common. The drum or trash can will get hot and of course water will try to evaporate but then actually helps keep soils most on top
 
as mention above put it in a trash can,you need to be able to stir it up ,i stir mine every 2 weeks and i cook mine for 6 weeks,after you stir it spray a little water on it not much ,you just want a little moisture were everything can do it thang,the idea behind it is for your amendments you added to start the break down,your fungi and bacteria need a little moisture to get it all going the right direction.when all the microbes are happy you will be to ,you should be able to stick you hand in the pile and feel heat that is good and all is working proper,when you open the lid to your container there should be a little moisture on the lid that is also good and if you have this dont add more water ,if you have been cooking and dont feel moisture or see it on the lid ,the soil may be to hot and when it is hot you are killing your soil food web,put it under a tree were it still benifit the outside heat but can also have shade when the sun is super hot. the heat is mainly what gets everything going and it produces its on heat. hope my way helps you some friend
 
Thanks all. I will definitely do the tarp method next time. This time I mixed everything with a cement mixer and put the soil evenly into my 15x 20 gallon fabric pots. Then I took a black tarp and sandwiched the fabric bags on top as well as laid another black tarp across the top. The outside is open for better air flow. Sounds like I should mix the soil occasionally though. So maybe I will dump it all out into a kid pool and do another mix with a shovel every other week. Thanks again for all the advice and experience.
 
My mix is 1.5cu of FFOF, 1cu of Black Gold Coco, 3 gallons of Gold Worm Plus, 1 cup of dolomite lime, 1 cup humic acid, 1 cup oyster shell and 3 cups alfalfa. All mixed with a little tap water with an inline RV filter. Any other suggestions would be greatly welcomed. Thanks again.
 
i would just put it on the tarp until finished, that way it will be all together and yes you will have to stir it ocasionaly ,you could even keep in the kiddy pool and cover.i dont no how long you plan to cook but i give mine 6 weeks
 
Kelp meal is a must, , look into getting neem meal and Karajana if possible. Start your own wormbin. You pretty heavy on humid acid I'm as well as alfalfa. You need so rock dusts in there and areatiion.
 
machinegreenkelly said:
My mix is 1.5cu of FFOF, 1cu of Black Gold Coco, 3 gallons of Gold Worm Plus, 1 cup of dolomite lime, 1 cup humic acid, 1 cup oyster shell and 3 cups alfalfa. All mixed with a little tap water with an inline RV filter. Any other suggestions would be greatly welcomed. Thanks again.
Click to expand...
drop the lime, drop the humic acid (or half it) you are already adding oyster meal, (d-lime not needed) and not to mention the bagged soil is already "limed" if I recall correctly.
i'd go half cup of alfalfa, half cup kelp meal, half cup fish bone meal, half cup neem meal.
That's an asston of castings, and commercial castings are thick, you are gonna want lots of aeration, I prefer pumice, volcanic rock, and biochar.
You can have an absolute PERFECT recipe but with not enough aeration they'll struggle.
In a perfect world i'd have shrimp meal or crab meal in there too.
And anzo hit it right, you need rock dusts.
 
I would water with an aact. It willike help inoculate the soil faster. This is the way I do it. I take all my soil I will be mixing and lay it on a tarp. I then add all ammendments. I use a rake to help mix as well as grabbing the tarp and pulling the tarp over each other so the soil will roll as I pull the tarp. I do That for a problem 10 minutes. Then I place it all into 55 gal drums filled about 2/3rd up. And push it around with my lawnmower for a few to mix it well like a cement mixer would. I then water it with a aact. I put roughly 1.5 gallons of an aact nto each barrell. I then push around a few more minutes to help distribute or evenly wet the soil. I thends stand it up and let it sit.
Click to expand...

What is aact?

drop the lime, drop the humic acid (or half it) you are already adding oyster meal, (d-lime not needed) and not to mention the bagged soil is already "limed" if I recall correctly.
i'd go half cup of alfalfa, half cup kelp meal, half cup fish bone meal, half cup neem meal.
That's an asston of castings, and commercial castings are thick, you are gonna want lots of aeration, I prefer pumice, volcanic rock, and biochar.
You can have an absolute PERFECT recipe but with not enough aeration they'll struggle.
In a perfect world i'd have shrimp meal or crab meal in there too.
And anzo hit it right, you need rock dusts.
Click to expand...
Should i add all 3 aeration materials (pumice + volcanic rock+ biochar) or just 1?

drop the lime, drop the humic acid (or half it) you are already adding oyster meal, (d-lime not needed) and not to mention the bagged soil is already "limed" if I recall correctly.
i'd go half cup of alfalfa, half cup kelp meal, half cup fish bone meal, half cup neem meal.
That's an asston of castings, and commercial castings are thick, you are gonna want lots of aeration, I prefer pumice, volcanic rock, and biochar.
You can have an absolute PERFECT recipe but with not enough aeration they'll struggle.
In a perfect world i'd have shrimp meal or crab meal in there too.
And anzo hit it right, you need rock dusts.
Click to expand...

What do you mean by rock dusts?

Sorry for the long post. Think i should have it down after this ; ) Thanks again!
 
Last edited:
machinegreenkelly said:
What is aact?


Should i add all 3 aeration materials (pumice + volcanic rock+ biochar) or just 1?



What do you mean by rock dusts?

Sorry for the long post. Think i should have it down after this ; ) Thanks again!
Click to expand...
aact is actively aerated compost tea, meant solely for microbial populations.
rock dusts are rock phosphates, azomite, basalt, granite dust, glacial rock dusts, gypsum, etc.
and YES, mix all those aeration components up, the more the merrier, I have probably 40-50% aeration in my mix.
if you live near a forest the crumbly rotted tree logs are a great source of aeration, and also help retain water, not to mention I imagine they add beneficial indigenous microbes as well (BIMs)
 
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