question on cooking dirt before use

benmarker92

benmarker92

Member
So this is my first time making my own good organic soil. Im using peat, pumice, compost, glacial rock dust, neem meal, crab meal, kelp meal, alfalfa meal and dry organic fertilizer tomatoe tone. I know i need to let it cook for a month. Not sure about the watering part and keeping ti covered or not.

So my questions are : After i make it moist the first time do I let it dry up a bit and moisten again or do I only water the one first time till i plant in it?

And what do i store it in? breathable pot or container that keeps it humid and moist?
 
J

Johndoes

Active Member
Hi Ben

I used 30g garbage cans with holes drilled in the bottom. Keep it moist with the lid on, if it dries out it will slow down the process. When I did not have holes in the bottom it tuned anaerobic and smelled horrible.

Good luck.


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benmarker92

benmarker92

Member
Johndoes said:
Hi Ben

I used 30g garbage cans with holes drilled in the bottom. Keep it moist with the lid on, if it dries out it will slow down the process. When I did not have holes in the bottom it tuned anaerobic and smelled horrible.

Good luck.


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How many times do you need to re water when doing it this way? Do you need to at all since you keep a lid on so it should stay humid and wet?
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
benmarker92 said:
How many times do you need to re water when doing it this way? Do you need to at all since you keep a lid on so it should stay humid and wet?
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treat it like a plant, don't allow it to get so dry to where the water is repelled by the soil tension, keep it moist.
Probably could leave out the tomato tone too, you have some good nutrients in there.
 
J

Johndoes

Active Member
Not every day but you will need to stir it. Gets compacted on the bottom and can be more wet further down. T


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greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
benmarker92 said:
Mmmmm you sure about that. I think its best not to stir so you dont disturb the living organisms. Please correct me if im wrong.
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depends on what your goal is. If you are in a no-till, with re-used soil I would not turn the soil, but with a "cooking" soil that hasn't had anything in it, it's not as much of a big deal.
After about a month I wouldn't stir it
 
benmarker92

benmarker92

Member
greasemonkeymann said:
depends on what your goal is. If you are in a no-till, with re-used soil I would not turn the soil, but with a "cooking" soil that hasn't had anything in it, it's not as much of a big deal.
After about a month I wouldn't stir it
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Awesome info. One question would it be dumb to use this soil in 7 gallon pots? And way better to go full no-till in say a 15gal smart pot? Im just trying to grow one nice scrogged bush.
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
benmarker92 said:
Awesome info. One question would it be dumb to use this soil in 7 gallon pots? And way better to go full no-till in say a 15gal smart pot? Im just trying to grow one nice scrogged bush.
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nah, never a container too small, I use 12 and 15 gallons smartpots, but a seven would be fine, but you may want more room, to SCROG takes a longer than normal vege time, and you may benefit from a bigger container to allow for more roots.
remember a 7 gallon pot really only holds around six gallons at best.
 
benmarker92

benmarker92

Member
greasemonkeymann said:
nah, never a container too small, I use 12 and 15 gallons smartpots, but a seven would be fine, but you may want more room, to SCROG takes a longer than normal vege time, and you may benefit from a bigger container to allow for more roots.
remember a 7 gallon pot really only holds around six gallons at best.
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awesome thank a lot man your a huge help for my noob ass. If i did use the 7 gallon, how would i go no-till? Wouldn't the plant take up the whole container.
Im still a little confused on how the dirt keeps growing great weed with little to non re-amending and tilling.
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
benmarker92 said:
awesome thank a lot man your a huge help for my noob ass. If i did use the 7 gallon, how would i go no-till? Wouldn't the plant take up the whole container.
Im still a little confused on how the dirt keeps growing great weed with little to non re-amending and tilling.
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it really is a LOT like a forest, nobody sprinkles any food or nutrients in a forest and yet it's all as green as can be.
The key is slow release nutrients and a good compost/vermicompost base, those are crucial.
You are right, the 7 gallon container would be pretty full of roots, the key is to allow the new plant to take advantage of the existing soilweb that all the microbial activity has created. The roots don't hurt anything, in fact the mychorrizhae stays in place when doing notill.
Tilling is actually a practice from farmers that didn't have good soil to begin with, and were most likely using conventional chemical nutrients
You will need to re-amend more often with a smaller container. Probably every harvest or maybe every other harvest depending on what nutes you use.
 
benmarker92

benmarker92

Member
greasemonkeymann said:
it really is a LOT like a forest, nobody sprinkles any food or nutrients in a forest and yet it's all as green as can be.
The key is slow release nutrients and a good compost/vermicompost base, those are crucial.
You are right, the 7 gallon container would be pretty full of roots, the key is to allow the new plant to take advantage of the existing soilweb that all the microbial activity has created. The roots don't hurt anything, in fact the mychorrizhae stays in place when doing notill.
Tilling is actually a practice from farmers that didn't have good soil to begin with, and were most likely using conventional chemical nutrients
You will need to re-amend more often with a smaller container. Probably every harvest or maybe every other harvest depending on what nutes you use.
Click to expand...
I like the forest idea, makes a lot of sense. Accept a lot less bugs in my soil.
Well im gonna go with a 15gal smart pot full of soil mentioned in main post cooked for a month. Only nutrients I plan on using would be aloe foliar spray, comfrey mulch on top of soil or teas not sure on this yet, going to grow it myself. And some coconut water. Thats all ive planned out so far and will be able to get my hands on easily.
 
benmarker92

benmarker92

Member
yea i will
anzohaze said:
Apply an AACT tea to help kick into high gear
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Going to be doing this to. forgot to mention. I got this compost from a grape vineyard compost maker. Says it has 11 manures, 3 beddings, and 5 bio dynamics, smell and looks like dirt. When i went to shovel it it had all these beetles and centipedes it it and weeds growing out of it. He had like a 10 ton pile of it just sitting out in the rain.
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
benmarker92 said:
I like the forest idea, makes a lot of sense. Accept a lot less bugs in my soil.
Well im gonna go with a 15gal smart pot full of soil mentioned in main post cooked for a month. Only nutrients I plan on using would be aloe foliar spray, comfrey mulch on top of soil or teas not sure on this yet, going to grow it myself. And some coconut water. Thats all ive planned out so far and will be able to get my hands on easily.
Click to expand...
be sure to allow the comfrey to compost a lil, if you add it green it'll initially rob some nitrogen from your soil.
I also would age it a lil longer than a month, it's cold outside... assuming it's cold where you are...
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
benmarker92 said:
yea i will

Going to be doing this to. forgot to mention. I got this compost from a grape vineyard compost maker. Says it has 11 manures, 3 beddings, and 5 bio dynamics, smell and looks like dirt. When i went to shovel it it had all these beetles and centipedes it it and weeds growing out of it. He had like a 10 ton pile of it just sitting out in the rain.
Click to expand...
careful with that, you already have a good amount of nutrients in there, you may have too much after that, use it sparingly
 
benmarker92

benmarker92

Member
greasemonkeymann said:
careful with that, you already have a good amount of nutrients in there, you may have too much after that, use it sparingly
Click to expand...
The guy i got my compost from says he layers it up to 12" thick around is vines. My soil mix has about 1/6 this compost mixed with 1/6 quality ewc. I will only be making a light AACT with it to jump start things.

Also I will be doing all the cooking indoors. Temperature never drops below 70.
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
benmarker92 said:
The guy i got my compost from says he layers it up to 12" thick around is vines. My soil mix has about 1/6 this compost mixed with 1/6 quality ewc. I will only be making a light AACT with it to jump start things.

Also I will be doing all the cooking indoors. Temperature never drops below 70.
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sounds good then, the manure you have is more of a compost, that's good, manure can fry some plants if its not aged.
 
benmarker92

benmarker92

Member
greasemonkeymann said:
sounds good then, the manure you have is more of a compost, that's good, manure can fry some plants if its not aged.
Click to expand...
Yea exactly. I think i explained it poorly earlier. Thats what he makes his one compost from (11 manures, 3 beddings and 5 bio dynamics). I can get as much as i need for free. Im hoping it is great stuff compared to the compost you top notch organic growers are using for your soil mix.
 
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