Side by side organic soil mix's

DonBrennon said:

Sorry for the misunderstanding, I mean't mosquito bits, I used gnat off when I grew in coco, same bti, I was gonna get some of that but it's recently been banned here. The mosquito bits are gonna be more expensive even for the smallest size I can get.

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Anything BTi will work. Damn that's messed up, why r they banned. It's a biological and safe to benificial insects.

Grandpa GreenJeans said:

Anything BTi will work. Damn that's messed up, why r they banned. It's a biological and safe to benificial insects.

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I dunno, went to three diff hydro stores and they kept saying"out of stock", by the third one I pressed em on why and the manager came out and told me it'd been banned, I asked why and he was as clueless as me, just said he'd received a product call back email. I believe him, these stores make a killing over here and they are never out of stock of anything for long.

A handfull broadcast into the mulch?

DonBrennon said:

I dunno, went to three diff hydro stores and they kept saying"out of stock", by the third one I pressed em on why and the manager came out and told me it'd been banned, I asked why and he was as clueless as me, just said he'd received a product call back email. I believe him, these stores make a killing over here and they are never out of stock of anything for long.

A handfull broadcast into the mulch?

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1/2 handful, shit goes a long way.
I put it in my water storage and run an airstone. BTi is an aerobe. I doubt that oxygenated water will awaken them but it helps break up the particles and release the inoculation. Makes me feel better anyway and like I said a little goes a long way. I think I have gone through 100 gallons so far since I've added them to my routine and have only used 2 disks from a pack of 6. Consistency is key not dosage amount.

Grandpa GreenJeans said:

1/2 handful, shit goes a long way.
I put it in my water storage and run an airstone. BTi is an aerobe. I doubt that oxygenated water will awaken them but it helps break up the particles and release the inoculation. Makes me feel better anyway and like I said a little goes a long way. I think I have gone through 100 gallons so far since I've added them to my routine and have only used 2 disks from a pack of 6. Consistency is key not dosage amount.

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Thanks GpGJ, the dunks in water aren't an option for me, my storage tank is also my filtration/aeration system so chlorinated water goes into it. I'll 'try' ordering some off amazon. I ordered some myco products off fungi perfecti, this is the response I got

"Thank you for your order attempt. In the past we have experienced that the country you are shipping to, The United Kingdom, does not allow the importation of our MycoGrow™ products. We will cancel your order."

I suppose they are foreign micro-organisms and if released here do have the possibility of harming the IMO's

DonBrennon said:

Thanks GpGJ, the dunks in water aren't an option for me, my storage tank is also my filtration/aeration system so chlorinated water goes into it. I'll 'try' ordering some off amazon. I ordered some myco products off fungi perfecti, this is the response I got

"Thank you for your order attempt. In the past we have experienced that the country you are shipping to, The United Kingdom, does not allow the importation of our MycoGrow™ products. We will cancel your order."

I suppose they are foreign micro-organisms and if released here do have the possibility of harming the IMO's

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Damn dude that really sucks. But you could always collect BIM via gills cooked rice method. Use that to inoculate a soil batch that needs to cook or throw a tbsp or two into some AACT. Add it to your worm bin or throw some into a FPE. The BIM spores and cysts will awaken once introduced to a favorable environment/media. Plus all those flaculative anerobes that most growers fall short on when they foliar. Photosynthesis is increased and growth is accelerated when the plants are exposed to phototropic bacteria. These bacteria use light wavelengths that plants don't or use very little of. Every plant has an action spectrum with peak wavelengths that activate phytochromes. They are limited to a degree, but with photosynthesis accelerated by the bacteria the plants can now benifit from ALL of the spectral wavelengths. Gills rice method for BIM, used in a FPE is the only way I know of to capture and proliferate flaculative anerobes.

Grandpa GreenJeans said:

Damn dude that really sucks. But you could always collect BIM via gills cooked rice method. Use that to inoculate a soil batch that needs to cook or throw a tbsp or two into some AACT. Add it to your worm bin or throw some into a FPE. The BIM spores and cysts will awaken once introduced to a favorable environment/media. Plus all those flaculative anerobes that most growers fall short on when they foliar. Photosynthesis is increased and growth is accelerated when the plants are exposed to phototropic bacteria. These bacteria use light wavelengths that plants don't or use very little of. Every plant has an action spectrum with peak wavelengths that activate phytochromes. They are limited to a degree, but with photosynthesis accelerated by the bacteria the plants can now benifit from ALL of the spectral wavelengths. Gills rice method for BIM, used in a FPE is the only way I know of to capture and proliferate flaculative anerobes.

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I've had a couple of attempts at collecting BIM's with Gill's method, but I didn't do it properly and ended up with black, purple and bright orange fungus.....not good. Plus you don't half get some funny looks walking into the forest with a backpack and a spade lol. I am gonna have another go, but it's the wrong time of year for it now and I need to build the wooden boxes, my problem was defo using plastic last time.

Sub'd. Mixing up some soil this weekend, hope to learn alot here!

Due to various discussions and a bit of time to ponder, I've decided to revise the base mix for my soils. The old soil I am re-using only has 25% aeration, in the form of expanded clay pellets, biochar, vermiculite and a tiny amount of perlite. At the time I considered the coir to be partly aerating, so figured I could go lighter on actual aeration materials. I want to address the issue in the next mix, so I've altered it slightly

55L pre used soil
20L wormcastings
10L Peat
10L coco coir
10L Biochar
10L Pumice
5L Rotted wood chunks

Does this sound logical? I figure this would leave me at about 35% aeration

Joe Blows Trees said:

Sub'd. Mixing up some soil this weekend, hope to learn alot here!

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You'll be mixing yours well before me, but there's already some great info/advise coming in from some excellent contributors, and like you, I'm hoping to learn a lot here too, welcome aboard

DonBrennon said:

I've had a couple of attempts at collecting BIM's with Gill's method, but I didn't do it properly and ended up with black, purple and bright orange fungus.....not good. Plus you don't half get some funny looks walking into the forest with a backpack and a spade lol. I am gonna have another go, but it's the wrong time of year for it now and I need to build the wooden boxes, my problem was defo using plastic last time.

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I've used plastic containers for storing left over dinner in the fridge. I'm in the great lake region and it's very wooded with lots of forests. I've had pretty good luck just putting my container inside a rotten hollow log.

Just go out to the woods and get some floor litter, then make it at home where the temps are ideal for quick colonization by aerobic mycos.

I never thought of using little wooden boxs. That's a really good idea!!!

The mix I'm doing this weekend is a experimental one for quick use. I'll be transplanting in about another week or so and figured I'd make the mix and let it sit in the pots until I transplant.

1/4 ffof
1/4 espoma potting soil for the worm castings
1/4 sphagnum peat moss
1/4 aeration (pumice or rice hulls)

I have blood, bone, and kelp meal, along with greensand, azomite, and oyster shells. I'm looking for alfalfa meal, fish bone meal, crab meal, and neem meal.

I have a compost pile just starting also and I'll be ordering worms next month as my goal is to be a no till gardener by my next run! Any advice you have on my idea for the quick mix I listed is definitely appreciated!

DonBrennon said:

Due to various discussions and a bit of time to ponder, I've decided to revise the base mix for my soils. The old soil I am re-using only has 25% aeration, in the form of expanded clay pellets, biochar, vermiculite and a tiny amount of perlite. At the time I considered the coir to be partly aerating, so figured I could go lighter on actual aeration materials. I want to address the issue in the next mix, so I've altered it slightly

55L pre used soil
20L wormcastings
10L Peat
10L coco coir
10L Biochar
10L Pumice
5L Rotted wood chunks

Does this sound logical? I figure this would leave me at about 35% aeration

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That sounds about right. Ratios are more forgiving with organics just as long as the soil has had enough time to cook and age/stabilize.

Your right, coir does have aeration, but it also depends on the type of cut...
Pith is very fine like peat and gets super soggy.
Coir is almost like coffee grounds in texture. Holds alot of moisture but also has SOME aeration as it pulls 02 in after the watering.
Fiber is awesome stuff, it's stringy like the coco hanging baskets, but also has a decent amount of water holding but, naturally by its stringy texture, it's very good for aeration.
Chip, well it's exactly just that, .... a chip of coco coir, sorta like bark and it too is awesome. Holds alot ore water than the fiber but not nearly as much as the pith. The best aeration out of all the coco product.

Joe Blows Trees said:

The mix I'm doing this weekend is a experimental one for quick use. I'll be transplanting in about another week or so and figured I'd make the mix and let it sit in the pots until I transplant.

1/4 ffof
1/4 espoma potting soil for the worm castings
1/4 sphagnum peat moss
1/4 aeration (pumice or rice hulls)

I have blood, bone, and kelp meal, along with greensand, azomite, and oyster shells. I'm looking for alfalfa meal, fish bone meal, crab meal, and neem meal.

I have a compost pile just starting also and I'll be ordering worms next month as my goal is to be a no till gardener by my next run! Any advice you have on my idea for the quick mix I listed is definitely appreciated!

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You looks fine, just make sure to hydrate it with AACT. And let it cook for 1 month.

The only thing I'd add is a little mag sulfate. Cannabis largely relies in sulfur to produce powerful terpenes.

Joe Blows Trees said:

The mix I'm doing this weekend is a experimental one for quick use. I'll be transplanting in about another week or so and figured I'd make the mix and let it sit in the pots until I transplant.

1/4 ffof
1/4 espoma potting soil for the worm castings
1/4 sphagnum peat moss
1/4 aeration (pumice or rice hulls)

I have blood, bone, and kelp meal, along with greensand, azomite, and oyster shells. I'm looking for alfalfa meal, fish bone meal, crab meal, and neem meal.

I have a compost pile just starting also and I'll be ordering worms next month as my goal is to be a no till gardener by my next run! Any advice you have on my idea for the quick mix I listed is definitely appreciated!

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Hey joe, what you doin wi that gun in your hand (Sorry,I love Jimi Hendrix and couldn't help myself pmsl). I'm far from an expert, I only went organic 2 years ago and I'm in UK so don't know anything about ffof or espoma soil.

Many people have a gripe with using blood and bone meal because of the chances of pathogens or diseases, I used both in my original mix, (it's a noob thing I think, it seems everybody finds the rev first) and I don't have the same hang ups about them. 'Fish, blood and bonemeal' and 'Bonemeal' are THE staples of the organic veggie growing scene over here and I've never heard of any problems arising from them.

I'd go lightly with the blood meal and the alfalfa or just use them in your compost pile, they're both real hot amendments and could cause nitrogen toxicity/burn if overused even after cooking.

I've never used azomite, because of availability, from what I've read, if you planning on no till or ROLS, you wanna drop it and add basalt rock dust, something about aluminium causing problems.

Organics seems pretty flexible as long as you go lightly with hot amendments, read things, try things, see what works for you and your set up.

Most of all enjoy it, problems are for learning from, not getting stressed about

Grandpa GreenJeans said:

You looks fine, just make sure to hydrate it with AACT. And let it cook for 1 month.

The only thing I'd add is a little mag sulfate. Cannabis largely relies in sulfur to produce powerful terpenes.

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Do you think I should add a little epsom salt to my mix? I did suffer some mag def in late growth, this run, which I treated with an epsom foliar(with the same soil, re-amended without any epsom). Do you think adding some to my biochar/wood chunk charging soak, would be more beneficial, more chance of staying in the soil longer?

What can I do?? I've got a spider mite infestation in my worm compost bin not sure what to use to keep them out of it.. anyone?

Still Blazin87 said:

What can I do?? I've got a spider mite infestation in my worm compost bin not sure what to use to keep them out of it.. anyone?

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It's not spider mite if it's in your worm bin, they feed off the sap of living plants, they're probably beneficial composters or predators and unless they are a real explosive population which might compete for food with your worms, they're nothing to worry about.

If you really want rid of them, I've heard putting a slice of melon on top for a while attracts them, then you destroy the infested melon

Predatory might ay? OK well I've got spider mites on my tomatoes plants for sure and different types kinds of mites in my bin. Say I made made a AACT would the mites be bad if they were in the tea and got in to my soil from watering?

Getting some awesome coloration on some of my leaves

Dutch passion - Blueberry. Not far off now, took a sugar leaf off and they look around 40/60 cloudy/clear


The rotted wood I intend to bust up for aeration (is rotted wood aeration or water retention?)


New additions to my organic plant family,you get some real bargain this time of year. Curry plant(back), lavender & rosemary getting a treat while there's a bit of space. They'll be moved to the window sill soon until summer when they'll go outside for a while.

[ Say I made made a AACT would the mites be bad if they were in the tea and got in to my soil from watering?[/QUOTE]

I don't think so, I'd assume they'd drown, but your soil IS where you actually want these mites IMHO, scoop some up and throw it in