Soil Recipes and Amendment Definitions

The Soil Amendments Plus:
A soil amendment is any material added to a soil to improve its physical properties, such as water retention, permeability, water infiltration, drainage, aeration and structure. The goal is to provide a better environment for roots.
To do its work, an amendment must be thoroughly mixed into the soil. If it is merely buried, its effectiveness is reduced, and it will interfere with water and air movement and root growth.
Amending a soil is not the same thing as mulching, although many mulches also are used as amendments. A mulch is left on the soil surface. Its purpose is to reduce evaporation and runoff, inhibit weed growth, and create an attractive appearance. Mulches also moderate soil temperature, helping to warm soils in the spring and cool them in the summer. Mulches may be incorporated into the soil as amendments after they have decomposed to the point that they no longer serve their purpose.

Perlite: Volcanic glass that has been expanded with heat to make a white pebbles. Many prefer large size perlite because it lasts longer. For containers

Vermiculite: Vermiculite is a naturally occurring mineral composed of shiny flakes, resembling mica. When heated to a high temperature, flakes of vermiculite expand as much as 8-30 times their original size.

Pumice: Pumice is a type of extrusive volcanic rock, produced when lava with a very high content of water and gases (together these are called volatiles) is extruded (or thrown out of) a volcano.

Grits and Sands: Chicken Grit, Sharp Sand, Builder's Sand, not small grain or play sand!

Horticultural Charcoals:
Terra Preta = Compost plus Charcoal.
WoodChar: Low to medium temps, longer lasting. Soak in tea pre-use to charge with nutrients.
BioChar: Low temperature charcoal from wood & leafy plants.
Charred Rice Hulls: The favorite choice of many for DIY

Compost: Plant matter than has decomposed.

VermiCompost: Worm castings. Nutritional value varies. ie 1-1-1

Peat Moss: Common soil builder. Peat + Compost = soil.

Lime: pH stabilizer and Calcium/Magnesium source
Agricultural Lime: Calcium Carbonate. Hydrated Lime = faster
Dolomite Lime: Calcium and Magnesium Carbonate

Animal Sources: bat/bird guano, manures from livestock, oyster shells, worm castings, insect frass, eggs shells, chicken manure, humanure,

Mineral (Rock): Soft/hard rock phosphate, epsom salt, Azomite, lime,

Vegetable: Kelp meal, Alfalfa meal, Cottonseed Meal, Soybean meal, charcoal, Molasses, Vinasse,

Soil Recipes:
The first two are for containers. The third 3rd is for raised beds and the ground.
Soil Recipe 1:
8 large bags of high quality organic potting soil
25-50 lbs. of organic worm castings
5 lbs. of Blood meal 12-0-0
5 lbs. Bat guano 0-5-0
5 lbs. Fish Bone Meal 3-16-0
¾ cup Epsom salt
1 cup Sweet lime (Dolomite)
½ cup Azomite ( Trace element)
2 Tbs. dry Humic acid. Mix well, wet, let sit for 2+ weeks. Subcool's Supersoil

Soil Recipe 2:
40 gallons used soil, or organic potting soil
4 cups alfalfa meal
4 cups bone meal
4 cups kelp meal
4 cups powdered dolomite lime
30 pound bag of earthworm castings . . .
That’s the basic recipe . . . However we also like to use:
4 cups of Greensand
4 cups of Rock Phosphate
4 cups of diatomaceous earth. Mix well, wet, let sit for 2+ weeks. 3LittleBirds

Soil Recipe 3:
20% Compost
20% Topsoil
15% Steer Compost
15% Mushroom Compost
20% Pumice
10% Coarse Sand
Worm Castings
VAM Mycorrhizal Fungi Professor CC

Please post your recipes!

Professor CC provides a great breakdown on the Liming Agents.

"Here's the deal on liming agents.

Calcium Carbonate Amendments

These are the 3 major forms of Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3)

Limestone - (this is what chemical reps refer to as Agricultural Lime) and will usually have a Calcium Carbonate level between 83 - 95% depending on which specific mine the product is coming out of. Limestone (Agricultural Lime) will also have a small amount of Magnesium (Mg) - about 3 - 5% depending again on which mine is the source

Calcitic Lime - this is pure Calcium Carbonate - usually around 95% and contains no traceable amount of Magnesium

Oyster Shell Powder - another pure form of Calcium Carbonate. This product is NOT from oyster shells from Happy Hour at Red Lobster. This is a specific product that is mined in the San Francisco Bay and has been since the 1920's. This is the product most often used by poultry producers, worm operations, etc. It carries a label showing 96% Calcium Carbonate

When figuring the amount of actual Calcium (Ca) when using the carbonate limes, take the total amount and multiply by 38.5% and that will (approximately) give you the actual Calcium levels.

Dolomite Lime - Calcium Magnesium Carbonate contains elemental Calcium (not Calcium Carbonate) so the numbers on the product will reflect the actual Calcium levels. The Magnesium Carbonate component is tightly bound to the elemental Calcium resulting in a much longer time period required for the Calcium to become available.

Gypsum - Calcium Sulfate Dihydrate contains both Sulfur Oxide and elemental Calcium. When broken down by microbes the sulfur releases Hydrogen (H) which will lower the pH (if necessary) and also contains Calcium which can raise the pH (again if necessary) - see Base Saturation and CeC

A typical liming agent used by organic farmers is something like this:

2x Calcium Carbonate
1x Dolomite Lime
1x Gypsum

Mix and add at the same rate if you were using a single agent.

At HomeDepot last night I looked at their products in the nursery section.

Soil Sweet - Dolomite Lime and it was less than $6.00 for 25 lbs.

Super Sweet - Limestone at around the same price

Gypsum - $8.95 for 50 lbs.

Choose your poison.

Prilled vs. Pelletized

Prilled soil amendments are coming and will eventually replace the powdered versions due to a finding by the Labor Department as it relates to worker safety. It will come to the retail market soon enough.

Prilled (as Dignan pointed out) is simply any agent that is coated with a clay thereby reducing the dust issue(s) which makes it far easier to apply to several hundred/thousand acres. The clay used for prilling processes is easily removed by water.

Pelletized is the same thing but the coating is applied thicker and a different clay is used which gives the farmer a longer source as it takes a couple of years to breakdown to the point where the actual amendment is NOW available to the soil biology to breakdown and use. You will never find this at a retail nursery."

Cranker's Special Walmart MG soil mix

Soil Mixture

MGMC 3 parts (indoor mix for indoor, outdoor mix for outdoor obviously)
MG Perlite 1 part
MG Peat Moss 2 parts
MG Bone Meal 1/2 part

11 4 9 - final mixture

Nutrients:

During Veg: MG Tomato Food 8 12 12 (1/4 str) and MG Acid Lover 30 10 10 (1/4 str)
During Flowering: MG Bloom Booster 15 30 15 (1/2 str)


If leaves begin to go deep green, in veg swap to 8 12 12 (1/2 str), in flower swap to liquid cactus food 2 7 7 (1/2 str)

I just noticed this was in the outdoor section but I'm sure it works just as well out as it has for me in.

Sounds interesting. I think sharing our mixes can shed light on each others mix and help everyone improve on their mix....especially me! haha.
Here;s basically what I do, but I don't always measure everything exact, I'm kinda like my grandma used to be when cooking...a pinch of this, a handful of that, and not really measuring anything. But here it is, for a small batch:
start with 3 bags of Vital Earths potting soil.
3 bags of VE Manna mix ( a coco based mix)
25lbs of worm castings
4 cups of bat guano 10-3-1
4 cups bat guano 3-10-1
4 cups Dr earths organic 8 bud and bloom booster
25lbs of denali gold alaskan humus
2 cups greensand
2 cups cal-phos (rock phosphate)
1/2 cup azomite
mix in 15%perlite and 15% vermiculite
This is my basic mix I use in containers, including my smart pots outside. I only need to add compost tea with fish and kelp throughout the grow cycle to get really good results, and my ph is always dead on 7. The Manna mix (coco base mix) and the vermiculite, make it very hard to over-water in this mix. It also holds moisture pretty well too, so it's pretty forgiving no matter what your watering schedule is. You definitly don't want to feed any nutes in on top of this mix, as it with tea only, will carry the plants all the way through. I don't "cook my mix long at all, maybe a week or so, and it's always worked out good for me.

sounds like the makings of a good sticky

Actually peat moss and compost are soil-less. Soil refers to various percentages of sand, silt, and clay. Ideally you would want an even mixture in garden soil. Peat moss, compost are added because they can loosen soil up, and allow for water retention. One thing you don't want to do is amend soil with sand. Adding sand to clay soil(most people have clay soil)makes cement. Many companies who make potting mix misuse the term "soil" further complicating matters. Fox Farm is probably the biggest culprit. Although they add ingredients found in soil to their potting mixes such as "Ocean Forest", the vast majority of their mix is peat moss which acts as a soil-less base to hold the other ingredients.

psychedelictripper said:

Actually peat moss and compost are soil-less. Soil refers to various percentages of sand, silt, and clay. Ideally you would want an even mixture in garden soil. Peat moss, compost are added because they can loosen soil up, and allow for water retention. One thing you don't want to do is amend soil with sand. Adding sand to clay soil(most people have clay soil)makes cement. Many companies who make potting mix misuse the term "soil" further complicating matters. Fox Farm is probably the biggest culprit. Although they add ingredients found in soil to their potting mixes such as "Ocean Forest", the vast majority of their mix is peat moss which acts as a soil-less base to hold the other ingredients.

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That's right, FF is a soiless mix. I always say I grow in "dirt", but I don't. For the most part, it's soiless ingredients all the way.

wheezer said:

That's right, FF is a soiless mix. I always say I grow in "dirt", but I don't. For the most part, it's soiless ingredients all the way.

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Here's my take on SOIL-LESS MEDIA. As stated above, true soil is a mix of silt/clay/sand.

What is an Organic Soil-less media:

Growing plants in containers without soil can be split into two categories.

A) True Hydroponics, aka liquid culture: A nutrient solution is recirculated with food (usually synthetic) and this feeds the roots to make our precious flowers.
B) True Soil-less, aka aggregate culture : A nutrient solution is supplied to plants by watering through the media, and either drained-to-waste, or reused.


Soil-less grow media has often been called hydroponics. But that is not exactly correct. Nutri-culture has been suggested to be a more accurate term for various forms of soil-less growing. And soil-less growing itself is separated into: Inorganic Media and Organic Media. Inorganic Media is also farther separated into Natural Media and Synthetic Media.


THE MEDIAS EXPLAINED:


True Hydroponics: circulating solutions, aeroponics, static solutions


Aggregate System -> Inorganic Media (Hydroponics) -> Natural Media: sand, gravel, rockwool, perlite, vermiculite, pumice, expanded clay.

Aggregate System -> Inorganic Media (Hydroponics) -> Synthetic Media: oasis, hydrogel, foam mats (PET) and (PUR)

Aggregate System -> Organic Media: Peat, Sawdust, Bark, Cocofiber (the non-soil dirts).

Definitions vary depending on source. Here's my source: http://ressources.ciheam.org/om/pdf/c31/CI020854.pdf

Here is another source, with a slightly different definition:

Soilless culture is an artificial means of providing plants with support and a reservoir for nutrients and water. The simplest and oldest method for soilless culture is a vessel of water in which inorganic chemicals are dissolved to supply all of the nutrients that plants require. Often called solution culture or water culture, the method was originally termed hydroponics (i. e., "water working") by W. F. Gericke in the 1930s. Over the years, hydroponics has been used sporadically throughout the world as a commercial means of growing both food and ornamental plants. Today, it is used widely in research facilities as a technique for studying plant nutrition. Various modifications of pure-solution culture have occurred. Gravel or sand is sometimes used in soilless systems to provide plant support, and retain some nutrients and water. The retention of nutrients and water can be further improved through the use of spaghnum peat, vermiculite, or bark chips. These are the most commonly used materials, but others - such as rice hulls, bagasse (sugarcane refuse), sedge peat, and sawdust - are used sometimes as constituents in soilless mixes. Straw bales have been used as growing medium in England and Canada. Rockwool (porous stone fiber) is used in Europe, but there is little experience with it in this country. Since the major constituent of the media in artificial growing systems may be solid or liquid, it is appropriate to use the term soilless culture in reference to this general type of growing system and reserve the term hydroponics for those in which water is the principal constituent. Soilless culture methods may thus be classified as either solid- or liquid-medium systems.

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http://vric.ucdavis.edu/pdf/hydroponics_soillesscultureofgreenhouse%20vegetables.pdf

The main reason I bring it up is people who don't garden at all or who have limited experience might pick up a bag of potting soil and think it's good to grow this like MJ or whatever. Turns into bricks. The industry should really stop confusing consumers. Bottom line is if you're growing in a container you want something relatively light and fluffy so nothing compacts. In the ground? Lots of organic matter, all varieties, trace minerals from fish products etc. All that good stuff.

Thanks for the great information. I basically use something like your second recipe.

Soil Recipe 2:
40 gallons used soil, or organic potting soil
4 cups alfalfa meal
4 cups bone meal
4 cups kelp meal
4 cups powdered dolomite lime
30 pound bag of earthworm castings . . .
That’s the basic recipe

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This is my super simple recipe to make the roughly 40 gallons of soil needed, then i add the fertilizer and age it in my compost tumbler. Usually i add more coco, but this mix actually felt pretty good. Any suggestions?

1 ($10) Bale of Peat 3.0 Cu Ft
1 ($10) Bale of Coco 2.5 Cu Ft
1 ($25) Bag of Compost/Castings/Humus 25 lb
1 ($_5) Bag of Silica Sand (pool filtration sand) 50 lb


If you replace the peat with perlite, my recipe is most similar to this: By Melinda, on May 30th, 2009.

1 Part Aged Compost (locally sourced or homemade)* or 1/2 Aged Compost, 1/2 Aged Manure
1 Part Coconut Coir
1 Part Pumice (a volcanic rock) or Perlite (a volcanic glass)
1 Part Sand

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Edit:
You would suggest using a builders sand like this over the pool filter sand, right?

Was such a great post how is it only one page!

Greenthumbs256 said:

Was such a great post how is it only one page!

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If u have a look at the date of the last post you will prob realise why every one forgot to keep the post going in the days to come after

Only 6 years old. How long did it take you to dig this one up?

GrowGorilla said:

Only 6 years old. How long did it take you to dig this one up?

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Was actually searching Google about amendments I decided to re do this post and don't worry I gave credit to the guy who posted this.