Worm Castings or Castings + Another form of compost?

Hi Everyone,

I am in my third grow at this point and everything is going well. For the last two cycles I have used the base recipe of a mix Rasta Roy gave me about a year ago now. My last cycle with the strain Green Crack was amazing.

What I have been using the last two cycles now:

= parts of
- Worm Castings
- Peat moss
- Perlite
+ 1/4 cup oyster shell flour per cubic foot

I then have been using the general organics line of nutrients and I have been using the feed schedule on the box including the BioMarine and the Diamond Black. I usually use RO Water. However if I can't make it to the store to grab water I always have tap water that has been bubbled to remove the chlorine. Also every third feed I make a tea with 1 cup of worm castings, 4 tbsp of kelp meal and 10ml of hi brix molasses that I bubble for 24 hours. I then usually flush on the fourth feed and repeat.

I am wondering if on my next cycle I could save a few bucks and use 1/2 worm castings & 1/2 sea compost (Sea Compost with Peat, Seaweed and Shrimp)
and have the same results or possibly even better results?

The price difference is about $18 per bag.

I appreciate your thoughts on the subject, Thanks!

A very worthy experiment no doubt..

What I would maybe do to save money... is simply up the aeration to 45% vs 33.. and perhaps introduce leaf mould/compost and DIY worm castings, both of which can be made for free, minus a little bit of labour. Biochar would also up your game, and plant sizes / soil - life force. And that can be made for free too, essentially.

In other words, your entire base could be potentially free..
if cutting costs was a big priority.

Welcome to the good (quality) jungle by the way!

DonTesla said:

A very worthy experiment no doubt..

What I would maybe do to save money... is simply up the aeration to 45% vs 33.. and perhaps introduce leaf mould/compost and DIY worm castings, both of which can be made for free, minus a little bit of labour. Biochar would also up your game, and plant sizes / soil - life force. And that can be made for free too, essentially.

In other words, your entire base could be potentially free..
if cutting costs was a big priority.

Welcome to the good (quality) jungle by the way!

Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply!

By upping the aeration you're saying increase my perlite to 45% of my overall mix? Perlite is definitely fairly cheap!

I am not currently composting in my backyard, but I have plans on purchasing a compost bin and starting to create my own at home compost. I also have been looking for a good deal on a worm bin to be able to create my own vermicompost as well. I know these will cut down my costs quite a bit once I get them up and running.

I also found a place near me that sells Biochar as I don't have the space to make it. It seems semi hard to find within Canada? The stuff I found is called SoilMatrix Biochar. What kind of application amount would you recommend ? Similar to the 1/4 cup per cubic foot or more? Thanks for the tip. It looks like a very interesting amendment.

Cutting cost's isn't my main priority as I am willing to pay to grow the best quality smoke I can. My thought of saving money for the compost was part of it, but I was thinking that the sea compost might add a bunch of minerals and elements that I am missing out on by purely using worm castings. When I am done with the liquid nutrients I have stocked I am seriously considering switching to a mix that I recycle and use only organic within the mix.

Browsing the ROLS thread I found some information on Biochar.

Biochar: up to 10% of the mix, remember to "activate" it first by soaking in EWC/fish hydrolysate or something for the carbon to absorb so it doesn't rob your soil of nutrients. I use about 1/2 cup per cuft, but could easily double that amount.

ser1ousf1sh said:

Browsing the ROLS thread I found some information on Biochar.

Biochar: up to 10% of the mix, remember to "activate" it first by soaking in EWC/fish hydrolysate or something for the carbon to absorb so it doesn't rob your soil of nutrients. I use about 1/2 cup per cuft, but could easily double that amount.

Click to expand...

Yea its extremely porous and can have absolutely massive surface area.
I see you can begin to get a lot of benefits from it even at such a low percentage (1/2 cup = just 0.4% of mix)
I prefer to charge it dry and slowly as well as aerobically vs a soak or submerge style.. even over an aerated soak.
.. but I did notice big improvements as soon as I got even just 1 and 2% into the mix.

Now I like to aerate my worm farms with it, and charge it slowly via the womies, well before it gets mixed into any soil.

It aids germination, helps flower faster, helps fight bacteria death during drought, improves soil structure, basically ups your engines (soil's) horse power.. gotta love the stuff..

DonTesla said:

Yea its extremely porous and can have absolutely massive surface area.
I see you can begin to get a lot of benefits from it even at such a low percentage (1/2 cup = just 0.4% of mix)
I prefer to charge it dry and slowly as well as aerobically vs a soak or submerge style.. even over an aerated soak.
.. but I did notice big improvements as soon as I got even just 1 and 2% into the mix.

Now I like to aerate my worm farms with it, and charge it slowly via the womies, well before it gets mixed into any soil.

It aids germination, helps flower faster, helps fight bacteria death during drought, improves soil structure, basically ups your engines (soil's) horse power.. gotta love the stuff..

Click to expand...

Don I see you are in Canada as well. Are you making your own Biochar or are you purchasing it ? The place that was supposed to carry it is apparently no longer carrying it.

Having a hard time locally (Ontario) to find it from.

Thanks

I figured I would also share some pictures of my garden here in this thread.

Tips are appreciated!