2012 Organic Soil Mix

[HaGGarD]

Whats up guys names HaGGarD im out of Boston, first post. Anyways, I figured I would share the soil mix and over-all plan I have for my first tobacco grow.

I plan on sprouting 50 Turkish Early seeds, and maybe some CT's. The strongest 25 will end up in 5 or 8 gal buckets to finish their life cycle.

I was wondering if anyone else mixes their own soil organically? My current mix is

8 cf Pro-Mix Peat Moss
2 cf Home-Made Compost
2 cf Crushed Lava Rock
2 cf Earthworm Castings
4 cups Bat Guano
6 cups Epsona Plant Tone 5-3-3
4 cups Azomite
2 cups Oyster Shell Flour
2 cups Alfalfa Meal
2 cups Kelp Meal

To this soil mix I will also be topdressing the containers with about 2 inches of fresh Earthworm Castings. Also I am doing some baterica and fermented plants extracts, but i'll most that much later.

Thanks guys happy to be here

 

[Daniel]

I did mix a soil last year. I had no intention of it being organic. My mix looked like this
One part peat moss to one part compost to make what I will call the base.

One part base with one part sand. This gives a ratio of .25 compost .25 peat moss to .50 sand.

This was then mixed with half of a part (I worked with 5 gallon buckets) with a heavy clay soil.

This mix worked very well and remained very soft and workable. It will be getting mixed almost 50 50 with home made compost this year.

I also started a worm compost bin but just did so this past week. I will not likely get enough worm casting to add to my buckets this year.

Thanks for you list of additional ingredients. I will have to look into them to see if they will help improve my soil.
Do you have any sources for purchasing them. I notice your entire recipe makes a little over half a yard of soil. I probably only have about a yard or so total for my 132 buckets.

 

[deluxestogie]

Welcome to the forum. That's quite an exotic soil mix. Be sure to let us know how it works out.

If you click on My Profile (upper right), and add your location to your profile, it will appear in all of your posts, and will be helpful to other members in responding.

Best of luck in your growing.

Bob

 

[HaGGarD]

Dan.

I have used this kind of soil mix to grow just about anything. The reason I add all those meals is to the microbes can break them down into a form the plants can update. I will ONLY be adding water and botanical teas.

Also if I really wanted, I could remove just the rootball and stalk of a plant, and transplant a new seedling into the same soil mix and it will do even better. Items like the Azomite take along time to break down, just like the Osyter Shell Flour, which is why I re-use my soil mixes.

If you were to just buy some Kelp meal (animal feed stores) or Alfalfa meal (or peats) and mix them with equal parts water. Then let them sit for aweek or so, strain and dilute the mixture 25-1 with water you will be a believer.


Also I perfer to keep my location semi-private. This is da intAnet haha

 

[HaGGarD]

Dan

Also what type of peat did you use? The Pro-Mix I got was simply amazing, and it already had some fungi and bacteria in it. Double score.

 

[dkh2]

I just usually build up my garden area's with cow and horse manure compost and regular compost
Then some worm castings. Then add some Bio-Endo Plus.
(contains 4 species of Endomycorrhizal Fungi, 2 species of Trichoderma and a Bio-Stimulant)
and boy does it work

 

[Jitterbugdude]

8 cf Pro-Mix Peat Moss
2 cf Home-Made Compost
2 cf Crushed Lava Rock
2 cf Earthworm Castings
4 cups Bat Guano
6 cups Epsona Plant Tone 5-3-3
4 cups Azomite
2 cups Oyster Shell Flour
2 cups Alfalfa Meal
2 cups Kelp Meal

I've used most of these in the past. Just to comment on a few:
Crushed Lava Rock: Only useful if the vendor you are buying from will actually publish what the paramagnetic number is. If he does not, don't bother it is probably worthless.
Bat Guano: I'm always low in phosphorus so I make sure I get the high "P" guano as opposed to the high "N"
Azomite: I've used this and its similar cousins Soft Rock Phosphate and Desert Dynamin. I haven't used any for a few years though after I read research they they all contain high levels of radioactive substances that the plants (particularly tobacco) absorb. One of these days I'll do some more research on the subject.
Kelp Meal: I used to use this quite often too but haven't for a few years. I think this stuff is really fantastic as a foliar spray, not so much for soil
Oyster Shell Flour: Probably a better calcium product to use would be Aragonite.
Home made compost: Fantastic stuff but make sure if you are using any manure to only use organic manure. The non organic manure is loaded with herbicides and pesticides and if it's chicken manure it is loaded with arsenic.

 

[Chicken]

i use chickenmanure/ and a sawdust mix,,, about 6-800 lbs each year..

so far no plant burn,, and it does great<

 

[HaGGarD]

Jitter

I do usethe high P Guano, its just going to take awhile to break down enough to acutally use it. And the Osyter Shell Flour is pretty cheap, so I figured thats and maybe some roasted egg shells would cover my bases.

Thanks for the input though, on another forum I get to learn from an Oregon Tilth Society member who grows just about everything.

Do you mess with any AACT's or biotanical teas? The things I have been learning about Comfrey and Horsetail Ferns is amazing.

 

[Daniel]

For this year my numbers are off the chart for my entire crop. We will grow 150 plants in our back yard in 5 gallon buckets. Btu the main crop is an hours drive from here and will require 15 yards of compost just to put a 3 inch layer of it down for each plant. 30 yards to lay down a 3 inch layer 2 feet wide and the length of our rows. 13 rows 135 feet long.
I put an add in craig's list. hopefully some local horse ranchers will be looking for a place to unload old bedding etc.
As for the meals. They simply get way to expensive on this scale. I spent $20 for a box of blood meal last year. I will look into the others but need a source at farmers prices.

 

[johnlee1933]

Dan.


Also I perfer to keep my location semi-private. This is da intAnet haha

I totally agree but something like near NYC or Boston or such would help those trying to help you

John

 

[HaGGarD]

Check animal feed stores and see if you can source any alfalfa meal or pellets. So far the stuff I have read is impressive. I got some meal and seed coming to me along with some comfrey root and other random plant material to mess around with.

 

[Daniel]

I just crunched some numbers. Allowing only 1 cf per plant and calculating the ingredients needed for this mix I would need
61 yards of worm castings
30 gallons of bat guano
275 lbs of plant tone
90 lbs of oyster shell
45 lbs of alfalfa meal
45 lbs kelp meal
The only meals I have ever found in this area run about $4 per lb making the meals estimated at $180 each.
I think I could get the Espoma for around $180 not including shipping on a 275 lb shipment. 5-3-3 seems really low for what I have seen others use on tobacco. I don't know what the other parts are adding in though.
I am not even going to attempt to price the bat guano or earthworm castings. in short it will cost me more in fertilizer before I am done that it would cost to buy the tobacco.

I also have a huge concern that no matter what I apply the soil will just lock it up. Everything I have seen for the soil were my big lot is says they add compost, compost, compost. I ran a craigs list add for compost and didn't get a sniff. Might just be the time of year.

My favorite idea for fertilizer is Rainbow plant food for Tobacco. Btu all I can find is their home page and they do not list distributors. anyone know where to buy the stuff?