I bought one at Lowe’s for about $100.
Lob
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Nice! I was considering it, decided since this should be the last time mixing soil id just duke it out by hand. Got 320 gallon mixed up yesterday and ran out of the humus and manure to finish up the other 160, but that’s fine, that gets me a good start and my soil catch crates are full
My wife and I are on opposite ends of this discussion. She refused to reuse planting mix, AT ALL.
When I first make my mix, I use sphagnum, vermiculite, and compost. The next year, I add some more compost, and maybe some perlite/vermiculite if it looks like it needs it.
Never had a problem doing this. I feed everything anyway, so they get a good dose of main nutes, and by adding some compost every year, they get plenty of microbes, etc.
Only other thing I try to add is some “seafood compost”. You can buy it in bags up here, but it’s like gold. We eat a lot of crabs, lobster, and shrimp, so I put the shells in a heavy duty trash bag and do my “Makin’ Compost Boogy” dance on it for a few minutes, and then mix into my big compost pile. I get 4-5yrd of compost delivered, nice rich stuff, hasn’t done me wrong yet.
Lob
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She really needs to have some good convos with the large scale growers in Cali then, they will all tell ya how each year the more runs they put on their soil the better quality the grows get every year, I try not to let my soil sit unused for that very reason, if I don’t have pot growing in it I’m running veggies to keep it active but aside from reamending and letting it sit for a few weeks to cook or letting a new batch cook, that’s about the only down time my soil gets. I’m over it with the moss though, the hydrofoil properties of it has me pulling out my hair during watering times, going coir instead! Seafood compost is prob an excellent amendment for your area, our water here is naturally full of calcium and oyster shell ends up in my compost teas and eggshells get thrown at my worms so I’d be concerned overdoing it with an amendment like that on calcium
My feedings are every 10-14 days bubbling up revs compost tea recipe with a few added ingredients and modifications that I’ve found to be excellent changeups, main one I’ll share is blending up fresh aloe leaves into the base water, aloe is phenomenal in a garden!
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What is the hydrofoil issue you mention? Not sure I’ve run into it.
Lob
When peat completely dries out and you go to water it, it splashes back and doesn’t absorb right away, u have to get it wet and wait for a few min for it to actually soak in then water again, I use fabric grow bags so when I water the soil doesn’t take it very easy and watch it all go rushing out the fabric sides anywhere it can find a path without soaking in so I have to splash it, leave it and come back to it and water again. With compost tea feedings it creates a lot of waste from trying to root drench and it just rolls right off the medium or out the sides of the bags and not sure how much actually absorbed in the soil. To battle that issue last year I was watering the fuck out of em the day before my feedings so when I dumped the tea on medium the following day the peat wouldn’t be dry creating the hydrofoil splashing back the tea. Coir as an amendment is used for the same purpose as peat but it absorbs immediately even when dry, wouldn’t suggest coir for beginners though cuz it’s easier to overwater and/or create issues with fungus gnats
I haven’t run into that, but I mostly use “self wicking” tubs/containers, so they draw moisture up from the bottom.
My big tubs are 25gal. I build an “airspace” in the bottom, and water when the reservoir is empty.
Lob
Ya, that makes sense, your setup wouldn’t allow for the peat to dry up and not watering from the top.
Even the big tubs have trouble keeping up with a 6’ plant tho. I think this year I’m going to put in a watering system for the tubs and my garden beds, and just put everything on a timer, so i comes on for like 30mins, off for 12hrs, on for 30mins, rinse and repeat.
Lob
Holy crap u water frequently, I water every 4-5 days!
With the tubs it’s easy in the beginning. You only fill the reservoir when it needs it…usually every 4-5 days. But when they get cranking, they can go through some H20 where I am. Almost always a breeze/wind which is good and bad.
Lob
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Ah, ya wind is pretty bad here to. Outdoor grows arent a thing because of it. I got a greenhouse and battle extreme heat especially with the greenhouse effect but a swamp cooler seems to take the edge off at least, adding the moisture prob helps slow the water consumption id assume too
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Makes sense. 2yrs ago I did some 7gal fabric grow-bags?
Really bad idea. They’d dry out so fast that I’d have to water them twice a day.
If I were going to use them again, I’d wrap them in plastic… 
Lob
I think he meant hydrophobic.
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Hydro phobic? Fear of water? Hydrofoil bud is when there’s a barrier against the water or water resistance. It’s when you pour water on a dry pot and see it just bead on the top instead of soaking and draining through
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Hydrofoils are used on boats, like aerofoils are used on airplanes, to increase speed by lifting part of the boat out of the water… hydrophobicity, in chemistry, is when a molecule repels water.
Definitions aside, yes, peat is a bloody pain in the ass to top-water.
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I was referring to this:
Hydrophobic is a property of a substance that repels water . It means lacking affinity for water, and tending to repel or not to absorb water. Hydrophobic molecules tend to be non-polar molecules and group together. Oils and fats are hydrophobic.
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Anyone actually used my recipe or considered something close?
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I use a similar recipe, but as an indoor grower i only need 75 gallons or so for a full cycle. Just popped in to mention my easy way of mixing that much.
Just pour your ingredients onto a corner quadrant of a 10x10 tarp, and lift the corner until the ingredients move to another quadrant. Then lift again and keep circling the tarp, lifting repeatedly.
Its really not very physical, unless everything is wet, but it can be a bit time consuming.
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Not a bad method one bit! We get a lot of wind in our area and did my mixing 20 gallons at a time in a huge storage tote in my 12 x 16 greenhouse, got the job done but would have preferred a cement mixer lol
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