I’ve been working with that too - just got my mix tested by Logan Labs and paid for a phone consult with their pro agronomist - well worth it
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Super interesting. So any explanation for why he switched to a higher ratio of peat? Someone on another forum suggested, perhaps because vermiculite is expensive for large scale commercial use.
This is getting a bit cumbersome now with all the ingredients… I used to like (and still enjoy) the simplicity of his 50/50 + 2 small amendments.
That was fine for home use, but now… not so sure anymore… his whole system just became a lot more complicated it seems…
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How out of whack was your soil?
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The tests showed my mix was too hot - soluble salts were coming at over 1600. Also it had too much magnesium and sulfur. Bill told me to drop the Langbeinite and reduce added compost and fertilizer.
My biggest mistake was not realizing that compost can be quite hot and release a lot of nutes and minerals. Bill advises no more than 5% added compost. To increase the “living soil” aspect he advises added hummus to the mix - aged stuff that is not hot w/ nutrients. The nutes and minerals in compost vary widely and can’t be predicted.
This goes directly against stoner wisdom and the “Clackamas Coot” recipe of 1/3rd peat/coir, 1/3 compost, and 1/3rd aeration.
The tests help me realize, after years of growing, that the symptoms of too much nutes can look the same as too little. Too much nutes or minerals like magnesium cause lock-out. You get yellowing leaves but adding more nutes doesn’t help. It took the soil test for me to realize the problem was too much. I made a new base mix, got it tested, and started seedlings - the jury is still out but I’ll know in a few weeks how it does.
Dropping the Langbeinite was huge - the tests show my mix already had enough potassium and magnesium, and then some! Bill said putting Langbeinite in a base mix is a terrible idea - it’s highly soluble and immediately releases a ton of minerals with the first watering. He said keep it on the shelf just in case a quick adjustment or boost of cal/mag/po is ever needed but not in the base mix.
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Any more thoughts on the Utah course? 
I mean part of the whole thing is that this is a lab focussed on cannabis growth, and as they are conducting scientific experiments they won’t just find one thing that is best and never test something else again.
You can grow cannabis in dirt, water, peat, pretty much anything. Maybe a year back they found their soil medium worked quite well and was simple for a home grower. As this course is more focussed they may go into further details and it seems they have tested new materials. Wollastonite seems to be quite new to the market, I personally can’t easily find it anywhere but it would add Ca and Si to the soil. Hydrated lime will add again more Ca along with being quite basic to raise the pH of the media.
Hell, with the wollastonite apparently adding quite a bit of silica, something like the rice hulls may not be truly needed, and one could go with straight vermiculite or throw in a bit of perlite.
We don’t truly know how beneficial any of these items are, maybe this provides 10% greater yields vs straight pro-mix, maybe it is 30%. Whether it is worthwhile to you is a different matter.
Wollastonite is 48% CaO and 52% SiO2. They found that it will raise your PH by .5 over the course of 60 days.
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I did find that retailer, unfortunately, it seems they only ship to a small area (or at least not my area) so it would be about 2.5h of driving to pick this up. There is another new company called CW Grow that is marketing Wollastonite to gardeners, just waiting to hear back if they have any distribution near me.
Did they mention the reason for rice hulls at all? Is it just for their aeration abilities and silica content provided? By the way, thank you for all the info you have already provided!
Do you know why kind of a test they are using for those numbers? Is that a Melich 3, AA 8.2, saturated paste, etc?
I think Diatomaceous Earth and Greensand add silicon too. Crushed oyster shells is a really nice amendment for calcium and raising pH
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i thought so too, but been investigating a bit…
http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/degen.html
Silicon is a major component of diatomaceous earth. It is the second most abundant element in soils. It’s a common component of rocks, sands, and clays. It is also abundant in plants and plays a role in their growth and development. Due to its chemical makeup, diatomaceous earth is not degraded by microbes or by sunlight. Also, it does not emit vapors or dissolve well in water.
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I know! Greensand is also known for taking years to become solvent and release its minerals. Not sure how much benefit there is to adding these to indoor containers but I do it anyway 
Maybe the plant roots will use it if they need to…
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That’s true but it needs to be SiO2 to be available to the plants to uptake
Why does he us a wetting agent? Also why does he use Hydrated Lime over Dolomite Lime? Lastly does anyone know where to find wollastonite in the U.S.?
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“They use 75% peat 25% vermiculite with Jack’s 20-10-20 with added Phos, copper, silica”
What do they use for the extra Phos, copper, silica?
Im not sure, but I believe it could be solubility.
This is exactly the reference I was trying to find to see if I could use my box of langbeinite dissolved as a K boost in late flower, because I already did it, and the buds seem to be fattening already! Glad to find this corroboration that I should use it this way and not in soil any more.
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Kis Organics has Wollastinite
That’s a lot of stuff to watch, and I happened to not have any problem with the girl in the miniskirt. It seems to make me pay attention better. 
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