What's your Favorite Living Soil Recipes?

You the man! Nice to meet ya! I agree , I grew my own mushroom blocks as well (oysters) they were dense back in the day ! I think its cool that little mushrooms pop up in my soil mixes at times . Matter of fact my interest in mycology has improved me tremendously as a grower! It was Paul Staments “ Running with mycelium” that really propelled me forward into the next stages Of it all !

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I had a similar idea. I was thinking about cubensis as well, but now I’m closer to the idea of ​​starting a King stropharia. It has been proven to be an excellent partner in growing vegetables, catching and eating root-eating nematodes, enriching co2 … But I have doubts about watering. Perhaps some kind of plant irrigation system would be a good idea. And manually regulate the moisture of the mycelium. It is more resistant to light and the mycelium will expand as much as food is added to it. In this case it is straw. It is immediately mulched…

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What do you think about pinto bean compost as well?

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That’s a new one to me.
if you’re talking about grinding up dried pinto beans for mulch as an enzyme treatment, similar to the malted barley technique, that application would work.

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I don’t know much about it, but I know Buildasoil has some pinto compost as part of one of their composts

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Beans and seeds contain enzymes and plant hormones which are beneficial, but these compounds break down in the composting process. In this application that would be a source of green matter for the compost, I imagine the outcome would be similar to compost made from other nutrient rich crop residuals. buying it from organic produce farms is probably a good way for them to get certified organic green matter for use in their compost.

basically, sounds fine, but don’t pay extra for it.

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Now that I think about it, they were probably inspired by the traditional “three sisters” agricultural technique of cultivating beans, squash, and corn in the same plot of soil.

Here is a good book on that subject, if anybody wants to do some really in depth study on the traditional three sisters method, which in modern terms would be considered a form of permaculture or regenerative agriculture. The three sisters technique works over a course of years in a no-till plot, each crop fixes a different set of nutrients and feeds the others in turn.

In order to really see the unique benefits of the three sisters approach, you would need to actually practice this technique yourself in a no-till plot.

So again, in this buildasoil compost, the pinto beans are really just a source of green matter, very similar to using any other nutrient rich crop residuals. Fine, but not worth paying extra for.

edit- I’ll snap a picture of that book I mentioned and add it to the post shortly.

edit 2 years later- the book is “Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability” by David Holmgren.

shoutout @cannabissequoia for the reminder

quick review-
(I read the practical stuff about permaculture technique, and that was informative for me.
it is more focused on farming than gardening. it doesn’t have much about adapting these techniques for use in an existing garden.
there is probably a more concise book about permaculture out there.
I skipped a lot of chapters that strayed off topic to discussions about the sustainability of industrial farming and other stuff.)

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:coffin: BUMP! :skull:

:yawning_face:

So I’ve got no dirt. :unamused: It’s a big giant rock where I live & I’m trying to figure out what to build some dirt with. Haven’t checked the materials yards yet.

Importing stuff seems dumb & costly.

Have been considering emailing Jeremy at BuildASoil & Dragonfly Earth Medicine to get some advice…

@ Hawaii growers?

:evergreen_tree:

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thank you for taking time to write this very complete list down in one place. i have a lot of print outs with this information you mentioned here. i am always like where is this page or that page, where did i set it down? check everywhere? where the heck did i find that info on line? i just finished printing your post to be laminated for easy use, and to put an end to my paper pile shuffle. hide & seek. great work and post! :pray: :man_student: :peace_symbol:

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I still use what BOG taught me

1 bag walmart brand potting soil
1 bag perlite
1 bag vermiculite
1 cup blood meal
1 cup bone meal
Mix well.

Works great. BOG was awesome.

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A friend recommended me a cheap organic pelletized fertilizer, so please advise.

N (total nitrogen) 5 %
P205 (phosphorus pentoxide) 3%,
K20 (potassium oxide) 3%,
CaO (calcium oxide) 9%,
MgO (magnesium oxide) 2%,
Endomycorrhizal fungi: Claroideoglomus etunicatum, Rhizophagus intraradices, Claroideoglomus claroideum – 10 cm3 per 1 kg,
leonardite with high-quality humic and fulvic acid 6 g/1kg
potassium humate 0.5%.
Dry matter higher than 90%

I would mix a light peat substrate, perlite, wormcasting and this fertilizer

If someone can recommend the quantities I need.

I also have barley malt, some liquid with beneficial bacteria, aloe growing in the yard…

I would try that on two plants, so if it works…
Thank you

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Looks good, especially with all the fungal amendments already in it.

Not sure what amounts you mean.

For soil I would go Peat moss at around 50% Perlite 15% worm cast 15% and normally I would use 20% compost of either sheep or cow manure.

Then when that soil starts to deplete in nutrients add your fertilizer at what is recommended on the lable.

You could just use peat moss, worm cast and perlite and increase the amounts of peat moss, but not sure how much ferts you could add.

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what is it? :thinking:

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Thanks @Shadey
Would it be better if the mycorrhiza entered the soil earlier? Maybe I should introduce it earlier with another preparation?
@noknees
I’m in southern Europe and it’s a local brand. It has all the necessary EU certificates for organic agriculture
It is 15$ for 10 kg

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If you mean earlier than the plant, then yes an established balanced soil is better than one still cooking and breaking stuff down, but it depends on how quickly your ferts will break down, if they are quite fast it might not matter to much, as you can add mycorrhizae to your plants roots while up potting, if you buy some separately to use.

I use mycorrhizae powder on the tap roots of my geminating seed’s. Moist paper towel, seeds and a dusting of mycorrhizae, fold the towel and bag, wait until they hatch and it’s fungal inoculated from the very start.

Every time I up pot them in more soil, the hole gets a sprinkle and so do the roots, before going in the hole.

Seems to work ok for me.

When you check your quantities for adding the ferts, I would go to 3/4 of what they recommend, you can always add a bit more later, once you know how quick it breaks down and gets active, less chance of burning a younger smaller plant that way.

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All you need is a bag of decent (ideally certified organic) potting soil.
Sow companion crops / herbs / whatever, along with your cannabis.
Once your plants are past seedling stage and well into vegging stage you can topdress with kitchenscraps, tree leaves, grassclippings and weeds.

Or you can use a stacked pot setup:

Done.
I’ve been using this system for a couple of years now, adding all kinds of random organic matter, everything just keeps on growing… same soil, same pot.

Forget about perlite unless you live in extreme humidity.
Forget about all those other amendments that cost money.
All the minerals and stuff you need are in the kitchenscraps, tree leaves and grassclippings, you can also add thistle, nettle, dandelion… all free, any non-toxic “weeds” with deep roots contain lots of minerals. Add some red wigglers if you want.

You really don’t need anything else.
Keep it simple and free, be generous with LITFA.
If it costs you money then it’s not the best solution.

Kelp and basalt can contain high levels of heavy metals and certified organic farmers have lost their certification because of it. Grinding rock and taking plants out of the ocean is absurd and unneccesary. No need for all that costly effort when trees and other plants readily provide the minerals for free, without pollution, without need for long distance transportation and packaging waste.

Just remember, think like a forest.
A forest lives on top of a dead forest.
No need to reinvent the wheel.

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Switching to LED for flowering and wondering if anyone had suggestions for modifying the coots mix and top dress amendmends - mainly thinking of the increased Mg needs. Are there any good options besides epsom salts for top dress/soil mix? Otherwise ive seen recs to decrease N in the mix.

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langbeinite is good for a mg push I also water with Epsom salts every once and awhile @ramblinrose also could do a bit of dolomite lime but use sparingly as it could be antagonistic if the ca/mg ratio gets to off balance

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Oh cool - Id seen langebeite in a few mixes before. Seems potent usually like 2tbs per cubic ft? Also is there any difference between agricultural epsom salt and the stuff from cvs? ha

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Yes it’s strong stuff but works great and yeah 1-2 tbs per cu.f been using it in my own amendment blend :+1: and no different then ag mg then the stuff at a drug store that I’m aware of just make sure to get the non scented no additives kind

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