I had made soil using foxfarm happy frog, ocean forest, peat and perlite in equal parts. I used it indoors with pretty good results. After using it took it outside and left in the rain and sun in barrels with drainage.
I began putting three month or longer aged horse manure in a barrel with holes and an aeration pipe, then added red wigglers. I turned the mix every month
After three months i checked and the manure had broken down. It looked like ewc from the store.
I then made my mix using coffee cans that hold about .8 square ft.
Heres my mix, keep in mind im in rural oklahoma and cannot get the esoteric ingredients.
So please hold off on too much of that??
Total footage about 4 cubic foot soil mix
Made from…
24 part used soil
16 part ewc
8 part peat moss
8 part biochar
8 parts perlite
Added amendments
2 cups alfalfa meal
2 cups blood meal
2 cups bone meal
2 cups kelp meal
2 cups oyster shell
2 cups diatomaceous earth
2 cups ag lime
2 cups azomite
Do i need epsom salts?
I typically have been using my well water which is hard and about , 6.8 ph and 330ppm
Will that work or do i need to use rain or get a filter?
For my precious grows i have used mega crop in my well water and alternate with a calmag made from well water and one teaspoon epsom every fourth feeding. Towards the end of bloom i give some big bloom.
My first time around I used a premade soil mix that had osmocote, added blood and bone meal, pkus some water retention crystals. I did add some fox farm nutes also. Looks like your soil should be much better than what I used. There will be someone with a better understanding of ratios to come along.
In soil, I would guess the well water should be pretty good. Rainwater rocks also, nice and cheap.
I may have not been very far from you either. It’s hard to find much in many of the rural Oklahoma areas.
Post some pics, I would love to follow along your grow.
I like to use dry amendments at about 1/2-1 cup per cubic foot this is good though maybe 1/2 way through the cycle top dress with the same mix and scratch in and water.
The alfalfa and blood meal are both high in N, be careful you don’t make it to hot, you don’t have to add Epsom in the mix you can water it in weekly.
Rain is usually more acidic than well water, you could mix the two to get your ph down a bit to around 6 - 6.2 you have lime and oyster shell that will raise the water ph as well in there.
You could do with some kind of sulphur for terpene production, gypsum if you can get it has calcium and sulphur and will not affect the soil pH.
So at four square foot my two cups should be adequate, especially if i’m running a landrace.
I may see if can get some gypsum it should be cheap around here!!
I’d say your probably good to go I don’t know much about landraces in particular Other than their more than likely not grown the the richest of soils Around the world , but others will chime in that know more about species specifics than I.
Epsom salt is magnesium and sulfur. You get this from the kelp and gypsum (I would add 1/2 cup per cubic foot). The sulfur in the gypsum is needed for the development of terpenes.
In fact kelp has almost everything a plant needs.
You have to watch adding Epsom unless you notice an issue. It can mess with things. If I think I have a magnesium issue, I foliar with Epsom first.
So basically add the gypsum and watch. I usually do a calmag once a month. Thats is consisting of one teaspoon of epsom per gallon and the calcium already in my water.
Some have suggested aeration but i had put some perlite in the original mix… the foxfarm had some in it and i added more.
