Back to basics, fixing a mix

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Wetdog

Old Droopy Dog
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Messed up ~6cf of mix getting happy with too many and too much amendments.

Not really burning anything, not too hot, just got carried away with various rock dust and such and it's more like wet clay than the light soiless mix I've used for years. The plants aren't happy and neither am I.:doh: :hitchair:

What I'm going to do is go back to LC's mix and amounts and then start blending the two together till I get where I want.

Fell into that old trap usually reserved for noobs .... if 1cup is good, then 2 ought to be great! Plus I was assured by someone 'knowledgeable' that up to 5 cups of rock dust/cf would do no harm.

Like I said, didn't burn anything, so that part is correct. Just turned the mix into low grade cement.:rolleyes:

I think first I'll try 30% *light* mix and see where that gets me. Actually, 33%. I'll use 5gal of light and 10 gal of the heavy. I was going to do a 50/50 deal, but it's easy to add more if the 1/3//2/3 blend is too heavy.

Just trying to cut down the proportion of the rock dust, nothing else.

Any thoughts are welcome.

Wet
 
I think your just going to have to wing it till it feels right and looks right. I would have no idea how start, 50/50 I guess. Green dirt mojo to you WH.
 
Sand, coco, worms.

Sand to add larger particles.
Coco to hold some moisture.
Worms they love a little bit of Glacier Dust sprinkled on top.

Perlite will also help to stop so much compaction.

I try to stay away from peat as this also aids in the compaction if reused and is decomposed
 
I make my own mix from scratch and have since 1972 or so. Also do my own worm castings from 2 bins I've got going.

The castings are on the heavy side too since yes, they do like that bit of rock dust. I've been using granite dust since I found it locally for $3/5 gallon bucket.

That's the problem.I got too happy with the granite dust AND azomite AND greensand AND some gypsum for good measure, this plus the lime that is a must have.

Used to be just the dolo lime that was needed and a bit of azomite. 1cup/cf of the lime and a heavy 1/2 cup of the azomite. 1/2 cup of greensand came along later, but we're still talking ~2cups total/cf.

Where I screwed up was adding and adding till it got to be ~5 heavy cups/cf of mix plus whatever was in my vermicompost. Didn't burn anything, just got the mix way too heavy.

ROSE .... The funny thing is, I usually just eyeball and feel my mixes. Measured on these rather than the handful of this or that like I always did.

Back to the look and feel method. LOL

Wet
 
I do not add all those amendments every time in my soil mix. They last awhile:)
 
Pull the plants out, mix in perlite... Add medium to containers, Water well... Catch water in tub.

Let arreate and you got your fert tea... Cut with water as needed.

Re plant everything in leeched/treated soil....

Good to go!
 
pcduck said:
I do not add all those amendments every time in my soil mix. They last awhile:)
:yeahthat:

Usually just on the initial mix and not on the re amends. You're right about lasting awhile, years at least. The only thing I add on the re amends is dolo lime and that at a lower rate than the initial mix, closer to 1/2. The other rock dusts seem to just start working good (breaking down), after a year.

TOA

Did all that, sorta. Plants are out and buckets have been setting out and rain has done the rest. Drought last year and record rain this year. Not so much in inches (but that too), but some everyday, like 28 days out of 30 it rained.

AFA perlite goes, my motto is, when it looks like there is too much, it's just right. Even extra perlite couldn't contend with all the rock dust I dumped in there.

Something I haven't been able to find here is a pine bark mulch that a landscape supply place back in Fl had. The mulch was very small, like end of the pinky small and was used for bulk and some aeration making soiless mixes. Also, for the pH, since these mixes were for ferns that like a low pH. Fir bark would be better, but there are no fir trees anywhere near close.

I need to look some more.;)

Wet
 
Did you add more fresh medium to it before transplanting?

If you had to much dust I would have just added more soil mix like promix bx to it.


Gotta love some perlite, vermiculite and castings!!
:D


Hope you get it figured out brother wet. I'm sure it aint nothing u can't handle ;) :D
 
trillions of atoms said:
Did you add more fresh medium to it before transplanting?

If you had to much dust I would have just added more soil mix like promix bx to it.


Gotta love some perlite, vermiculite and castings!!
:D


Hope you get it figured out brother wet. I'm sure it aint nothing u can't handle ;) :D

That's just what I'm gonna do. That stuff WAS fresh mix and only grown in once. Mostly container veggies, I use the same mix for everything and the veggies showed problems first being outside and getting rained on everyday.

Rain every day isn't unusual in SoFl and never had problems with my mix, Never had that amount of rock dust in them either.

Looks like I need to mix my own ProMix BX and mix 50/50 like ROSE suggested and get the RD down to ~3cups/cf instead of the close to 6 that's in there now.

I'm planning on using this mix for the next 3 years or so. I dumped all my old stuff that was going on 4 years old and the peat way broken down. That went on my (mostly clay) soil garden and really perked it up.

Wish I had the $$$$ to buy or rent a cement mixer right about now.:rolleyes: RA in my spine and wet mix ..... :(

Wet
 
A cement mixer would be awesome... I would love that too. Be careful WD, that stuff is heavy. I had to get a composter that turns and that is even heavy when full.
 
Wetdog said:
Wish I had the $$$$ to buy or rent a cement mixer right about now.:rolleyes: RA in my spine and wet mix ..... :(

Wet

when I mix soils together I went and bought a cheap trash can for 8 dollars with a lid then used four screws one opposite of each other to tie the lid on dumped on its side and and rolled it around and flipped it over a few times I use mj to help with a pain issue I have and this was easy to do for me, use more screws is needed a drill a cheap trash can a few screws or get a nice shiney tin trash can and use repeatedly over the years just don;t strip the holes where the screws go
 
ozzydiodude said:
Smoking while mixing Dont mix.:p

I don't smoke all that much, but the majority of that 18 pack might have been a mistake.:holysheep:

Like ol Cliffy on Cheers, I think I get smarter the more beer I drink. :D :D

Wet
 
4 shots of shine and 2 joints ago I put how many hand fulls in?:huh:
 
FINALLY!!!!!!!!

Did a bunch of calling around for the pine bark stuff I used to get and then driving when things sounded promising and sorta lucked out yesterday and hit pay dirt today.

Here, everything seems to be 20 miles away and never in the same direction, so I was real careful explaining about the size and texture of the pine bark mulch I used to get.

First place said it was called soil conditioner now, but exactly as I described. It wasn't, but they had some pine bark for orchid media that was almost exactly it. It was also $6.99 for a gallon zip lock full. The nice lady directed me to another nursery that had pine bark mini nuggets. Close again and I got 2-2cf bags for $2.75 each. Small enough to use, but still larger than I want.

Today I was out and about and stopped in a nursery that didn't sound all that promising on the phone, it was, "Yeah, we have pine bark mulch, $2.50/bag" and sort of blowing off my overheated description.

It was the same stuff I used to get and haven't seen for years. YAAAAAAAAA!

Just about everything labeled mulch here is just stuff that went through a wood chipper/shredder and bagged up. Good for on top of the flower bed, not so much in a mix.

This stuff is finely chipped, almost graded and certainly not shredded, no long pieces.

For the first 'light mix' I'm going to do 1 bucket each of peat moss, perlite, and pine bark mulch. I will add dolomite lime (peat moss&pine bark?), and perhaps a cup or so of Espoma for enough bacteria and nutes just to get things working.

We'll see how it works combined with the heavy mix.

Wet
 
ozzydiodude said:
4 shots of shine and 2 joints ago I put how many hand fulls in?:huh:
:farm: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Not that far off.

Haven't heard yet for this year, due to all the rain we had, but last year there was a very nice peach brandy around the end of Sept. I mean really finely crafted.

For really good shine you have to order ahead. The craftsmen are sold out before they even start a run, but it's worth it. Journeyman shine is constantly available. Still good but like Ancient Age vs Geo Dickel.;)

Usually ~$25-$30/qt. Sometimes a bit more and cheaper you don't want to take a chance on.

Now, I need to make some calls about that brandy.

Wet
 
So far looking good.

Mixed up ~15 gal of the heavy mix and the same of the light. Needed to transplant a couple of seedlings into 1 gal pots and everything is draining well, even when the mix is saturated. With the heavy, water would just sit on top when the mix was saturated. That made my heart glad to see the fast drain.

I'll get the N-P-K worked out as I go along. Using Espoma as a top dress for the time being and will go back to the re-amend amendments after it gets used. Then I'll just do a normal recycle amendment thing.

Wet
 

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