Basic soil amendment?

[Ifbleaf]

High folks. I've got a question about the seedlings mix I'm trying to achieve.??
Ive got a basic soil mix that's coco and quality wild humic content+ cheap wood chip compost. I know . The compost let's me down. I've used this soil and have taken some. Unused I think, and added about 20% coco natural and 10% more perlite. So it's mostly pearlite and coco 50% . Anyway I also have added a small hand full ( small hand) of Epsom salt,( magnesium) and a bit less sulphate of potash?? This is my after thought QUESTION. Should I have added this and is it good for seedlings.?? Sorry I'm talking about a 50litre mix.thanks.

 

[fanleaf]

High folks. I've got a question about the seedlings mix I'm trying to achieve.??
Ive got a basic soil mix that's coco and quality wild humic content+ cheap wood chip compost. I know . The compost let's me down. I've used this soil and have taken some. Unused I think, and added about 20% coco natural and 10% more perlite. So it's mostly pearlite and coco 50% . Anyway I also have added a small hand full ( small hand) of Epsom salt,( magnesium) and a bit less sulphate of potash?? This is my after thought QUESTION. Should I have added this and is it good for seedlings.?? Sorry I'm talking about a 50litre mix.thanks.

You should never throw in a small handful of this or a small handful of that. ALL fertilizers and minerals interact with eachother. Too much of X will block XX from being able to be used by the plant...Whenever you add anything to soil you need to know why and how much or dont add it. Research "Mulders Chart" and you will see why. All things in a soil must be in a certain ratio to the others.

 

[Gaffle]

Recently I read an article (just on article so I'm no soil Messiah) about soil biology and how hard it is to find out who is doing what microbe wise. So many microbes turn on while others go dormant, vise versa. These microbes are what help a organic grow.

To my point, my plan is to amend soil first and then let sit. I would either use plain soil, or cooked soil (like 30 days if possible). The cooked soil has had a chance for microbes to take over and eat minerals and such. Makes the soil ready to rock and roll for baby plants.

Then again, if you don't see negative results go with it. I was a great student at following, then i got lazy and broke rules. Results will see what was best.

If you wanna get real science, buy yourself a refractometer. Take off a leaf or 2, squeeze however you see fit to get a drop of juice. Juice goes on lens, you look into device, and you get a brix reading. Brix is amount of sugar in leaf. More sugar, higher brix, healthier plant. Refractometer was $17ish on zon. Goes from 0-36(?). My current plants are at 13 with nothing done. I'll topdress and check a week later. If brix is up they liked, if down I can figure out individual amendments used to calibrate.
Sorry, I'm rambling. Just smoked. Hah!

 

[Ifbleaf]

Recently I read an article (just on article so I'm no soil Messiah) about soil biology and how hard it is to find out who is doing what microbe wise. So many microbes turn on while others go dormant, vise versa. These microbes are what help a organic grow.

To my point, my plan is to amend soil first and then let sit. I would either use plain soil, or cooked soil (like 30 days if possible). The cooked soil has had a chance for microbes to take over and eat minerals and such. Makes the soil ready to rock and roll for baby plants.

Then again, if you don't see negative results go with it. I was a great student at following, then i got lazy and broke rules. Results will see what was best.

If you wanna get real science, buy yourself a refractometer. Take off a leaf or 2, squeeze however you see fit to get a drop of juice. Juice goes on lens, you look into device, and you get a brix reading. Brix is amount of sugar in leaf. More sugar, higher brix, healthier plant. Refractometer was $17ish on zon. Goes from 0-36(?). My current plants are at 13 with nothing done. I'll topdress and check a week later. If brix is up they liked, if down I can figure out individual amendments used to calibrate.
Sorry, I'm rambling. Just smoked. Hah!

Mental sounding device. Refractometer. Love it. I'm up with the science of refraction and I'm willing to accept someone has callibrated the scale according to sugar content. Now I'm rambling.

 

[Gaffle]

Yes, X amount of sugars cause the refraction through a prism. It's calibrated with distilled water. I adjusted mine yesterday. It was off by 1 bar.

 

[fanleaf]

Mental sounding device. Refractometer. Love it. I'm up with the science of refraction and I'm willing to accept someone has callibrated the scale according to sugar content. Now I'm rambling.

That is exactly what a refractometer does.... measures sugar content. Measures Brix content. Not at all uncommon to do. I have an expensive digital refractometer that I use too.