Soil amendments

[UKredeye]

Hey guys, I intend to transplant this weekend into soil, haven't got the soil yet but will be bio bizz or some other equivalent, I was gonna add some perlite, worm castings, rock dust, I have some oyster shells ( the type you feed to chickens) gonna grind some up into a fine and slightly coarse powder, and have some bio stimulant powder, suppose I'm just looking for any info and adding these things regarding ph effect and such, any info much appreciated ✌

 

[Papageno]

That's a great start only a few months late. If you had composted that together a few months back it would be perfect now and pH wouldn't be an issue. Not that it is bad just it is better after it ages. Most soil growers are reusing their soil for at least 3 grows. Most people agree it doesn't get good until 3.

If you are looking for more stuff to add, again I would say it is a bit late and you would want to use bottled stuff now, but if you do want good ingredients... look up Subcools recipe.

That, like all good soils, requires time but the ingredient list is stellar and just having that stuff is way better than not, even if it is the first run on the soil.

But after the microbes from the earth castings take hold and start working those ingredients... the pH and the water doesn't really matter...when done correctly.



In the absence of a real compost the standard cheater which yields stuff like this is 1/3 soil mix, 1/3 steer manure or earth worm castings, 1/3 perlite...and then you need to add some fertilizers in bloom to finish it off. But a good composted soil only needs water really and pH doesn't really matter as long as it isn't toxic to the bacteria.

 

[UKredeye]

Cheers village idiot, I get what your saying about leaving it a while to get the microbes and that all kicking off ready, this will be something I will look into doing ready for the next ones, I will go ahead and add some but won't add a lot as it would prob just be a waste, cheers for the info

Sent from my SM-G930F using 420

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Bio Bizz all mix / light mix already contains perlite & worm castings... more likely not needed.

I use to grow organic with amendments when i first started out using the Bio Bizz range of soil / nutrients.


Used bone meal, farmyard manure, chicken manure pellets etc this all pretty much short to medium term release of nutrients apart from farmyard manure well still short/medium term of release low NPK value / some micro nutrients contained from urine of animals etc but basically organic matter which breaks down into humus increasing soil fertility & conditions for micro organisms to thrive in.

The thing about rock dust & oyster shell is that they are slow release nutrients normally taking several months to years for nutrients to become available via organism activity.

So no real point in the short term if ya gonna bin the soil after the first grow of a few months etc !



In the long run you want to recycle it & reuse only really amending with the short to medium term acting amendments perhaps 10 to 20% of total volume of soil used replaced with fresh soil of brand used & add some more manure etc