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i dont understand soil.

  • Thread starter HPLH
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    soil
so lately i have been having problems with creating my own soil.

im trying to make my soil organic so that is why i now make my own.

i dont seem to be doing it very well tho, can anyone give me some help?

right now what i use

3 parts Coco fiber
1/2 part Verm
1/2 part Sand
1 Part Compost derived from cow manure

what am i missing and what should i do
 
what are you trying to grow? could be that its not holding enough water.......could be that the manure is to fresh and burning the roots........could be alot of things......as much as i complain about my nearly organic free clay soil around here it does hold water remarkably well....mix with a lil compost and even in the 100 degree no humidity summers i only have to water every other day even with no mulch on the veggie garden
 
im talking non CP's here

like Hibiscus and Ipomoea(morning glory's)

one of my hibiscus seeded and now have about 25 seeds i wish to plant but im trying to figure whats best

maybe i should be thinking about buying things such as worm castings, blood meal, crushed oyster shells to add to the Coco fiber? i really like the coco fiber and i hear good things such as its a good starter and can easily add things too.
 
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so lately i have been having problems with creating my own soil.

im trying to make my soil organic so that is why i now make my own.

i dont seem to be doing it very well tho, can anyone give me some help?

right now what i use

3 parts Coco fiber
1/2 part Verm
1/2 part Sand
1 Part Compost derived from cow manure

what am i missing and what should i do

That would depend upon the purpose of the soil. What do you intend to grow? If the plants prefer nitrogen-poor environments, I would avoid the compost alltogether . . .
 
ok may be that there is salt in the coco fiber......flush it really well........are you buying the steer compost from a private individual, doing it yourself or buying it in a bag from the store?

wouldnt worry about the blood meal or oyster shells to start with......i use blood meal alot but im amending near pure clay soil........worm castings wont hurt but i doubt they do anything the steer compost doesnt......
 
store bought organic compost
 
maybe i should be thinking about buying things such as worm castings, blood meal, crushed oyster shells to add to the Coco fiber? i really like the coco fiber and i hear good things such as its a good starter and can easily add things too.

No.. don't buy any of that. For most CP's, the nutrients are a bad thing. If I had to recommend one soil media that will be relatively cheap and generally good, it would be the Long Fibered Spagnum (LFS) that should be in any garden center, for about 3-4 bucks. Most soil media centers around various combinations of LFS, sand, peat, and Perlite. But if you only have a few plants and limited budget, LFS is the way to go. Don't use the afore-mentioned things. Those are largely for typical houseplants.
 
this isnt for CP's, this is for hibiscus etc.
 
well if its store bough compost im going to guess maybe salt in the cocofiber if things arent growing well in it.....may be an issue with the sand too.....where did you get that?
 
  • #10
Not Miracle Grow's "Organic Compost" is it? I hate that stuff - it's so full of mold & fungus spores. I use coir all the time. I have a big bale of it (made by down to eath distributors) so I chip off a few big chunks and add boiling water to it. The next day after it's cooled off I add a cup or so of calcium carbonate sand from the herp shop (I didn't wanna buy the gigantic 40# sack of oyster chips at the feed store) and gypsum to neutralize the PH and help ward off molds who seem to like acidic environments. I don't bother with sand other than the calcium sand. seems to make things compact.

Depending on what's growing in it I'm either done at this point or I can add some Drainage. Perlite or better yet, shredded cypress mulch works good to "fluff up" the soil and let it breathe. I don't bother with worm casings as they don't really have a ton of nutrients to justify their purchase, dumping old coffee grounds or tea will give you roughly the same nutrient boost. Coir actually has a bit of nutrients by itself so it's not quite as nutrient poor as plain peat, one of the reasons I switched to it. I have bloodmeal but I don't often remember to use it. It's easiest for me to use diluted Gro More orchid fertilizer on everything every other watering. It's a gentle non-burning fertilizer not utilizing Urea in it's Nitrate composition I know you want to go all organic but if the soil is packed with nutes and it ends up being too much for the plant to handle you can't flush it out whereas if you overfertilize with liquids all you have to do is flush with pure water several times and often the plant will be "saved".
 
  • #12
ok................so exactly what problems are you having? im not really seeing anything in what you have said that raises a red flag in my mind as causing an issue.......
 
  • #14
Add 1 part or even more perlite. I use coco peat/coir, assuming that's what you mean by coco fiber, but have to say I use it for seed starting and won't use it in a long-term potting mix. In my opinion, it isn't a good long-term choice because it seems to break down to goo awfully quickly, meaning within a matter of months.
 
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