Hydro grower moving to outdoor soil and cannot get it right! Help&

[itchybromusic]

hey Q here's a good read 

https://www.makeorganicsoil.com/blogs/news/138788103-how-to-prepare-your-organic-gardens-for-spring-planting

 

HOW TO PREPARE YOUR ORGANIC GARDENS FOR SPRING PLANTING

Posted by Jeff Chasser on Mar 20, 2016

Hello everyone!

By now we are just about going stir crazy from winter so lets get outside and start getting our gardens ready for spring planting.

First, I would like to start this topic off with a saying I heard a long time ago and I always come back to.

"A bare soil is a dead soil. " Unknown

Now this may not be completley true, but it is to a certian extent.  Mulch is essential to keep the good bugs and worms working

over your soil and organic material that you add throughout the year.  Keeping the soil moisture constant throughout the year

is essential to key soil life.  Dry or wet soils can lock up nutrients and minerals as well as kill off soil life that is essential in organic farming.

So first thing is, is your garden bare?  

If it is, this is a perfect opportunity to add in some organic amendments, and possibly a cover crop or mulch.  I suggest adding

in a balanced blend of nutrients and minerals that will break down throughout the season to feed your soil which in turn feeds

your plants. You can find a similiar mix on our website called the Nutrient and Mineral Blend.  

You can also add compost or worm castings to add in organic matter and to help build your soil life from the cold of the winter.

Compost is one of the most underrated inputs in organic farming. People forget or just simply overlook the uses of compost.

Add it in if you can, most likely your local garden store sells it by the yard.

Once you have applied your amendments, you can either mulch with straw, or a composted wood and bark mulch or grow

your own mulch as a cover crop.  At this point you can add a little water, or let the spring rains water it naturally until you are

ready to plant your seeds or starts into your garden.

If it is covered you can simply add your amendments right on top of the mulch, then add compost on top of the amendments,

and then a straw or bark mulch on top of that.  This is also known as a NO-TILL style of growing or layering, in which you do not

till up the soil, but yet leave the valuable bacterial and fungal networks intact and thriving.

This will get your garden ready for planting within a week or two, and it will be alive and ready to feed your plants when you plant.  

Second.  Start stocking up for the year  on quality compost and worm castings to make actively aerated compost teas (aact), and

a quality mycorrhizael fungi innoculant to innoculate the roots of your plants for healthy overall root growth.  There are also some

amazing microbial innoculants you can use throughout the year to help solubilze more minerals that usually take a long time to

become available.

And last but not least, if your going to start your own seeds, you should be starting 4-6 weeks before you plan on planting them in

your garden, depending on variety.

Most plants can be potted up, or you can bury the stem underground to have bigger healtheir root systems  which in turn grows

you bigger healthier plants.

I hope this helps everyone have a great start to an awesome season of organic farming.

As always, if anyone has any questions please feel free to email us at :

MakeOrganicSoil@gmail.com

 

You might find this handy too https://www.makeorganicsoil.com/blogs/news/48771137-how-to-water-organic-living-soil

Edited March 20, 2016 by itchybromusic

[Qwobbler]

 

Thanks Itchy.... Just where I am now, there isnt much forest im in almost desert/outback oz...

 

Those products look great but i am strapped for cash like most of us so i need to find a free or very very cheap fix. 

 

As I said somewhere before, my soil actually looks great, but yeah its missing that something. Do you know if my BioBizz products with activate anything? I have the Fish Mix, Bio Grow and Root Juice.

 

Ill figure this out, thought sleeping on it would help :-/

[Qwobbler]

another thought.... I can buy 50lt bags of Organic Humus for cheap..... Would this help things along?

 

Anything thats in a bottle or bag that can fix the problem but budget is low and resources are poor. Only a home timber and hardware here, they stock alot of unusal stuff, mainly searles range. They have this Searles Organic Kickalong Potting mix..... could I start with that, add some 5 in 1, some humus, lime, peat moss, pearlite..... Then, feed with BioBizz stuff and Gogo juice to activate it all.....?

 

Or am I still not getting it right? this is driving me insane again, too many options grrrrrrr.

 

Im just impatient i guess and wat to see them pick up and grow right now, the weather is sooooo good at the moment and feel im wasting the suns energy and time

[itchybromusic]

fish will feed the life in the soil ,haven't looked into them , don't really know what they are so

don't know how much they'll add but they def won't take away 

[billygoat]

just a thought, and I am nowhere near as remote as it would seem you are... but gumtree regularly has people selling worm castings and worm wee very cheaply.

[itchybromusic]

go simple , buy the bagged searles & use as is , but use your 5 in 1 as top dress 

leave some space at the top of the pot for a bit of layering , the more you try &

mix things the more you have a chance of probs , can you get some pea straw or lucerne or both from the shop up there

do you grow any herbs for eating , mint parsley ect , you could use all those as top dress along with a bit of your humus in layers which will

help to get the life going in the pot FIWH can tell you all bout layering , with this you would start with just water & maybe that root juice stuff

which could be for the flowering end but i'm thinking it's begining of veg 

 

What is the real difference between Compost and Humus?

"Humus is the stable, long lasting remnant of decaying organic material. It improves soil structure and increases water retention.

It's nutritive qualities include trace elements and several important organic acids but do not include nitrogen or phosphorus"

 

gumtree's a good thought BG

Edited March 21, 2016 by itchybromusic

[lookinggoodguys]

go simple , buy the bagged searles & use as is , but use your 5 in 1 as top dress 

leave some space at the top of the pot for a bit of layering , the more you try &

mix things the more you have a chance of probs , can you get some pea straw or lucerne or both from the shop up there

do you grow any herbs for eating , mint parsley ect , you could use all those as top dress along with a bit of your humus in layers which will

help to get the life going in the pot FIWH can tell you all bout layering , with this you would start with just water & maybe that root juice stuff

which could be for the flowering end but i'm thinking it's begining of veg 

 

What is the real difference between Compost and Humus?

"Humus is the stable, long lasting remnant of decaying organic material. It improves soil structure and increases water retention.

It's nutritive qualities include trace elements and several important organic acids but do not include nitrogen or phosphorus"

 

gumtree's a good thought BG

I have seen some on other forums use mushroom compost and say that it has a lot of phosphorus and potassium. They sell it at Bunnings might be good when flowering.

[itchybromusic]

I have seen some on other forums use mushroom compost and say that it has a lot of phosphorus and potassium. They sell it at Bunnings might be good when flowering.

yeah it would but don't use it before , myco takes longer to colonise with plenty of phosphorus around the place 

& you want myco on ya roots asap , i dip seeds in the stuff B4 germing & dust roots on seedlings/clones at transplant , soil drench & top dress as well 

Edited March 21, 2016 by itchybromusic

[Qwobbler]

just a thought, and I am nowhere near as remote as it would seem you are... but gumtree regularly has people selling worm castings and worm wee very cheaply.

 

Cheers for that thought mate, i actually found some only 20 mins drive away Picking up next week 50kg bag for $20!

 

go simple , buy the bagged searles & use as is , but use your 5 in 1 as top dress 

leave some space at the top of the pot for a bit of layering , the more you try &

mix things the more you have a chance of probs , can you get some pea straw or lucerne or both from the shop up there

do you grow any herbs for eating , mint parsley ect , you could use all those as top dress along with a bit of your humus in layers which will

help to get the life going in the pot FIWH can tell you all bout layering , with this you would start with just water & maybe that root juice stuff

which could be for the flowering end but i'm thinking it's begining of veg 

 

What is the real difference between Compost and Humus?

"Humus is the stable, long lasting remnant of decaying organic material. It improves soil structure and increases water retention.

It's nutritive qualities include trace elements and several important organic acids but do not include nitrogen or phosphorus"

 

gumtree's a good thought BG

 

Cheers over and over again for the info mate

 

Hey how about these soils....? http://www.enviromart.net.au/potting-mix.html

 

Could you have a look at the gardening section of the site and see if there is anything useful at this place? I have to make a trip next week to the big smoke

[itchybromusic]

i'd stick with the kickalong mix & add a handful of bokashi mixed in

grab some bokashi grains this will help with inoculation & get the process of soil life going

be good to mix amounts in with ya castings you now have as part of top dressing  

 

direct stockfeeds in portsmith , is that near you , they should have a bale of barley straw , & lucerne chaff , should be pretty cheap 

straw bale is hugh once open & should be able to get chaff by the bag , as in they'll fill a large plastic bag to the size you want 

well that's how it works at the stockfeed i go to , they have no web site so give them a ring first to check out what they got & how 

you buy there lucerne chaff , chaff just means chopped up 

 

Ok what about Brewcan or Marlin coast home brew , you know them , you want pilsner malted barley & malted rye , should be round 

$5 - $8 a kg , i got 2kg some time ago & the bags still going , you use barley in veg & rye in flower , you'll need a coffee grinder as well

for the malted seeds , you could also use a mortar & pestle but grinders much quicker , i got a $25 blender with grinder attachment 

 

if there are any health food shops , pop in & get some dried comfrey leaf 

 

on top of that PM me an address & i'll send a little bit of couple of other things that will help ,  

 

So what do you think Q , to full on , if it is just get kickalong , some sort of mulch & use ya biobizz & don't over water ,

start pretty lite with biobizz & work your way up , soil already has nutes as slow release , this is not great cause if you have a prob

& want to flush you'll be releasing more ferts with each flush , but you won't need to flush cos it will all be sweet 

Edited March 21, 2016 by itchybromusic