Communal Learning TLO thread

[Eyes on Fire]

most will do a 30 day cook,but thats baseline bare minimum.I personally recommend a week cook and checking the moisture level(squeeze test, you tube it pics aren't as good to judge) then mix after that week.

then let it cook checking each week for moisture to let O or add(squeeze test) the let that sit for another four weeks or thirty days. I like a 40-45 day cook so all is well blended,no lumps or pockets of anything mixing three times over and potting.

my coco I stick in a bin and add four gallons or 4.5 maybe.then let it sit over night and come back and its usually perfect LOL but if not just wring it out when ya get to the bottom. nothing special. just like it was dried up compressed soil pretty much.

 

[Green Goblin]

Two more questions and I'll leave ya alone lol..Do you use a cold plug when planting germinated seeds into this mix and what does it consist of? I read somewhere I think that sometimes you plant seedlings directly to the mix.

Thanks

 

[Eyes on Fire]

and break up the clumps as ya go n all that but thats kinda obvious,but yeah its that easy man,i always said to GROW this way is easy,but people gotta know all the fine print before they get into something.LOL I didnt! i did almost exactly this! KILLER HERBS!

 

[Eyes on Fire]

I use a plug of seedling mix. which is actually their mellow mix thinned by 60 percent or so with some coco coir and other ssedling bix. i usually use black gold. but if I plant into the hotter mix ill usually do a germ test on some auto or photo beans. usually that tells me a lot from the color,if the photo is literally perfectly green on the lighter side,its totally ready for a solid bred auto!

but black gold solely is JUST fine bro

 

[Green Goblin]

I use a plug of seedling mix. which is actually their mellow mix thinned by 60 percent or so with some coco coir and other ssedling bix. i usually use black gold. but if I plant into the hotter mix ill usually do a germ test on some auto or photo beans. usually that tells me a lot from the color,if the photo is literally perfectly green on the lighter side,its totally ready for a solid bred auto!

but black gold solely is JUST fine bro

Good stuff to know, thanks man..I'm looking for something I can yield consistent results from instead of stressing out all the time...I like the simplicity and I love mixing soils..Plus your plants are crazy healthy so yeah, I'm paying attention.

 

[Eyes on Fire]

i promise you'll get exactly what you want from this mix. every and each time you use it. AND down the road like me once I learned MORE and got better and saw this n that as i read stuff and watched,you can improve and just go UP from there LOL which is already a decently steep climb LOL no sweat dude

 

[Gabe]

Hey, I got referred here, so, anybody here know about Azomite?

I heard that adding a nice scoop of azo per pot helps reduce/eliminate mineral deficiencies, so I grabbed a bag of "microlized azo (from volcanic dust)" to add to my pots from now on, but now I am reading that it can several take weeks to break down the azo.

I start my pots 2 weeks before planting to let teh fungi/bacteria have plenty of time to establish colonies, is that same 2 weeks I give the fungus/bacteria enough time for the azo to start breaking down, or do I need to set up my pots more like a month in advance?

 

[Eyes on Fire]

@Gabe well are you growing organic? but either way you'll hear many things about azomite,green sand all kinds of things of similar make up. but essentially with azomite it'll bleed and blend into the soil within a week. you could give it two to be on the safe side. but a week to 1.5 weeks should be fine if your just adding a bit of azomite or elemite to the mix. depending on your mix and medium make up. assuming it also has been watered in completely.

but all in all it will blend inside two weeks and should be ready to use if your talking about just azomite. if its a living mix it will behave similarly yet take a little longer to fully blend which in part is why the batch cooks. which is now my question to you..whats your mix look like? chems? or organic mix(s) or in bottles? just curious. but the living or life impregnated mix,will break it donw and blend it more completely and and be taken up by the life. life holds many times its weight in chleated foods for the roots and plant thats ready to use. thats why you let it sit and cook and breath for a handful of weeks.

and if your doing your pots with just soil and some azomite,what else does your mix have?

usually single pots are not as good to let a mix sit in especially if using many pots. its usually best to mix the 20-30 or 100 gallons of soil and add X amount of said material and let it be mixed and blended into the mix that way. thats way its a little more consistent imho. but per pot works too,just make sure its exact ,since if you get clumps that are not mixed and watered and wet into the soil it will cause issues. so just make sure its mixed and blended into the soil well is all.

 

[Gabe]

My soil mix:

5 parts roots organic 707
1.5 parts pearlite (coarse grain)
2 tbsp oatmeal
2 tbsp azomite
2 tbsp myco innoculant

For fertilizers, I do use synthetics, 1/3 strength grow and 1/2 strength bloom from general hydroponics. I know some poeple say synthetics harm soil bacteria and fungus, but I can point to multiple scholarly articles that contradict that 'old wives tale'.

I water with rainwater, ph 5.8-6.0 fro growth stage, 6.0-6.3 for transition stage, and 6.3-6.6 for bloom stage.

I start the soil in a larger container, but transfer to the pots 2 weeks in advance because I have read that the transferring of soil from one container to another damages teh myco, that's why I give teh pots 2 weeks from staging to planting, even though a good myco colony will correct itself within 24 hours.

 

[Eyes on Fire]

so you PH your rain water? use chems(that are awesome for sustaining life you say) and other reads that are really odd to me from what I gather. I can assure you the chem scholarly article(s) are thoroughly incorrect. we as a lerned society have only been on this Living soil and the like of the mechanics of growing in that style in various formats.I can just about promise you that they are as clueless as many of us including myself in some regard. thats why I read by people whomk have dedicated their entire existence upon living microbes ,fungi and the balance of life and properties in living soils and what it takes to build them and sustain them. I would and will bet they have ZERO clue on how to do that. once they do their entire belief system in in upheaval to say the least. dehydration,not to mention the lessening of the activity for X amount of hours upon which not ALL will recover fully from nor be able to do the same thing yet agin a few days later with yet another feed in a small 3-5 gallon environment.

but aside from that,if thats how your planning on growing, does that answer your Query about azomite? blends into the soil in roughly a week to 1.5 weeks. and fully useable by mid veg to transition phase which is when many and much of that are needed for aggressive flowering and some balancing. other than that bro, I cant help you man. Best of luck to you man