organic starter soil

[bryant1963]

I was trying to figure out a soil ratio in which I could plant a wide variety of seeds into. when I say organic I don't mean verm, perlite, or pete moss. all those are mined or take a large amount of energy and time to produce and transport. I'm talking about things I can find locally and or in a back yard that can be processed, mixed, and pasteurized into something I can use.

[rainbowgardener]

My current sustainable potting soil plan is mushroom compost, rice hulls, and coconut coir enhanced with whatever I have like worm castings, coffee grounds, AACT to boost the fertility a bit.

None of those are things from my yard (except the worm castings etc), but none of them are mined either and they are all very renewable. They can all be ordered on line.

I haven't tested it out yet. This spring I did the mushroom compost and coconut coir, but still used perlite with it. The rice hulls are a renewable, sustainable alternative to the perlite.

If you wanted more backyard-ish you could use your own compost, sifted very fine, coarse sand, and leaf mould.

Glad to see people thinking about sustainability!

[vegetablesteve]

some people may find this stupid but I always microwave the compost where I put in my seeds so not to have any weeds coming out. To make sure the microbial life gets back, I soak the little pots in vermicomposttea. Because I use a lot of vermicompost, I'm sure of having tons of weeds (even if they are vegetables, they're not what I sowed). By microwaving the ground, I know I kill everything but I bring back the microbes with the tea.

greets,

[rainbowgardener]

I did one time make potting soil with compost from my compost pile. Since the compost was pretty full of life, including various creepy-crawlies, and it was going to be used indoors, I baked it in the oven to pasteurize. It makes a pretty terrible stench that way.

That's why I switched to mushroom compost!

[vegetablesteve]

I know the smell is a bit difficult to live with if you're doing it in the kitchen but I'm lucky enough to have a microwave oven in my garden building, that makes it a lot easier than doing this inside the house.

greets,

[imafan26]

What is your organic mix for potted plants? I have given up on compost based media for pots, it stays too wet. The plants start off fine but in a few weeks they turn yellow and die.

[rainbowgardener]

What I said: mushroom compost, rice hulls, and coconut coir

I use this for seed starting and all containers. The mushroom compost is a very nice product, has a completely different texture than my homemade compost, much lighter and looser. Works nicely.

I haven't tried the rice hulls yet. This year I was still using perlite, but plan to switch over for next year.

I did get some yellowing, which I attributed to this mixture being not as N rich as Miracle Gro which I used to use. So I started supplementing with worm tea, worm castings, coffee grounds, AACT or whatever like that I had around and that seemed to take care of it.

[vegetablesteve]

I think, what rainbowgardener was saying is a good mix (if you can get hold of the mushroom compost).
Only using compost isn't advised, you can use coconut coir without having trouble with your ph and it lasts for quite a long time. I can't talk about the rice hulls either because I never used any.

greets,

[rainbowgardener]

On a tip I got here, I ordered my mushroom compost on line through Do It Best hardware. If you have it shipped to their store and pick it up from there yourself, it is free shipping. Doing it that way, 40 lbs of mushroom compost cost $5. I imagine other stores have the ship to store deal.