Quote:
Originally Posted by luigiwu
I want to go more organic going forward, do you mind sharing your organic nutrients formula?
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I'm always trying different amendment combinations at different ratios, but I do have a base formula to provide minimum, fairly balanced amounts of N-P-K-Ca-Mg-S.
The usual meals:
Alfalfa
Fish bone
Crab shell
Neem seed
Kelp
Clays/Minerals:
Dolomite lime
Gypsum
Oyster flour
Azomite
Glacial rock dust
Humic shale ore
DE w/ bentonite
Soft rock phosphate
Compost:
Cow, chicken manure
Mushroom
Worm castings
Misc:
Neptune's Fish/seaweed hydrolysate
MycoGrow soluble
Compost tea
Homemade biochar
I use peat as the base ingredient, and for structure (drainage/aeration) it could be coarse vermiculite, coco husk chips/fiber, or partially composted pine bark. I would not say that any of the above amendments are a necessity. I grew for years with just blood, bone and kelp meals and dolomite lime. I also used only Plant-Tone with DL for several years, and the tomatoes in that mix did fantastic. But I am trying to avoid CAFO byproducts in the garden. I do use Black Kow compost, which is from dairy farm cows kept in holding pens; I would eliminate that in a heartbeat if I still had access to composted horse manure that I knew was safe.
The great thing about growing with 1/3 compost is that I never have any PH-related issues. I will foliar feed Neptune's fish if the plants look like they could use a nitrogen boost, maybe 1-2 times during the season. I have had nitrogen deficiencies when reusing spent soil that was not refreshed, but I can get through an entire season just using compost tea.