Ran out of $....Making my own mix - Page 2

Durgan · May 15, 2016

Every Summer a batch of soil is made for seedlings. It varies a bit from year to year.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?DQJED 17 September 2014 Seedling and Potting soil
Home, Seeding and Potting Mix was made and stored in the greenhouse. Quantity was 332 liters. Ingredients are compost base, bedding wood chips, mason sand, garden soil, 202020 fertilizer, and coconut fiber. Quantities of each was subjective based on experience. The ingredients were well mixed using the small Honda rototiller.

SoCalGal · May 16, 2016

I never thought about using the horse manure and shavings at the ranch we board at-- great idea! I thought I'd heard somewhere that horse manure was not very nutrient dense, certainly not as much as cow manure, so I hadn't considered it. If it will work, that would be great. I can get it for free, so I may as well use it. Adjacent to the ranch is a family-based organic farm, and I can also ask them for advice since they grow a lot of tomatoes.

BajaMitch · May 16, 2016

I use compost with horse manure. Don't know if that is the same thing as horse manure and shavings, but, I get a full laboratory report on the stuff I get and it has a ton of nutrients in it. My composted horse manure has less N, same P, less K, more Ca, Mg and Sulfur than composted chicken manure and it is less than half the cost of chicken manure. And, while it has less N and K, it still has a good amount of it. In fact, the ratios are better suited for tomatoes than is chicken manure so I run less the risk of excess of N and K and greatly reduces the quantity of (and therefore the cost related to) other ferts that the tomato plant needs.

fonseca · May 18, 2016

You can apply uncomposted horse manure directly to plants and it will not burn. Plants love it. But I learned the hard way that it can contain many weed seeds.

You can also make a manure tea with fresh horse manure. It is a potent fertilizer. If you can stand the smell...

May 15, 2016	#16
Durgan Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Brantford, ON, Canada Posts: 1,341	Seedling and Potting soil Every Summer a batch of soil is made for seedlings. It varies a bit from year to year. http://www.durgan.org/URL/?DQJED 17 September 2014 Seedling and Potting soil Home, Seeding and Potting Mix was made and stored in the greenhouse. Quantity was 332 liters. Ingredients are compost base, bedding wood chips, mason sand, garden soil, 202020 fertilizer, and coconut fiber. Quantities of each was subjective based on experience. The ingredients were well mixed using the small Honda rototiller.

May 16, 2016	#17
SoCalGal Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2016 Location: Camarillo, CA Posts: 20	I never thought about using the horse manure and shavings at the ranch we board at-- great idea! I thought I'd heard somewhere that horse manure was not very nutrient dense, certainly not as much as cow manure, so I hadn't considered it. If it will work, that would be great. I can get it for free, so I may as well use it. Adjacent to the ranch is a family-based organic farm, and I can also ask them for advice since they grow a lot of tomatoes.

May 16, 2016	#18
BajaMitch Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2015 Location: California Posts: 84	I use compost with horse manure. Don't know if that is the same thing as horse manure and shavings, but, I get a full laboratory report on the stuff I get and it has a ton of nutrients in it. My composted horse manure has less N, same P, less K, more Ca, Mg and Sulfur than composted chicken manure and it is less than half the cost of chicken manure. And, while it has less N and K, it still has a good amount of it. In fact, the ratios are better suited for tomatoes than is chicken manure so I run less the risk of excess of N and K and greatly reduces the quantity of (and therefore the cost related to) other ferts that the tomato plant needs.

May 18, 2016	#19
fonseca Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 205	You can apply uncomposted horse manure directly to plants and it will not burn. Plants love it. But I learned the hard way that it can contain many weed seeds. You can also make a manure tea with fresh horse manure. It is a potent fertilizer. If you can stand the smell...