Mixture of soil with perlite and coco - what proportions?

[GreenBaby]

Organic and mineral cultivation - the question concerns both. I usually buy the Gold Label Special Mix soil or other soil, always with fertilizer content. In the case of organic cultivation, I choose the soil for this type of cultivation, e.g. BioBizz.

There is about 10% of the perlite in the soil, I added another 10% to get the 80/20 mixture. Recently, I thought that it may be worth adding 10-15% Coco Fiber instead of a perlite. What do you think that?
I do not want too many additives so that the soil does not get weaker (less fertilizer). I value the growth of plants on the fertilizer previously contained in the soil.

Will such a composition be appropriate?
Soil/Coco/Perlite - 75/15/10

[Clubs]

Yeah, you won't need the perlite if you're using some coco if you're hand watering. I'd add some more aeration if using a bottom-fed auto watering system but is otherwise unnecessary and uses up room that can be used by roots, dries out more quickly too if that's undesirable to you. 

[GreenBaby]

 

On 5/14/2023 at 1:23 PM, Fatboy77 said:

Fuck the perlite off and go either 70:30 or my favourite, 60:30:10 (10% being worm castings).

A few handfuls of biochar and broken up neem cake if you really want to push the boat out.

 

On 5/14/2023 at 1:42 PM, Clubs said:

Yeah, you won't need the perlite if you're using some coco if you're hand watering. I'd add some more aeration if using a bottom-fed auto watering system but is otherwise unnecessary and uses up room that can be used by roots, dries out more quickly too if that's undesirable to you. 

 

   Perlite is already added in the amount of 10% in the production of soil. I'm not going to remove it. I can only add a little coco, I don't use autopots anymore,
   so the mix is intended for regular hand watering.

   Does it make sense to add worm casting to good soil like Biobizz, Gold Label, Plagron etc.?
   Will it not negatively affect the proportions of the ingredients?

Edited May 15, 2023 by GreenBaby

[catweazle1]

Green Baby. Worm castings, and biochar, are great for holding nutrients and releasing them when the roots require them. The roots secrete acids to release the nute ions, so they don't get fed by these two components unless they take action. Be aware you need to pre-soak biochar in nutrient solution for some hours or it will pinch nutes out of the soil.

Edited May 16, 2023 by catweazle1

[Lubdub]

13 hours ago, GreenBaby said:

Does it make sense to add worm casting to good soil like Biobizz, Gold Label, Plagron etc.?
Will it not negatively affect the proportions of the ingredients?

Depends if you're using a light or pro mix. Also depends what age the plants are going into that mix.
WC are slow release and a great additive. Plenty of sources say you can't overdo it but I would err on the side of caution. 
If you're going down what some in the space call a "super soil" route, then there's loads to read up on that. I would suggest starting from your own base rather than a premix so you know exactly what's gone in.
Premixed bags have all you need to get going so not sure you need to add anything to it. Having said that  I would probably add the WC myself because I'm a greedy cunt. 
Also if I'm not mistaken, you've already added the extra 10% perlite so its too late to add the 10-15% coco on top of that. But a top up of WC to compensate the extra 10% perlite would do no harm imo 

[Cajafiesta]

I run “coots” style soil. Ultimately, it’s 1/3 “compost”, 1/3 water retention (peat in my case) and 1/3 aeration (Pearlite in my case). I also add more juju to it as I feel like it. Typically dry, organic, inexpensive amendments 
 

depending, I will make the 1/3 “compost” out of a mixture of stuff. Generally I use 1/2 cheap bagged box store organic compost and 1/2 worm castings to make that 1/3 total volume “compost” portion. 
 

That soil seems to last about 3 weeks with water only. At that point, I start top dressings with something like “build a soil Craft Blend” or some other run of the mill dry organic amendments on a schedule of about every three weeks past the initial planting.  They all seem to be, more or less, rock dust, crustacean meal, blood meal, feather meal, fish meal, neem cake etc. “Dr Earth” is a box store brand in the US that does quite well for me. And it’s $12 US for 4 lbs of it. Cant beat that. 
 

 

This works for me hand watering. Perhaps worth considering. 
 

 

I reuse the soil, too. I’ll reamend it with more worm castings and more organic dry amendment when I reuse it. I’m on cycle 3 or 4 now. Probably make a new batch when this flower period is over 

 

 

 

For whatever it’s worth, I once grew a plant in 100% well made worm castings. Just to see what would happen. I kept it in a TINY pot the whole time. It grew with vigor, looked great, flowered to completion. Your mileage may vary there depending on the castings. But there was no ill effect in my experience on the small experiment I did.

 

 

if you’re into reading- read up about “clackmas coots soil.”  The Build-A-Soil YouTube channel is also a good reference. The dude there, Jeremy, gives out a lot of good info. I think he can over complicate it, at times, if you’re a small scale closer grower. The theory transfers though. 

Edited May 17, 2023 by Cajafiesta

[Lubdub]

@Cajafiesta Curious, what size pots you in?

Jeremy knows his stuff, tons of info on his channel on how to manage your mix. Although yeh as you say he overcomplicates but he is running a business, I suppose.

Anything kelp or seaweed is great too. I was lucky enough to find organic kelp compost from my local supermarket for about 2 euro per 20l bag. My 1/3 compost mix is equal parts fermented horse manure, worm castings and the kelp.

[Cajafiesta]

@Lubdub I generally start in tiny little pots. Maybe 8oz (236ml ish), then pot up to 3/4 gallons. Then typically 3 gallons plastic grow bags. I’ve used this dirt in flower, though, from pots spanning 8oz to 15 gallons. 
 

seems to also be a good starting soil for a 15 gallon “living soil” pot in my tent. 

 

your 1/3 compost portion probably works very well. I’d suspect it would, anyhow, with what’s in it.