Favorite soil amendment?

15 years ago

Hey guys, new to the forums, and was getting ready for the 09' season and I'm wondering besides compost what is your favorite potting soil and garden soil amendment?

For me, in the garden its dried kelp, works a bit like the water absorbing polymers, and releases micro and macro nutrients into the soil like no other, it also has a tiny bit of growth hormones for the plants also.

In potting soil I generally make my own out of peat sand and perilite, but I add green sand, and dried kelp rehydrated with alfalfa tea.

So what is your favorite? Reason I'm asking is I'm looking for something different, something new to try you know?

Thanks

John

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Comments (12)

kentstar
15 years ago
Worm castings and coffee grounds
Kimmsr
15 years ago
Whatever organic matter you can get at the least cost. For me that is deciduous tree leaves because so many people will diligently rake them up, bag them, pay someone to haul them away, and about now go to the garden center and buy lots of peat moss to replace the organic matter they threw away last fall. From these tree leaves I make mulch and compost.
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annpat
15 years ago
Fresh Maine seaweed---hands down.
hamiltongardener
15 years ago
Sheep poop.

I like my homemade compost a lot, but I can never get sufficient quantities. One of the drawbacks of living in the city and having only a small space for composting.
greenwood85
15 years ago
compost
wvbetsy
15 years ago
In addition to homemade compost, I use well-composted horse manure that I get from a friend.
rootdoctor
15 years ago
Compost, leaves, chopped ornamental grasses, prior years organic soil/less mix from container grows, any discarded potting soil I find along the street that folks are tossing out, coffee grounds. i do not add any worm castings more than what is in the discarded mixes from the year before, I have more than enough worms already making it.
robertz6
15 years ago
Maybe just chance, but my tomatoes never did better than the year I added a couple of bluegill in the hole when I planted the seedlings.

As for the simplest and cheapest -- compost tea. Does not cost anything to make. This year I will add fish emulision (sp) to the tea.
joebob
15 years ago
Robert--- can't believe you mentioned the bluegill--- i did the same thing as a boy ----'bout 1968 and had to pick the maters from a stepladder ---Big Boys ----JE
bob64
15 years ago
The remains of very old leaf piles and wood chip piles which are actually worm castings to a large degree.
cumberlandgarden
Original Author
15 years ago
Robert and Joebob... you got me thinking... I worked in a pet store for a short time, and every two to three hours they would do a 'dc' which is a dead check and each day, especially the day that the fish came in we always had a lot of dead fish we would mark up and throw away. I wonder if I could get my hands on those? I already get pest snails from their tanks for my pea puffers.... maybe I can add to my "rounds" which is Starbucks for grounds and the local indi coffee shop for the same thing, Petsmart... I'll have to call them up.

Thanks for the ideas, keep them coming!
petalpatsy
15 years ago
I used to like a bit of greensand, but now I do so many leaves it's redundant. This time of year, no matter how much compost I have...I just can't resist putting alfafa pellets around my daylilies. And I still put a little blood meal out in my vege garden, too.

Favorite soil amendment?

Comments (12)

kentstar

Kimmsr

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Favorite soil amendment?

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