I am in need of a container soil recipe for a plant science experiment. The "ingredients" will be 25% Biochar 25% Vermiculite 50% peat and ground dolomitic limestone. No perlite will be used. I've found the Cornell University Extension recipe which calls for 5lbs ground dolomitic limestone per cubic yard of mix. Anybody have the lime requirements for smaller amounts of soil?
Container Soil Recipe?
Well -- a cubic yard is 27 cubic feet; a pound is 16 ounces; so 80 ounces divided by 27 equals 2.96, or 3 ounces of limestone per cubic foot. Does that help, or maybe I'm not understanding what you're asking?
Sandy
Oh my yes, it surely does. Many thanks.
Mary
Whew! I was afraid we were going to get into calculus or something and have to call in the big guns!
Glad I could help -- keep us posted on how your experiment works out!
Sandy
;-)
We use one tablespoon per gallon of mix.
The biochar % seems high. Remember, that the biochar, if not innoculated with fertilizer or micro organisms will leach from the mix.
I have experimented and grown vegies in a mix without innoculating the biochar and the plants did NOT grow at all.
Carol
That's interesting AlohaHoya. What was the source biomass of your biochar? The experimental mix will have 14-14-14 slow release Osmocote. If you're talking about mycorrhizal inoculant we will definitely not be using that. Recent research ( Ohio State University Department of Agricluture ) has indicated that transplants often have their own associated mycorrhizae which will out compete any inoculant. In other words the transplants will probably already be inoculated. Plus it would be another variable in the experiment. We are trying to keep the variables at a minimum. Are you talking about germinating seeds or growing the plants on?
Both. Our source is hardwoods (scraps from a hardwood flooring manufacturer) including dried hardwoods grown here. We use it two ways: incorporated in our compost where it picks up the IMOs and soaking it in Fish Hydrolosate . The FH is slowly released (replacing the need for Osmocote (which I find very unstable...Nutricote is much more stable). I have tried growing seeds and seedlings in non-innoculated biochar and the growth nearly stops, then fails unless I fertilize heavily which is difficult to guage. FH NPK are all chelated and dwell in the biochar for a long time... Would you like to chat with the fellow closeby who makes the biochar and who is really quite knowledgeable? Send me a d-mail with your email address and I will put you in touch....
Carol
sometimes I add EM and molassas to the FH when I soak the Biochar... Sometimes, just molassas... Remember that if the seedlings are grow elsewhere from the mix they are being transplanted to, the new mix may have IMOs that is different....I have not found any of my seedlings failing from the addition of EM or IMOs.