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<strong>All</strong> natural additives, and especially guanos, need <strong>to</strong> be cooked before adding them <strong>to</strong> your soil mix<br />
REV’S TIP<br />
ALL soil mixes and soil elements, including mineral elements, need <strong>to</strong> be<br />
cooked BEFORE living roots arrive on the scene. Even Dolomite lime<br />
needs <strong>to</strong> be cooked first, so when you are getting your soil mix or your containers all put <strong>to</strong>gether,<br />
don’t be <strong>to</strong>ssing in extra bat guano, or Dolomite lime, or even kelp meal, because if it is not<br />
cooked in yet it can cause problems. My mot<strong>to</strong> for TLO growing is this: always cook everything<br />
first.<br />
Put simply, what cooking the soil does is allow massive amounts of microbial life <strong>to</strong> colonize the<br />
soil mix and work its magic on it, just like they would do in a compost pile. What else do composting<br />
and soil cooking have in common? High levels of nitrogen (N) are really effective when cooking your<br />
soil mix, just like in composting. This is where things like alfalfa and blood meal really kick it up a<br />
notch, and your soil mix should actually heat up a little while cooking. This is absolutely normal<br />
when some elements that are higher in N, like blood meal and alfalfa, are added. Things like feather<br />
meal are all good <strong>to</strong>o, but the N release of feather meal is a lot slower than that of the alfalfa and the<br />
blood meal. You could also use guanos and manures effectively here as a catalyst <strong>to</strong> cooking, as these<br />
supply high amounts of available N.<br />
<strong>The</strong> bot<strong>to</strong>m line, folks, is that you MUST cook your cus<strong>to</strong>m soil mixes, period. Failure <strong>to</strong> do this<br />
will almost always result in disappointment, so really make sure you take this seriously. Try <strong>to</strong><br />
understand what each element brings <strong>to</strong> the table in a cus<strong>to</strong>m soil mix, and right after I give you my<br />
latest and greatest mix I will go over all additions, and why they are there, in order <strong>to</strong> help you <strong>to</strong><br />
fully understand the processes at work. Substituting things in the mix is usually a bad idea unless you<br />
know what you are doing, so try hard <strong>to</strong> stick <strong>to</strong> the recipe for your first few grows, so you can use a<br />
proven successful soil mix as your benchmark before you start modifying it.