Rimba
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2017
- Messages
- 20
Hey all,
I'm currently making my own substrate for the first time, following @mickiem's recipe (you can find that here)
Everything is going well—I've got a great source for oak leaves and rotting wood, coir, aspen, and traeger pellets are all easy to find, and I have some safe eggshells ready and ground for calcium.
That leaves the leaf compost. Now, if it were the pellets or the aspen, I would be comfortable leaving it out and calling it good (I'm mixing this stuff half and half with what I already have from BugsinCyberspace).
But the leaf compost seems like such a crucial element to what they would naturally find out there. I've already bought a leaf mold compost, but I soon after found that it contains much more than just leaves, and I'm just not comfortable using it.
Green Envy (as suggested in the recipe above) doesn't ship to where I am (Texas).
Does anyone have any ideas for this one missing element? Could I grind up leaves, soak them, and then strain them, or would that be missing to much of the microbial activity that composting provides?
It seems like a shame that this one ingredient would stop me, but I really just can't find any organic leaf compost that I trust, either near me or online.
Thanks in advance!
I'm currently making my own substrate for the first time, following @mickiem's recipe (you can find that here)
Everything is going well—I've got a great source for oak leaves and rotting wood, coir, aspen, and traeger pellets are all easy to find, and I have some safe eggshells ready and ground for calcium.
That leaves the leaf compost. Now, if it were the pellets or the aspen, I would be comfortable leaving it out and calling it good (I'm mixing this stuff half and half with what I already have from BugsinCyberspace).
But the leaf compost seems like such a crucial element to what they would naturally find out there. I've already bought a leaf mold compost, but I soon after found that it contains much more than just leaves, and I'm just not comfortable using it.
Green Envy (as suggested in the recipe above) doesn't ship to where I am (Texas).
Does anyone have any ideas for this one missing element? Could I grind up leaves, soak them, and then strain them, or would that be missing to much of the microbial activity that composting provides?
It seems like a shame that this one ingredient would stop me, but I really just can't find any organic leaf compost that I trust, either near me or online.
Thanks in advance!