Lovely to find this recipe using wool pellets - I'm going to try it 👍. Also, the peat-free compost you' are using is made with coco coir. Just in case you weren't aware.
You'll find they need less water than typical soil blocks--and you can definitely up the ratio of potting soil to wool pellets to around 1:8 or even 1:10 :) Be sure to sift!
I started getting into wool pellets last year, so far they seem great (though I have heard of dogs finding the smell hard to resist and digging them up if you're using them to amend your plants in your garden). I even tried just mixing small chunks of the dirty parts of a fleece (so not in pellet form) I was washing into the soil of some hanging baskets outside and it seemed to help a lot, particularly in water retention as we get super hot summers where I am. Wool pellets are going to be a big thing in the next few years, I think!
Interesting! I wonder if the smell possibly attracts other predators.... we're out in a rural area. Still want to give it a try, because I want my soil mix to be as regenerative and sustainable as possible.
Thanks lovely, I so enjoy your videos and am learning so much. I heard you say you have sheep so you are going to use pellets from them. I also have some gorgeous sheep and I was wondering how you convert their wool to pellets. My little farmlet is based on permaculture principles so making my own pellets would be amazing. Thanks in advance for your reply. Oh and could you tell me the dimensions for the medium sized soil blocker. Kindly Déanne xx
I have been trying to find online a peat free potting mix (that doesn’t cost a fortune) for a couple weeks now. It’s frustrating with the price points being so different that people will continue to purchase products with peat. Thank you for always providing great content! 🌱🌸💗
Hi Andrea. I want to use a peat free mix as well. I don’t want to use coir (coconut hull) mixes either because of the large amount of water used to remove salt. So I’m thinking the best alternative might be to make my own mix. See my comment and question above. I’ve also contacted Blue Ribbon Organics with the same questions, so I’m hoping I get some help.
Thanks for the new recipe! I'm going to try this. Do you know of a way to use raw wool? I have a local source of that, but I can't find pellets locally.
in the UK we have a great brand of wool based compost available, I think I will try that for soil blocking this is my first year trying it out, I hope I take to it well as I love the idea of using blocks!!
i have some home made self watering seed starting trays that use felt on raised trays to suck up and distribute water from below to the seedlings. we use 3-4" pieces of 2" PVC pipe so they have no bottom and the dirt from them just sits on the felt and absorbs the water. i wander if setting the seed blocks right on the felt would allow them to self water but still not crumble and fall apart. we may give it a shot! thanks for the tips.
I’ve never heard of pfas before so I’m glad you’re highlighting it. I grow vegetables so will look into it for my garden. I’m intrigued by the soil blocking because of you. I might try to see if I can move over to it.
Very interesting video. Thanks for sharing. Do you plan to make your own wool pellets in the future? Have you looked into this process? I'm very interested in this product and the process of making it.
WOOL is sustainable, and readily available. Wool PELLETS, perhaps not so much. As a person with access to wool fleece, using discards from skirting fleeces in various gardening applications is very appealing. I am leery about having to buy pellets, the process to make them, and the resources used in that process. I will be more interested when I can be shown how to use unprocessed wool, or how to process it myself.
It’s not “processed,” it is just raw wool out through a pelletizing machine. Nothing is added, it just makes it easier to ship and use in garden applications.
I am so glad you cap off this video with using what's AROUND you instead of straight up in this instance saying things like "hey just buy THIS from amazon it's the best". Because in this case I would be worried about external issues like animals' welfare, emissions, etc. BUt seeing as you already have them, you are simply using what's your farm is already producing and if not otherwise wouldn't ended up in less desirable uses.
Absolutely! Someone may find leaf mould works best for them, or coconut coir, but the key is trying something new that's easily and readily available! :)
Hi, I used to use wool tags around my pea plants to have them grow longer and produce more peas. My question is how far will 8 ounces of wool pellets go and what are they made from?
I started my blocks about a month ago. I used the stand up 20 cell block maker. I have about 4500 seedlings started. I’m ready to start transplanting outside this weekend. My problem is they appear to be all intertwined with their roots. I thought the idea of soil blocks was to not have this problem. Will they be ok once I separate them ?
I am so thrilled I found your channel!!! Thank you for all the hard work you do for purely organic sustainable gardening. This was so fantastic. Thank you ❤❤❤
The wool pellets recipe produced 10% germination for tomato and zinnias seeds. I’ve worked on this problem for three months. What seed company is used?
Where do you purchase the wool pellets? Also, I live near a sheep farmer so I'm excited to see how you use the wool after sheering because I think I could source that from my neighbor. Love all your tips and hope to come visit your farm someday as I'm on the other side of the Rocky Mountains. Thank you for sharing all your experiments!
Do you make your own wool pellets? If yes how? Just curious because we have rescue alpacas and are trying to utilize their fiber in many different ways to cut down on fiber waste. Thank you, love your channel..
Great info! How do you incorporate your "raw" sheeps wool instead of pellets? I have access to some but would have no idea how to incorporate sheared wool instead of the pellets. TIA!
Just trying soil blocking for the first time. Still finding my way. I’m wondering about trying well aged turkey manure. I know I would have to mix something with it.
I tried exactly what you suggested. However, the containers with wool pellet show no sprouting at all after 4-5 days. In fact, just the compost is showing sprouting but not with wool pellets. Also, the wool pellets separate from the compost even after hydrating them. How often should we watering the seeds? Any suggestions?
Awesome information! I’ve been using coco coir for a couple years now but hadn’t thought about the water usage before. Also, where did you get your sweater? 😍
The water used for rehydrating the coir isn't really an issue because it will be used by the seedlings. It's an odd thing to include in her assessment.
Did you experience any adverse effects from the initially high release of nitrogen from the lanolin? When watching the Utah State University video about this, I was really surprised by how high the immediately available nitrogen was, and wondered if you saw any of the problems that you can see with that type of thing like unhealthy growth or salt build up? Or do you think this just wouldn't apply since you added the wool dry rather than wet? Really curious about this material and excited to do some trials with it this spring.
Very interesting! Aside from the seedling phase, how did plants with this start mix perform for you last year? Will you be sticking with this mix for blocking in the future? All the anecdotal evidence and data from those university studies point to this being a great input for seed starting, but that huge nitrogen dump at the outset has me wondering if it will cause over nitrification, especially when mixed with any mixes that already have adequate nitrogen. @@Blossomandbranch
I like that you are trying not to use coco coir but Coco Loco, which you recommend, appears to contain coco coir. Is there an alternative that omits coco coir completely?
Unfortunately not as of today-we test soils each year but the market just isn’t there yet. It’s hard even finding something peat free! Some use compost but the problem with recommending that is there is a wide range of what is considered “compost”!
@@Blossomandbranch Thanks for your quick response! By the way, I’m originally from Colorado and will probably be out to visit family this summer. Would I be able to visit your business/farm? If so, where are you located?
I’ve found it doesn’t need it! The wool has more binding ability and trace minerals that the greensand has but coconut coir (in the other recipe) lacks.
@@Blossomandbranch can you explain why the wool needs to be pelletized, to then just be “unpelletized” aka watered down, to use in the soil blocking mix? If you have access to the raw wool, can you not just mix clippings in the soil? Sorry if that question is completely ignorant, I’m just starting this sustainable soil blocking quest and gardening all at once.
I just tried this and… it is very strong in smell. I can take the fish emulsion smell. But I’m not sure I can take the wool smell. It has a very strong real farm animal smell to it once wet. I’m still going to use it to test it against other mixes. Just wanted to give an fyi to whoever needs it.
I found the company that you use but no other options... For me it's very pricey I got a bag and it did about 40 small soil blocks. I'm going to have to buy a ton more. Wish there was other options. I have raw wool available to me. I would definitely be interested in learning how to use it instead of the pellets.
Here in Germany it is hard to find gardening compost with peat so I assume most you'll find in Switzerland will be peat free as well. In many cases you can just take it out of the bag, and it will work for soil blocking. Adding amendments is a possibility but not really a necessity. I have found sifting the soil important, especially for the small soil blocks, but even that will vary from bag to bag. After seeing this video, I will try the wool pellets, but generally, I found that finding the right moisture level is more important then finding the right mix. That is, for a home garden. If my income as a farmer depended of it, I'd certainly do systematic experiments for optimization.
I accidentally purchased 4 cubic feet of the Pitt Moss (the order was delivered after it was canceled). Therefore I will use the Pitt Moss but less of it for the soil blocks.
I dont understand what peefass is; you say pit for peatmoss (pete as in Peter) and kwahr for coconut coir (core) so I dont know what peefass is and cant realize what it is which ends up in foods and everyehere. What is peefass?
Wicked! Been looking for an alternative! Question: Is it possible to use un-pelletized wool? Just just kinda chop it up and disperse it as you combine the ingredients? Or how would you do it yourself if it's a viable option?
A small bag of WP and hot water makes only two cups . Therefore I could make ten cups of dry mixture. Wool pellets are too expensive for home gardeners.😊
sheep don't produce wool pellets. how will you use your sheeps' wool? what is the treatment done to the pellets and how does the energy used contribute to the overall energy cost of your mix. why do you dislike coir, but use a mix with perlite? also, when you discuss why you do or don't like a potting medium, it helps to know what values or attributes you're judging. just telling that you like or don't like one or the other gives us no basis on which to agree or disagree with you.
Shearing is part of humanitarian sheep raising (otherwise it continues to grow and weighs them down and can even kill them). Theyve evolved to require shearing. It’s typically discarded, especially these “seconds.” If you’re concerned, source from a local sheep farmer, they’ll be happy to be rid of the extra.
