Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Our ingredients: Compost, Worm Castings, Rice Hulls, and Coconut Fiber

I thought it might be interesting for people to see pictures of our raw ingredients, used to make Organic Mechanics premium potting soils. On the right we have a picture of beautiful compost. Note the dark rich color and small particle size.



This next picture shows our rice hulls, an ingredient in our Container Blend.

These rice hulls are parboiled to remove any weed seed and diseases that may have been on the rice. It is just the shell of the rice grain. These rice hulls come from Arkansas! They make Organic Mechanics Container Blend very fluffy and improve drainage. We use them in some of our mixes in place of perlite to increase the earth-friendlyness of our Blends. They will break down slowly over time and leave pore space for water and oxygen exchange.

Next we have a close up of pure worm castings! If you look closely you can see the individual castings! Worm castings are a plants best friend. Castings help retain moisture and are a vital source of beneficial biology. Check out how to make "worm casting tea" for your plants, instructions on our Products page. Organic Mechanics Premium Blend Potting Soil contains the optimum amount of worm castings, so no additional amending is required to grow perfect herbs and veggies.




Finally we have a picture of the coconut husk fiber. Coconut husk fiber is a by-product of the coconut industry. Each coconut has multiple products used to make many things from food to makeup to potting soil. The products are coconut oil, coconut meat, coconut shell, coconut fiber, and finally coconut dust/fiber. This amazing product is dried and compressed before shipping to us. Each block expands over 4 times its size, just like those sponges shaped like animals you put in water when you were a kid.

If you find a small nugget of coconut fiber or compost in Organic Mechanics, simply break up gently as you are potting your plants.

Next time you put your hands into a bag of Organic Mechanics, see if you can spot these ingredients!

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