WickiMix created 2 Nov 2015 updated 12 Dec 2015

 

Summary - this pages looks WickiMix

skipping Skip to next page on soil journey

How nature makes soils

What is WickiMix™


WickiMix™  is a system which transforms waste food and weeds into nutrient rich soil developed for Wicking or Sponge Beds but suitable for any garden bed.

The key parts are WickiMix-R which is a fibrous mass from the root zone of selected biologically active plants and WickiMix-M which is a fine soil loaded with mineral for seeding and starting plants.

How does it work

 
food waste Wicking beds are a very effective and inexpensive way of growing healthy food. There is minimal loss of water and nutrients.

But they need soil particles which have a high attraction for water and nutrients and give a high void content.

Any watertight container is filled to within about 50mm of the top with the organic waste.

This could be food waste as shown.
 

weedsOr it could be waste organic material like weeds. Many soils - like clays are too heavy to use in a wicking bed. However a heavy soil can easily grow plants like Comfrey, Senna Alata, Queensland Arrow Root etc. which have deep tap roots which are very efficient at extracting nutrients from the heavy soil.

They produce a lot of thick foliage which make an excellent raw material for making nutrient rich soil suitable for Wicking Beds.
 
wickimix-r It is then topped up with WickiMix-R which is an inoculant full of active biology particularly fungi - which decompose the organic material.

It is made by creating an eco-system of plants which are known to attract beneficial biology like mycorrhizal fungi. The root system is extracted with the living soil biology.

This is spread over the surface of the organic waste.
 
seed tray A seed tray with an open base is placed on top and filled with the much finer WickiMix-M

This also contains biology but with a bias to bacteria but contains minerals - particularly the secondary and trace minerals.

Seeds are sown into this rich soil in the normal way and top watered until a root system has developed.
 
wickimix-m As the soil is very water absorbent it can be used in sponge beds which are similar to wicking beds but do not have a water container but rely on the water holding capacity of the soil.

After the seeds germinate the roots will penetrate to the lower layer where they can extract further nutrients as the organic material decomposes.

Water can then be applied to the lower layer as in a conventional wicking bed.
 
root matAs the level drops from decomposition the tray is lifted and further organic material added.

The roots form a thick mat which lift with the tray.

This is an effective way of recycling food waste in an apartment where normal composting is not practical.

skippingGo to next page healthy bodies from healthy plants from healthy soil