recycled soil 1-75

7/27/2019 Recycled Soil 1-75

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Here's the base mix I suggest to all humans in dry US gallons..

3 to 4 gallons regular peat moss with no additives...no need for fancy packages...(if the topsoil,compost,EWC in the recipe look like they might be muddy...use4 gallons,if not use 3...or adjust accordingly)1 gallon HIGH quality earthworm castings1 gallon local HIGH quality topsoil screened for this potting mix2 or more gallons small and/or medium sized pumice,perlite,or lava rock...consistencies vary,adjust accordingly.1 gallon vermiculite2 gallons coco husk..rinsed well and fully hydrated1 gallon leaf litter or forest duff..screened for this potting mix1 gallon HIGH quality compost1/2 gallon screened clay or bentonite

1/2 cup this 3 part lime mix based off Steve Soloman's 3 -way lime mix..adjustedby Coot a few years ago.....for the peat moss..and a continued supply of mag,cal,and sulfur as you recycle.

Since the start of this thread we have since determined that dolomite is not necessary,but this lime mix still works for the peat moss ph regardless.

1 part powdered dolomite lime1 part agricultural gypsum

2 parts powdered oyster shellThese dried commercially available amendments...

2 cups crab shell meal4 cups acadian kelp meal4 cups fish meal OR N. bat guano4 cups fish bone meal1 cup sul-po-mag...aka langbeinite2 cups neem seed meal..or karanja seed meal1 cup alfalfa

Mix all ingredients together WELL....then fill your pots with the dry and mixed

base mix.

Now make enough Aerated Compost Tea following Microbe Man's instructions to saturate the mix in each pot until it is thoroughly moist.

Let this sit undisturbed for at least 3 to 4 weeks before planting.

Now...

..considering the type of cannabis grown,this will be fine as a water only,no ph'ing,no flush beginning organic soil mix INTENDED for recycling....there may bea need to topdress or supply another ACT in mid-flower..type of cannabis depending.

Some types of cannabis have larger root networks and can utilize more from the soil,some types are more sensitive to certain un-composted amendments like alfalfa and fish meal...but 3 or more weeks allowing this mix to 'cook' which actuallymeans composting or breaking down of organic materials. This should be fine foralmost anything considering you have assembled the components according to thevariables of your material.

If you feel that 3 weeks may be pushing it before transplanting fresh cuts into....ease your mind and let it sit for 4 or more weeks..just make sure it remains


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moist. Moisture is critical for the microbial processing of organic matter.

If you lack one or more of the ingredients,look for suitable replacements...mostreplacements are fine.

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My base mix is-(I do all my mixes in 50 gallon lots)

Peat- either Premier from Home Depot or Pro mix from MenardsPerlitPumice (Natures footprint)20% EWC (mine)10% Compost (on the first mix I used Composted Steer Manure from my buddies farm)Bio char (Royal Oak or Cowboy brand)

Lime mix-Gypsum, Crushed Oyster shell (from feed store used as scratch), Coral calcium and Dolomite lime. Also added were Glacial rock dust and Azomite. Later when I cycled the soil I added Rock Phosphate in very small amounts.

Dried amendments-when I finish a cycle I re-amend with various mixes of these based on what I think the soil needs. Usually just by using handfuls. lol I know b

ut it works for me.Alfalfa (from feed store)Kelp meal (from feed store)N guano, fish meal, neem meal and AlfalfaP guano, fish bone meal

When I used the larger containers I would add handfuls of worms from the bin andplace a lid with holes in it. Set it off to the side and let them do their workadding ACT every so often making sure the soil was kept moist. I would also addshrimp and crab meal during this time.

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Equal parts of Sphagnum peat moss, some aeration deal (pumice, rice hulls, lavarock - whatever is sitting in the garage) and finally some mix of humus - my compost, worm castings some black leaf mold I bought from the local 'worm guy'

To each 1 c.f. of this mix I add the following:

1/2 cup organic Neem meal1/2 cup organic Kelp meal1/2 cup Crab meal (or Crustacean meal when available - it has Shrimp meal with the Crab meal. It's a local product from the fisheries on the Oregon & WashingtonCoasts)

4 cups of some minerals - rock dust

After the plant is in the final container I top-dress with my worm castings at 2" or so and then I hit it with Aloe vera juice and Comfrey extract. Or Borage. Or Stinging Nettle. Or Horsetail ferns. Whatever is ready.

That's it.

To recycle I've just been letting the root ball breakdown and I remove it. I dump the potting soil into an extra large SmartPot container (50 gallons) and add s


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ome new potting soil mix as above. I water it down with Kelp meal and Comfrey tea and let it sit until I need it.

Ain't rocket science......

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CC, This must be your recipe I got a little while back.50% Organic Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss (Alaska Peat brand specifically)25% Organic Parboiled Rice Hulls25% Homegrown EWC

To each 1 c.f. of potting soil I add the following:4 - 5 cups of Canadian Glacial Rock Dust1.5 cups of a mix I make up that consists of equal parts of kelp, neem and crabmeals (Measure by volume and not by weight.)

Water on most days with a weekly application of some botanical tea - Comfrey, Yarrow or Horsetail or a combination of 2 or all 3.

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Here is the mix that I'm currently using. It was mixed a year ago from May. I continue to use the same mix and on no till recycle I have added comfrey leaves, n

eem meal, crab meal in small amounts. I feed with mostly botanical based teas, or FPE's of comfrey, alfalfa meal, nettles, dandelion, borage, mullein, neem meal, kelp meal, and yarrow. And Like gascanstan said it just keeps getting better.

1 3 cf bag of premier mix ($9 at home depot, it is pro mix without any additives)1 cf of used pro mix soil2 cf of homemade thermo compost.5 cf of perlite 2 -.5 cf bags of lava rock6 cups of espoma brand bio tone starter plus3 cups alfalfa meal3 cups kelp meal3 cups crab meal

2 cups of a 50/50 mix of neem cake and karanja cakefor minerals i mixed 1 cups of soft rock phosphate, 1 cup of oyster shell, 1 cupgypsum, 3/4 cup of sul po mag, 1 cup of azomite

"Aloe vera" juice - a must have from my experience

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I can personally attest to an aloe foliar spray being one of the things that changed the health of my plants in a matter of hours

Some things I've not mentioned that I have incorporated into the recycling/re-amending...

Dried and pulverized Horsetail @ 2 to 4 cups per cubic foot of soil

Dried and pulverized Comfrey @ 2 to 4 cups per cubic foot of soil

Sand...yes sand is critical for proper drainage and water retention.

Glacial rock dust....can work like a sand,but contains far more minerals than regular sand.


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Azomite...montmorillonite clay....sort of like Bentonite

Pyrophyllite clay

When building soil with sands and clay it is important to understand soil typesin order to have a medium that can support the functions of the micro-organismsand the plants.

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I will add my favorite foliar feed routine. I take a handfull of alfalfa meal and soak it in water for 24-48 hours, then strain and dilute in one gallon of water. I add a tsp or so of liquid silica, and spray at lights out. I can almost guarantee new growth in two days.

Alfalfa meal costs me $12 for 50lb. As always organic is better but either way it is good stuff. I also use it in my compost, as a soil amendment, and in teas.Here is a blurb on alfalfa meal.....

Alfalfa Meal

Alfalfa provides many nutritional benefits not only for plant use, but for soilorganisms as well. One very important ingredient is tricontanol, a powerful plan

t growth regulator.Orchid and rose growers make an alfalfa tea and spray it directly on as a foliarfertilizer. Alfalfa is very high in vitamins, plus N-P-K-Ca, Mg, and other valuable minerals. It also includes sugars, starches, proteins, fiber and 16 amino acids. Approximate analysis is 3-1-2.

Sprinkle lightly over garden and water, or use about a handful (depending on thesize) around each rose, tree, or shrub. Alfalfa meal and hay used for mulch contain vitamin A, folic acid, trace minerals and the growth hormone tricontanol. Us25 pounds per 1,000 square feet or 400-800 pounds per acre.

Alfalfa helps plants create larger flowers and increases the tolerance to cold.

Make alfalfa tea by soaking 1 cup of alfalfa meal per 5 gallon of water.

Good for all flowering plants. Research has shown that using more is not better.At recommended rates alfalfa worked wonders on roses but it could be overused causing adverse effects.

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schwagg

The 'rock dust' term I used should have included an explanation, i.e. it's a mixI had made and bagged:

4x - Glacial Rock Dust - Canadian Glacial (Gaia Green label)1x - Bentonite - from the pottery supply store in PDX1x - Oyster Shell Powder - the standard product from San Francisco Bay1x - Basalt - from Redmond, Oregon (new product at Concentrates - about $18.00)

No Dolomite Lime, Greensand or SRP was used. Or Azomite.

LOL

CC


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There's plenty of Magnesium in kelp to keep up with the entire life cycle of theplant...realistically.

I do the sul-po-mag for shits and giggles on the mag end....more for the sulfur.

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Scrappy

Okay - the first goals of wanting Calcium & Magnesium are good we'll stipulate.Whether or not you need a mineral amendment to achieve that will be put aside.

Dolomite Lime is used in 'the real world' when a complete soil analysis has beendone and now you have a complete overview of the element levels, CeC, etc. andit's been established that lower levels exist for the long term on the Magnesiumpercentage. Even then, DL is applied maybe once every 4 or 5 years. The Magnesium in DL arrives as Magnesium Carbonate (MgCO3) but it's a bit more complicatedthan that.

The reason that it is 'slow acting' is the molecular structure and if you were t

o hit even WikiPedia and looked at the molecular formula you can easily understand why this material is as slow acting as it is.

If in fact you need a Magnesium jolt then you'd be far better off using a minedmineral compound like Epsom Salts (Magnesium Sulfate) or Sul-Po-Mag (Sulphur, Potassium & Magnesium). The Magnesium in Epsom Salts is in its elemental form likeSul-Po-Mag.

The main straight liming agents, Limestone, Calcite (aka Agricultural Lime), Oyster shell powder and Crab meal are sources for Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3). All are pure Calcium Carbonate with the exception of Limestone which can have a Mg level between 2 - 3% depending on the specific mine, country of origin, etc.

When looking at the numbers on a Calcium Carbonate source you have to multiply the CaCO3 percentage by 0.375% and now you will have the elemental Calcium (Ca++)numbers.

Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) is the preferred 'liming' agent in the PNW due to the acidic soils we deal with (the west side). That has to do with the adulteration of the clay platelets which no longer carry a pure negative charge (-) on the edges which bind along its edge with the center of adjacent clay particles and nowyou have clay compaction. All the Rototilling isn't going to change that - ever.

So back to Dolomite Lime and why it's used in commercial potting soils - certainly not used by professional nurseries other than for specific growing scheduleslike 3 - 5 years in containers. Even then, DL is part of a 'liming mix' that wil

l include Gypsum (Calcium & Sulphur), Limestone or one of the shells meals. Bottom line is the DL is the least expensive because Calcium Carbonate is widely used in animal & human supplements - next time you're in a store selling vitamins and supplements look at the label on the Calcium products - Calcium Carbonate.

Same for livestock and poultry. Calcium is a necessary part of their feed and DLisn't part of that. DL has several industrial, manufacturing, etc. uses - it'snot the big deal in agriculture or horticulture like it is in the cannabis hobbygardening paradigm.


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All of this assumes of course that the potting soil that you make is deficient in Calcium or Magnesium. It would be highly unlikely that given the compost and EWC you produce that you need additional Magnesium or Calcium. EWC are covered with a slime which is Calcium Carbonate from the worm's digestive tract.

Calcium is not this elusive element that Goober wants you to believe it is

CC

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Soil Biology and pH by Jeff Lowenfels

The success of the AeroGarden, the first plug-and-grow aeroponic kitchen appliance, is testament to the fact that ordinary people do not understand the conceptof pH and don't want to deal with it in their growing situations. Make it so youcan practice hydroponics without this chemistry barrier and they will come, apparently.

Frankly, the concept of pH also confuses soil gardeners. Heck, the definition ofpH was inadvertently reversed in my book "Teaming With Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web." (Yes, some readers noticed; I received two "you madea mistake" notes. But that's not as many as I thought I'd receive.) Fortunately, the mistake was corrected in time for the second printing.

In any case, soil gardeners have been told certain plants require acidic conditions- for example, rhododendrons and azaleas- or else they won't grow. The solution advocated by most experienced gardeners is not dissimilar from what a hydroponics grower would do: adjust the pH with chemicals, such as agricultural lime, to make the soil more alkaline. To make alkaline soil more acid, we are told to add sulfur. Because they are chemical changes, these solutions work for a short time. But to me pH is a biological matter.

A bit of quick pH review is in order (if only to make amends for the mistake inmy book). You may remember that pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity ofa solution on a scale of 1 to 14; 1 being most acidic and 14 being most alkaline. A more technical description is that pH is the measurement of the concentratio

n of hydrogen ions, H+. If you have lots of H+, the pH is low, or acidic. If youhave few of them, the pH is high, or alkaline.

If you are adding fertilizers and using chemicals, you are stuck in the chemicalrealm. Organic gardeners, soil food webbies in particular, realize that pH hasmore to do with biology than it does with chemistry. That's because of the way plant roots take up nutrients. Root hair surfaces are covered with positive electrical hydrogen cations. Think of these charges as ping-pong balls. If soil particles are small enough, their surfaces are covered by these ping-pong ball charges, both positive (cation) charges and negative (anion) charges. These cations are not limited to hydrogen; they also include calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, iron, and ammonium. All are important plant nutrients.

When a root encounters a clay or organic particle, it can exchange one of its hydrogen cation for another positive one from the particle. It can choose from calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, iron, ammonium and hydrogen, as these are all cations carried by clay and silt and are all, as luck would have it, major plant nutrients.

This is known, incidentally, as cation exchange capacity, or CEC. Sand and silthave low CECs, because they comprised of particles that are too large to hold electrical charges. This is why humus and clay are needed to make soil good. Theyare extremely small particles and can carry cations.


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So, back to pH. Every time a plant root exchanges a hydrogen ion for a nutriention, it increases the concentration of hydrogen ions in solution. Thus, the pH goes down and things should become more acidic.

Ah, but things usually balance out because the positive cations on the root surface also attract negative charges. Here, hydroxy ions (OH-) are the exchange ping-pong balls, and addition of hydroxy ions lowers the concentration of hydrogenions in the solution, and pH goes up.

I know this still sounds like chemistry and not biology. However, each plant hasan optimum pH requirement. What soil growers need to know (and hydroponics growers don't) is that the type of bacteria and fungi attracted to a plant's rhizosphere by the plant's exudates has a lot to do with setting this optimal pH. Bacteria produce a slim that raises the pH, and fungi produce acids that lower the pH. Since the plant is in control of the biology it attracts, in a natural system,it is the plant that determines the pH, and not some chemistry teacher.

So, while you may forget the chemistry of pH, at least remember there is a biological side. Do no harm to it, and you shouldn't have to worry much about pH whenyou grow plants in soil. Moreover, the nutrient exchanges that occur above alsohave a lot to do with what kind of bacteria and fungi are attracted to the rootzone as some like higher pH and others lower pH.

___________IncredibowlBoss

The information on polysaccharides is easily available but let me know.

Aloe vera is a nutrient accumulator like Alfalfa, Kelp, Comfrey, etc. meaning that you get the full panorama of Elements needed by a plant.

What separates any plant material from another are the Secondary Metabolites that they contain. IOW, if you only wanted Elements then it really wouldn't matterwhich of the accumulators you used. Sure - some plants will have a higher profile on this or that but across the board Alfalfa meal could be used in lieu of kel

p meal were it not for their specific compounds.

Alfalfa = Triacontanol or Kelp meal = Alginic acid and the other plants will have their own specific compounds that they manufacture.

In the case of Aloe vera you have two compounds that are important - Saponins and Salicylic acid. You've probably seen references to using Willow shoots to extract a so-called rooting compound - well this is the same one that you can use without climbing trees or whatever.

Saponins are usually promoted as a surfactant or wetting agent which is true. But their role is far more complex as it relates to triggering a plant's innate defense systems - System Acquired Resistance (SAR) and Hormonal Acquired Resistanc

e (HAR).

Saponins in the soil, per se, provide a number of other benefits that you can read about. The problem with trying to do research on the Aloe vera plant in the USA is that the links at Google are loaded with blogs, forum posts and manufacturer's blab sheets. Pretty daunting trying to dig through it.

You'll do much better at the Australian web sites. Australia is the 3rd largestproducer of Aloe vera extracts - liquid, spray-dried and freeze dried versions.China & Mexico are bigger than Australia.


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Besides these 2 specific compounds (of about 450), there are the enzymes and here you can go back to the Google sites, get the specific enzymes Aloe vera contains and then look over at Google Scholar, SCIRUS, JSTOR or another science-basedsearch engines and figure out how it applies to Botany and soil biology.

But Saponins and Salicylic acid would the main selling points from a sales rep perspective.

HTH

CC

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Some old fart taught me to make a foliar spray with aloe juice @ 2 tablespoons per gallon of water once.....You can go to the Mexican grocery store and buy aloe leaves. Simply crush the leaves and collect the juice.

I sprayed up to 3 times a day before determining that 1 application every 3 daysin veg was enough for me....and the plants.

What I noticed within 3 or less hours after an application was that the leaves o

n most types pointed upwards...not in a lockout or 'clawing' type of way,but more in the way of positive vegetative growth....just my observation.

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A note on the recycling of the base medium...

After the plants have completed the cycle (and assuming the grower has cut the plant at the base leaving the stump and root ball in the pot) ...the pots are dumped on a large tarp with the rootballs and stumps intact and they are allowed togo through into the next mixing along with the dried amendments that will be re-introduced to the 'used' medium.

They are mixed right in along with everything else...and it is at this point inwhich I introduce other materials such as leaf litter,comfrey,horsetail,etc. aswell as more kelp meal,fish bone meal,crab shell meal,neem seed meal,and regularfish meal...oatmeal,etc.

I find that the stumps and roots fully break down by the end of the second cycle...this is food for microbial life and fungi.

On the second round I add less of the original portions of dried commercially available amendments based upon the volume of the soil and what deficiencies the plants may have indicated during the initial cycle. The one thing that continually gets put back in in near the original quantity is kelp meal.

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Be aware that there is an alternative way to reuse soil. We did almost exactly as Gascan did for several years when using 5 gallon pails for growing.

When we switched to an indoor facsimile of our outdoor beds we used stacked binsand left the soil fully intact, treating it with liquid amendments and teams ofcomposting worms between planting.

This allowed fungal networks and layered (heirarchical) microbial populations to


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remain intact.

Were I to do this again [not presently growing indoors] I would attempt replanting almost immediately following harvest because the interaction between roots and microbes has a lot to do with the life of soil [as demonstrated previously byMr Fista]

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On the Comfrey, Borage, Nettle, Dandelion 'teas' how you get to the concentratedoesn't really matter - it's the 'color' of the tea when you apply it. There isno official method on getting the plant material broken down.

Some people make a syrup where only plant material goes into the tank and it renders out a pretty thick syrup. Other methods use water and the amount is all over the place - do whatever works best for your situation.

When it comes time to apply then there is a fairly general consensus - dilute the 'tea' so that it's about the color of what people call 'sun tea' - light amber.

And to your other question, 99.5% of the Comfrey that I process never sees a cannabis plant - it all goes on the beds as green mulch at the beginning the seasonto get the beds up and running. Lay the leaves on top of the soil and top-dress

with some good compost and in about a week you're ready to plant your seedlings. Comfrey has 2x the levels of Potassium than Kelp meal before you even begin toreview the other 82 elements it accumulates.

I pour diluted teas on the beds every so often - pretty scientific, eh? LOL

Aloe vera - if you're going to use fresh fillets (best method, IMHO) then you only want to add about 2 tablespoons to 1 gallon of water - that's an uber safe mixing ratio. I use 2x that amount but I'm using the pharmaceutical food grade powders from Australia which as good as they are, fresh is best. You're gold havingfresh available.....

HTH

CC

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YS

Agsil 16 (Potassium Silicate) is always added to every watering and foliar spray. I've done my homework about liquid Silica in particular in the horticulture paradigm.

I also use this compound to emulsify the Neem & Karanja oils which in and of themselves are powerful fungicide and pesticides.

Certain plant leaves and flowers also contain both of these benefits and makinga 'tea' from Peppermint (for example) and using that in place of the 'water' when mixing the oils brings double and triple the efficiencies.

I've been 'PM Free' for over 3 years now and in Oregon that's quite an accomplishment.

BTW - if you were to buy the Comfrey root starts soon and get them established before winter weather hits, you'll be in really good shape for next spring. I onl


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y had 4 comfrey plants this season and I'm sitting on massive amounts of Comfreyconcentrated extracts - not quite syrup but pretty close.

Then this spring I accidentally discovered something and ended up with 20+ 'volunteer plants' which I got out of the ground quickly and planted them in a more appropriate area of the home.

You cannot kill Comfrey - the roots go down 15' or more into the sub-soil and that's how it accumulates the elements as efficiently as it does. Planting Comfreybetween the rows of trees in fruit orchards is a common practice in England andGermany. The leaves are removed and used as green mulch and the surrounding soils are improved from the accumulation of elements (NPK).

15' feet is deeper than most fruit trees to give you a comparison - once it's planted and established they own that piece of earth. It's estimated that the plant will live over 35 years.

Pretty cheap 'nute program' - LOL

CC

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How can I post something as useful as the info. flying out of here....

Well for re-amending 1 cubic foot of recycled soil (6.43 dry US gallons) with nothing fancy....try this.

2 cups fish bone meal every other recycle for @ least 5 cycles...THEN 2 cups fish bone every 3 to 4 cycles... considering that the soil the gardener is 'building' has been having humic sources such as EWC and/or compost added when re-amending as well.

Fish bone meal takes @ least 4 or longer months to break down and be consumed bysoil organisms before needing to replace it.

1 - 2 cups fish meal every cycle depending upon other high nitrogen sources adde

d (such as comfrey,nettle,crab shell,alfalfa,and other things like neem seed meal) and what the plants looked like as far as premature N loss before flowering is done each cycle.

Of course some types have genetic signals that start yellowing on a natural level and could be confused with nitrogen loss...AKA senescence.

1 1/2 cups Acadian kelp meal every re-amendKelp kelp kelp kelp kelp kelp!!!!!!!

TO x BMR (The One x Blue Moon Rocks)Growing in a third round no-till pot from soil that's been recycled for 3 yearsand counting....mother for the line...so far...seems to be gaining popularity in

the real world from what I'm hearing on shakedown st. Ain't she looking all pertty photo-shopped out and such...golly!

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Before Enlightenment chop wood carry water, after Enlightenment, chop wood carrywater.

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Try this:

1/4 cup Barley seeds (not pearled barley from Safeway)

Sprout like you would any seed like Alfalfa, Mung beans, etc.

Once they're sprouted (about 2 days) add to 1 gallon of water and let that sit for 3 or 4 days and it will turn cloudy. Strain and mix 2 cups of this 'tea' to 14 cups of water = 1 gallon.

Spray your plants from top to bottom and hit the soil.

Let me know what you think. This works equally well using alfalfa, wheat, oat, etc. seeds.

"Enzymes"

CC

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Here's what I've devolved to on the rooting process - ain't much.

1 gallon of clear water

1 oz. of BioAg Fulvic acid2 oz. Aloe vera extract1 tsp. Dyna-Gro Pro-TeKt

I take the RapidRooters (the brand - not a knockoff not that it matters a singleiota) and soak them for 'some period of time' which is usually when I rememberthat they're still sitting in the solution.

I take them and 'gently' squeeze out excess water/solution.

Take a 'glass' glass with the same solution and stick the cuttings in there andlet them sit overnight. Next morning I stick them into the plugs, mist the inside of the clear dome and put them next to a sliding glass door.

That's it....

Crosseyed and Painless - Talking Heads

CC

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Also other than comfrey I can easily get stinging nettles...I am guessing a variety of different teas is better than one all of the time. Any rotation recommend?

Yosemite Sam

The main reason that I grow Comfrey (Bocking 14) is that I lack the physical strength to head out to the forested areas to grab Nettle or Horsetail Ferns - I rely on the generosity of others to help me out.

But if I were younger and stronger then I would go and grab Stinging Nettles andprobably pass on the Comfrey - or maybe not.

If you want to grow your own Comfrey and harvest Stinging Nettles then go for it


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!

One thing to remember is that when we take this plant material and stick in a tank of water for several weeks, the Secondary Metabolites, phytohormones, et al.are gone - OVAH

So try this: take a couple of cups of chopped, diced, pureed - whatever of Dandelion, Stinging Nettles, Comfrey - whatever and add that to 5 gallons of water. Let that sit for no more than 3 days and apply to the soil as well as spraying the plant from top to bottom.

Adding Aloe vera and Silica is what you want to do for the specific benefits that they bring to the party.

It's been my experience over the past 2 months getting the raised beds dialed inthat this 'quick brew' method bring FAR more benefits than a 'tea' that has only the Elements remaining.

Take the spent material and run that through your worm bin, compost pile, etc. Lots of value left - so it's not waste by any stretch of the imagination.

BTW - Stinging Nettles processed this way (quick brew) is a powerful pesticide and fungicide.

HTHCC

EDIT: harvest the Nettle roots as well. Use a cheese grader and add that to water and again, let it sit for no more than 3 days. An entire different set of compounds (Secondary Metabolites) - well worth your time, IMHO

Can you get Poison Oak?

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Getting back on track, I am about to transplant into my "recycled" soil today. I

should have it in recycle bins. It would be like postmodern art.

I have a compost bucket that I was adding coffee grounds (N), peanut shells (P)and banana peels (K) with all of my cannabis scraps and some straw. I then addeda bunch of fruit and vegetable matter from making bionutrients, so they had LABand some molasses on them, so things started "cooking" (thanks subcool) I thinkthis is now called either bokashi or designer compost at this point, it is thick and sludgy like fresh manure, but smells amazingly sweet and fresh. It got toa point where I was adding in all my kitchen scraps once the microbes were eating, there is a lot going on in there, but no worms, it's all thermal breakdown. Ihave 5 gallons, so I am going to use 4 save 1 as a "mother" and split that up into 12 three gallons so about 40oz each to topdress with. There is my nutrient schedule. Eat bananas and peanuts, drink coffee, smoke herb, save scraps. Easy en

ough right?

I am very excited about this run. The last run I did was my first without any bottled nutes at all and the smell was better than ever. This run should be even better.

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I do not root in soil,but recently did approximately 30 cuts and stuck them directly into the pots that the cuts were taken from to see if it they would root. A


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bout ten survived...but mind you I took no special preparations...just cut themand stuck them in the soil. The ones that died either were rotting..or didn't receive enough moisture. Rooting cuts in biologically active soil from my experience is hit and miss. Now EWC on the other hand....amazing shit right there.

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Australia is the 3rd largest producer of Aloe vera extracts and that is where Ifound the best information on using this plant for general and container gardening. My whole focus on growing plants is to use plant materials and very small amounts of animal derived amendments - pretty much organic fish meal and organic fish bone mea, Crab meal and that's about it)

What shocked me the first few times I used Aloe vera for rooting cuttings was the sheer amount of root sites and then the rate which they pushed out from the stalk. And healthy, vigorous, strong meaning that when I transplanted them into asoil high in worm castings (enzymes) and watered them with Aloe vera, alfalfa tea, kelp meal tea, neem meal tea with liquid silica - the plants bolted in a fewshort days with short internode, strong stalks and branches, etc. If a gardner can bypass any and all transplant shock the results are amazing.

Not difficult to dial in - just a bit of tweaking here and there.

You definitely live in the right place for desert plants - I try to use as much

native plants found in the PNW - Horsetail ferns (oldest true plant), Yarrow (friggin' everywhere!), Stinging Nettles and then I grow Comfrey and Borage and several dozen members of the Mint family for their properties.

Still - having a couple of hundred Aloe vera plants would be pretty cool as well!

If you're interested, Horizon Herbs down in Southern Oregon is a certified organic farm (Demeter Group [Rudolph Steiner's Biodynamic system] and Oregon Tilth) and the specialize in medical plants. Most, if not all, have the properties thatbenefit human and most mammals and these same properties can be used by a gardener to be a better grower, plants feeding plants like it's always been.

There might be some plants that would work in your area and at the very least the list of plants, seeds, roots, etc. that they offer is a fun read. These are very honorable people and you'll be impressed at the low prices - again certifiedorganic by 2 of the strictest organizations authorized by USDA

__________

I don't like it myself, but only because it does't stay put

Perfect summation. Then there's the dust factor and once it spills you're screwed.

I prefer using rice hulls, pumice and then lava rock but I'm not anal about one

over the other. If I didn't do a good job on planning and I'm out of one or twothen I use the third. I go by feel and the look and adjust the aeration component accordingly - ain't rocket science.

I haven't used this compost personally but I have a close friend who lives whereit's available and he raves about it - BuffaLoam. Another person that I've beenhelping switch from garden stores to doing his own thing bought this and made asoil and he's very happy with the health and growth rates with his new program.

Trust but verify with others where it's available.


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You should be able to find Yarrow and Stinging Nettles in your part of the world.

Stinging Nettles = you could use this plant alone to feed your plants and it would be the best garden you've experienced regardless of the plants involved

Yarrow = Bio-stimulant and a slew of other benefits. Vastly overlooked by even hardcore organic terrorists but if you used it a single time it would become a standard plant in your garden program. I promise you that one.

Horsetail ferns = everything - this plant will be found in wet(ter) areas, i.e.it won't be out in an open field but usually in marsh areas around lakes, streams, etc. A 'nute' powerhouse almost unrivaled except for Comfrey - perhaps.

There's a few native plants that you might be able to find without risking yourlife. On the Nettles you'll probably want to bring some leather gloves and a jugof Aloe vera juice - the juice will immediately remove the sting from your skin.

HTH

CC

__________I just want to bring leaf mold into this soil building thread, mostly because itis a mainstay for my organic soil. I have never used coco' but I suspect it might act like leaf mold in a soil because they both are high in wood fiber. Anywayhere is a brief write up on leaf mold...scrappy

Leaf mold is an excellent, free soil amendment. It is easy to make, simple to use, and has a huge impact on soil health.

What is Leaf Mold?

Leaf mold is the result of letting leaves sit and decompose over time. It is dark brown to black, has a pleasant earthy aroma and a crumbly texture, much like compost. In fact, leaf mold is just that: composted leaves. Instead of adding a bunch of organic matter to a pile, you just use leaves.

Benefits of Leaf Mold

You may be wondering why you shouldn't just make compost. Why bother making a separate pile just for leaves? The answer is that while compost is wonderful for improving soil texture and fertility, leaf mold is far superior as a soil amendment. It doesn't provide much in the way of nutrition, so you will still need to add compost or other organic fertilizers to increase fertility. Leaf mold is essentially a soil conditioner. It increases the water retention of soils. According

to some university studies, the addition of leaf mold increased water retentionin soils by over 50%. Leaf mold also improves soil structure and provides a fantastic habitat for soil life, including earthworms and beneficial bacteria.

How to Make Leaf Mold

There are two popular ways to make leaf mold, and both are ridiculously simple.The one thing you'll need to keep in mind is that leaf mold doesn't happen overnight. Leaves are basically all carbon, which takes a lot longer to break down than nitrogen-rich materials such as grass clippings. The decomposition process fo


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r leaves takes at least six to twelve months. The good news is that it's basically six to twelve months with very little work on the gardener's part.

The first method of making leaf mold consists of either piling your leaves in acorner of the yard or into a wood or wire bin. The pile or bin should be at least three feet wide and tall. Pile up your leaves, and thoroughly dampen the entire pile. Let it sit, checking the moisture level occasionally during dry periodsand adding water if necessary.

The second method of making leaf mold requires a large plastic garbage bag. Fillthe bag with leaves and moisten them. Seal the bag and then cut some holes or slits in the bag for air flow. Let it sit. Check the bag every month or two for moisture, and add water if the leaves are dry.

After six months to a year, you will have finished leaf mold. Impatient? There are a couple of things you can do to speed up the process:

Before adding leaves to your pile or bag, run over them a couple of times with your lawn mower. Smaller pieces will decompose more quickly.Use a shovel or garden fork to turn your leaf pile every few weeks. If you are using the plastic bag method, just turn it over or give it a firm shake. This will introduce air into the process, which speeds decomposition.If you are using the pile or bin method, cover your pile with a plastic tarp. This will keep the leaves more consistently moist and warm

How to Use Leaf MoldLeaf mold has several uses in the garden. You can dig or till it into garden beds to improve soil structure and water retention. You can use it as mulch in perennial beds or vegetable gardens. It's also fabulous in containers, due to its water retaining abilities.

Leaf mold is simple, free, and effective. If you're lucky enough to have a treeor two (or ten) on your property, you've got everything you need to make great garden soil.

__________

Cool man, I just got some bags of nettle, yarrow, comfrey, yucca root powder, horsetail (as in shavegrass) oh and some red clover seed, i was thinking of sprouting the clover and letting it grow on the piles/bins of reused soil as they waitfor their next run i.e. mini cover crop.

When I use alfalfa, I brew a tea, 5gal water, 1 cup EWC & 1/4 to 1/2 cup alfalfameal (I find 1/2 cup to be a bit strong though, undiluted) & 30 to 50ml molasses, then let it bubble for about a day.

Are there more proven/benefical methods in using any of these other herbs/plantsthat you've found?

OH and on the Georges aloe juice, Fractional Distillation is their method of ext

raction/preservation. I couldn't think of it at the time, I'm going to work through the bottle (and take a few swigs myself, tastes like water) then look into other aloe options. Aloe doesn't like being under feet of snow I discovered LOL lets see how they may do indoors...

__________

"Dynamic Nutrient Accumulators" - Comfrey would be in this group like Alfalfa, Kelp, Dandelion, etc.


16/27

HTH

CC

_____

The ONLY reason that I aerate these botanical teas is to get the pieces boundingaround in the water but it's not mandatory.

Stirring it every few hours wouldn't hurt however for the 2 day steep/brew cycle.

HTH

CC

EDIT: I use 1 cup of Alfalfa meal to 5 gallons of water - I missed that part ofyour post.

__________

I have burned the fuck out of plants with alfalfa tea....its fast and hot. Greatstuff just be caerful....I can't remember the ratio...somewhere around 1 tablespoon per gallon.

__________

Just as an aside - if it's Nitrogen that you feel that you need then Stinging Nettle will give you numbers that will make you smile.

BUT - you have to soak the leaves in water for 3 - 4 weeks. One suggestion thatI might make is to get a huge amount ready so that at the end of summer you canhit your raised beds and by spring you'll be glad you went through the trouble.

Planting Red or Crimson clover (field clovers) will also increase the tilth in your beds. See if your Garden Zone allows for over-wintering on cover crops. Clover isn't the only option - Hairy vetch, about any legume, etc. No mystery - basi

c soil building practices.

CC

__________

Thank you, I use oak leaves for my leaf mold. I doubt the leaves return much innutrition, but they make for an outstanding texture because of the lignin content. This lignin or wood fiber also makes oak leaves notorious for their long break down times. To speed this process up I cut the leaves at least twice with my mower, then I add things with healthy nitrogen levels to speed up composting. Thethings I add are grass clippings, alfalfa meal and soybean meal. In 2-3 weeks Iget something that looks like compost, and this almost done compost does make d

ecent top dressing. But to finish properly it takes several more weeks. I also use fresh not quite done compost for earth worm habitat. Oak leaves in a pile ontheir own might take a year or more to make leaf mold.

I've also found places that city slickers dump yard waste in the local woods.(illegal but widely practiced) If you dig under these piles you will find decent leaf mold, and most of the time worms" win win as they say.....scrappy

___________


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I have yucca root powder, how would ya'll use that? Also I saw "aloe powder" i think it described it as just the gel powder, and "aloe leaf powder" obviously the whole fillet, both for $15 or so for 16oz (the mountain rose herb site). The 100x cosmetic/medicinal gel powder from a different site was $120 for 16oz. I'm assuming the main difference would be the 100x will last a shit-ton longer due toits concentration, but i like the idea of having the whole leaf dried and ground up, even if i'm using "more."

If i read correctly aloe doesn't contain any or has very low Nitrogen so could be good to use throughout the grow (?) as well as the Yucca root... Alfalfa I taper off on the teas by 2nd week in flower (lots in the soil anways already) and i'm thinking the same for nettle and maybe the comfrey too? Not sure though, Thoughts?

Horestail in the soil mix too, i like that gasca...

________

You couldn't find a better company to order botanical products from than those folks. They are the real deal - no question about it. Another source (also located in Oregon) is Liberty Naturals though they're more commercially oriented, i.e.minimum orders, etc. But they also have a huge range of oils, dried plant material, etc.

Aeration? Sure - I do on all botanical teas not because I'm trying to grow microbe colonies but to get the plant material bouncing around in order to release the compounds which is what you're after: Terpenes, Terpenoids, Ketones, et al.

HTH

CC

__________

Alfalfa's saponin levels are about 30,000 ppm - there's the foaming you're seeing.

Try Horse Chestnut powder sometime - 150,000 ppm - only add 1/4 tsp to a 5-gallon tank of water or do your brewing outdoors - seriously.

CC

__________

Worms are the key to a no till soil management program IMO. When you harvest a potted plant, cut the stem at the base, and leave the root ball in the container,cut the stems up onto the soil surface, plant another plant in it with minimaltillage and keep going.

__________

YosemiteSam

RE: Alfalfa tea - pretty amazing isn't it? Try it next time with some kelp mealadded. Well worth the pennies this would involve

RE: NPK

I honestly have never considered NPK when selecting this or that material. I'm more about 'where is it from?' and 'who is packing his?' with a heavy emphasis on


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'what is their track record with their regard to their filings with various agencies?'

Sounds weird I'm sure.

BUT - when you get Comfrey up and running, I pulled the USDA analysis on Comfreyand the list is too long on the Secondary Metabolites so I'll limit the numberson what is usually considered important.

Having said that, I could use your help because all of these Elements are listedas 'ppm' so I don't know how that translates into percentages but regardless here goes.......

Calcium - 11,300Magnesium - 1,700Silicic-Acid - 40,000Phosphorus - 2,111Potassium 15,900

HTH

CC

__________

Redefining the Root-Soil Food Web for IndoorsPublished by Matt RizeRedefining the Soil Food Web for Indoors by Matt Rize

The complex relationship between plants and soil is called the soil food web. This describes the connection between roots, soil, and soil organisms. In the past15 years this topic has been the center of attention for organic gardeners, thanks in large part to Teaming With Microbes by xxxx xxxxxxxxx and xxxxx xxxxx. (names omitted to protect the guilty)

This guy Matt is still pushin the sales for hydro bloatware IMO.

"The constant addition of vermi-compost (EWC) by worms does not apply indoors, and this plant nutrient source must be replaced for high yield indoor organics. The bottled and dry nutrients replace the worm's decomposition of soil. The switch from soil to soil-less organic (peat, coco, bark), due to* soil-less' airy structure, means most of the nutrients that plants use must be added by the gardener. The dry and bottled nutes that we water in are eaten by the bacteria and fungi, which are eaten by nematodes and protozoa, who poop plant food. The root-soil-nutrient food web."

__________

Gypsum = Sulfur = Terpene/Terpenoid/Ketone production

__________

all natural

Barley extract - sprayed to reduce heat stress. I have absolutely NO science atall. I collect old books on gardening, farming, etc. and this one came from a book published in the mid-1800's in England by a 'gentleman farmer' - pretty interesting digging through old writings.

Free too - Gutenberg Project has resources you wouldn't believe. I have 'almost'


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the entire body of writings by Luther Burbank - all free.

Soil & Health Library is another resource that will amaze you. It's run by SteveSolomon the famous PNW gardening writer and the original owner of Territorial Seed Company.

CC

__________

Fenugreek - another one to consider.

Primary Nutrients: Choline, Iron, Lecithin, Minerals, Protein, Biotin,choline, inositol, iron, lecithin, mucilage, volatile oils, PABA, phosphates, protein, trigoneline, trimethylamine, and vitamins A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B3, vitamin B5, vitamin B6, vitamin B9, vitamin B12, and vitamin D. Rich in phosphates, lecithin, nucleo-albumin, iron, vitamins A and D (similar in composition to cod liver oil)

The leaves contain at least 7 saponins, known as graecunins. These compounds areglycosides of diosgenin. Seeds contain 0.1% to 0.9% diosgenin and are extractedon a commercial basis. Plant tissue cultures from seeds grown under optimal conditions have been found to produce as much as 2% diosgenin with smaller amountsof gitongenin and trigogenin. The seeds also contain the saponin fenugrin B. Sev

eral coumarin compounds have been identified in fenugreek seeds 6 as well as a number of alkaloids (eg, trigonelline, gentianine, carpaine). A large proportionof the trigonelline is degraded to nicotinic acid and related pyridines during roasting. These degradation products are, in part, responsible for the flavor ofthe seed. The seeds also yield as much as 8% of a fixed, foul-smelling oil.

About 28 per cent mucilage; 5 per cent of a stronger-smelling, bitter fixed oil,which can be extracted by ether; 22 per cent proteins; a volatile oil; two alkaloids, Trigonelline and Choline, and a yellow colouring substance. The chemicalcomposition resembles that of cod-liver oil, as it is rich in phosphates, lecithin and nucleoalbumin, containing also considerable quantities of iron in an organic form, which can be readily absorbed. Reutter has noted the presence of trimethylamine, neurin and betain; like the alkaloids in cod-liver oil, these substan

ces stimulate the appetite by their action on the nervous system, or produce a diuretic or ureo-poietic effect. [cite]

___________

Ok.....sooooooo...it's a little early to confirm anything but....

I took one infested leaf with 26 counted adult mites and sprayed with the cardamom tea. I let the leaf 'dry' and then took it into the sun and turned it upsidedown...if any adults survive they will run to the edge of the leaf to get out ofthe sunlight.

Only 4 were alive and did this....that's a good kill...but I figure the strengthof the tea could be increased at least 2 to 4x. No signs of burning yet....we'll see in a few hours how effective it was on the entire Kali Mist.

__________

also I found some quick info on these teas:Dandelion leaves contain vitamins A and C, as well as calcium and potassium.Nettle leaves are packed full of nutrients from vitamins A, C, K, B1, B2, B3, B5, calcium, magnesium, phosphate, phosphorus, potassium, boron, bromine, copper,


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iron, selenium and zinc.Parsley leaves provide a good amount of vitamins A and C, as well as iron, copper and manganese.Perilla leaves are loaded with iron and calcium.Watercress contains vitamins A, C, E, B3, B6, calcium, manganese and iron.German chamomile flowers (Matricaria recutita) have anti-fungal properties thatwe have observed preventing damping-off disease in seedling flats. Flowers are steeped in cold water for one or two days, then strained and sprayed on the potting mix just before planting.

__________

Here comes for sure one of those questions many of you will consider crazy...butI gotta ask.

I "get" botanical teas, they speak to me soul.

But I do not really understand ACTs, or AACTs or microbe teas. And here is whatI do not get...if you have a soil/plant deal going on the plant dumps sugars inthe soil at night (correct me anytime I am wrong)...that sugar feeds the microbes that then make the plants next day food. If you dump a shitload extra microbesinto the mix how does that work?

Do you force feed the plant essentially? Somebody help me out here. I mean when

you feed biological teas all you do is make stuff available and excess gets stored on negative sites or in the microbes...kind of stored like leftovers for later is the way I visualize it....or have I way oversimplified.

on the lavender tea...I used it as a miticide, sprayed it. Have not used it to feed the soil.__________

Compost tea is an aerated solution that is teeming with billions of beneficial microorganisms that can be applied directly to the leaf surface of a plant as a foliar spray or used as a soil drench to improve root systems. Compost tea worksby putting good biological diversity that your plant needs onto the leaf surface

of the plant or the soil. You can enjoy the proven benefits of compost now in aliquid form. Many home gardeners and farmers use compost tea as an organic fertilizer to restore a much needed diversity and population of beneficial bacteria,fungi, and protozoa back into the soil foodweb. Others use compost tea as a foliar spray to reduce disease. Whatever your particular needs, compost tea will help you on the path towards a healthier, natural, organic garden!

The concept behind compost tea is quite simple, though the actual process of making compost tea becomes scientific and very complex. The idea is that compost (full of beneficial microorganisms) is put into water and then nutrients or foodsfor the microorganisms is added to allow the bacteria and fungi to multiply rapidly. Air is sent through the water to keep the water oxygenated, as this favorsthe beneficial bacteria and fungi over the pathogens (ex.-e coli). At the end of

the brewing cycle, what you have is a concentrated liquid full of billions of microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes) that can then be sprayed directly onto the leaf surface. This puts the "good" biology where the plant needsit to protect itself. It keeps the plant healthier and helps it to fight off potential diseases. The "good" biology occupies the infection sites on the leaf surface and is held there by simple sugars that the plant puts out (exidates) thatwork as a glue to keep the beneficial microorganisms thriving and protecting the plant. Compost tea has been used by many people all over the world with mixedresults. Part of the problem relating to studies on compost tea is that there isa high diversity in the quality of the compost tea produced in many of these st


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udies. After all, if you don't start with good compost, don't add the proper amount of nutrients, or don't keep the brew sufficiently aerated, you could be selecting for the "pathogens" rather than the "beneficials," and end up with composttea that could potentially harm your plants. Much more likely is that the compost tea would be low in bacteria and fungi and have little more effect than putting water on your plant.

__________

YS, the plants take what they need in a living soil. Our job is to make a diverse offering for them to choose from. The plants sends out exudes through its roots to attract that particular food it wants. The microbes make foods available but it's up to the plant to decide the what's and when's. The food we feed our plants in a living soil is ussually not soluble, but microbes make it soluble. Youmay have heard the term "made available" used when talking about nutrients because without healthy microbes your food just sets there, so they have to be made available, by microbes or chelating agents. Plants need soluble food whether a microbe makes it that way or a chemist makes it that way. In a chem grow the foodis soluble and the plants bypass the food web, and some of those soluble foods like N in an ammonia form will burn root hairs when the plants can't take anymore. The grower is left scratching his head as he adds more and makes things worse,then of course the flushing starts, lol. While burning can happen in organic grows it is not frequent. Scrappy

__________I'll give it a crack. Fulvic Acid's important because it has 2-4 times the cation exchange capacity of humus and assists the microherd in breaking down minerals- it also chelates metallic elements.

__________

This is from the controlling organization in India on the Neem tree industry, Parker Group.

If you're dealing with larva (caterpillars) or slugs, you want to increase the amount of Neem oil by 3x.

For indoor gardens and general IPM the recommend amount to be used is around 4 tsp. for each gallon of water. I cut that down to 3 tsp. or 1 tablespoon.

But spraying trees I would use 12 tsp. which is 4 tablespoons which is 1/4 cup -i.e. 2 oz.

Emulsify with liquid Silica as usual and add that to tepid water. For a surfactant you want the one with the highest Saponin levels possible. However, Aloe verahas high levels that are sufficient and here again for trees you want to increase this amount from 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup to each gallon of mix.

Spray as late in the evening as possible. Follow-up with another application in

3 or 4 days (maximum) and again and again. 4 applications

HTH

CC

__________

The common wisdom says that you need large amounts of P and K in flower, but a lot of us do not pay attention to common wisdom. And I think we all eventually de


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velope our own strategies based on what we have to work with. I want to give youanother way of looking at it, because no one ever accused me of wisdom common or not.

For me going into flower I want my plants to have momentum. My best cycles happened after the plants were growing crazy fast going into flower. 2-3 inches of vertical growth per day is ideal. Flowering is stressful on plants so if there notclicking then you might have trouble later, if it takes an extra week so be it,just listen to your plants.

So at the final transplant before flower I like to feed alfalfa meal teas and nettles, kelp meal, and dandelion, and comfrey, all in teas. All these will be great for fast growing plants. They all have fairly high levels of calcium, not inNPK but stll important. Plus the diversity of multiple teas gives me diversity of trace elements.

At the switch to 12/12 I like to feed a tea with sul po mag, and again at aboutthree weeks in. This gives the plants a shot of sulfur, potassium and magnesiumin a soluble form, or fast acting. But only if I feel they can take this shot, if their suffering in any way I won't force feed them.

In flower I like teas made with comfrey, yarrow, dandelion flowers, and kelp meal. I just rotate them in no particular order. I use these teas because they haveworked well for me so far, but I'm always open to new things. I try to fit in a

little humic acid once a week or so in tiny amounts.I make my teas fairly week, the color would be like drinking tea at one hung lo's Chinese resteranut. But I feed the plants tea at almost every watering up to around 6 weeks in flower on ten week varieties.

__________

Thanks man! Yeah it keeps getting better and better, just adding compost/EWC each batch and drainage/aeration additions as needed. I think I can cut most of theamendments in half though and just keep the kelp @ "full strength" as you suggested, seems to be pretty rich and as I mentioned the plants in the no-till tubsthat only got topdressed are doing amazing.

I like to give 'em variety, so next round for example the soil will get a poundof powdered yucca root that's never been in there before, maybe some lava rock too... I really like providing a variety of mediums & amendments.

__________

Floating free as a birdSixty foot leaps, it's so absurdFrom up here you should see the viewSuch a lot of space for me and you

Oh, you'll like it

Gliding around, get your feet off the groundOh, you'll like itDo as you please with so much ease

Now I know how it feelsTo have wings on my heelsTo take a stroll among the starsGet a close look at planet Mars

Oh, you'll like it


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Gliding around, get your feet off the groundOh, you'll like itDo as you please with so much ease

Bouncing about on the moonGuess you'll all be up here soonThe candy stores will be brand newAnd you'll buy rock with "The Moon" right through

Oh, you'll like itGliding around, get your feet off the groundOh, you'll like itDo as you please with so much ease

Moody Blues - Floating

__________

My heavily Sativa leaning girls have trouble staying fed without aggressive foliar feedings (kelp/alfalfa botanical) - specifically East Coast Sour Diesel and Golden Goat - and expecting a similar response from the Bruce Banner #3 I just got.

At first I didn't know of I'd be able to take em to flower without resorting to

bottle feeding, but the botanical teas have made all the difference!On another note: does anyone add/inoculate with mycorrhizae? Every hydro store has a lot of very pricy jars of various brands, but I know there's gotta be a better way/source

__________

When i increased K in my soil mix (higher kelp amounts and introduced langbeinite) I noticed increased vigor, stem strength and size, and in general "meatier" plants, if that makes sense (?)

__________

Make your own free Bokashi starter.January 6, 2010

Source: http://bokashicomposting.com/

Making your own bokashi starter culture in place of commercially available EM isincredibly easy. My goal from the start was to produce bokashi compost withoutthe use of expensive EM, bran or fancy buckets. The most important component ofthe commercial EM in relation to bokashi is lactobacillus bacteria, the others are secondary (if at all necessary) and can be cultured in the bucket when conditions are favorable. I culture my own lactobacillus serum starting with a rice wash water solution. Making the serum is amazingly simple.

Step One:

I mix one part rice thoroughly with two parts water (1/2 a cup to one cup).Mix thoroughly and vigorously.Drain. The resulting water should be cloudy.Place the rice water in a container with 50-75% head space allowing plenty of air to circulate.Cover lightly (air should be able to move in and out of the container) and placein a cool dark spot for 5-8 days.


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At the end of the wait the mixture should smell mildly sour.Strain out any particles.

Step Two:

Put the finished rice water solution in a bigger container and add 10 parts milk(I use skim).DO NOT seal tightly, the gases must be able to escape.Allow 14 days for a complete ferment, most of the solids in the milk will floatto the top revealing the yellowish serum.Strain off the solids.

You now have purified lactobacillus serum.

__________

I've been working through "Botany for Gardeners" by Brian Capon. Excellent readso far, if any of you want to know more about the science behind plants. Just finished a chapter explaining how auxin migration in stems causes plants to lean towards the light. Super cool.

__________

I just bought the michael starks book marijuana potency from amazon for 97 cents

. This is apparently the book that gave dj short the idea to select males with hollow stems. I've kept this article handy for about five years now from when I first read it in cannabis culture. Its a great article. Its also the reason 90% of my growing is done outside. DJ's definitely right you just can't get the goodsativa phenos inside. I've never smoked anything grown inside I couldn't build atolerance to and had no ceiling. My acapulco or acapulco x g13 are both fairlybland inside even with 13/11 veg 11/13 flower but when taken outside its unbeatable. Guys that go to new york to pay 800 an ounce for hydro diesel wouldn't eventouch the stuff when I showed it to them it wasn't dense enough wasn't sticky enough (though very sticky) etc. Its a shame what most people view as a highest quality sativa is always gonna be second rate to a true outdoor organic product.

__________

Backward" hermorphidites are males that eventually sport female flowers (as opposed to the usual female to male hermorphodites). These are rare occurrences, usually sterile but sometimes viable, that I found to be genetically valuable. Manyresinous anddesireable males exhibit this trait, which almost guarantees against unwanted homeomorphism in subsequent generations as it also increases the female to male ratio in it's progeny.

__________

EcoSmart - Rosemary Oil

__________

There are strains that originate still from the Kush Valley. Cannabiogen's "Pakistani Chitral Kush" comes to mind

__________

I'll just suggest that the flat-earthers do a 15 minute review on the Haas Avocado story. La Habra Heights circa 1920

I won't hurt their feelings with a discussion on heirloom apple propagation - ta


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lk about shooting fish in a barrel.

A review of the tradition of Zen citrus cultivation beginning in the 16th Century might be instructive as well.

Then again it's been claimed that in other areas of Botany that cannabis is a 'very special plant' which does not follow this science.

Okay - I'll agree to that one for sake of discussion but does it have to involvethe sciences of Chemistry, Biology, Soil biology as well?

>>chuckle


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ater = 1 gallon. I water the plants with this.

This was the deal that gave me the 'praying hands' that I mentioned. On one strain specifically which is Week 2 in the flower cycle, the leaves in and around the developing stalk and branches were sticking straight up - not at an angle butstraight up. This lasted for the rest of the light cycle (about 5 hours) and thenext morning the leaves were still 'praying' but in the usual way, i.e. about 45 degrees.

This stuck for 3 days. Beautiful new flower development, leaf color is perfect,etc.

I dunno know.....

CC

__________

Here's the best advice that I can come with: the recipe for a soil is moot if the humus isn't right, i.e. you cannot amend your way to a viable soil.

Get the compost and/or worm castings dialed in and you won't have many questionsthat need an answer.

Probably too simplistic for many but that's how I see the way/method to growingplants successfully.

HTH

CC

__________

BlueJay

Nothing special at all.

I know this is wrong because there's a plethora of books about growing dope thatsays so. Posters with long green bars under their avatar sneer at my general stupidity - but I just don't understand the role of Dioxin in germinating seeds.

Here's the wrong (stupid wrong) method that I use on all seeds from any plant:

Take soil mix and put it into #1 containers, hydrate with kelp meal tea, Aloe vera and Fulvic acid. Take seed and set it on the surface - and here comes the tricky part - I take my 'pinkie' and press lightly on the seed until it is about 1/4" deep - warning another tricky step here - I push the surrounding soil on topof it and gently tamp it down.

They go under 400w HPS CMH bulbs until they're of size to transplant.

Take notes - there will be a pop-quiz in the morning! LOL

"Tough Love" - that's how we roll in the shire

EDIT: Same method for 20+ year old seeds - pitiful isn't it?

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27/27

So I was eating some strawberries in someones backyard right from the plant, noticed a strange *but good* guava undertone, then I noticed a guava tree about 5feet away. I thought, not shit that's kind of odd.

Grabbed a few strawberries 10+feet away from the guava tree - no guava taste. Went back to the closer ones - strawberry taste!

No shit man, I thought it was amazing & I was confused/questioning myself at thesame time, ha!, I haven't looked into it yet but I was told strawberries can dothis, via roots of course but I can't even imagine exactly how, ya know scientifically speaking, other than I guess the exchange of residues/exudate's from theguava roots to the strawberries - whether direct or through microbial interaction - I don't know really, and it reminded me of the stalk of celery in the glassof water with food dye resulting in a purple or red or whatever colored stalk,unrelated but just the fact of absorbing the qualities of a foreign object, so to speak.

Ha, if that "transfer of taste via roots" shit is real and can be genetically segregated, I'm wondering when we'll see enhanced plants/vegetable crops with thisfeature.........Huh - wonder how strawberries might be as a botanical berry tea (sounds tasty)

potassium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, sodium, iron, manganese, zinc, copper

, and selenium. Strawberries are also a good source of the following vitamins: Vitamin C, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, Vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin B12, Vitamin A, and Vitamin E. Additionally, strawberries contain 18 different amino acids.

Nothin' on the guava strawberries, just that they "absorb things sprayed on them." Hmmm

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recycled soil 1-75

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