Living organic soil from start through recycling CONTINUED...

[vonforne]

Alfalfa is one of those all around plants........top dressing, teas, folair feeding and of course even dry you can use it to heat up the compost pile as it is considered a ´green´ because of the C\N ratio.

Kelp meal is another one.....top dress, teas, folair feeding.

Stinging Nettles, Comfrey, Yarrow to name a few. BTW I have collected many Wild Western Yarrow heads from a field near my house to plant with the wild flowers I started this year. Should have many thousand growing next spring along with the Black Samson Echinacea

 

[VortexPower420]

Using Natural nutrient accumulator plants is the way to go all the ones listed above, but lets not forget Equisetum (horse tail). The great Salicylic acid accumulator.

Who needs protek or agrisil 16 when you got Horse tail.

Timbuktu

 

[Coba]

bionutirent accumulators here in the south;

Taro

Kudzu

there's three more junk cars in there.

 

[ghostmade]

I've been thinking, and planning on planting these bio accumulator's out in the woods.
essentially gorilla growing my fertilizer because I have no yard so where can I find seeds for
yarrow ,alfalfa ,comfrey ,nettles ,and horse tails?i got aloe all around me (thank god!)

also how would i go about finding out what plant are usful in my native climate.anybody on here wild crafting there gear???any good links or books??? on this matter(wild crafting/ID'ing native plants that is good for the garden)

im thinking about other things I could do in the woods/or bush for my bro's down under.
like some how worming in the sticks with diy smart pots ,shit maby even raise some kind of animals(lol j/k or am I??? )
im not going to let my situation limit my intension/actions in these matter,feel me???
I might even turn around and sell gorilla grown amendments
"local humus" aka leaf mold from the woods.lol
let me know what yall guys think

 

[VortexPower420]

Ghostmade- These two books might help with your search for local "weeds" for nutrients. One has a analysis of the plants and their make up and one is soil analysis of the soil where a certain "weed" grows. Great stuff

http://www.acresusa.com/books/closeup.asp?action=search&prodid=73&catid=&pcid=2
Weeds and Why They Grow / When Weeds Talk
by Jay L. McCaman

 

[bajangreen]

Dont forget Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases

http://www.ars-grin.gov/duke/

 

[gaiusmarius]

just so i'm not misunderstanding, by growing the nettles horsetail comfrey around your plants you don't have to feed the soil separately?

or are you taking about using them for teas etc?

 

[xmobotx]

maybe if you grew plants like that & let them die and fall where they grew for a few years they would feed your plants ~assuming you then grew there

but FTMP i m referencing using them in teas and compost

 

[VortexPower420]

gaiusmarius- If you found all of those growing in one spot it would probably have some of the best soil under them. I also don't think that they would all grow in the same spot as most of them are waste place plants and require different enzyme systems for the seeds to grow.

Yarrow, nettle, horse tail, dandelion and others are soil builders. They like to grow where the soil is lacking or has to much of a nutrient available in the soil, so a specific plant will be encouraged to grow due to the make up of the soil. They grow, sequester, die and then decompose to build the soil.

Also if you plant a nutrient accumulator plan with other crops it is likely to rob your soil of nutrients that would other wise be available to your plant.

timbuktu

 

[VerdantGreen]

one word of warning, these are all invasive 'weeds' even though we have a use for them. Horsetail particularly is almost impossible to iradicate once it is established. the roots can go down metres and one plant can span a whole street... so i would find a place where it already grows and gather it rather than try to plant it in your garden - which could end up being quite an irresponsible act.
in any case many of them will only grow (and become a problem) on the soils they are happy in, for example yarrow likes sand or chalky soils and will not easily grow anywhere else, nettles are a good indicator for fertile soil and are more versatile. dandelions spread very quickly and are a magnet for root aphids so watch out for that if you like to chop and mulch with them - especially if you are bringing them indoors.

VG

 

[VortexPower420]

Good point Verdant, Planting invasive plants non local plants is a big no-no. If you look around you will be able to find local nutrient accumulators just about where ever you are as they are soil builders, just like all "weeds" are soil builders.

I have been fortunate enough to come across a lot of comforter growing in my area in a couple of spots. I have amassed quite a few pounds of dried comfrey for the worms and top dressing/teas..

Yarrow also grows along the side of every road I drive down

Planting your own blocking 14 and/or nettles i highly encourage. Nettles can spread by seed but if you chop before flowers develop you are in the clear. Like comfrey you can also divide by cutting the root ball of a healthy plant in half.

Timbuktu

 

[Coba]

I've been thinking, and planning on planting these bio accumulator's out in the woods.
essentially gorilla growing my fertilizer because I have no yard so where can I find seeds for
yarrow ,alfalfa ,comfrey ,nettles ,and horse tails?i got aloe all around me (thank god!)

also how would i go about finding out what plant are usful in my native climate.anybody on here wild crafting there gear???any good links or books??? on this matter(wild crafting/ID'ing native plants that is good for the garden)

im thinking about other things I could do in the woods/or bush for my bro's down under.
like some how worming in the sticks with diy smart pots ,shit maby even raise some kind of animals(lol j/k or am I??? )
im not going to let my situation limit my intension/actions in these matter,feel me???
I might even turn around and sell gorilla grown amendments
"local humus" aka leaf mold from the woods.lol
let me know what yall guys think

I say go for it. invasive plant species can't be any more destructive than man himself.

if my horsetail population gets insanely out of control in my urban/suburban back yard... meh.

 

[shokdee]

Dynamic Accumulators


This thread is one of them! And ghostmade, all the best with your plans!

A hyperaccumulator is a plant capable of growing in soils with very high concentrations of metals, extracting these metals through their roots, and concentrating extremely high levels of metals in their tissue.

Sad that we should need plants like this to save us from Heavy Metal :-(

Hyperaccumulators are tolerant to the following: Aluminium (Al), Silver (Ag), Arsenic (As), Beryllium (Be), Chromium (Cr), Copper (Cu), Manganese (Mn), Mercury (Hg), Molybdenum (Mo), Naphthalene, Lead (Pb), Palladium (Pd), Platinum (Pt), Selenium (Se) and Zinc (Zn).

Thank you Mother Earth!

 

[vonforne]

gaius- all of the things we are discussing are used for top dressing or to make teas with.

I grow alfalfa where my garden will be next year. I am gathering yarrow, nettles from in and around my yard where the soil suits them best. The nettles grow in the back yard. The yarrow grows in the back field where the soil is sandy, rocky and only suits the life of a great plains plant. My state looks kind of barren until you look at what grows here........prairie grass, yarrow, echinecea, dandelion, nettles, giant rag weed and hundreds of different wild flowers.


Read this book.......Weeds Guardians of the Soil. Jaykush turned me on to this book years ago.

I was just out collecting yarrow heads, Black eyed Susans (wild flower) Black Samsons and a few other wild flowers and dynamic accumulators. The nettles have just started to pollinate here.......there was a pollen warning on it today. lol I will have those seeds soon also.

Free fertilizers for next years crop outdoors. Ones all those little critters won´t dig your plants up to eat.........like they do most organic fertilizers like bone meal, horn meal, fish meal..........

V

 

[Payaso]

I like the idea of collecting these items around the place in nature and using them again.

We got nettles, for sure!

 

[VerdantGreen]

I say go for it. invasive plant species can't be any more destructive than man himself.

if my horsetail population gets insanely out of control in my urban/suburban back yard... meh.

thats pretty irresponsible.

most of the invasive plants causing problems in the UK were introduced by gardeners. Himalayan balsam, japanese knotweed, rhododendrum etc etc. They ruin ecosystems, reduce biodiversity and dont support many native insects.

i think trying to establish that stuff in your garden is getting it arse about face, better to get out and find what you already have in abundance in your area and learn about gather/use that. the whole point is that you are using what is already there and plentiful imo.

VG

 

[Carlos Danger]

Plus horsetail is incredibly invasive and impossible to keep from spreading because of the spores.

 

[vonforne]

Plus horsetail is incredibly invasive and impossible to keep from spreading because of the spores.

That is the reason Horsetail has been around since prehistoric times........it IS the oldest existing herb according to fossil finds. It appears in great abundance from the Carboniferous period. At one time it grew several meters tall as a tree does.

 

[vonforne]

I like the idea of collecting these items around the place in nature and using them again.

We got nettles, for sure!

Here is a read for you Payaso.

Stinging Nettles

 

[Coba]

Fukushima leaking radioactive water for ‘2 years, 300 tons flowing into Pacific daily’

that's 300 tons of radioactive water, flowing into the Pacific ocean, every day for the last 2 years.

some how Horsetail overgrowing a cul-de-sac in Hoboken, New Jersey doesn't make me get all jittery feeling inside.