Living organic soil from start through recycling

[DARC MIND]

this thread is gold no doubt but if you all really want a great tutorial on how to go about

MrFista was killing it a while back in here
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=155997&page=3
i think most would enjoy going threw the work layed out ther,if you dig whats going on here

 

[bigshrimp]

Anyone know anything about these new CO2 bags? I picked one up because it was cheap and I felt bad the grow store hasn't made any money off me in a few months.

It will supposedly add 800-1000 PPM of CO2 until January 2013. It's some sort of organic matter inoculated with a fungus in a bag with a 'one way air patch'.

View attachment 184092
View attachment 184093

Some oyster mushrooms can convert up to fifty percent or carbon mass into co2. Done right a mushroom grow could be a very cheap source of co2, not to mention that the raw materials needed for certain shit loving species we already have; coir,manure,compost,vermiculite,ewc, even kelp meal! Not to mention what homemade mushroom compost will do for your compost pile. Check out mycotopia.net for good diy info on mushroom info.

 

[bigshrimp]

Excuse my typos im dealing with a very frustrating "smartphone".

 

[MrSterling]

Hope the Autumn is treating yinz well, organics and that those of you outdoors are seeing a good harvest. We've been enjoying the cooler weather and the morning mists over the fields here.
Some big life changes seem to be coming my way as well, whether I want them or not, and this interest of mine is gonna have to go on the back burner for a good long time. I'm thinking on starting a "seed ark" for better circumstances though; a nice selection that tries to sum up both different cultivars and regional varieties from around the world. I was debating positing the question on what to include in the Strains subforum, but I suspect I will just get suggestions for every clone-only OG cut.

 

[ixnay007]

In all honesty, if you want something that will give you plenty of material to work with in the future, you need to put aside a nice selection of landraces. Something african, something south american, something asian, and something middle eastern.

How much of anything that something is, that depends on you. Lots of sativas, a few nice indicas, and you could start your own SSSC...

 

[MrSterling]

In all honesty, if you want something that will give you plenty of material to work with in the future, you need to put aside a nice selection of landraces. Something african, something south american, something asian, and something middle eastern.

How much of anything that something is, that depends on you. Lots of sativas, a few nice indicas, and you could start your own SSSC...

Bingo, which is just the sort of criteria I'm working on right now. I'd like input from y'all; I think this subforum is closer to my ideology than any other. Ill stop by later this week when I've done some thinking and writing.

 

[IncredibowlBoss]

So today I found out the neighbor who complained about the skunk/chemical smell after I dumped 2 buckets of rancid hash water down the drain is a LEO.

My whole show's legal, so I persevere...

 

[MrSterling]

How'd the hash water go rancid, bowl? And what, does that cop have the strongest nose in the county? How's he smelling that poured down a drain?

 

[shmalphy]

Hash water gets nasty after a few days if you let it sit around, much like nettle tea, I would have watered my plants with it though, that is good stuff

 

[MrSterling]

Yeah I've never had any want to leave one of those laying around, haha. Right onto the carbon heavy compost to hopefully speed things up.

 

[IncredibowlBoss]

LOL I forgot 10 gal of the stuff in the corner of my basement for about 10-12 weeks - didn't stank too bad til I agitated it - as soon as I broke the surface tension, it released an overpowering stench that combine hash and my memories of the municipal sewers backing up into the basement of my parents' house - like I had to wear a respirator to keep from gagging.

Anyway, dumped that stank down the basement drain, which I guess connects to hers (we're in adjacent town homes) and I find it entirely plausible that the revolting stench blew into her little piggy house like the big bad wolf.

 

[IncredibowlBoss]

Ugh double posted...

 

[BlueJayWay]

I had to laugh at that incredibowl - glad you could too and considering it's a LEO type neighbor, definitely glad it seems to have worked out with no problem!

 

[IncredibowlBoss]

I had to laugh at that incredibowl - glad you could too and considering it's a LEO type neighbor, definitely glad it seems to have worked out with no problem!

Bro - I was freaked out the day she came around because the way she knocked, it just sounded like a split hoof. So I can't say I was surprised...

You'd think with the fuzz next door I wouldn't get a $200 hookah stolen off my porch or have skateboard kids smoking behind my bushes in the morning...

 

[Yeti]

I know it may have been covered here or elsewhere already and I am sure in full. But I'm at about page 40 and have about ten pages of notes on Cec and soil comp. Thank you everyone here for your intense contribution. Seems like a thread that would get deleted by big name hydro somehow.

But am I wasting my time using unfiltered pdx H2O. I assume it is killing my microherd. It is less than 100 ppm in my parts, but I know that it contains chlorine and chloramine. We use prime (started making our own thanks to someone on here) to condition our tap for the aquaponic tanks and have debated the RO long and hard to avoid this step.

I guess right now we want to make a switch. A big switch. We are in this purgatorial state at the moment and it isn't ideal.

What it looks like:
Running perpetually.
We'll have rain catch on the side of the house with an automatic top-off from the tap for times of no rain. Excess rain waters the fruit trees. The thought is to run blumats from the rain barrels to the plants through a pvc or pex manifold. I have been considering a dos-a-tron between the barrels and the plants, to pull a circulating or bubbling tea at a specific dose per gallon from a 5 gallon bucket which can be interchanged at any time to allow for short or long brews, botanical or ACT.(May continue doing these by hand, though the dosatron would be a convenient addition.)

Should I run a prefilter(RO?) for the tap water during the dry periods, or another dosatron with Prime in it, between the tap and barrels?

http://www.dosatronusa.com/how-it-works.aspx

 

[Gascanastan]

I know it may have been covered here or elsewhere already and I am sure in full. But I'm at about page 40 and have about ten pages of notes on Cec and soil comp. Thank you everyone here for your intense contribution. Seems like a thread that would get deleted by big name hydro somehow.

But am I wasting my time using unfiltered pdx H2O. I assume it is killing my microherd. It is less than 100 ppm in my parts, but I know that it contains chlorine and chloramine. We use prime (started making our own thanks to someone on here) to condition our tap for the aquaponic tanks and have debated the RO long and hard to avoid this step.

I guess right now we want to make a switch. A big switch. We are in this purgatorial state at the moment and it isn't ideal.

What it looks like:
Running perpetually.
We'll have rain catch on the side of the house with an automatic top-off from the tap for times of no rain. Excess rain waters the fruit trees. The thought is to run blumats from the rain barrels to the plants through a pvc manifold. I have been considering a dos-a-tron between the barrels and the plants, to pull a circulating or bubbling tea at a specific dose per gallon from a 5 gallon bucket which can be interchanged at any time to allow for short or long brews, botanical or ACT.(May continue doing these by hand, though the dosatron would be a convenient addition.)

Should I run a prefilter(RO?) for the tap water during the dry periods, or another dosatron with Prime in it, between the tap and barrels?

http://www.dosatronusa.com/how-it-works.aspx

If you are ever forced to use treated water just add a cup of compost or high quality EWC per 5 gallons of water and aerate...... ready to use in 24 hrs. This is not an attempt at ACT...this is simply contaminating the treated water and using an air stone to agitate the particles of compost/EWC. If it just so happens that the aeration ends up breeding more aerobic organisms than anaerobic organisms...great~

 

[Yeti]

If you are ever forced to use treated water just add a cup of compost or high quality EWC per 5 gallons of water and aerate...... ready to use in 24 hrs. This is not an attempt at ACT...this is simply contaminating the treated water and using an air stone to agitate the particles of compost/EWC. If it just so happens that the aeration ends up breeding more aerobic organisms than anaerobic organisms...great~

Thank you gascan again for responding. You've started a spectacular snowball over here. I am curious if you are suggesting this as a test for my water supply or as a solution to the problem? I was under the impression it was in my water in order to kill all the microorganism's good and bad in the water for our health. I do know that the chlorine itself will dissipate fairly quickly, however the chloramine is present for this purpose, it dissipates very slowly if at all.

ALso, from wiki,

NH2Cl also has a very much lower, however still present, tendency than free chlorine to convert organic materials into chlorocarbons such as chloroform and carbon tetrachloride. Carcinogens.

...

Adding chloramine to the water supply may increase exposure to lead in drinking water, especially in areas with older housing; this exposure can result in increased lead levels in the bloodstream which may pose a significant health risk.


These are reasons I would love to move away from using chlorine/chloramine treated water or finding a way to, sadly, re-treat it myself. It is already necessary to treat our pretreated water with sodium thiosulfate (prime) to precipitate the chlorine/chloriamine out for our aquariums. Rain water is in excess during the winter, while during summer, a real rain is unlikely. So this is only available as a resource part-time.

By the way, this is one of the best resources I have found for building unique soils and much has and will be applied in our aquaponic setting. I know this is a canna forum, but the knowledge regarding soil chemistry and constituents is deep in here and the resources are wonderful. Thanks for digging. You are doing much better than the aquaponic/permaculture forums I have found. The philosophy is very much the same in aquaponics, with a living, diverse population of beneficial micro- and macro-organisms and nutrients being ideal. You have no room for the hydroponic nutrients or pesticides as many will prove devastating for the fish, which are your major source of nutrients for the plant life.

You are all awesome, I'd like to name names to give credit where it is due here, but there are truly too many.

Thank you,
Yeti

 

[RanchoDeluxe]

What Stan suggested is a solution to chlorine and chloramine in your water. A cup of EWC or anything really that's organic/carbon based simply overwhelms the chloramine in the water. As it tries to kill all the microbes in the water it simply gets used up.

Water that has been softened or treated with sodium anything wouldn't be put on my ladies.

 

[floral]

San Francisco CA water department says that a tiny amount of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) will remove chloramine in < 30 minutes.

SFPUC determined that 1000 mg of Vitamin C (tablets purchased in a grocery store, crushed and mixed in with the bath water) remove chloramine completely in a medium size bathtub without significantly depressing pH. - http://www.sfwater.org/index.aspx?page=430

 

[MrSterling]

Anyone with experience making Lacto b. know if it matters if your milk is ultra-pasteurized? It's become the norm these days, but it's organic milk.