Living organic soil from start through recycling

[ClackamasCootz]

Yosemite Sam

I won't and don't use any 'rock dust' which wasn't created from magma (volcanic flows) which eliminates the colloidal minerals. Basalt or Granite (stonemeal) is all that I would use or consider using.

YMMV

BTW - using the correct amount of fulvic acid with chlorine-free water when geminating seeds is a good way to get higher percentages. I use fulvic acid with aloe vera extract for my soaking mixture - about 24 hours. If you're sprouting seeds to make a tea, adding a bit of fulvic acid to the original 24 hour soak water will also give you higher germination (sprouting) rates. Better than using Dioxin as recommended by the cannabis experts.

Sprouted alfalfa seeds and soaked to make a tea and then try adding legitimate fulvic acid - !!!. Well worth your time & effort perhaps.

CC

 

[YosemiteSam]

I will give it a try...but the sprouted seed teas have already become something I plan to use from now on. It only took a couple of hours watching the grass grow to intuitively know a very good thing.

 

[ClackamasCootz]

What type of seeds have you used?

 

[YosemiteSam]

just barley so far

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Barley & alfalfa seeds - both will definitely advance the health and vigor in your garden

Plus barley in particular may well be the most studied grain in the world given its history and uses from the earliest periods of human history. Barley is the most widely cultivated grain in the world - beer, Scotch whiskey and mainly livestock feed.

This means that it's the easiest seed to find information - not as it relates to making sprouted seed teas but the analysis of the enzymes and plant compounds. An interesting way to spend an afternoon......

CC

 

[IncredibowlBoss]

All this biochar talk got me excited (such biocharisma [har har]!)

So I decided to fuck around with some stalks I'd set aside to try to make paper out of. As a townhome dweller with a sealed glass fireplace, my options were limited, but I went for it with an airtight stainless steel container and my electric oven's 'Clean' cycle.

At only around 600 F for 35 min, the temp may have been too low, but the random crap stuck to my oven started smoking something fierce and I cut the cycle short to avoid setting off my smoke alarms.

Anyway, here's before:



The sealed canister ready for the oven:


And after:


The wax lining the lid melted off, so the container might need some tweaking, but the contents crumble to black dust in my fingers:


Looks like carbon to me!

 

[MileHighGuy]

Just ordered this bag of 4-6mm Hydro Lite?

Sounds good to me.

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

SSOG, I have a wood stove in my house... If I stuff a cookie tin with wood I can put it in there, or is this something people are doing outside?

Indoors is fine. It wont smoke anymore than regular wood. Yeah just try and get bits roughly the same size.

Having said that i have put in gum leaves, twigs, sawdust etc (i just scoop up from the ground) and once charred there is a perfect black leaf, twig etc. If its all powder or already broken down the fire was too hot or it burned too long.

To preserve the oils we need to just cook it out so its evenly black. Its better to undercook (just like a nice piece of fish) because we can always put it back in the oven

O yeah and this method works great just be gentle when opening the biscuit tin so you don't squash the rim or lid. Any dents etc will let air in and you will be making ash.

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

All this biochar talk got me excited (such biocharisma [har har]!)

So I decided to fuck around with some stalks I'd set aside to try to make paper out of. As a townhome dweller with a sealed glass fireplace, my options were limited, but I went for it with an airtight stainless steel container and my electric oven's 'Clean' cycle.

At only around 600 F for 35 min, the temp may have been too low, but the random crap stuck to my oven started smoking something fierce and I cut the cycle short to avoid setting off my smoke alarms.

The wax lining the lid melted off, so the container might need some tweaking, but the contents crumble to black dust in my fingers:

Looks like carbon to me!

Looks good. Its really crumbly because you used stalks. Nothing wrong with that. Hardwood is harder (duh) and shouldnt crumble like that...

Now just marinate or compost!

 

[FunTimesIndeed]

Yosemite Sam

I won't and don't use any 'rock dust' which wasn't created from magma (volcanic flows) which eliminates the colloidal minerals. Basalt or Granite (stonemeal) is all that I would use or consider using.


CC

Magma implies that it's subterranean. Lava would be the term for something at a surface level. For example granite is magma derived, as indicated by the larger crystals that form with a very long cooling down period. Basalt is lava derived, in that it cools down much faster on the surface of the earth and its' individual minerals don't form visible structures. Pegmatites as they say IIRC.

If a lava that would form basalt cooled down under the surface over thousands of years and formed pegmatites like granite, the resulting rock would be gabbro. Either way, it has the same composition as basalt. Same deal for rhyolite and granite or andesite and diorite.

With granite and basalt covering nearly the entire spectrum of mineral combinations possible in most any igneous rock, be it from magma or lava, it seems any igneous rock source is good, no?



On an unrelated note, I just applied a jalapeno, habanero, thia, and cayenne f.p.e. to a clearance rack infested phalaenopsis. Don't you do a brew like that with jolokia? I spotted some little white bugs crawling around near a rotting base...looked pretty hopeless, especially as I have little experience dealing with failing plants. Either way, I don't think I'll be running that through a spray bottle again without my respirator on. Straight up maced myself like a dumb-ass.

 

[Microbeman]

Coot; Something jumps out at me in particular in all that you have presented....
Scotch whiskey.....mmmmm....single malt...mmmmm....to quote Mr Simpson.

 

[Neo 420]

Just ordered this bag of 4-6mm Hydro Lite?

View Image

Sounds good to me.

What are the benefits of this product?

 

[ClackamasCootz]

MM

Scotch Malts

Malting - the process of turning barley into malt, very similar to the early stages of making beer. Barley is soaked or “steeped” in water, drained, then spread out on the malting floor to germinate. During the germination process (generally 6 or 7 days), enzymes are released which convert the starches into maltose, a sugar.

At this point, the malted barley is dried using the smoke from an underground furnace called a “kiln.” The fire for the furnace is often stoked with peat which is why you’ll hear scotch drinkers refer to a smoky peat flavor in many whiskies. [cite]

I thought that was pretty interesting - I never understood what the 'malt' meant when reading about (and tasting) Scotch whiskies and especially how the smoky flavor got there.

CC

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Just ordered this bag of 4-6mm Hydro Lite?

View Image

Sounds good to me.

Calcium Hydroxide

You probably don't want to use this product

CC

 

[MileHighGuy]

Calcium Hydroxide

You probably don't want to use this product

CC

Dang...

But that's why I asked.

The order is placed but I can cancel.

Was told it was like lava rock and kinda like perlite but had a Hi Silica content.

 

[MileHighGuy]

Another Name for the Hydrolite Brand poduct is called ZEOLITE, where are you seeing that this is Calcium Hydroxide?


From the website

Hydrolite™ is the product name for Botanicare's exclusive silica based mineral rock also known as zeolite. Hydrolite is a natural mineral that is mined in the US and selected for its ideal properties and high level of silica (>70%).
Advantages: Hydrolite™ has a unique crystalline structure that makes it completely porous, yet extremely structurally rigid which creates good drainage and water holding capacity. The most significant aspect of zeolite is the elevated cation exchange capacity (CEC) that is higher than any known growing media. A high CEC means that the media can hold "reserves" of plant nutrients until needed for uptake by plant roots.

 

[IncredibowlBoss]

Can any chemists among us tell if this laboratory synthesis method for zeolite can be adapted to the kitchen?

http://materials.binghamton.edu/labs/zeolite/zeolite.html

 

[ClackamasCootz]

MileHighGuy

My sincere apology - I saw Hydro Lite and read Hydro Lime in my feeble brain.

CC

 

[MileHighGuy]

MileHighGuy

My sincere apology - I saw Hydro Lite and read Hydro Lime in my feeble brain.

CC

That's okay! I always appreciate that you even cared enough to respond.

Anyone ever use this Zeolite stuff before? Sounds interesting.

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Zeolite, Bentonite, Azomite, et al - very similar with minor differences between them

You can find Zeolite at professional pottery supply operations - the ones that sell wheels, plug-clay, base materials for glazes, etc. Zeolite is use in some pottery glazes. Pretty inexpensive from these sources.

HTH