Living organic soil from start through recycling

[ClackamasCootz]

Orange County Farm Supply sells kelp meal. Any farm store where horse owners are customers carry kelp meal. Kelp meal is not some esoteric or new 'thing' in livestock, organic farming.

Seaweed extract is a million miles from kelp meal. The only connection are the 83 elements. The seaweed extract manufacturer's do not make any claim that this is a replacement for kelp meal.

CC

 

[DARC MIND]

very rare to find me in OC & no one locally is feeding kelp to ther livestock or horses..trust

none the less,im still kicking ass with out it

 

[Gascanastan]

Rock it or not...I'm hooked. It's easy to get in the PNW so it works out.

 

[schwagg]

CTguy can ship crab, neem, kelp, oyster shell, fish, fish bone, basalt, glacial, and just about anything else one would want to play with in flat rate usps boxes. if you need small amounts on the cheap, flat rate shipping ain't too bad.

 

[rrog]

Plus he's a great guy!

 

[Microbeman]

very rare to find me in OC & no one locally is feeding kelp to ther livestock or horses..trust

none the less,im still kicking ass with out it

Any livestock feed store that does not carry kelpmeal is not a real feedstore. I've bought it in several backwoods locations over the past 30 to 40 years.

What Coot says is true. This is the real kelpmeal.

 

[shmalphy]

I get my seaweed at the beach... There is different types depending on when you go. Since the "superstorm" I have been getting mixed color batches, with roots included. Before I was getting mainly they dark black stringy stuff with bubbles (I think it's kelp based on what I have seen online, but I am not sure). Now it's green, and brown with white roots. It works great as a mulch, but I am sure you could substitute leaf mold, comfrey, or any number of other things and get a similar effect.

Has anyone used pond/lake water? I looked at some while fishing the other day, and it is loaded with life visible to the naked eye I have been thinking about using some to inoculate my soil with. Also the pond plants, I was wondering if those could be used like seaweed. They must be related somehow...

 

[OrganicLearner]

I heard a story somewhere an they were talking about a competition that was held on who can make the best ACT with different brewers given the same ingredients, some guy had the highest level of bacteria in his ACT using pond water and I think worm castings but he was disqualified because he was the only one who had used the pond water everyone else had used regular water...it's worth trying IMO maybe on just one plant at first to be sure

 

[ClackamasCootz]

shmalphy

Dr. Michael Guiry - The Seaweed Site

Seaweed (kelp) = marine algae

CC

 

[BlueJayWay]

very rare to find me in OC & no one locally is feeding kelp to ther livestock or horses..trust

none the less,im still kicking ass with out it

I know there are bound to be feed stores that regularly carry kelp (considering all the horse property in and around these parts, norco, perris, san jacinto, fallbrook, yucaipa, in general "the country" etc), but I was tagging along with a buddy in the fallbrook area to find him a big bag of kelp meal - half a dozen feed/farm stores gave us a crazy look. Only one of them gave the time of day, she came running out as we were gettin in the car saying that she can special order it for $87 (50# bag). So yeah, there are areas down here that are oblivious to kelp in the feed/farm store arena.

The bigger & organic friendly farm stores will carry little 3 and 5 lb bags of whatever brand kelp meal and bone and blood and dolomite, the usuals ya know.

Sadly enough I have the best luck @ the big hydro store that carrys the full line of down to earth, $7 for a 5lb box, and that's cheaper than a #50 bag anywhere i've seen them. ---- OCFS isn't the cheapest anymore, but they will have everything discussed here, just about, they sell out of things quick but will order anything for you, sometimes it's worth it for the drive to be able to get everything at once, still more expensive then my hydro store though lol.

I have trouble finding friggen' pumice! LOL (except at OCFS)

 

[ClackamasCootz]

BJW

$1.40 per lb. for a small amount like 5 lbs. is a damn good deal. Portland Nursery (est. 1906) sells about 10 items in bulk and their price for kelp meal is $2.50 per lb.

Even at the farm store where I buy kelp at $52.00 for 50 lbs. so that's $1.04 per lb. and their bulk price is double that - $2.08 per lb.

You're definitely not getting hosed at that price at all.

Check with a landscape supply yard for Pumice and if you can't get that then ask about lava rock which in California is usually the red lava rock. Lowe's & Home Depot sells this in 1 c.f. bags for less than $5.00 which is slightly more than what we pay with the 'good dude' price break.

CC

 

[DARC MIND]

I know there are bound to be feed stores that regularly carry kelp (considering all the horse property in and around these parts, norco, perris, san jacinto, fallbrook, yucaipa, in general "the country" etc), but I was tagging along with a buddy in the fallbrook area to find him a big bag of kelp meal - half a dozen feed/farm stores gave us a crazy look. Only one of them gave the time of day, she came running out as we were gettin in the car saying that she can special order it for $87 (50# bag). So yeah, there are areas down here that are oblivious to kelp in the feed/farm store arena.

The bigger & organic friendly farm stores will carry little 3 and 5 lb bags of whatever brand kelp meal and bone and blood and dolomite, the usuals ya know.

right on blue jay,california dreaming~
blood,bone,wheat bran,alfalfa,hay,straw and some shity mollasses i wouldnt feed to livestock is what i can source locally..
i grow alfalfa and still have a nice bag of pellets but other then straw most local "so called" feedstores suck
to me, i just feel im getting robbed buying small 5lb boxes of kelp for 13$ bones..so its dedicated to ACT,were i find a little goes a long way..

i grow way more food then i do canna & pretty much make about what i put in...pennys
so till i find a legit 50lb bag of any "orgainc" amendment,ill just keep on keeping on with what nature has to offer..

 

[BlueJayWay]

BJW

$1.40 per lb. for a small amount like 5 lbs. is a damn good deal. Portland Nursery (est. 1906) sells about 10 items in bulk and their price for kelp meal is $2.50 per lb.

Even at the farm store where I buy kelp at $52.00 for 50 lbs. so that's $1.04 per lb. and their bulk price is double that - $2.08 per lb.

You're definitely not getting hosed at that price at all.

Check with a landscape supply yard for Pumice and if you can't get that then ask about lava rock which in California is usually the red lava rock. Lowe's & Home Depot sells this in 1 c.f. bags for less than $5.00 which is slightly more than what we pay with the 'good dude' price break.

CC

Thanks Coots, I've been scratching my head @ the kelp price contradiction so when i need to i buy all the 5lb boxes off the shelf of this particular store since it's cheaper that way than any other 50lb bag available locally. They even ask me if I need it cheaper LOL, they'll match and beat any price for anything anywhere. (i get the good good guy price HA). The sticker price on the 5lb kelp is like $13 or some shit.

I need to look up a landscape supply yard or a rock yard, i know they're all over the IE in the outskirts, i can get Uni-Gro pumice from this nursery i drive by in reseda (that also carries the malibu compost), oddly enough the rock comes from their operation in San Berdoo, and i think i drive by it all the time LOL, but it's a smaller grade, i want a slightly larger grade, which i know they carry a variety @ OCFS.

Coots, how big are the red lava chunks @ the depots up there? I have some bags on hand, but they seem so heavy and many chunks are more than an inch, while a lot is dust like. When I used it it seems it did more to compact the soil than to aerate? I mix in a tumbler so maybe that affected it, whereas the rice hulls are super easy in the tumbler.

What i've been doin instead, when i use the red lava rocks, is kind of lasagna layering the rock between a few inches of soil mix as i go up. Seems to keep the mix "airier" than if i were to put buckets of the rock and tumble it with everything.... the things you learn as you keep the same soil alive for years in a basement LOL

 

[ClackamasCootz]

BJW

San Berdoo - lived there as a young child and even THEN it was pretty clear that this wasn't exactly Huntington Beach. Upland isn't anything to write home about either - LMAO

If you have rice hulls then just go with that. I bounce back around between rice hulls, pumica and lava rock. It's aeration and that's about all the thinking that I put into it really.

What I like about using straight Sphagnum vs. Sunshine Mix is that because the straight product has not been chopped and screened you have far more structure giving you aeration. Whatever you use if you have good humus and you're using straight Sphagnum you really can't screw it up without some real effort.

The Cannabis Infirmary sub-forum can fix you up on that deal........

CC

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Finally a new product with merit from Japan - Deoest

No comment required:

Underpants which are claimed to neutralise the smell of flatulence are proving a hit in Japan, whose hard-working businessmen seem to like the idea of breaking wind without getting caught. A Japanese textile company has developed a range of underwear which it says prevent unwelcome odors.

"It took us a few years to develop the first deodorant pants that are comfortable enough to wear in daily life but efficient in quickly eliminating strong smells," said Nami Yoshida, a spokeswoman for the company, Seiren.

"At first we thought about selling them to those who require nursing care and to hospitals. But to our surprise, lots of ordinary people, like businessmen who are in positions that require them to see people on a daily basis, bought them," she said.

The underwear is manufactured with niff-absorbing ceramic particles in the material fibres. Seiren developed the technology after being contacted by a doctor who wanted something to disguise the regular farts emitted by people suffering from irritable bowel syndrome.

The company's range has now expanded to 22 items, including socks that prevent feet from smelling and t-shirts that mask the whiff of sweaty armpits.

I'll start a SuperPAC to supply everyone over at Faux News ("We Fart - You Sniff") if there's enough interest

CC

 

[BlueJayWay]

BJW

San Berdoo - lived there as a young child and even THEN it was pretty clear that this wasn't exactly Huntington Beach. Upland isn't anything to write home about either - LMAO

If you have rice hulls then just go with that. I bounce back around between rice hulls, pumica and lava rock. It's aeration and that's about all the thinking that I put into it really.

What I like about using straight Sphagnum vs. Sunshine Mix is that because the straight product has not been chopped and screened you have far more structure giving you aeration. Whatever you use if you have good humus and you're using straight Sphagnum you really can't screw it up without some real effort.

The Cannabis Infirmary sub-forum can fix you up on that deal........

CC

Gotta love the IE! LOL At least back in the day it was grapes and oranges and still a lot of desert (not really desert but close enough), at least thats what i remember visiting family in Upland / Etiwanda in the 80's - now it's just sprawling urban tract homes and malls, in other words, a slow mindnumbing death, at least for me, i cannot dig the modern urban lifestyle, i drive through it, but avoid it as much as possible, shudder.....and to think i used to work in the thick of it..... There are some decent communities tucked in and between though, mostly outskirt communities.... and of course the hills/mountains

for some dumb reason, it's always lack of aeration that f***s me over, when i get that part right, i'm golden. I'm slowly learning to be a better judge of this LOL

 

[bajangreen]

I get my seaweed at the beach... There is different types depending on when you go. Since the "superstorm" I have been getting mixed color batches, with roots included. Before I was getting mainly they dark black stringy stuff with bubbles (I think it's kelp based on what I have seen online, but I am not sure). Now it's green, and brown with white roots. It works great as a mulch, but I am sure you could substitute leaf mold, comfrey, or any number of other things and get a similar effect.

Has anyone used pond/lake water? I looked at some while fishing the other day, and it is loaded with life visible to the naked eye I have been thinking about using some to inoculate my soil with. Also the pond plants, I was wondering if those could be used like seaweed. They must be related somehow...

Using duck weed right now, was thinking they might have beneficials attach to the roots.

 

[OrganicLearner]

Anyone know if you can give a plant a dose of silica by watering horsetail fern in root zone?
If not how would you give a plant silica through flowering?

 

[shmalphy]

It seems that Agsil 16 is the best bet for silica.

Horsetail has a lot of silica but the problem is making it available... For example there is silica in a glass beer bottle, but you won't get any benefit from adding them to your soil. It needs to be soluble...

 

[rrog]

Shmalphy, I thought a beer bottle made everything available. Ha!