Living organic soil from start through recycling

[schwagg]

thats the work recipe,at home i do the usual suspects and add some bat guano on the second day of brewing

unc, whats the purpose for the guano? why not top dress with it and apply your compost tea as is?

 

[unclefishstick]

im a bottled gunk grower right now,i use the general organics line,im here because im going to switch to an organic soil grow in the near future.
and to be specific i add a liquid bat guano to the tea,i dont like dealing with the powdered stuff anymore since i got guano lung a couple of times in the past from breathing in the dust.i used to do a recycled organic mix in the past but i got tired of the fungus gnats and i had several trash cans of mix go bad on me in the middle of the cycle so i ended up abandoning it and switching to sterile media like metro mix 360 and liquid nutes...i got seduced by the ease and productivity of veganic nutes,but since i consider my garden to be personal use, im most concerned about quality of end product,the fact that i grossly overproduce for my own needs just means others get to come along for the ride,but its primary purpose is to furnish me with good weed...like this ssh im smoking...

 

[Neo 420]

i used to do a recycled organic mix in the past but i got tired of the fungus gnats and i had several trash cans of mix go bad on me in the middle of the cycle so i ended up abandoning it and switching to sterile media like metro mix 360 and liquid nutes

Crab meal and neem meal took care of that for me. Not a trace of em.. Plus the crab beefs up the defense against some diseases.

 

[unclefishstick]

i didnt know about that stuff back then,and likely wouldnt have been able to get a hold of it anyway..

 

[John Deere]

Any wiser old school heads able offer offer advice/anecdotes/etc about making Malawi cobs? A buddy is on probation getting UAs for the next 6 months (oh the irony of legal weed), so he decided to do this with some of the harvest he took down to prepare for his 'return'.

View attachment 192904

If no Malawi cob tales, I certainly expect you guys to wax reminiscent on Thai sticks again lol

Here's a recent discussion in the Harvesting forum. In this thread they also mention that it's discussed in the Africa forum but I haven't checked that out yet.

Fermenting, burying, traditional curing.

 

[Microbeman]

Schwagg:

How does the agave compare ubder the scope to molasses?

 

[MrSterling]

Uncle, I'm not sure about CMHs full spectrum not being used. I got on the suggestion of CMH thanks to posters like Whazzup, who now suggests 1HPS+1MH combo. I wish I knew more about light absorption, but all sorts of plants seem to enjoy the CMH much more than HPS or MH. Healthier is a word I'd use.

 

[shmalphy]

Fish stick, I am not trying to be antagonistic either, but you should start at the beginning and read this whole thread... Here is a link to a table of contents for the first 50 pages. I suggest copying this to a wordpad document and taking notes, cross referencing what you don't understand.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=5392671&postcount=2546

"You have no frame of reference here, Donny. You're like a child who wanders into the middle of a movie"
Walter Sopchak

A typical refrain you will hear throughout from several members is to "source locally"; whether it be rock dusts, compost, EWC, making char, collecting BIM, local topsoil, accumulator weeds, etc, and most of us don't buy anything, other than various humus products if the stuff we are making doesn't cut it, or are working on a larger scale.

 

[shmalphy]

i dont like dealing with the powdered stuff anymore since i got guano lung a couple of times in the past from breathing in the dust.

I had a box of guanos I wouldn't use anymore for that reason, so I soaked em all in water in one gallon jugs to liquefy them, the mexican one swelled and when I removed the cap (albeit very carefully) it shot shit everywhere, and stained the walls because they are only primed not painted... that was just this morning lol.

 

[Gascanastan]

Fish stick, I am not trying to be antagonistic either, but you should start at the beginning and read this whole thread... Here is a link to a table of contents for the first 50 pages. I suggest copying this to a wordpad document and taking notes, cross referencing what you don't understand.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=5392671&postcount=2546

"You have no frame of reference here, Donny. You're like a child who wanders into the middle of a movie"
Walter Sopchak

A typical refrain you will hear throughout from several members is to "source locally"; whether it be rock dusts, compost, EWC, making char, collecting BIM, local topsoil, accumulator weeds, etc, and most of us don't buy anything, other than various humus products if the stuff we are making doesn't cut it, or are working on a larger scale.

Seriously....I just picked up some nice materials from local sources. A bonsai potting mix base which is basically Oly Mountain Fish compost and deciduous hardwood compost. Some nice looking home made EWC and some nice looking home stoned compost from a friend that's been sitting for two years...really just look around and talk to your friends and neighbors. Composting is now commonplace and it isn't so strange from a growers perspective to source local compost and EWC these days.

 

[unclefishstick]

theres a guy locally selling worm castings but from what i hear they are sorta gloopy so is that vermipost as opposed to castings? im ordering up 30 lbs (free delivery) to check them out and get a chance to talk to the guy since he also sell red wrigglers for 22$ a lb

 

[YosemiteSam]

OrganicLearner

Dolomite Lime = Elemental Calcium + Magnesium Carbonate

Limestone = Calcium Carbonate + elemental Magnesium

Gypsum - Elemental Calcium + Sulfur

Oyster shell powder = Calcium Carbonate

Carbonates require Sulfuric acid + microbial action for the bonds to be broken releasing the elements (ions). Sulfuric acid is the result of chemical reaction with Sulfer and water and oxygen which is what happens in the soil, again with microbial actions.

The problem for new gardeners in this discussion is the how they're taught to measure the pH from the experts - i.e. by taking a reading of the run-off. That tells you absolutely nothing about the soil's pH numbers - nada. For that you want to take the actual potting soil, mix with RO water to make a slurry and then take your reading on the slurry. That is something approximating the soil's pH - not by taking a reading of the runoff.

In order to push the Dolomite Lime myth all kinds of interesting 'science' is presented like 'magnesium hungry strains' (vs. nitrogen hungry strains). This comes from a complete and total lack of understanding of how elements (ions) are absorbed and adsorbed by the plant's roots.

"The blind leading the blind"

CC

That is a really good post. Throw in the fact that too much Mg in the soil does not really make more available to the plant...it just tightens the soil and makes less O2 available.

That is why some of us don't like dolomite at all.

I almost hate to even say it...but even with salt nutes if you get the mix right for your soil you do not have to worry one bit about pH. Try telling that one to the growers educated on these forums.

 

[Gascanastan]

theres a guy locally selling worm castings but from what i hear they are sorta gloopy so is that vermipost as opposed to castings? im ordering up 30 lbs (free delivery) to check them out and get a chance to talk to the guy since he also sell red wrigglers for 22$ a lb

If it is home made EWC or vermicompost it's proly pretty decent. Check 'em out..if they seem too wet ask yourself if drying them out a bit would be economical for you...ya know...why pay for water weight.
Chances are that ANY home made EWC or compost will dominate over anything you can go get in a bag.

Get some worms too..

 

[ClackamasCootz]

$22.00 for a pound of Red Wigglers is a deal - big time. I have to buy 5 lbs. to get that per pound price.

 

[Microbeman]

theres a guy locally selling worm castings but from what i hear they are sorta gloopy so is that vermipost as opposed to castings? im ordering up 30 lbs (free delivery) to check them out and get a chance to talk to the guy since he also sell red wrigglers for 22$ a lb

My vermicompost is 'gloopy'.

so is that vermipost as opposed to castings?

Depends who is using the word. There is this which I consider correct; http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu/vermicompost.htm

And this which I consider technically incorrect but broadly accepted;
http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worm-castings/worm-castings-vs-vermicompost-whats-the-diff/

In my world, twice through a flow through system is nothing. My worms are in material for 9 to 12 months.

I have seen pure castings. They are harvested from larger European and African worms which have larger turds and enjoy a drier environment than Red Wrigglers, making it easier to isolate the castings from each other. These are raised in top feeding bins and the worms are fed only peatmoss and wheat. The bins are made from half height fruit bins and stacked by forklifts in warehouses.

They are harvested with a rotating screener which can be fine enough so the worms roll up in balls to go down a slope out the wide end into containers along with cucoons and the castings fall straight through into one ton totes. They are exported from BC to WA, CA & OR big time.

 

[ClackamasCootz]

 

[ClackamasCootz]

 

[ClackamasCootz]

That is a really good post. Throw in the fact that too much Mg in the soil does not really make more available to the plant...it just tightens the soil and makes less O2 available.

That is why some of us don't like dolomite at all.

I almost hate to even say it...but even with salt nutes if you get the mix right for your soil you do not have to worry one bit about pH. Try telling that one to the growers educated on these forums.

Magnesium works the same way in your gut - Milk of Magnesia for example.

 

[unclefishstick]

If it is home made EWC or vermicompost it's proly pretty decent. Check 'em out..if they seem too wet ask yourself if drying them out a bit would be economical for you...ya know...why pay for water weight.
Chances are that ANY home made EWC or compost will dominate over anything you can go get in a bag.

Get some worms too..

i figure he should be a good source of info too,its help for me to converse about this new information after reading it to help me get to that "aha!" moment when it starts to make sense

$22.00 for a pound of Red Wigglers is a deal - big time. I have to buy 5 lbs. to get that per pound price.

what would be a good "starter" amount?

My vermicompost is 'gloopy'.



Depends who is using the word. There is this which I consider correct; http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu/vermicompost.htm

And this which I consider technically incorrect but broadly accepted;
http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worm-castings/worm-castings-vs-vermicompost-whats-the-diff/

In my world, twice through a flow through system is nothing. My worms are in material for 9 to 12 months.

I have seen pure castings. They are harvested from larger European and African worms which have larger turds and enjoy a drier environment than Red Wrigglers, making it easier to isolate the castings from each other. These are raised in top feeding bins and the worms are fed only peatmoss and wheat. The bins are made from half height fruit bins and stacked by forklifts in warehouses.

They are harvested with a rotating screener which can be fine enough so the worms roll up in balls to go down a slope out the wide end into containers along with cucoons and the castings fall straight through into one ton totes. They are exported from BC to WA, CA & OR big time.

thats some good shit eh? lol

thanks guys,i appreciate the patience in explaining things that im sure are covered elsewhere in the thread

 

[YosemiteSam]

I was kinda curious how the hell do you know when your vermicompost is ready?

I was planning on making some and just kinda changing my pots over one at a time til I was done. Sounds like it may take a little while.