Living organic soil from start through recycling

[ClackamasCootz]

bajangreen

Here's an alternative to barley seeds and something you can source locally. Gather the seeds from several papayas and dry them on a screen. They need to be completely dry in order to insure germination.

Sprout them like any other seed and proceed as rrog posted.

HTH

CC

 

[Microbeman]

2 tablespoons of seeds (1 oz.) Soak for 12 hours. Drain that water and throw away. It’s full of growth inhibitors. Add 1/2 gallon of water to the sprouts for the 48 hour soak. Strain and use 1 cup of this to 1 gallon of water.

Has anyone addressed what to do with the sprouts after using the tea? If you have chickens or ducks they would love them. With ducks be cautious there is no mold. If you chop them so they won't continue growing worms would eat them.

 

[Coba]

just like everything else... mulch/compost.

or, perhaps a burrito?

 

[Gascanastan]

I've been laying them under a bed of straw in the hopes they grow...we'll see shortly.

 

[BlueJayWay]

I toss em on my pile of soil that is stored or even throw em down as mulch in my 45 gal smart pot notill

 

[BlueJayWay]

Barley grows much more vigorously than wheat in my little indoor setup, making a lot more barley mulch than wheat!

 

[ClackamasCootz]

If you have chickens

Thanks for the tip - we don't have chickens but our neighbor as 3 or 4 and is kind enough to give us fresh eggs so that would be a good thing to let her have them

The 'urban chicken' deal is crazy around here. Even the farmer's markets usually have 1 or 2 guys selling different styles and sizes of coops.

 

[Weyenot]

I'll try to (better) explain my comments about organic material in the reservoir, whatever that might be. This could be a situation on my end that wouldn't apply in your gardens.

I bought the 12 piece kit and I only grow 4 plants so I figured that since I have 'em by Gawd I'm going to use them so each plant has 3 cones so that the amount of water going through a single emitter isn't all that much with that many cones per container.

As small as the emitter hose's ID, having a solution with live whatever now have the potential to go anaerobic since the goal is to not have any air bubbles between the reservoir and the end of the tube from the cone.

So that's the 'why'

RE: Barley Seeds

Even a large store like Whole Foods probably isn't going to sell much unprocessed barley seeds. It does fill out the bulk food section which is a good marketing angle. But most people that are going to use Barley in a recipe will go for the traditional Pearl Barley which has had the hull and bran removed (milled) and that is what it takes to make a Barley seed sprout.

At home brew stores they sell raw Barley seed which has not been milled. Some brewers like to make their own Barley malt so these stores sell a lot of Barley seed (2 Row is what you want to buy) and it will be very inexpensive, i.e. between $.50 - $.75 per lb. With this seed you should see over 95% germination rate and most of that will be within 36 hours or so and by 48 hours you should be close to the maximum you're going to get in that group.

On using this or any tea that you want to apply to the soil and if those containers have the Tropf Blutmat cones set-up and working, you load the solution in a sprayer and hit the soil in and around the cones, i.e. no need to remove them. I hit each #7 or #10 with a gallon of whatever and I usually apply 1/2 that and move on to the next plant and on the 2nd round I get up to the 1 gallon mark.

Other grass seeds are malted besides barley seed for the same reasons, flavor and enzymes - there's wheat malt, rye malt, oat malt, corn malt and probably others used in different cultures around the world. Malting is a very old process.

HTH

CC

So I attempted to find some information about the enzyme content of various seeds/grains; my search mostly turned up information from brewers regarding barley. According to the info in each piece I read there are two kinds typically used (2 row and 6 row) and the 6 row has a higher enzyme content which is why it is used alot in brewing. Simply based on the enzyme content of 6 row Barley it would seem that would be the one to go with as far as sprouted brews are concerned. Then again, maybe more isnt better. CC - Could you share why you recommend the 2 row?

 

[Microbeman]

Thanks for the tip - we don't have chickens but our neighbor as 3 or 4 and is kind enough to give us fresh eggs so that would be a good thing to let her have them

The 'urban chicken' deal is crazy around here. Even the farmer's markets usually have 1 or 2 guys selling different styles and sizes of coops.

Our ducks are laying regularly and the local store can't keep them on the shelves. I may have to go full time duck rancher.

 

[Weyenot]

I have been giving the used sprouts to the worms; at first they didnt seem interested but after I added a little water to moisten the grain they swarmed to it and are thoroughly working it over. I have been blending the sprouted grains after the soaking process ( to get more surface area so I can hopefully squeeze more goodness out of them when I strain ) so the end result is more broken down for the worms. I think they like it

 

[Microbeman]

Worms are not likely to eat living sprouts.

 

[Weyenot]

MM- A couple of random sprouts have come up in the bin and despite all the worms swarming around them have not been touched so it sure seems that way. I would think this is because they eat organic matter that has been broken down by microbial action and not living sprouts; is that correct?

 

[W89]

maybe they just like growing plants too

 

[Microbeman]

MM- A couple of random sprouts have come up in the bin and despite all the worms swarming around them have not been touched so it sure seems that way. I would think this is because they eat organic matter that has been broken down by microbial action and not living sprouts; is that correct?

yup

 

[bajangreen]

2 tablespoons of seeds (1 oz.) Soak for 12 hours. Drain that water and throw away. It’s full of growth inhibitors. Add 1/2 gallon of water to the sprouts for the 48 hour soak. Strain and use 1 cup of this to 1 gallon of water.

Thanks for the tips rrog. I would of never thought about the growth inhibitors. Is 48 hours the time to use for every type of seed? assuming i was to use papayas seed (as ClackamasCootz suggested) it probably would not germinate at the same time as the barley. Is it most efficient to use 48 hours as the germination time for all seed? Wouldn't the enzyme production level or even the types/ratios of enzymes be linked to the stage of germination the sprouts are at? Wouldn't more enzymes be available after the seed has sprouted and the cotyledons are showing?

Hey Clackamas there is a papaya growing close by, getting seed will be a challenge as i started to pick them a little early and ripen indoors other wise the monkeys or flinches get them. so the trick would be to let it ripen on the tree while protect it from those critters, no easy task. but can be done. When i try it their will surely be pictures posted for all to see.

I found a next plant i think would be a good candidate, the mimosa tree. it grows wild all over the place and the seed are easy as hell to harvest, the seed look like flax seed but a little fatter. we feed this plant to life stock when they are too fat from the chemical feed, this trims them down real quick and the animals love to eat it. already experimented with a 3 day fpe of the leaves end results were not worth bragging about. Hopeing the seed soak would give me a good use for this plant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimosa

 

[rrog]

Baja- all this info came from Coot. I'm just a scribe.

 

[bajangreen]

cool, rrog thanks for the info anyways.

Am i the only gorilla grower in this tread? sure seams so.

Is Living organic soil from start through recycling only being applied by a select few, indoors, for mostly personal use.

I got a few more questions.
1)if i use straight tap water with chlorine would that effect the performance of the seed soak?
2)@ what stage of plant growth is it best to apply? or is it an all around booster? i remember reading its best applied as a soil drench.
3) is it better used before or after an ACT or top dress, etc, ie. times when or micro-herd would be more active.
4)can do this in a pep bottle and screw on the cap and leave this in the bushes for the 2-3 days?

On a different note Really starting to notice the full benefits of living soil half way in flowering on the second run, but to me it really shines with indoor mums when you don't have to "tailor" the nutes you give them according to whatever the current growth stage is at every feeding. They are doing way better than when i ran mums with salt-chems. Any one take cuts using living soil? would love to learn about this process, and cut out the rooting power.

Anyone notice the better producing /more mature pots leave a black residue on the palms of your hands?

ics of my last round for the season and the mimosa seed started last night

 

[MileHighGuy]

1. Guerrilla Growers are here... but I'm in Colorado, so not right now.. haha. Also, these techniques are used indoors in an attempt to re-create the outdoors and re-create the living soil that is the earth. There are many good Outdoor threads, but of course many of the special recipes could be concocted for any plant, indoor or outdoor.

2. Very few are using Living Soil. Even fewer know anything about it. Most are on the Nutrient Bottles, or packaged soil. For personal use... Living soil is being used in large production.... and should be more. But I'm sure it's mainly for personal use right now as most big operations are clueless.

Few More Questions:

1. Chlorine water? Using straight tap water is not advisable. Let it air out... you'll be fine... do you know if the local water you are using has Chlorine or Chloramine in it?

2. When is best to apply? All the time! Some have suggested it is more important during seedling stage and transplant, but I think all will agree here that there is a noticeable benefit as a Foliar or as a drench at any stage. I personally am using the Barley Tea once per week.

3. Is it best used After or Before ACT or Topdress. My opinion is NO. If your growing in good soil, anytime will be fine. Part of the once per week idea, was because I don't know when the best time is exactly.... but it sure doesn't hurt!

4. You could certainly make this in the bushes... I don't see why not. But why not just bring it with you when you return to water? Then dilute once on the scene.

Black Residue?

 

[S4703W]

Hey Bajan, those mimosa pods bring back memories. Did you know you can make DMT with the bark of the mimosa? On the other stuff, i usually top dress with a lil ewc before i do the seed/enzyme drench as i look at it as a catalyst. i've done it alone too and saw good results so i wouldn't say it's necessary, but a lil more ewc never seems to be a bad thing. Like MileHigh said though it always seems to be a good thing.

the cloning thing, i just take an aloe leaf and dip my cuts down in the gel(of the leaf) and out of 10 last time i had one failure. i've also tried just throwing cuts down in the same pot when pruning some bottom stuff just to see if they would start and i had about 50-60% with nothing at all(just 18/6 light and ROLS). I would say just play around with it some, i remember someone mentioning willow shoots as a rooting solution also.

Clones look great, i dunno if you incorporate any permaculture things into your plots but if you havn't that could be something to look into for water management. I feel like it's inevitable that the good outdoor growers will go ROLS, the organic market in general is about quality, not the bottom line like industrial farming(too bad ROLS is cheaper too, is it just laziness coupled with people who always do what daddy says?). ROLS is all about taking quality to the next level and working in harmony with ma' earth. Lots of people seem to be understanding the whys of organics lately(time mag had that shill dr oz do a hit peice on organics recently saying it was for the 1% and ereybody should eat dem gmo's). I've even seen a couple sites change some wording and categorization of products(i believe this thread was the cause) so watch the ripples over the next couple years. Blah blah blah, too much coffee for me. Have a safe happy new year everybody.

PS. all this talk of seed sprouting reminded me of a video [YOUTUBEIF]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6oJA_xhTa8[/YOUTUBEIF] (just ignore the news people) Just look at the difference of a chemmy meat diet vs the goodness of what we're doing here. that lady looks better than all of the chem fed painted up 20something beasts i see at wal mart, at friggin 70!

 

[FunTimesIndeed]

I've tuned my cloning down to little more than jiffy pellets and a dome. Maybe a little kelp and Pro-teKt. I was running water only in a cloner with really high rates of rooting, but I was having a time of trying to make the fresh plantlets take to the soil.