Living organic soil from start through recycling

[MileHighGuy]

Cloning.

My favorite method so far... And I've tried them all.

Sphagnum peat moss and earth worm castings. 50/50 add perlite or whatever you have to aerate.

Add this to clear party cups.

Put on a heating mat under a humidity dome.

Bam! Nice healthy roots and with clear cups you can see which ones are the fastest and run those.

EDIT: I water these cups with aloe, silica and coconut water.

 

[think_fast]

One of the publishing software titles I have will create a Table of Contents and the Index as well.

CC

CC,

Are you in the process of publishing something?

If so, I would like to pre-order.

Just curious.

 

[ClackamasCootz]

The esteemed poster, Seandawg (aka Surf Biter, Gnarly Ganga Guy, et al) sent me this PDF last night titled Microbes in the Tailoring of Barley Malt Properties

This is not a breezy read as it's 174 pages in length and is a doctoral dissertation in Microbiology at the University of Helsinki. If you're serious about studying Barley's enzymes and how to elevate that process then this is for you. I've plowed through about 1/3 of this document today and I've already made over 75 notes that are attached to this document.

The breadth and depth of the discussion in this dissertation would take you weeks if not months to assemble.

And even then......consider this on par with Teaming With Microbes in the study of malting seeds.

Thanks, Surf Biter!

CC

 

[rrog]

Read the intro. Seems very interesting. Yet another demonstration that there is little, if any, biological activity that doesn't have beneficial microbes involved at some level. Really amazing.

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Is that a universal truth or what?

 

[Budwhyser]

As a general rule should you not foilar spray after a certain time in flowering. Just curious how long into flower can you continue spraying the sprout tea?

 

[gregor_mendel]

Some help with emulsifying neem

Some help with emulsifying neem

I usually copy such info into a document I keep with info from this thread, but I missed this one.

2 teaspoons ProTekt to 4 teaspoons neem, mix, add to 1 gallon of water is my memory. Can anyone confirm or deny this, or point me to the original post? The original post is by ClackamasCootz.

Thanks in advance

 

[gregor_mendel]

Kept digging and found it:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=5438635&postcount=3706

 

[ClackamasCootz]

That's it!

Getting the neem oil emulsified completely is the key and once you start to stir the oil with the Pro-TeKt you will know when it's done as there is a total color change to about the color in your avatar - the yellow image (I can't tell what it is) - that's the color you want to see before you add this to tepid water and then add your surfactant like Aloe vera or whatever you plan on using.

My vote is for Aloe vera because it brings much more than the surfactant benefit - way more.

HTH

CC

 

[JoeDudeGuy]

Coot, that's Winnie the Pooh (next to Rabbit) ! ! LOL

 

[YosemiteSam]

so about that universal truth...when we make teas from things like yarrow it is said there are over 6000 different forms of microbal life on the avg yarrow leaf...how much of the benefit we get comes from the plant extracts vs the microbes...I wonder.

 

[rrog]

That's a good point. Here's my guess. local BIMs hold the high ground, and an accumulator like Yarrow would have crazy enzyme and maybe hormone diversity. I think that would have a greater impact than the new microbes. My guess...

 

[Microbeman]

Is that a universal truth or what?

Chuckle..Reminds me of a note I got from a research colleague, Spurr, suggesting that I was perhaps mistaken in a` statement I had made claiming all nutrient assimilation was related to microbial interactions. He pointed out that roots excrete acid exudates which can dissolve organic N & P (DON & DOP). I did concede and have adopted this description in my rundowns of nutrient uptake but my parting comment intimated that one day it will be illustrated that this function is also from microbial interactions.

 

[think_fast]

Question: How does sand compare to clay.

Specifically:

-what are their primary uses?
-how do they compare with regards to moisture retention?
-how do they compare with regards to nutrient availability
-what are the favourite types of clay you use?


To elaborate, I needed an amendment to help retain moisture better, as the plants were running dry far too quickly, so I hastily added sand. But from what I am reading on cation exchange capacity it seems like bentonite, or some other clay, is a far superior ingredient that satisfies the same purposes as sand but also helps significantly add more plant available nutrients.

Sorry for the newb questions.

 

[MileHighGuy]

Question: How does sand compare to clay.

Specifically:

-what are their primary uses?
-how do they compare with regards to moisture retention?
-how do they compare with regards to nutrient availability
-what are the favourite types of clay you use?


To elaborate, I needed an amendment to help retain moisture better, as the plants were running dry far too quickly, so I hastily added sand. But from what I am reading on cation exchange capacity it seems like bentonite, or some other clay, is a far superior ingredient that satisfies the same purposes as sand but also helps significantly add more plant available nutrients.

Sorry for the newb questions.

Top Dress with a nice layer of earth worm castings and then provide a good mulch.

That should help in addition to whatever you decide on the bentonite.

 

[think_fast]

Sorry I forgot to mention that I added the sand as an amendment during recycling. IOW, it was not added as a top dress.

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Microbeman

I thought of your work & research when I read this article yesterday at ScienceDaily.com - Amazon Deforestation Brings Loss of Microbial Communities

A couple of the researchers are probably familiar to you from other research programs around the world.

CC

 

[bajangreen]

Looks like i got me a good read, for the week end.

Does it make sense to brew a tea with the seed soak water?

 

[YosemiteSam]

Chuckle..Reminds me of a note I got from a research colleague, Spurr, suggesting that I was perhaps mistaken in a` statement I had made claiming all nutrient assimilation was related to microbial interactions. He pointed out that roots excrete acid exudates which can dissolve organic N & P (DON & DOP). I did concede and have adopted this description in my rundowns of nutrient uptake but my parting comment intimated that one day it will be illustrated that this function is also from microbial interactions.

I am curious if microbes are involved in the breakdown of liming agents like CaCO3? Or is that straight up acid/base chemistry?

Even in a so called sterile soil can't you make Ca available with acid and water? (not saying you would want to do that...just saying can't you?)

 

[xmobotx]

i would speculate that this is part of the adaptability of plant life

they can probably use acid for the mechanism and organic vs chem guys would argue ad infinitum whether it might be better for microbes to do it