Living organic soil from start through recycling

[Algonquin]

I've read it all. Thanks to all for the most excellent info. I think I have finally cleared my mind of the compost left there by the interwebz-organo-experts. I am switching from Lily Of The Valley Aloe Vera to the 200:1 concentrate for cost reasons and have a few questions.

Is the concentrate measured by weight or volume?

Do you Add preservatives? If so, how much of what?

Do you just add to room temp water or follow the heated water instructions provided with the product? Here are the instructions:

:To reconstitute: add 1 part (0.5%) Aloe Vera 200X to 199 parts (99.5%) water. Bring to 170F and hold for 20 minutes, adding adequate preservation of choice."

 

[Microbeman]

View Image
Fungal hyphae in 5 gal dirt pots

Fungal hyphae is microscopic.

 

[DuckDuckGoose]

You can lay that one on China - not Portland. LOL

When these guys first showed up 3 years ago they were promoting a number of nursery pots made from 'fabric' and some of them were made from recycled denim which worked really well - for about 6 months before the material degraded and busted open all around the seams - ya couldn't use nylon for the stitching?

The company fell apart but not to worry - Aurora Innovations (Roots Organic and their other crap) bought their inventory and import company and now everything is 'fixed' - un huh.

Buy with confidence!

CC

oh i think i know about the denim pots you were talking about. i'm a real DIY kinda guy so i made my own...



not bad huh? patent pending so don't get any funny ideas!

 

[ClackamasCootz]

DDG

These guys were trying to sell these pots to commercial nurseries - imagine 5,000 plants sitting in a field on top of 'dirt' (certainly isn't soil any longer) for a couple of years.

Yeah - well thought out guys! Back to the drawing board.....

CC

 

[W89]

MM I stuck some oat flour and worm castings in a tub and stuck the lid on. after 24 hours it's got tiny little bits of fur starting to grow what is it likely to be? some mold or benificial fungi? I turned it under and mixed i up...

 

[DuckDuckGoose]

oh i think i know about the denim pots you were talking about. i'm a real DIY kinda guy so i made my own...

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=41887&pictureid=1010396&thumb=1]View Image[/url]

not bad huh? patent pending so don't get any funny ideas!

i'm gonna pack my closet like this and see how it goes! should i call it "plants in pants" or "jeans of green" ?

then after i complete and document my grow you can buy the book online. i can become the guru of closet grows, or the "closet swami". i hope sub and the rev left some room in the industry for me...will you write the foreword for me cootz?

DDG

 

[BlueJayWay]

Blue Jay Way

This chart on can sizes used to package food is a similar confusing paradigm.

Let me know if you can figure it out! LOL

I like this one best depends on size - haha!

 

[Microbeman]

MM I stuck some oat flour and worm castings in a tub and stuck the lid on. after 24 hours it's got tiny little bits of fur starting to grow what is it likely to be? some mold or benificial fungi? I turned it under and mixed i up...

That is just about impossible to answer as there are so many variables. It is probable that if you have beneficial fungi growing in your vc then the flour will feed it. It is also possible for airborne spores to be attracted to the wet flour, like bread mold. Usually if I see fuzz, I turn it under. You may note that the use of oat flour originates with SFI and I stated my apprehension (on my webpage) regarding which fungal species are fed.

When I do something similar, I use wheat bran from the feed store. If you have fungi in your VC it will grow in your soil or ACT without having to use oat flour. I do sometimes use the bran 24 hours ahead of making ACT to give it a kick start.

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Blue Jay Way

When I was in the Army I worked in administration and I was usually bored so I would read Army regulations and some had interesting phrases but this one really stood out:

The size of an envelope needed will depend on the size of the document being mailed

I certainly hope so! LOL

 

[wingdings]

Fungal hyphae is microscopic.

Thanks for the info

 

[BlueJayWay]

The size of an envelope needed will depend on the size of the document being mailed

Cootz- reminds me of many of the SOP's of the painting contractor I use to estimate/PM for!

 

[shmalphy]

Blue Jay Way

This chart on can sizes used to package food is a similar confusing paradigm.

Let me know if you can figure it out! LOL

Volume vs weight? But... That would vary based on what it is filled with. Peaches in syrup are going to be denser than peaches in water...

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Yep - there is that!

And then there's the little factoid that a #10 can today isn't what it started out yesteryear.

By adjusting the dimensions, packing that into a carton holding 6 cans you now have 1 c.f. making stacking easier to configure for shipping, figuring the 'dim weight' (dimensional weight) to assess freight and accessorial charges.

How part of the #3 or #5 or whatever on nursery pots got started was the number of scoops form a standard shovel-fulls of soil that it took to fill a specific size of a nursery pot. Just a small part of the story.

Then there was/is the differences in quoting pot sizes that were influenced by which area of the country you were talking about. That had to do with the type of plants grown, i.e. Florida nurserymen probably wouldn't do well with the type of plants grown in Oregon and vice versa. So a #10 for growing a tropical palm would be quite different than an arbor vitae grown in Molalla, Oregon

And then it gets stranger and stranger with the arrival of the auto-pruning (aka air-pruning) nursery pots who used a whole new type of 'rating system'

Measure the pot, figure out the total cubic inches and divide by 1728 and call it a day

CC

 

[W89]

That is just about impossible to answer as there are so many variables. It is probable that if you have beneficial fungi growing in your vc then the flour will feed it. It is also possible for airborne spores to be attracted to the wet flour, like bread mold. Usually if I see fuzz, I turn it under. You may note that the use of oat flour originates with SFI and I stated my apprehension (on my webpage) regarding which fungal species are fed.

When I do something similar, I use wheat bran from the feed store. If you have fungi in your VC it will grow in your soil or ACT without having to use oat flour. I do sometimes use the bran 24 hours ahead of making ACT to give it a kick start.

Thanks for that mate

 

[VortexPower420]

I was going through my notes and I had forgotten about this very important point they made.
A plants root system must always be bigger they their Arial parts. If not it will lead to a imbalance of hormones in the plant and encourage stretching and dis-ease.
Cytokines are the root hormone and with their dominance comes a tight canopy.
Auxin are in the growing shoots and if they dominate it leads to root decline.
I use 5-7 gals now definitely moving up to much larger.

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

My Kashmala Moon is going well in her new recycled soil mix.

1 month ago




Couple days ago

 

[MrSterling]

Well this explains why my 5gal. containers didn't seem to be 5gal.

 

[vonforne]

Well this explains why my 5gal. containers didn't seem to be 5gal.

that is why for years i have used nothing but buckets.......

 

[ClackamasCootz]

That's your best option - it may even be your only option

LOL

 

[vonforne]

And with the industry I work in they are generally free!