Living organic soil from start through recycling

[ClackamasCootz]

BJW

Stinging nettle teas are an effective pesticide as well as a fungicide. Same with Comfrey leaves - still a favorite of mine to grow and use mainly as a green mulch in the raised beds - pretty amazing plant.

CC

 

[DuckDuckGoose]

i have a question for one of the pros...

i just put some plants into my soil mix but i feel like it's lacking in compost or ewc. i lost track of what i've put in my soil mix, but i want to add about 10% more ewc. do you think it would be a bad idea to pull my plants and remix the soil with the additional ewc and re-pot them? or should i topdress with the ewc? they have only been in the soil for about 4 days... i don't see much new growth so i doubt the roots have gone very deep.

DDG

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Top-dress - that's all you need to do.

1" = 10% according to the Rodale Institute folks

I go with 2" which equals 20%

 

[DuckDuckGoose]

Top-dress - that's all you need to do.

1" = 10% according to the Rodale Institute folks

I go with 2" which equals 20%

thanks cootz, should i put anything else in the ewc, like rock dust or anything?

 

[ClackamasCootz]

I forgot to write that adding a couple of tablespoons of kelp meal before the EWC is a good idea for water retention if nothing else (Alginic acid)

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Gascan

That magazine I mentioned is DOPE Magazine (cute)

 

[Gascanastan]

i have a question for one of the pros...

i just put some plants into my soil mix but i feel like it's lacking in compost or ewc. i lost track of what i've put in my soil mix, but i want to add about 10% more ewc. do you think it would be a bad idea to pull my plants and remix the soil with the additional ewc and re-pot them? or should i topdress with the ewc? they have only been in the soil for about 4 days... i don't see much new growth so i doubt the roots have gone very deep.

DDG

Usually an EWC top dress will turn things around in 3 days if the quality of the EWC is high. Some people do a EWC slurry which works just the same. Aeration/drainage needs to be right in the mix before adding this as a top dress or slurry. No point doing it if it can't be subducted into the soil due to lack of porosity.

Usually if you are careful,doing transplants into new soil works if you don't disturb the roots more than need be.

 

[Gascanastan]

Gascan

That magazine I mentioned is DOPE Magazine (cute)

What up G...think I don't know what dope iz foo...got any Kush dude?

...I was a magazine reading kid all sucking on my mexi spliffs and soaking up all that stuff in High Times at one point too.

...edit # 86...saw something about plants feeling the music in there...rock on.

 

[DuckDuckGoose]

thanks Gas,

drainage seems ok, when i water it penetrates nicely and distributes well through out the pots. i will probably top dress some plants and transplant a couple of the ones that are in giant pots.

another question...i have some ewc that i bought from a 'worm lady' and i want to keep some for future teas and maybe more top dressing. do i need to keep it moist for the microbes to stay alive? or feed it molasses? does it go in a tote or can i keep it in the feed bag that she gave it to me in?

thanks,
DDG

 

[Gascanastan]

thanks Gas,

drainage seems ok, when i water it penetrates nicely and distributes well through out the pots. i will probably top dress some plants and transplant a couple of the ones that are in giant pots.

another question...i have some ewc that i bought from a 'worm lady' and i want to keep some for future teas and maybe more top dressing. do i need to keep it moist for the microbes to stay alive? or feed it molasses? does it go in a tote or can i keep it in the feed bag that she gave it to me in?

thanks,
DDG

Not really a worm guy at this point in the game,but as I understand it the microlife encapsulates or dies off if it dries out. So I would say keep moist to keep it active. I'd guess you will end up using it faster than you think atm...

 

[ColorGRo]

Ya i bought 10 gallons of EWC from a worm guy and used half the first day haha. Saw major improvements after that.

 

[schwagg]

Cootz, this might be better then dope, http://www.thenorthwestleaf.com/
i guess atleast it's local....

anyway here's some BO x CB, it'll be six weeks on sat. not yet by a long shot. 10 week is cool for me though. i'll snap some shots then.

 

[BlueJayWay]

Nice! #2 picture - that flowers set to get huge! Lookin dank. Hehe she's purdy!

 

[Gascanastan]

Considering the lineage of Afghani/Thai x Afghani/Mexican...a guy would think that the flowering period would be around 60-70.....yet that ol Mr G Cherry Bomb is pretty satty dom daddy.....

 

[Gascanastan]

I forgot to write that adding a couple of tablespoons of kelp meal before the EWC is a good idea for water retention if nothing else (Alginic acid)

I do this when I top dress with EWC too..... don't need much more than that^^^

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Cootz, this might be better then dope http://www.thenorthwestleaf.com/

i guess atleast it's local....

I'm speechless...

 

[Gascanastan]

I'm speechless...

This is the grow advice I was talking about....still 'flushing' away up here in NW leaf mag...

I use the front page to clean my bong stems out on....surrounded by them at some points.

Knock knock from space....it's organic! I'm sure most of you have seen this...can I put the particles in my soil doood?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTmPBYIrdS4

 

[ClackamasCootz]

The vermicompost portal at Cornell University - Vermicompost - A Living Soil Amendment

Links, videos, research papers, etc. - good background information on the 'why' more so than the 'how' on worm castings. Particularly disease suppression, reducing/eliminating transplant shock, etc.

CC

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Plant Hormones

A good overview of the categories of plant hormones

 

[Gascanastan]

An observation...

After brewing an ACT out of ROLS and compost I threw the bag out on the backyard lawn and figured I'd get it cleaned out later. a couple/few days passed,I picked up the bag this morning and all over the underside of the tea bag there were worms and baby worms eating the bio-sludge off the outside of the bag.

Just sayin..