Living organic soil from start through recycling

[Neo 420]

sigghhh....shipper couldn't come with my order of pumice. going to have to go with lava rock from the big box store. looks to be about an inch or so, should I break it smaller? also, will I need to wash / rinse it before I mix in?

Much appreciated!

I like to have a variety of sizes of lava rock in my mix. If you can't get the "finer" smaller particles from the landscape yard, then break down some of the larger rocks to 1/8 to 1/2 inch. And I rinse all my lava rocks. The amount of dust from those things are amazing.. Make sure you mix in evenly with your soil.

But then again I am a fanboy of lava rocks

 

[RanchoDeluxe]

Neo- What method do you use to break up the lava rocks? Been thinking about running em over w/ my truck. Dropping a 35lb dumbell on them works...but is kinda back-breaking.

 

[Microbeman]

sigghhh....shipper couldn't come with my order of pumice. going to have to go with lava rock from the big box store. looks to be about an inch or so, should I break it smaller? also, will I need to wash / rinse it before I mix in?

Much appreciated!

There is not that much difference AFAIK

http://www.clays.org/journal/archive/volume 33/33-2-135.pdf

http://www.clays.org/journal/archive/volume 23/23-3-201.pdf

http://www.mineralseducationcoalition.org/minerals/pumice

 

[John Deere]

I'm using lava rock from a big box garden store. Mine's mostly around half inch, plus/minus a quarter inch or so. I didn't bother to break any smaller but I'm going to cut a hole in the bottom of the bag and sift out the smaller stuff that's accumulated and add that, too.

 

[invocation]

Nice I have some red lava rock in the garage I'm going to add to my mix instead of perlite.

 

[Red Swan]

Good Lord. I wanted to learn about reusing my soil, but have no desire to read 523 pages.

Is there a book to read that is shorter than this thread? I only have a few questions...
I have great books on organic gardening that are easier to wade through.

Do you need to store it for long periods of time? ( I mix about 60 gallons worth and have space limitations).

Is there any reduction in yield reusing the same soil?

I'm using Phillthy's mix , with a dry amendment upon recommendation. I have Von's basic compost tea recipe which I've used on my property for a few years and hit the girls with too. ( Veg and flower , copied from the canna cabana).

 

[Neo 420]

I buy mine from a rock yard. They actually hand bag your amount in a very thick plastic bag. I empty half the bag (their heavy) and just toss the bag on pavement or cement a couple of times. The rocks breaks quite easily. Its not a scalable option.

There is not that much difference AFAIK

Are you referring to the wash or the particle size? Or versus pumice? I'm seriously blazed right now.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Good Lord. I wanted to learn about reusing my soil, but have no desire to read 523 pages.

Is there a book to read that is shorter than this thread? I only have a few questions...
I have great books on organic gardening that are easier to wade through.

Do you need to store it for long periods of time? ( I mix about 60 gallons worth and have space limitations).

Is there any reduction in yield reusing the same soil?

I'm using Phillthy's mix , with a dry amendment upon recommendation. I have Von's basic compost tea recipe which I've used on my property for a few years and hit the girls with too. ( Veg and flower , copied from the canna cabana).

Honk, honk.

I don't know Philthy's mix but if it is peat there is no reduction in yield provided you maintain the needed minerals. One room I have is on its firth grow with the same soil...first grow was so so, second was good, third better than I had ever done, 4th better than that and 5 th looks even better. Grow number 4 was 2.5 lbs per light with OG and ECSD.

I do not follow the exact protocol of this thread but I have reused the exact same soil. I do soil tests and re amend to hit Albrecht ratios as needed. But if I had the vermicompost some of these guys do I would let it ride and just keep working on my microbe population. In enough quantity they do a remarkable job of keeping things sorted provided you don't seriously fuck up

 

[dogfishheadie]

thanks for the info in regards to the lava rock. glad to shave a few dollars in the process, shipping was outrageous to begin with.

 

[SoooHaggard]

Honk, honk.

I don't know Philthy's mix but if it is peat there is no reduction in yield provided you maintain the needed minerals. One room I have is on its firth grow with the same soil...first grow was so so, second was good, third better than I had ever done, 4th better than that and 5 th looks even better. Grow number 4 was 2.5 lbs per light with OG and ECSD.

I do not follow the exact protocol of this thread but I have reused the exact same soil. I do soil tests and re amend to hit Albrecht ratios as needed. But if I had the vermicompost some of these guys do I would let it ride and just keep working on my microbe population. In enough quantity they do a remarkable job of keeping things sorted provided you don't seriously fuck up

Are you speaking of the Cal/Mag ratio he talks about in "A loss of Organic Matter" ???

I almost completely forgot about that haha very good thing to keep in mind, I think I have to sort my amendments accordingly now.

 

[MrSterling]

Perhaps I should go through when I get home this weekend and separate the wheat from the chaff of this thread. The page count is incredibly daunting and guys, we fuckin chitchat a lot.

 

[Heliopolis]

Good Lord. I wanted to learn about reusing my soil, but have no desire to read 523 pages.

It's not all that bad. I believe Cootz has said that most of the major points were made in the first ~150-200 pages, so you could just start there. The rest is mostly chit-chat, examples, clarifications, alternatives, and re-hashing (worth reading, but not necessarily essential).

 

[MrSterling]

I would be absolutely horrified to dig through this thread from page one. It's huge and daunting and too many of us view it as a form of hazing - like only the most dedicated should have the info. It's getting too much like having to sit outside a monastery for a week before they open the door.

 

[SoooHaggard]

It's that attitude "those who really want the info will dig through the bs" which is exactly what I'm talking about.

I'm not trying to be a dick but it blows me away how people try to act like their ability to slog through filler makes them a true scholar and everyone else lazy. Feel free to quote Joe if it helps you feel superior to those of us nerfing the world. This thread needs a damn clean up, and I say that because it might be the most informative thread on the site. And as I said, I *will* be cleaning it up this weekend.

this is a forum right?

 

[MrSterling]

This sort of cleanup is standard for forums, especially for huge threads. If we're going to treat this like a chat thread, which we do, there needs to be some maintenance done once or twice a year. If you wanna take the piss out on me go right ahead, but many of us are working hard to clean up the organics and get the place organized and it isn't just because we feel like doing it for fun. This is a concerted group effort.

 

[Durdy]

And on a different note, I get weird foot fungus from time to time, yea yea I know gross, but I have sweaty feet.

So Instead of using the regular pharmacy product I think I'm going try soaking my foot in a Neem / Silica / Aloe bath.

Gonna start a fenugreek sprout tea as well, and use that as the base water for the mix in a couple days. If its a good fungicide for my plants why not my foot eh?

 

[Neo 420]

I know everyone wants front of the line but calm the fudge down!!

 

[Coba]

And on a different note, I get weird foot fungus from time to time, yea yea I know gross, but I have sweaty feet.

So Instead of using the regular pharmacy product I think I'm going try soaking my foot in a Neem / Silica / Aloe bath.

Gonna start a fenugreek sprout tea as well, and use that as the base water for the mix in a couple days. If its a good fungicide for my plants why not my foot eh?

look up bacillis subtillis or lictenformos <-- i dunno how to spell it... one of them is sold otc for foot fungus.

durdy, the LAB in yogurt is supposed to help too.

 

[RanchoDeluxe]

My feet stink like an FPE. I soak em in super hot water w/ epsom salts, baking soda, and tea tree oil...works for about 6 months or so. I like the neem idea though...why not?

 

[Gascanastan]

Karanja oil for the feet...the oil is nicer for health/body applications.

Some people make a LAB culture and use it on some types of skin fungi.....or skin conditions on dogs as well.