Living organic soil from start through recycling

[bajangreen]

Ok thanks again ClackamasCootz. Good to know the order of preference that type of information is priceless. Thing is it comes with lots of sea sand stuck to it. Once it is dry it becomes very brittle though i may not have to cut it up at all. maybe pot in in a bag and beat it up a little or in a old washing machine.

I brought home one of my old grow beds full of the composted stuff though, its a 6foot diameter 6in tall. What should i do with that? why is composted lest preferred?

I will surely get some of the green one to process now i know witch is better, how much per volume of soil (processed one)do you think i would need?

 

[bajangreen]

here is a pic of the grow bed with coconut husk chiped up as a media

 

[Gascanastan]

Motivational photo time...

Reeferman's abG13 x Original Haze

Chunky time psychedelic sativa dominant goodness that peels back the brain pan when the Indica kicks in.

 

[MrSterling]

Woo, got a call back after a month from the feed supply store. They managed to track down kelp meal in bulk, two different varieties. The first is from Norway, the company apparently air dries it and they said the product was more "green", $66/50lbs. The second was from Iceland, force-dried, and described as more "brown" and "crumbly", $56/50lbs. I'd imagine they're both harvesting the same North Atlantic kelp, but now I have to figure out what the difference in drying is. Either way, awesome to hear back, I'd thought it a lost cause.

 

[bajangreen]

nice pics Gascanastan those look very chunky, is that one plant? you feeding all organics? indoors?

 

[bajangreen]

Forgot to add a pic of the Sargasso sea weed and sand.

 

[Harry Hoosier]

here is a pic of the grow bed with coconut husk chiped up as a media

Hey Baja, just wanted to compliment you on what appears to be a well planned and executed operation. I for one would like to see and hear more about it.

Harry

 

[Neo 420]

Got my soil mixed (except the mineral- trying to source some now) and now it's composting in the lab in barrel. Turning every other day since it can't breathe like in a smart pot.

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Ok thanks again ClackamasCootz. Good to know the order of preference that type of information is priceless. Thing is it comes with lots of sea sand stuck to it. Once it is dry it becomes very brittle though i may not have to cut it up at all. maybe pot in in a bag and beat it up a little or in a old washing machine.

I brought home one of my old grow beds full of the composted stuff though, its a 6foot diameter 6in tall. What should i do with that? why is composted lest preferred?

I will surely get some of the green one to process now i know witch is better, how much per volume of soil (processed one)do you think i would need?

bajangreen

All 3 types of marine algae (kelp - seaweed) contain A, B, C we'll say. But only brown varieties contain D, E & F and it's those 3 things that are a major benefit to the soil. In a compost pile, D, E & F are deconstructed into their basic Elements - Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen, i.e. they're no longer D, E & F.

I add 1/2 cup of kelp meal to 1 c.f. of potting soil. I also use 1/4 cup to 5 gallons of water and make a tea every week (with some alfalfa meal as well).

Item "D" absorbs up to 300x it's weight in water releasing it as needed in the root zone. Item "E" is a chelating agent, i.e. it makes Element ions available.

The sand could be an issue perhaps. Marine algae do not accumulate high levels of salt but it is on the surface so you'll want to wash it thoroughly and then lay the fronds on some kind of a rack so that air hits the top and bottom. Once it's dried then pulverize like you mentioned.

Good source!

Your container plaints look beautiful!

CC

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Woo, got a call back after a month from the feed supply store. They managed to track down kelp meal in bulk, two different varieties. The first is from Norway, the company apparently air dries it and they said the product was more "green", $66/50lbs. The second was from Iceland, force-dried, and described as more "brown" and "crumbly", $56/50lbs. I'd imagine they're both harvesting the same North Atlantic kelp, but now I have to figure out what the difference in drying is. Either way, awesome to hear back, I'd thought it a lost cause.

You want the product from Norway.........

Much of the Irish products are red or green marine algae. You want the brown kelp from the North Atlantic and much of it is processed in Norway and has been since 1951. Nova Scotia is the location of the other major processor.

CC

 

[MrSterling]

Hmm. Danke, CC. I'm now wondering if my supply store got things mixed up when they said the Irish was brown and the Norwegian is green, but maybe they got it right and the drying process caused the Irish product to be brown and the Norwegian green? I imagine most plant force dried will be brown and crumbly. Sorry, too smoked, too early. Woke up with a sour stomach.

 

[shmalphy]

I gathered a bunch of seaweed yesterday, it nice day for it.

 

[greenmatter]

Woo, got a call back after a month from the feed supply store. They managed to track down kelp meal in bulk, two different varieties. The first is from Norway, the company apparently air dries it and they said the product was more "green", $66/50lbs. The second was from Iceland, force-dried, and described as more "brown" and "crumbly", $56/50lbs. I'd imagine they're both harvesting the same North Atlantic kelp, but now I have to figure out what the difference in drying is. Either way, awesome to hear back, I'd thought it a lost cause.

when you actually get your hands on a bag of this stuff could you PLEASE post all the info on the bag (pic maybe?)

i've been to 2 feed stores in my area looking for big bags of kelp. one says "they don't bag pure kelp" after they made 1 phone call, and the other says "kelp is bad for horses" which makes me shake my head and walk out the door thinking ........ *****yeah, so is comfrey right? *****

 

[shmalphy]

Neptune's Harvest has dried kelp.. Not sure how far and wide the availability is, but I would have your local store contact the company. All of their products are great, almost every farm around here uses them.

 

[greenmatter]

a few of the grow store guys carry Neptune's Harvest stuff here and i have no doubt that it's a good product. trouble with the grow stores are their fucking prices and the problem with the feed stores is they don't understand that this hippy WOULD buy enough to make an hour on the phone worth their time

sourcing things in my area aint easy if you are not really willing to get raked over the coals ........ but i shall overcome

 

[shmalphy]

I got some kelp meal in the mail once... I got it from Amazon using money I made naming porno clips on MTurk... good times...

 

[Weird]

ive used a number of kelp products including kelpak, neptunes, maxicrop and kelp meals

if your going to pay big bucks for kelp spend the money on kelpak

i saw similar results from maxicrop as i did with neptunes but buy neptunes at a few more dollars because i can locally source it

i am using multiple kelp sources including meal, coast of maine's bumper crop compost, kelpak,and neptunes

i amend old soil with meal and compost and and foliar with kelpak and will use neptunes in the rootzone if needed.

 

[MrSterling]

when you actually get your hands on a bag of this stuff could you PLEASE post all the info on the bag (pic maybe?)

i've been to 2 feed stores in my area looking for big bags of kelp. one says "they don't bag pure kelp" after they made 1 phone call, and the other says "kelp is bad for horses" which makes me shake my head and walk out the door thinking ........ *****yeah, so is comfrey right? *****

I can definitely post the info, if not a picture(my computer has given up the ghost, so I'm kinda incommunicado for a bit). I'm lucky to have this store "nearby", which means an almost hour drive, but by local standards that's not far. I think I'll have them order the bag of Norwegian which is more expensive and air dried, so I'm guessing this will be the better stuff...I was debating buying both, but 100lbs of kelp is a lot of kelp.

 

[Neo 420]

Anybody have information on these folks?

Cascade Minerals
http://www.cascademineralsnw.com/our_products.php

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Basalt Rock Dust from the Redmond Basin (Eastern Oregon)

That's the real deal......