Living Soil Q&A

[Persianfarmer]

Greetings Farmers,

I thought that I could start this thread for people that are interested to raise questions and others with more experience could help us find answers.

I will take the first initiative. I make my own Lacto B. and try to cultivate beneficial microbes and fungi.

For the first time, by pure luck, I managed to fungi my Lacto B and was wondering what type of fungi I have created, could it be Penicillium as it is very green with a yellow outer ring?

Anyways i fed it in my soil which is developing its own wild cover crop.

Would love to hear from you

Peace & Respect
PF

 

[acespicoli]

I think this is interesting
The first thing that comes to mind in identifying fungi is a plate wall poster for comparison at least a book with slide sample for picture comparison.

The L. B. Is a relatively safe specimen to experiment with it does produce peroxide which keep the soil and plants free of things like Powdery Mildew.

It's also easy to obtain for culture by making your own from scratch or Greek yogurt, scomby, kaffir multiple sources right?

Along the same lines may be beneficial organisms so you have a healthy aerobic environment going and the bacterial also then certain beneficial fungi and multicellular organisms of course it must always be kept moist warm and aerated.

Then there is feeding the cultures and trying to keep it all in balance in a small contained area.

That said the end results of your plants health can be fantastic !

I have found that a organic, organic mineral hybrid system is far superior than one or the other.

Promix bx and Epsoma tomato tone
contain some things of interest.

Great thread thanks for sharing

Best >>>

 

[Persianfarmer]

I think this is interesting
The first thing that comes to mind in identifying fungi is a plate wall poster for comparison at least a book with slide sample for picture comparison.

The L. B. Is a relatively safe specimen to experiment with it does produce peroxide which keep the soil and plants free of things like Powdery Mildew.

It's also easy to obtain for culture by making your own from scratch or Greek yogurt, scomby, kaffir multiple sources right?

Along the same lines may be beneficial organisms so you have a healthy aerobic environment going and the bacterial also then certain beneficial fungi and multicellular organisms of course it must always be kept moist warm and aerated.

Then there is feeding the cultures and trying to keep it all in balance in a small contained area.

That said the end results of your plants health can be fantastic !

I have found that a organic, organic mineral hybrid system is far superior than one or the other.

Promix bx and Epsoma tomato tone
contain some things of interest.

Great thread thanks for sharing

Best >>>

Hiya Ace,

I am glad you came along with such text. Then I would like to thank you for your feedback and putting the time to reply

Well to summarize. From a big garden I was confined to an apartment that forced me to be organically efficient if i may say. I am forced to recycle 50-60% of my soil. And living soil was the solution.
As you know many make the mistake to think that we need to feed the plant, but how does a plant feeds when it cannot absorbe the nutrition directly. That is when rizospheric environment comes into play and via microbes and fungi that make the food available, the plant feeds itself. So that is why the most important aspect of organic, is to mainly focus on beneficial organism.
My space is confined and thus controllable . I constantly feed my soil before planting, with microbe serums and fungi. Then as you so well pointed, you need to feed now the organisms, and I do that by introducing carbohydrates in form of rice wash, pasta water, fermented beets, and molasses.

Also I like that you pointed out that I should look into cataloging the specimen by comparing them to other studies or pictures. I will try my best to do that and thanks for bringing it up.

I have a tendency to think that it might be penicillium, as I would cultivate it with rotten fruits and I know that it can also grow on dairy. Also it kinda looked like it.

I also super charge my vermicompost in a semi aerobic environment, and had explosive fungi growing.

Hope we can have more discussion my dear friend

 

[Persianfarmer]

Hello all again…thought i should share

Went to check on my secret weapon! The super charged vermicompost Persian farmer style…. Turned her once and after a few days again Fungi forming … Shit is STRONG can feel it… we shall see… letting her cook!!!

Also fed the compost with my own recipe of microbe serum, wheat molasse, fermented beat juice, lacto B, and rice wash), shit if the microbes and fungi do not relish on this caviar, then I do not know shit and have to go to Living Soil basic classes

 

[reddankpanda]

Hey!
Love this subject, so I was really happy to see it! My approach is that wormcastings in itself contains both tons of beneficial fungi and bacteria. Plus its super easy to care for wormcompost.
So I never saw the need for giving myself a lot of extra work, when the worms do it for me!
Im growing in a 450 litre bed, 3 19 litre fabricpots and outdoor in no-dig beds.
When i established my bed I was inspired by hügelbeds. I made a bottom of rocks and big twigs , then build up with heatcompost (horsemanure and willow), wormcompost, soil from the forrest, mixed in browns and greens (plantmatter from my garden) and then a soilcover of woodchips or something like that. Then I feed them composttea and compostextract once a week or something like that (depends on how lazy I am you know )
Just my way of doing it! Looking forward to following this thread!
Happy growing !

 

[doublezero]

Here is a link to some supercharged compost. It would be interesting to know how much of it to implement and under what circumstances this makes sense. Any fungi is helpful?

 

[Persianfarmer]

Hey!
Love this subject, so I was really happy to see it! My approach is that wormcastings in itself contains both tons of beneficial fungi and bacteria. Plus its super easy to care for wormcompost.
So I never saw the need for giving myself a lot of extra work, when the worms do it for me!
Im growing in a 450 litre bed, 3 19 litre fabricpots and outdoor in no-dig beds.
When i established my bed I was inspired by hügelbeds. I made a bottom of rocks and big twigs , then build up with heatcompost (horsemanure and willow), wormcompost, soil from the forrest, mixed in browns and greens (plantmatter from my garden) and then a soilcover of woodchips or something like that. Then I feed them composttea and compostextract once a week or something like that (depends on how lazy I am you know )
Just my way of doing it! Looking forward to following this thread!
Happy growing !

Hiya Red,

Thanks for stopping by and sharing your wonderful experience. You are totally right for vermicompost if it is fresh and of good quality. Mine dried out so I had to give her a jump start

So is that all you did for the soil or did you also use egg shells, rock phosphate, perlite, gypsum, dolomite and epsom salt?

Do you have any pics to share if it is safe?

Also if you have anything to add please feel free to do so

Respect
PF

 

[Persianfarmer]

Here is a link to some supercharged compost. It would be interesting to know how much of it to implement and under what circumstances this makes sense. Any fungi is helpful?

Hiya 00,
Glad you could join the party. I made the super charged recipe based on your link with a bit of my own twist

 

[doublezero]

Yo @Persianfarmer
I hope this stuff does good things. I put mine in a big pot together with several different bags of soil from previous grows or leftovers.

Now what exactly will it do?

I had it outside in a bucket covered with linen for weeks, agitating and spraying on occasion. I used fine powdered oats and beet root syrup btw.

 

[Persianfarmer]

Yo @Persianfarmer
I hope this stuff does good things. I put mine in a big pot together with several different bags of soil from previous grows or leftovers.

Now what exactly will it do?

I had it outside in a bucket covered with linen for weeks, agitating and spraying on occasion. I used fine powdered oats and beet root syrup btw.

View attachment 19174493

Looking good bro!!! Nice fungi culture!!! Lets see the magic happen

 

[Persianfarmer]

Yo @Persianfarmer
I hope this stuff does good things. I put mine in a big pot together with several different bags of soil from previous grows or leftovers.

Now what exactly will it do?

I had it outside in a bucket covered with linen for weeks, agitating and spraying on occasion. I used fine powdered oats and beet root syrup btw.

View attachment 19174493

Well you will soon find out once u put a lovely plant in it….it should be very happy

 

[Verdant Whisperer]

Greetings Farmers,

I thought that I could start this thread for people that are interested to raise questions and others with more experience could help us find answers.

I will take the first initiative. I make my own Lacto B. and try to cultivate beneficial microbes and fungi.

For the first time, by pure luck, I managed to fungi my Lacto B and was wondering what type of fungi I have created, could it be Penicillium as it is very green with a yellow outer ring?

Anyways i fed it in my soil which is developing its own wild cover crop.

Would love to hear from you

Peace & Respect
PF

If your growing outside the best bacteria and fungi are the local strains, viruses are just as important. They regulate the bacteria/fungal populations in the soil to a degree and help give the plant information. Bacteria favor more acidic wet soils and fungi(myco) favor dry soils in general*. I would try and use fungi and bacteria that are natures opposite if your adding external inputs to the soil. For example if your using diary based use lacto bacteria and the same fungi that associate with competition with lacto bacteria airand when you add then to you soil in balance, the soil pH and your other microbes will help regulate and consume then or they will take over and break down a lot of nutrients on your soil to a form your plant can use. I like the idea of you making your own inoculants, the ones they sell are mostly dead and inactive. I use a homemade aerobic liquid compost to innoculate mine, imix up recipe so it's balanced fungi/Bac and npk around 3-1-2 if I had to guess, I use chicken poop, wood chips, ripe bananas with skin, leonardite or humic fulvic, dolomite lime and ashes I try and not have it too hot where all my N evaporates I cook it slow for 3 months before use, but this stuff turns the soil into a power plant. I'm making. High chitin silica mix atm made from crazy ants and dog hairs. Ps bacteria think sweet fungi think earthy as far as food sources.rereading your original post you had good instincts making fungi bacteria from same source !

 

[Persianfarmer]

If your growing outside the best bacteria and fungi are the local strains, viruses are just as important. They regulate the bacteria/fungal populations in the soil to a degree and help give the plant information. Bacteria favor more acidic wet soils and fungi(myco) favor dry soils in general*. I would try and use fungi and bacteria that are natures opposite if your adding external inputs to the soil. For example if your using diary based use lacto bacteria and the same fungi that associate with competition with lacto bacteria airand when you add then to you soil in balance, the soil pH and your other microbes will help regulate and consume then or they will take over and break down a lot of nutrients on your soil to a form your plant can use. I like the idea of you making your own inoculants, the ones they sell are mostly dead and inactive. I use a homemade aerobic liquid compost to innoculate mine, imix up recipe so it's balanced fungi/Bac and npk around 3-1-2 if I had to guess, I use chicken poop, wood chips, ripe bananas with skin, leonardite or humic fulvic, dolomite lime and ashes I try and not have it too hot where all my N evaporates I cook it slow for 3 months before use, but this stuff turns the soil into a power plant. I'm making. High chitin silica mix atm made from crazy ants and dog hairs. Ps bacteria think sweet fungi think earthy as far as food sources.rereading your original post you had good instincts making fungi bacteria from same source !

Salut Verdant!
Finally an experienced guy joins in yeahhhh!!! U gotta stick around buddy.
Yes you are absolutely right as far as I am concerned, most of the brands out their sell stuff that lost their potency as they are dead!
So you brought up something new which is viruses. If you have the time kindly elaborate as it is kinda new to me. I know there are beneficial viruses but how do you culture those bad babies?
This year I went to the barber and got myself quite bit of hair which i am currently using in my soil. For the moment all I can say about hair is to really cut into super fine tiny pieces as they take a bit of time to decompose. If I had to guess maybe around 2 months.
We mix more or less the same ingredients, i also use cucumbers as they are packed with phosphorus and I also use fish scraps.
Should you have any suggestions regarding beneficial organism, i am all ears. All i know is fungi and bacteria. I create my microbe and fungi serum by collecting roots, myco and soil from trees in forest and let it stay in water for a couple of weeks (and feed them with sugar fruits and carbo).
Looking forward to reading you and thanks for your feedback, it has lots of useful info that I am sure lots of us can use.
Hope to talk to you soon
Respect
PF

 

[Verdant Whisperer]

Salut Verdant!
Finally an experienced guy joins in yeahhhh!!! U gotta stick around buddy.
Yes you are absolutely right as far as I am concerned, most of the brands out their sell stuff that lost their potency as they are dead!
So you brought up something new which is viruses. If you have the time kindly elaborate as it is kinda new to me. I know there are beneficial viruses but how do you culture those bad babies?
This year I went to the barber and got myself quite bit of hair which i am currently using in my soil. For the moment all I can say about hair is to really cut into super fine tiny pieces as they take a bit of time to decompose. If I had to guess maybe around 2 months.
We mix more or less the same ingredients, i also use cucumbers as they are packed with phosphorus and I also use fish scraps.
Should you have any suggestions regarding beneficial organism, i am all ears. All i know is fungi and bacteria. I create my microbe and fungi serum by collecting roots, myco and soil from trees in forest and let it stay in water for a couple of weeks (and feed them with sugar fruits and carbo).
Looking forward to reading you and thanks for your feedback, it has lots of useful info that I am sure lots of us can use.
Hope to talk to you soon
Respect
PF

Our current views on viruses and their functions are wrong leas than 1percent of viruses are bad ones, think of virus as information.if we constantly sterilize and limit information, virus make up everything they give energy and mass the code to take form. By putting in non corrupted viral information is Best, from nature made by nature using nature is best. Once the natural balance is manipulated or corrupted it's viral code changes. Bad information comes from everywhere, our thoughts the environment, for me synthetic fertilizers are bad information even something that's not complete and shifts plants metabolism on a unnatural way. The best beneficial fungi bacterial mix you can make is one that has the viral information that will help your plant grow in that environment from same spot.. The soil tells a plant how to grow for its climate it's the information,if we grow a plant in peat moss from Canada in the tropics, and wonder why it grows bad , it's the wrong information.

 

[Persianfarmer]

Our current views on viruses and their functions are wrong leas than 1percent of viruses are bad ones, think of virus as information.if we constantly sterilize and limit information, virus make up everything they give energy and mass the code to take form. By putting in non corrupted viral information is Best, from nature made by nature using nature is best. Once the natural balance is manipulated or corrupted it's viral code changes. Bad information comes from everywhere, our thoughts the environment, for me synthetic fertilizers are bad information even something that's not complete and shifts plants metabolism on a unnatural way. The best beneficial fungi bacterial mix you can make is one that has the viral information that will help your plant grow in that environment from same spot.. The soil tells a plant how to grow for its climate it's the information,if we grow a plant in peat moss from Canada in the tropics, and wonder why it grows bad , it's the wrong information.

Yes sir gotcha. You sound and write like a teacher? Are you an instructor of some sort or a mad professor…So basically you were telling me botanic genetics in layman terms.
So basically viruses are the vehicle to transport genetic information. So i think that virus is present in the environment already and no need to do the hard work, am i right?
Well as I consider plants as humans that I need to transform into athletes, should I consider botanical virus as the same way as human viruses? Technically a virus changes the dna information through replication if i an not mistaking.

 

[Cannabis Critically]

I’ve always believed that healthy biologically active grows took care of the rhysomal biome organically. Even if you try to influence the rhyzome’s population by adding things, it doesn’t take long for natural flora to take over again.

I’m not saying compost teas do nothing. I am saying the natural flora takes over again because things were right for that population to flourish.

Natural flora is king. Even when you scrub it in the shower, it quickly returns.

I exclude mycorhyzals, trichoderma, etc. because I think of this stuff as IPM and Biostimulants.

@KIS has spent a minute looking at microbes through a scope and studying rhyzomal populations. I wonder what he thinks.

My opinions are probably worth what you are paying.
Peace, Jeff

 

[Persianfarmer]

I’ve always believed that healthy biologically active grows took care of the biome organically. Even if you try to influence the rhyzome’s population it doesn’t take long for natural flora to take over again

I exclude mycorhyzals, trichoderma, etc. because I think of this stuff as IPM and Biostimulants.

@KIS has spent a minute looking at microbes through a scope and studying rhyzomal populations. I wonder what he thinks.

My opinions are probably worth what you are paying.
Peace, Jeff

Hiya Jeff,
So nice of you to stop by. Like your style sweet, short and to the point.
So how do you prepare your soil if you are okay to share?
Would love to hear more and if you can bring @KIS along that would be fantastic. The more we are and the more knowledge spreads
Peace and respect
PF

 

[Cannabis Critically]

Hiya Jeff,
So nice of you to stop by. Like your style sweet, short and to the point.
So how do you prepare your soil if you are okay to share?
Would love to hear more and if you can bring @KIS along that would be fantastic. The more we are and the more knowledge spreads
Peace and respect
PF

Everyone here shares.

I grow in small pots with fertigation because I cannot take care of B. A. G. s anymore.

Search organic soil forum for Tad’s posts.

Biologically Active Growing is almost Zen. I miss it.

Peace, Jeff

 

[Verdant Whisperer]

Yes sir gotcha. You sound and write like a teacher? Are you an instructor of some sort or a mad professor…So basically you were telling me botanic genetics in layman terms.
So basically viruses are the vehicle to transport genetic information. So i think that virus is present in the environment already and no need to do the hard work, am i right?
Well as I consider plants as humans that I need to transform into athletes, should I consider botanical virus as the same way as human viruses? Technically a virus changes the dna information through replication if i an not mistaking.

Im a 33yr stoner without a full time job and no education past highschool who lives in the jungle haha and do my own research for years, I've never fit into the system I'm more of lone wolf, I appreciate the compliment. I plan on writing a book of my ideas and finding when it comes to planta ect soils I studied landraces for years which helped me learn a lot. So I was thinking micronutrients in soil represent most regulators for example cal/mg and zinc. Calcium is structure magnesium is energy and zinc is regulator. I think that's right at least. I try to live humble to this point I've put more into internal growth than external.

 

[Verdant Whisperer]

Im a 33yr stoner without a full time job and no education past highschool who lives in the jungle haha and do my own research for years, I've never fit into the system I'm more of lone wolf, I appreciate the compliment. I plan on writing a book of my ideas and finding when it comes to planta ect soils I studied landraces for years which helped me learn a lot. So I was thinking micronutrients in soil represent most regulators for example cal/mg and zinc. Calcium is structure magnesium is energy and zinc is regulator. I think that's right at least. I try to live humble to this point I've put more into internal growth than external.

Virus use bacteria to replicate they are addition and multiplication. I think atleast my computers broke and can't use ai to double check atm pa that's just a basic list in photo it's unlimited and the answers and limitlessness as well the answers due to relationship's but each section represents a layer of a layer ect I've gotten to the point honesty I feel like einstein of plants.i understand them at a deeper layer and can answer most questions at this point. Even how wind effects terpebe profile and effect and rain ect why plants do what why low auxin favor high anthrocyanins, I rewrote the wrong photoperiod model gruped terpenes base on roles and relations even acyclic mono and bicyclci and finding their exaxt roles. I am lonely in my views as they are my own and most people I explain don't take me serious or don't understand.