Organic Fanatic Collective

[Guest]

Promix HP has alot of perlite in it already plus i can always add more if i need to. By the look of my soil i can see the quality in it, i cant wait to smoke some of my first crop . I got one batch with sheep manure and another with mushroom compost so i can decide which is the better compost. I plan on doing a lot of experiments.

 

[Suby]

V congrats on the 5ooth post, honored to have it reside alongside the rest of the info from the fellow Fanatics.

JK good find with that post, i'm glad we have you

Fresh welcome to the fanatics, mix looks good, i just generally distrust any composted animal manure, sometimes they can burn and sway soil ph etc...

Suby

 

[Suby]

On a side not I have been dying to introduce the concept of biodanymic agriculture in this thread but JK beat me to it, I believe when I read about it this was the very article I started with.

If I had a farm I would give biodynamics a try, although some things they do seem a little obscure there is alot of common sense behind the green manures they use and the use of rock dust part of the teas and soil mixes.

Take the time to read and google it, it is fascinating stuff, kept be up for hours reading lol.

 

[Relik]

Hello everyone, I am new to these forums and a fan of organics. This thread is just great, full of useful advice, and I like the way ideas are discussed and tweaked.

Yesterday I watered one of my plants with fruit skins ashes diluted in water, thinking it could be a good organic bloom booster. I used banana, apple and orange skins, after reading this:

NPK values

I'll see how she turns out in a few days before drawing any conclusions.

You can check the original and more detailed thread here.

Has anyone ever heard of/used aloe vera? This plant looks like it could be an important ingredient in the homemade LK recipe.

Aloe vera nutrition facts

I hope you'll enjoy the reading!

Peace

 

[guanoman]

Hey everyone!

Jay, I don't know about being called G-Man. lol! Maybe just G if that's not to obscure.

vonforne, thanks its great to be here! This thread has become one of the best IMO.

Suby, your an inspiration to us all. Your Help and information is priceless. hehe.
Realy Nice bud shots btw. Mine havn't looked to good in a while, but this run is looking good.

Relik that link you posted that lists the NPK of all those vegetables and other organic "amendments?". That is a great resource, I've got a bunch of Mellon's in the garden that didn't quite ripen. Based on this list, they are high in P and K.

I've fermented a few to many things, I'm not sure which ones to try. I will try a couple of them on my next grow. For now I am seeing great results with fermented banana tea as an every day water, Urine tea at the beginning for N boost and high P guano tea once a week.

We can't go wrong with organics!

Peace! :friends:

 

[Suby]

Hey Relik, great find and and such a nice listing for our compost makers I've decided to clean it all up and list it here.

I'm glad this forum is such a hit, this thread has the most postings of any thread ever in the organics section, you guys have made it that way roll yourselves up a fat one and say give praise to organics.

Alfalfa Hay: 2.45/05/2.1
Apple Fruit: 0.05/0.02/0.1
Apple Leaves: 1.0/0.15/0.4
Apple Pomace: 0.2/0.02/0.15
Apple skins(ash) : 0/3.0/11/74
Banana Residues (ash): 1.75/0.75/0.5
Barley (grain): 0/0/0.5
Barley (straw): 0/0/1.0
Basalt Rock: 0/0/1.5
Bat Guano: 5.0-8.0/4.0-5.0/1.0
Beans, garden(seed and hull): 0.25/0.08/03
Beet Wastes: 0.4/0.4/0.7-4.1
Blood meal: 15.0/0/0
Bone Black: 1.5/0/0
Bonemeal (raw): 3.3-4.1/21.0/0.2
Bonemeal (steamed): 1.6-2.5/21.0/0.2
Brewery Wastes (wet): 1.0/0.5/0.05
Buckwheat straw: 0/0/2.0
Cantaloupe Rinds (ash): 0/9.77/12.0
Castor pomace: 4.0-6.6/1.0-2.0/1.0-2.0
Cattail reeds and water lily stems: 2.0/0.8/3.4
Cattail Seed: 0.98/0.25/0.1
Cattle Manure (fresh): 0.29/0.25/0.1
Cherry Leaves: 0.6/0/0.7
Chicken Manure (fresh): 1.6/1.0-1.5/0.6-1.0
Clover: 2/0/0/0 (also contains calcium)
Cocoa Shell Dust: 1.0/1.5/1.7
Coffee Grounds: 2.0/0.36/0.67
Corn (grain): 1.65/0.65/0.4
Corn (green forage): 0.4/0.13/0.33
Corn cobs: 0/0/2.0
Corn Silage: 0.42/0/0
Cornstalks: 0.75/0/0.8
Cottonseed hulls (ash): 0/8.7/23.9Cottonseed Meal: 7.0/2.0-3.0/1.8
Cotton Wastes (factory): 1.32/0.45/0.36
Cowpea Hay: 3.0/0/2.3
Cowpeas (green forage): 0.45/0.12/0.45
Cowpeas (seed): 3.1/1.0/1.2
Crabgrass (green): 0.66/0.19/0.71
Crabs (dried, ground): 10.0/0/0 (I personally just crush the shells with my foot)
Crabs (fresh): 5.0/3.6/0.2
Cucumber Skins (ash): 0/11.28/27.2 ( WOW!!!! Who knew???)
Dried Blood: 10.0-14.0/1.0-5.0/0
Duck Manure (fresh): 1.12/1.44/0.6
Eggs: 2.25/0.4/0.15
Eggshells: 1.19/0.38/0.14
Feathers: 15.3/0/0
Felt Wastes: 14.0/0/1.0
Field Beans (seed): 4.0/1.2/1.3
Feild Beans (shells): 1.7/0.3/1.3
Fish (dried, ground): 8.0/7.0/0
Fish Scraps (fresh): 6.5/3.75/0
Gluten Meal: 6.4/0/0
Granite Dust: 0/0/3.0-5.5
Grapefruit Skins (ash): 0/3.6/30.6 (And people throw these things away? Wow!)
Grape Leaves: 0.45/0.1/0.4
Grape Pomace: 1.0/0.07/0.3
Grass (imature): 1.0/0/1.2
Greensand: 0/1.5/7.0
Hair: 14/0/0/0
Hoof and Horn Meal: 12.5/2.0/0
Horse Manure (fresh): 0.44/0.35/0.3
Incinerator Ash: 0.24/5.15/2.33
Jellyfish (dried): 4.6/0/0
Kentucky Bluegrass (green): 0.66/0.19/0.71
Kentucky Bluegrass (hay): 1.2/0.4/2.0
Leather Dust: 11.0/0/0
Lemon Culls: 0.15/0.06/0.26
Lemon Skins (ash): 06.33/1.0
Lobster Refuse: 4.5/3.5/0
Milk: 0.5/0.3/0.18
Millet Hay: 1.2/0/3.2
Molasses Residue
(From alcohol manufacture): 0.7/0/5.32
Molasses Waste
(From Sugar refining): 0/0/3.0-4.0
Mud (fresh water): 1.37/0.26/0.22
Mud (harbour): 0.99/0.77/0.05
Mud (salt): 0.4.0/0
Mussels: 1.0/0.12/0.13
Nutshells: 2.5/0/0
Oak Leaves: 0.8/0.35/0.2
Oats (grain): 2.0/0.8/0.6
Oats (green fodder): 0.49/0/0
Oat straw: 0/0/1.5
Olive Pomace: 1.15/0.78/1.3
Orange Culls: 0.2/0.13/0.21
Orange Skins: 0/3.0/27.0 (Right up there with Grapefruit. Note: both can attract fruit flies so, bury them in the compost)
Oyster Shells: 0.36/0/0
Peach Leaves: 0.9/0.15/0.6
Pea forage: 1.5-2.5/0/1.4
Peanuts (seed/kernals): 3.6/0.7/0.45
Peanut Shells: 3.6/0.15/0.5 (I grind them up in the food processor first)
Pea Pods (ash): 0/3.0/9.0 (I cut them up with a pair of scissors while shelling them)
Pea (vines): 0.25/0/0.7
Pear Leaves: 0.7/0/0.4
Pigeon manure (fresh): 4.19/2.24/1.0
Pigweed (rough): 0.6/0.1/0
Pine Needles: 0.5/0.12/0.03
Potato Skins (ash): 0/5.18/27.5
Potaote Tubers: 0.35/0.15/2.5
Potatoe Vines (dried): 0.6/0.16/1.6
Prune Refuse: 0.18/0.07/0.31
Pumpkins (fresh): 0.16/0.07/0.26
Rabbitbrush (ash): 0/0/13.04
Rabbit Manure: 2.4/1.4/0.6
Ragweed: 0.76/0.26/0
Rapeseed meal: 0/1.0=2.0/1.0=3.0
Raspberry leaves: 1.45/0/0.6
Red clover hay: 2.1/0.6/2.1
Redrop Hay: 1.2/0.35/1.0
Rock and Mussel Deposits
From Ocean: 0.22/0.09/1.78
Roses (flowers): 0.3/0.1/0.4
Rye Straw: 0/0/1.0
Salt March Hay: 1.1/0.25/0.75
Sardine Scrap: 8.0/7.1/0
Seaweed (dried): 1.1-1.5/0.75/4.9 (Seaweed is loaded with micronutrients including: Boron, Iodine, Magnesium and so on.)
Seaweed (fresh): 0.2-0.4/0/0
Sheep and Goat Manure (fresh): 0.55/0.6/0.3
Shoddy and Felt: 8.0/0/0
Shrimp Heads (dried): 7.8/4.2/0
Shrimp Wastes: 2.9/10.0/0
Siftings From Oyster Shell Mounds: 0.36/10.38/0.09
Silk Mill Wastes: 8.0/1.14/1.0
Silkworm Cocoons:10.0/1.82/1.08
Sludge: 2.0/1.9/0.3
Sludge (activated): 5.0/2.5-4.0/0.6
Smokehouse/Firepit Ash:0/0/4.96 (I put the ashes from my smoker in the pile)
Sorghum Straw:0/0/1.0
Soybean Hay: 1.5-3.0/0/1.2-2.3
Starfish: 1.8/0.2/0.25
Sugar Wastes (raw): 2.0/8.0/0
Sweet Potatoes: 0.25/0.1/0.5
Swine Manure (fresh): 0.6/0.45/0.5
Tanbark Ash: 0/0.34/3.8
Tanbark Ash (spent): 0/1.75/2.0
Tankage: 3.0-11.0/2.0-5.0/0
Tea Grounds: 4.15/0.62/0.4
Timothy Hay: 1.2/0.55/1.4
Tobacco Leaves: 4.0/0.5/6.0
Tobacco Stems: 2.5-3.7/0.6-0.9/4.5-7.0
Tomatoe Fruit: 0.2/0.07/0.35 (A note on tomatoe fruit: These should be hot composted. I just let any rotted or insect eaten tomatoes compost in the soil beneath the plants and have "freebees" come back each consecutive year. Hot composting will kill the seeds.)
Tomatoe Leaves: 0.35/0.1/0.4
Tomatoe Stalks: 0.35/0.1/0.5
Tung Oil Pumace: 6.1/0/0
Vetch Hay: 2.8/0/2.3
Waste Silt: 9.5/0/0
Wheat Bran: 2.4/2.9/1.6
Wheat (grain): 2.0/0.85/0.5
Wheat Straw: 0.5/0.15/0.8
White Clover (Green): 0.5/0.2/0.3
Winter Rye Hay: 0/0/1.0
Wood Ash: 0/1.0-2.0/6.0-10.0 (A note on Wood ash: Wood Ash can contain chemicals that could harm plants and also carcinogens so, they should be composted in moderation)
Wool Wastes: 3.5-6.0/2.0-4.0/1.0-3.5


THAT'S IT! THAT'S THE ENTIRE LIST.

 

[Suby]

A few things in that forum that was worth mentioning...

The first is that burning any of these releases alot of the N it contains which is really a good thing for a flowering mix.

The second is the amount of high K elements we can compost or turn to ashes.
Maybe comphrey or stinging nettle ashes would be a real bonus as a k booster.

I know I'm annoying with my K fixation but between high P guano and urine there's only one element that's still hard to get into our soil.

I'll get to that aloe vera thread when i get back from NY, i''l be back on next week only so don't panic, I'm coming back lol.

Peaces and wish me some great fishing and weather...

 

[vonforne]

Good luck on the fishing Suby. This is a good time of year for it.

 

[Relik]

Hey people, glad to see the link proved useful. These forums are full of helpful advice, I also browse them to find tips on growing my vegetables and flowers. I don't have a camera but I might be able to find one and show you guys our local tropical flora.

Living the "organic way of life" is just great, gets you in touch with nature, it sensibilizes people to environmental(sp?) issues, and is simply satisfying.

Enjoy the fishing Suby, hope to see you soon around!

 

[vonforne]

Hallo Relik, Glad to see you made it over here. I think you will like our forum because it is right where you are at in your growing mind. Keep us posted on the "burnt fruit skin tea". I'm curious to see how it worked out.

 

[Relik]

Hey vonforne, thanks for linking me to this thread! You are soo right, this is the thread I've been expecting for a long time in an Organics forum! Lots of info being shared, discussed and corrected by nice people!

The fruit skins tea doesn't seem to be acting much, even if the plant is putting on trichomes, but I'd be more tempted to say it's more because of its growing stage (about 2 weeks into flowering) rather than the tea, I can't be sure. One good thing is that the plant shows no pH issues or anything bad. But I might give it another try in a few days, and I'll keep you guys posted.

 

[jaykush]

damn this thread needs to be a sticky.....

in the meanwhile heres some info

Modern day, high density agricultural operations, including tillage, irrigation, fertilization and multiple cropping, deplete organic matter in soil, and most importantly, the humus component of soil organic matter.

Organic matter is divided into two main categories:

(1) organic residues, i.e., plant material, manures, etc. in some stage of partial decay, and

(2) stable soil humus.

Stable soil humus, a small percentage of total soil organic matter, is the end product of organic decomposition when performed under anaerobic, or oxygen free, conditions, beneath the soil surface. The resulting organic structures can be hundreds of years old and are considered a slowly renewable resource. Organic residues formed at shallow depths add little, if any, to the reserves of stable soil humus.

Soil scientists tell us that stable soil humus is categorized into three distinct fractions. These fractions are typically found in nature in a balance consisting of 50 percent humins, 10 percent fulvic acids, and 40 percent humic acids. The thousands of individual organic structures within each of the classes are considered the “active ingredients” within soil organic matter. Soil productivity is enhanced when these components are found in abundance as they are in naturally high organic soils.

Actagro has the patented nutrient technology to deliver the baseline effect of high soil organics. Actagro’s ability to produce active, suspended humin, makes it the only known company that can deliver the natural balance of humin, humic and fulvic components. A patented complexation process allows these organics to be manufactured, with nutrients, in a stable solution that will achieve high organic concentration in the soil. Actagro’s phosphate products, made with organics, used in a quantity to achieve 15 pounds of actual organics per acre, and concentrated in a fertilizer band, will consistently produce the “abundance effect” of naturally high organic soils. To further understand the effect that abundant soil organics can deliver, let us examine the individual components of stable soil humus.

Humins are the more “plant active” fractions of stable soil humus and contribute to plant health in several ways. Certain components in humin can be directly absorbed and transported into the plant vascular system and used in numerous metabolic processes. Plant growth hormones have also been identified within humin and this helps to explain the growth stimulation associated with this fraction. Other structures within humin are adsorbed onto the surface of the root hairs where they stimulate vigorous root development and serve to protect roots from the harmful effects of salts and toxins in the soil solution. Humin structures can also react with some insoluble and/or semi-soluble nutrients and micro-nutrients in the soil, to form soluble nutrient compounds that can be readily absorbed by roots.

Humic and Fulvic Acids are the more “soil active” fractions of stable soil humus. These structures have the potential to influence a number of reactions in the soil, enhancing the soil’s performance, including cation exchange capacity, soil structure stability, water retention, microorganism activity, and the buffering capacity of the solution.

Actagro manufactures unique plant nutrient products. By complexing nutrients with organics, Actagro imitates the processes of nature. By using the types and ratios of naturally occurring soil organics, plant nutrients from Actagro are protected from tying up in the soil, maintained in a form that can be readily absorbed into the plant, and serve as a buffer between plant roots and harmful salts and toxins.

Actagro began the process to research and study the humus component of soil organic matter in 1980. The focus, and special emphasis, was to discover the effects of humus on plant nutrient uptake, and how, as closely as possible, to duplicate it from natural sources. The result of that mission has been breakthrough technology, enabling Actagro to manufacture unique plant nutrients reacted with humus. Actagro’s products are extremely efficient, highly plant responsive, and sensitive to the environment.
Nature has an unsurpassed ability to effectively provide nutrients to plants through a small amount of soil humus. The relative small quantity of stable humus in most agricultural soils ranges from 1/10% to 1%. It is a tiny fraction of the total soil volume, but plays a critical role in every function of productive soil. Continuous cropping rapidly depletes soil humus, and soil productivity is reduced as the depletion occurs. Even a slight reduction in actual humus can dramatically reduce soil productivity, increasing the demands for fertilizer to simply maintain the same level of productivity.
Nutrient uptake in plants is virtually impossible in the absence of soil humus. Applied organic matter is not humus. Conventional fertilizers (crop residues and manures) incorporated into shallow depths are rapidly decayed by oxygen-loving – areobic – bacteria. Applied organic matter is simply consumed (or oxidized) during the decomposition process, and has little, if any, potential to become humus. This process contributes to the short-term health of the soil, but does not replenish soil humus. Humus levels can decrease, even when organic matter levels in the soil are increasing!

Humus Defined

Humus is an essential ingredient for maintaining the dynamics and productive potential of the “rhizosphere,” the dynamic world around the root zone of a plant. Microbiologists claim that in the significance of plant life, the processes within the rhizosphere are second only to photosynthesis. Establishing and maintaining the optimum health of the rhizosphere is one of the most crucial choices a grower can make pertaining to crop productivity.
Natural soil humus has the ability to solubilize and extract nutrients from the soil, and hold these nutrients in an absorbable form for plant absorption. Technically, humus compounds consist of acids, polysaccharides, phenols, benzenes, aldehydes, ketones, amines, waxes, and resins that have a synergistic effect on soil microbes, plant nutrients, and plant roots. Any carbon-containing material in the soil derived from plant and/or animal sources is classified as “soil organic matter.” Humus compounds are included in this broad classification. Soil labs report most soil organic matter to consist of partially decomposed organic material such as crop residues, raw manures, and so on. The balance is actual humus, and can range from 1% to 35% of total organic matter. Products which are labeled as “peat”, “compost”, “manure” or even “humus” are not humus, and do not contain humus.

Five Effects of Humus on Soil and Crop Production

Humus enhances soil structure, increases water-holding capacity, buffers the soil solution, stimulates soil microbes, and much more. It plays a vital role in plant nutrition in five ways:

1) Humus provides for nutrient storage. Humus can account for up to 90% of the soil’s ability to store nutrients. Soil labs measure this storing ability and report it as
Cation Exchange Capacity. A cation is simply a nutrient with an overall positive charge. The average CEC of humus is 500. Compare this to an average of 40 for clay, 20 for loam, and 5 for sand, and it becomes understandable why humus dramatically increases the soil’s ability to store nutrients.

2) Nutrients properly combined with humus are protected from tying-up with other soil minerals. They are able to remain available for root up take. Nutrients, like one end of a magnet, have either a positive or a negative charge. Negatively charged elements, such as phosphorus, are attracted to positively charged minerals like calcium, iron, and aluminum. When phosphorus is combined with these materials, insoluble compounds are formed that cannot be utilized by plants. When phosphorus is properly complexed with humus, it becomes insulated, or shielded, from attraction to other minerals, and remains available for plant consumption.

3) Humus delivers nutrients to roots in a readily absorbable form. Phosphorus, for example, can only be absorbed as a single, or orthophosphate, molecule. When properly complexed with humus, phosphorus is held and protected in the ortho form.

4) Humus buffers the toxic effects that inorganic fertilizer and soil salts may cause. Inorganic foliar fertilizers have caused what growers recognize as “tissue burn.” Less visible is the damage these salts have on tender root hairs when inorganic fertilizer is soil-applied.

5) Certain compounds within soil humus (particularly the humin compounds) can stimulate plant growth and vigor.

Sources of Humus

Nature provides a highly concentrated source for all three classes in an insoluble, humus-like subterranean layer called “leonardite.” Leonardite is a rich, organic strata, developed from prehistoric plant and animal residues by anaerobic bacteria under heat, pressure, and time. Because it is insoluble, leonardite provides little or no agronomic benefits if used directly. However, bound within it are the STABLE organic structures of soil humus. Actagro’s patented technology unlocks the essential active ingredients in leonardite for direct and immediate results on soils and plants.

Actagro Technology

Actagro has the technology to isolate and solubilize all three classes of organic compounds found in natural soil humus. The recombination of these three classes essentially developed the mixture of humus compounds that only Actagro is authorized to label as “Organic Acids derived from leonardite” by the State of California. Used alone, the positive effects of any one of these three classes can be realized, but with mixed results. When all three are combined, the overall performance and plant growth response is tremendously enhanced.

Actagro’s first step has been to identify specific combinations of humus compounds that work best with particular plant nutrients. For example, it took thousands of trials and errors over an eight-year period to find the correct combination to react with zinc.

The second step is to react a specific organic combination with a particular nutrient partner in a process called “organic complexation”; a natural process found within the rhizosphere. It is the mechanism that keeps nutrients from tying-up in the soil, maintains them in a readily absorbable form, and protects plants from the phytotoxic salt effects of inorganic materials.

Organic complexation is the result of lightly bonding the organic acid to the nutrient. It is not a simple blending operation, it is a precisely controlled reaction performed in a carefully monitored facility. It is similar to the chelating process, which synthetically creates a protective barrier to prevent the nutrient from reacting with other soil minerals. However, using Actagro’s process, the entire organic complex molecule is readily absorbed by roots or foliage, unlike relatively large chelate molecules, which must release the nutrient at the root tip before absorption can occur. This absorption of the organics, in addition to the nutrient itself, creates the consistent and dramatic plant responses experienced with soil and foliar-applied Actagro plant nutrients.

Actagro’s organically complexed orthophosphate, one key nutrient which is responsible for root development in soil, has shown uptake efficiencies averaging 65% in long-term studies covering a range of soils and crops. That is, for every 100 pounds of organic P205 applied, 65 pounds ends up in the crop. This is a dramatic comparison to the extremely low uptake efficiency (17%) of inorganic phosphate fertilizers. The polyphosphate form, which is common to some conventional fertilizers, cannot be directly absorbed by plants. It converts slowly (and not completely) to the ortho form. As it converts, it is left unprotected. It can readily tie-up in the soil, dramatically reducing the uptake efficiency. Actagro’s organically complexed phosphates allow reduction in fertilizer application rates, while maintaining yield and improving quality.

Actagro’s success has made us more determined in the continuing challenge to develop the most effective, efficient, and environmentally sensitive plant nutrients available.

Actagro’s liquid solutions are easy-to-use for micro-irrigation injection systems, and buffered to eliminate any possibility of toxicity in the concentrated zone of root feeding.

Actagro’s organically complexed nutrients are ideal for foliar feeding, since they are safe and gentle on plant tissue, readily absorbable into the plant system, and is complexed with humin, which has the ability to be translocated and transport the nutrient contained within it.

Actagro’s proven performance in soil-applied nutrients is the result of maintaining the nutrient in a readily absorbable form, protecting the nutrient from tying up in the soil, and buffering the plant from any phytotoxic effects that might be experienced from salts or soil impurities.

Actagro’s many products are compatible with each other, as well as a wide variety of agricultural chemicals. This allows the grower more flexibility during application.

Using Actagro products at recommended rates will not significantly increase overall soil humus levels. However, an optimum concentration of humus can be achieved by placing Actagro’s humus-based products in the root-feeding zone—where they are needed. Adding humus to soil rebuilds the productivity of soil— now, and for the future.

 

[jaykush]

bored tonight some more reads

http://www.ibiblio.org/rge/course/

good section on soils

 

[jaykush]

still bored and taking bong tokes

Organic fertilizer:

Nitrogen sources:
legumes (pea, fava, alfalfa, clover, etc. )
with inoculant
increase N, P, K, and make soil more acidic
vetch and rye - plant in the fall,
work in as green manure in spring
2 weeks before planting
or stalk chop as mulch
alfalfa - inoculate with Rhizobium meliloti
from Bountiful Gardens

Potassium sources - for flowering and fruit
wood chips, Russian Comfrey, stinging nettle,
grass family, yarrow, maple leaves, borage,
clover, sunflower family

Phosphorous sources - for root growth and strong stem
comfrey, oak leaves, yarrow, clover, alfalfa, castor
bone or rock phosphate - needed if soil is alkaline,
plant directly in it

Micro nutrients:
Boron - borax(only add if known deficiency), cabbage,
cauliflower, apple, echinacea will fix boron
Cobolt - comfrey, willow herb
Zinc - granite dust
Silica - granite dust, sand, grains, thistle???
Manganese - alfalfa, leaf mold, comfrey
Sulphur - alliums, brassicas
Copper - dandelion, stinging nettle, yarrow
Molybdenum - alfalfa, rock phosphate - don't mix with soil
Calcium - comfrey, dandelion, stinging nettle, kudzu
, borage, chicory
causes soil to be fluffy and well aerated
Magnesium - yarrow
Aluminium - peas, sunflower, grains
Iron - legumes, comfrey, dandelion, stinging nettle
Trace minerals - granite meal, greensand (glauconite)
, kelp meal

 

[vonforne]

Just if anyone would be intersted, Pro-Mix is coming out with a new soil mix. I notice that most prefer Pro-Mix HP so this might be interesting to you.

http://www.premierhort.com/eProMix/...aTM/ProMixUltimate/OrganicMix/fOrganicMix.htm

 

[jaykush]

http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/concepts/soil_biology/biology.html

go to chapter one link at the bottom.

 

[Relik]

Hi people, has any of you ever heard of "terra preta"? It is also known as Amazonian black soil, and is more than 2000 years old, being the result of human occupation around the Amazon river.

I had already read an article a few weeks ago, discovering its amazing and very long-lasting fertility. So I decided to do some research to share with you guys, and what I came across is of great interest.

This black earth appears to be very rich in carbon, which is the base for organic matter. The exact reason to why this soil is loaded with carbon is still being discussed, but there are a few hypothesis.

One of them states that ancient Amazonians may have cultivated their land applying a "slash and burn" technique, which is commonly used in tropical regions to increase soil fertility. However, this technique has a major drawback: nutrients (mainly from ashes) are leached relatively fast from the soil with the first rains. But terra preta soils remain fertile year after year, without the need of human intervention. This is because the carbon present in it is mainly charcoal, which holds nutrients for a very long time (some speak about geological time scales!). This charcoal is the result of human activity, and is basically pure carbon particles that have been detached from other elements they were linked to, to reassemble together after an incomplete combustion.

I suggest you read some of the following articles, as I couldn't explain it all without making mistakes. Besides their interesting possible uses in agriculture, high carbon soils (google it, it's worth it could be the cure to our greenhouse effect, because of the ability of charcoal to hold CO2 for a very long time. What more could you ask for? It is one of the most fertile soils you can find, and besides, it can help protect the environment (which is also a reason why I go organics).

http://blogmarks.net/marks/tag/terra+preta
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Feb06/AAAS.terra.preta.ssl.html
http://www.geo.uni-bayreuth.de/bodenkunde/terra_preta/

I read in one of these articles that locals have been selling terra preta in their region, and the black soil "regrows", according to them. Would it contain beneficial bacteria/fungi that we are unaware of? This is still being researched.

 

[Suby]

Hello fellow fanatics,

Fishing was awesome, alot of wind and rain and huge swells and waves left me a littye green around the gills.
Man weed in NY is total shit, I basically abstained rather than smoke the mexi swag shit my peeps over there are buying cheap.
Well I'm home and blazing some sweet organic herb, I can't count how many times I heard the words "dro" or "water weed" from these middle aged potheads, I din't have the heart to tell them IMHO it's inferior to soil.
That's the thing with growing weed, you need to shut up some times so as not to be caught or suspected of growing.

I love this thread, great info and it's all thanks to you fellow fanatics...

Well time to spend time with my wife and unborn baby girl, I will catch up on my reading tomorrow.

Peace and cheers.

 

[Relik]

Hey Suby, glad to see you're back and safe. You didn't throw all those fish wastes did you? :wink:

Cheers

 

[jaykush]

haha suby i hate that, only one thing makes it worse when they say its gotta be indoor hydro and outdoor nugs are shit. theres some dank in ny just real rare only a few heads.

relik some good reads ill have to do some reasearch on it.