Organic Fanatics - Australia

[wilbur]

the brain stem (if evolution is to be believed) is where our fight/flight response comes from. also such awful, awful drives like Lust. yes, it's true. if you hadn't noticed, we're simply animals when all is boiled down.
any feelings generated by odours have to be located by the 'newer' part of our brain and referenced (memory) to recall where the odour was first experienced. so that's bodily response first, rationalising later.

BUT, my garden is very good soil with plenty of worms. I will compost in my garden in future.

I have been sheet mulching for more than thirty years. I think it is the simplest way to help the soil. these days I use hay (have another 150 bales coming soon) but one place I lived was near a p/nut processing factory. this was before the nutrient value of p/nut shells was commercially realised, and I covered an acre one foot deep with them. the locals saw me do it but were blind to any results. when my citrus grew like crazy they said I must have plenty of water from my bore! the council gardener was hip tho. he began to use them in a grden in the middle of town. I was chuffed!
I have the plan to obtain some peanut hay and mulch my dryland plots with it next winter.

thanks for the explanations re tric-whatever. I don't know whether I 'm lazy or old, but I 'm not driven to explore these biological areas. give me good old fashioned shit! must be the odour!!!

could be that telling stories at any opportunity is a sign of getting old too!

cheers all ... happy days ...

 

[Guest50138]

could be that telling stories at any opportunity is a sign of getting old too!

cheers all ... happy days ...

wilbur is going all Grandpa Simpson on us

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

I have been sheet mulching for more than thirty years. I think it is the simplest way to help the soil. these days I use hay (have another 150 bales coming soon) but one place I lived was near a p/nut processing factory. this was before the nutrient value of p/nut shells was commercially realised, and I covered an acre one foot deep with them. the locals saw me do it but were blind to any results. when my citrus grew like crazy they said I must have plenty of water from my bore! the council gardener was hip tho. he began to use them in a grden in the middle of town. I was chuffed!
I have the plan to obtain some peanut hay and mulch my dryland plots with it next winter.

Awesome mate you have it sorted. Imagine what an acre of weed mulched a foot deep with peanut shells would look like!

I have been busy taking advantage of the daylight savings (yay!) and getting my garden ready for planting all sorts.

Also been having a go at a homemade diy enzyme brew. Utilising sprouted chook grain, raw cane sugar, Seasol, EM1 and Celtic sea salt.

Take 1 cup of organic barley seeds (your local homebrew store will have what you need and chump-change prices) and put it into a gallon jug and cover the seeds with water and let it sit for 24 hours or so and drain the water off - you're going to sprout these seeds because of the astronomical enzyme levels in barley seeds in general but in particular when any seed sprouts the levels of enzymes produced/present are off the chart.

Once the seeds are sprouted and you've let them grow out a couple of inches, fill the jug 3/4 full of clean water and add 6 oz. of brown rice syrup or another appropriate carbohydrate. Like palm sugar, etc. To this add 6 oz. of EM-1 (whatever flavor you opt for), 2 tablespoons of kelp meal, 2 tsp. of organic sea salt (no iodine).

Let this ferment down to < 3.2 pH - apply at 1/4 cup to 1 gallon of water to the soil and as a foliar application as well.

Heh................

CC


Thats the recipe im working from. There is barley in my grain mix. Couldnt be bothered seperating them all. I figure i will get a good mix of enzymes with the different grain and seeds.

I made a 1/4 recipe. So that was half of my sprouts, 1 litre water, 3 tablespoons sugar, 3 tablespoons EM1, 1/2 tablespoon Seasol and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

The other half of the sprouts i smooshed up (going by MrFista's suggestion) and just layed over my no-till bed like a mulch. Fista reckons this may work good if kept moist. So i covered half my bed in the sprouts and then covered that with a damp tea towel.

The idea with the enzyme is to try and re-create a Cannazym type product that will rapidly breakdown old roots. I will take some pics of my bed once the lights go out.

Note to self: Blenders dont like sprout roots wrapping around the blade! Chop that shit up 1st.

 

[luvaduck]

If you collect used coffee grounds and let them sit for a while they get a blue mould all over. This is trichoderma. It helps keeps away pythium (root rot) and other soil nasties.

I use Nutrifield coco and it has been inocculated with trichoderma. i think coco in general is a good breeding ground for the old trichoderma (and trichromes!)

Yes SS, this is great news - the ol coffee ground on the pythium trick eh? What do you recon, put them straight on the soil as well as in the compost bin then eh? I feed most of mine to the worms. 'Someone' told me they like it?
Have got plenty of coffee growing on the land, maybe should get a mulcher for those prunings. Interestingly, other plants have a real hard time finding a footing under coffee plants, especially if you mulch with their prunings. Natural defence mechanisms in action - keep the ememy tweakin with caffine.
Myself have just unloaded the best compost (ever!) -using a 200 lt tumbler, ran straw and banana trees through a mulcher for 90% of the bulk, added weeds, household scraps, a cup of nutritech rock phosphate, a bucket of sheep shit, and some compost starter from bunnings.
Watered after 2 weeks with gogo juice, seasol and molasses(10 lt for the bin) and kept her tumbling dailly.
After about 6 weeks total, I spread about 30 litres of wicked earthy brown compost on to a tarp for a day to get some sun and dry out a little, before being added to the soil in a batch of potting mix and in the wet season corn patch.
These tumblers can work very quickly if care is taken with their ingredients and are routinely 'tumbled' and checked.

Does anybody know how to get rid of insect larvae in a worm farm? Have tried ground egg shell, dolomite, selective diets and these little bastards still persist.

Best of health to all.

 

[b00m]

Awesome info surfer and duck really great ideas being put to use in this thread

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Cheers b00m

Yep coffee grounds are great all round. I would imagine leaving the grounds exposed to the air until they fully colonised then mixing through the medium would work.

I used to collect em and chuck in my compost.

I have also heard good things using fresh coffee as plant food. Cant remember who but some members here used to swear by it for rapid plant growth.

I bet a nutrient soak of crushed up fresh beans and banana skin ash would be the bomb!

 

[wilbur]

wot's the need to 'break down old roots', Silver? perhaps because a new plant is where an old one was? cheers.

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Yes correct i just cut down a few Bubblicous i had in the maiden run of my no-till bed. Put a couple of new plants in there straight up. I used to use Cannazym and want a DIY version. This may of course be a pipe dream but ya never know

I reckon Clackamas Coots recipe can only do good things either way

 

[b00m]

Damn looks like some straight FIRE SS how's the smells on those Bubblicous??

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Very nice stink indeed. One has very subtle smell. One getting that bubblegum fruityness and the other bit more grapey and earthy i guess. But very dank indeed.

I think technically they are Bubblicious x Satori. They got a beautiful sparkly purple tone on the bud that is closest to the stem. I think thats from the Satori, the plant itself defo has that Bubblicious growth.

They had a very short veg time. These next ones are White Rhino. Going to give em at least 4 weeks veg and try to max out my bed.

This run the biggest plant was 18grams. Not great but not bad basically 12/12 from seed.

All organic baby!

I have moved the tea towel and the sprouts. They were starting to smell yeasty and like smelly feet. The ferment on the 2 bottles is almost there i think.

Also got a green mulch of various herbs including chamomile, coriander, red clover, calendula etc (a good bug blend + German chamomile seeds)

 

[Technique]

Is that Saddam Hussain strain on the right there?

 

[wilbur]

thanks re roots, Silver.

after looking at yr images I think I 'll bail out of this thread. for me cannabis is a herb of the fields and byways and I 'm still struggling to figure out how much manure/compost to dig into the ground!

no chance of hydro here cos we're standalone solar powered.

so back to the fields and byways for me. muted cheers ...

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Dont go home (and take your ball) on us mate!

There will be plenty of field action its just a little early for me still.

I am very interested in how your turkey nests turn out. I bet you can grow much bigger and chunkier plants (than my indoor) with the sunshine you get on the mainland.

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

High guys

Time to dust the cobwebs off this thread for a bit...

I have been busy in the garden doing 2 of my least favourite (but ultimately rewarding) things. Digging and weeding. Now is definately the time as the various grasses and pernicious weeds get ready to explode back into flower. The ground is still nice and moist and pulling weeds is so much easier.

I have also been doing a spring clean/tidy up of my nutrient shelf.



You can see CC's enzyme ferment in the jar on the right. It turned out real nice and fermented down in about 3 days. It smelled like pickled cucumbers and was really pleasant. However it is now starting to cloud up and get stinky. I should have gotten the sediment (which went through my finest sieve) and the liquid as seperate as pos.

I have a turkey baster (like a manual pump) on order from ebay which makes this easy.

I have also started a bit of an experiment with two rootballs to see if the zyme will breakdown the roots.

You may also spot in the picture a couple bottles of coco A&B. You may be interested to know i have had them for about 3 years and they still got 1/4 left

Been doing some digging around the web on the benefits of urine. Now this is a mildly controversial topic. So far i have learnt the following:

1. Urine (at least mine) fresh from the source actually smells quite pleasant. Kinda like a breakfast fruit juice mix. Its when it dries out or is aged that it begins to smell like piss.

2. This smell is the release of ammonia gas into the air. This means the available nitrogen is being lost. This isnt good for use in the garden. Some website i have visited seem to reach the conclusion that aged urine is better. I believe this is false and fresh is best.

3. Urine actually contains significant amounts of phosphorous (and also i have read some people claiming also potassium) making urine almost a complete fertiliser for vegetative growth...

4. It is best diluted between 5-1 to 10-1. Larger more mature plants can handle it straight. Like lemon trees which like a good piss everyday.

5. Diet makes a big difference to the end product. Apparantly a diet rich in protein makes for a richer brew. This is why it is impossible to give NPK values. The amount of liquid consumed will also obviously affect the strength.

6. I will stick to using my urine for my compost. I collect mine in airtight bottles for a day or two. Then i combine with molasses and my nettle, lucerne brew for a good compost activator. When i have larger and vigourosly growing plants i will use my urine on em every now and again

7. Honestly, stored like this (at least for a few days) there is NO bad smell.



Hey Technique thats the Gaddafi strain of course

 

[luvaduck]

Agreed on the piss-issue. I normally piss in the watering can, fill er up with water and use around the base of my plants straight away. This way there is no smell whatsoever. I figure its a waste of money pissing in the toilet when you can feed your plants for nix.

Do you use any of your weeds in ferments?

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Not using weeds yet but this is certainly an avenue i would like to explore.

For now i will stick to the plants such as comfrey and nettle that i know are amazing for liquid feeds/ferments. I do hope to 'cultivate' a good amount of weed patches with nettle, comfrey etc. They are certianly preferable over the grass, thistles and blackberries.

Jaykush is the man for this type of thing.

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

High again folks

Happy to report the enzyme mix i made following Clackamas Coot's recipe is a success!

Here you can see on the right the rootball soaked in the zyme is being eaten by some white slimy looking stuff



The other rootball is just in my tap water. It does have a bit of a slime layer around the main stem but nothing like the other. I reckon in living soil etc it will be consumed much faster.

I just have to work on preserving the enzyme. It is stinking of rotten yeast and looks real funky. It may still work... will have to do another test. Next time i will get the liquid above the 'silty' layer on the bottom out with my new turkey baster (a hand pump kinda thing)

I also have to report i have found an Australian distributer of dry bat guano. The website is here: http://www.guano.com.au/



Its organically certified and comes in 25kg bags and up. I managed to grab the last bag in my state from a local fertiliser company

This stuff is a ready to use source of phosphorous and calcium as well as silica. I have used the liquid form in the past with good results but it is pretty exy and no guarantee of quality. Because its fossilised it has already been chelated and the plant can eat it right up.

The bad news is this stuff is being marketed as sea bird guano... but i know its bat as only bat guano is high in P and is mined from thousands of years old deposits in caves... they claim its only mined from fallen caves so make of that what you will.

For me 25kg at $30 is an absolute bargain. Should last me for ages and is hopefully going to help my over-limed medium the boost of P and C it needs

I was overeager when i recycled my medium and added a handfull of dolomite. In my stoned haze and impatience i forgot to test the ph... bad move!

Dolomite lime is good for around 3 years once added

Anyhoo it seems to be correcting itself and the plant roots are growing fast and are healthy and white

 

[luvaduck]

Champ. Thanks for the guano contact.

 

[monoclepop]

Gidday Ockers! I'm from that other state over the ditch.

I'm hoping that you guys can give me some ideas to improve my micro organic grow. I live in an apartment which means a compost pile isn't available. I buy cheap potting mix and use bottled organic nutes. I have a bunch of container plants outside (spuds, tomatoes, strawberries, herbs) to explain the sacks of potting mix laying around.

My plants are in square 4 litre food containers. I've tried a bunch of different commercial soils, but they all seem fairly rubbish - mainly processed bark with some basic slow release fertiliser on top, the more expensive types include a wetting agent. I throw a couple of handfuls of commercial worm castings in with the potting soil.

During veg I use a liquid blood-n-bone fertiliser: Yates Nitrosol (8:3:6); switching in flower to a seaweed based flower fertiliser called Aunty Janes Flower&Fert (5:4:11).

My problem is a lack of humus - my mix just doesn't look alive and doesn't retain water. By the end of the grow it almost seems like a soilless mixture of sand, bark and grit! My store bought soil doesn't get a chance to really get that dark rich soil thing going on - when I autopsy plants after the chop they look like they've had to suck the life out of the soil to get by.

My questions:

Would premixing my soil a few weeks before I use it help? Would getting it out of the bag, with worm castings, water and a light fertiliser to get the organisms up and running? Should I consider adding a bit of lime?

I've seen a lot of love for Seasol in this thread, and it's available cheap at the local. Where would it fit in with my simple fert schedule?

Finally - organics works best with the aid of a compost pile and a worm farm, which doesn't fit with my apartment lifestyle. Maybe I should just say fuck it and ditch the soil alltogether and go towards a hempy bucket, coco or proper soilless mix. It'd be more complex for me to manage, but maybe it would be better than my half-arsed organic soil attempts. What do you think?

 

[bonsai]

Compost = humus. Buy a bag of good looking black compost and make it a large part of your mix. I screen out the big stuff ( filler, bark) and only use the well composted stuff under 7mm square.