Reading list

[spurr]

Hey all,

Yet another update to list on page one:



Humates, humus and humic acid:


1. "All about humates"
a must read e-booklet by Dr. Boris V. Levinsky, PhD, a world-renowned colloidal scientist and advanced humic acid researcher
http://www.teravita.com/Humates/HumateIntro.htm

Check out the info about using humates to cause water to obtain the structure of melted water (previously frozen) for watering plants (link)! [i.e. 0.005-0.009% humates by weight; I have tried using 0.01% for ease of use])

Sections in that booklet:

1. Introduction
2. The Theory Behind Humates
3. The Effects of Humates on Crops
4. The Effects of Humates on the Quality of Produce
5. The Protective Effects of Humates
6. The Effects of Humates on Soil
7. The Use of Humates With Chemical Fertilizers
8. The Use of Humates With Organic Fertilizers
9. The Use of Humates in Poultry and Stock Farming
10. Conclusion

2. MYTH: "Only Fulvic Acids are responsible for plant growth stimulation and development, while the Humic Acids are responsible for improving the soil’s structure."
http://www.teravita.com/Realities/Reality 4.htm


3. "The ferments of humic and fulvic acids."
(An article explaining research that shows how humic acids can actually play a vital role that is often attributed only to fulvic acids.)
http://www.teravita.com/Technical Articles/Ferments of Humic and Fulvic Acids.htm


4. "Are there natural fulvic acids?"
Synopsis by Dr. Boris V. Levinsky, PhD, June 2002.
(A brief synopsis of recent research indicating that fulvic acids are only "created" through extraction techniques and are not naturally present in soil, peat, or lignite.)
http://www.teravita.com/Technical Articles/fulvic acids.htm


5. "Humus, Humic Acid and Humates"
http://www.groproorganics.com/images/Humus, Humates and Humic Acid.pdf

 

[spurr]

I've heard of people doing both the E. fetida/E. andreii and E. hortensis in one bin. Does anyone have experience with dual worm species bins? Another thought that occurred to me was to keep the worm bins in a veg room area would be a good idea. I am getting ready to get back into vermicomposting and i thought it might potentially be a good idea to incorporate.

MM thanks for that post

I agree, great quote from MM!

I use red worms and Europeans in one bin and I like it. Here is a good read about the topic of Europeans vs. red worms (aka tigers), also info about using them together and their preferences:

I am glad I read this, I was under the impression tigers and red worms were two different kinds of worms, but apparently they are not. However, when I raised so-called tigers on carrot pulp (from a juicer) they did stripe, but according to this article that only happens on paper pulp...odd.

"Worm Facts"
http://www.bucketofworms.co.uk/worms.html

(text was bolded by the original author)

The Dendrobaena Worm, full name Dendrobaena veneta (also known as the European night crawler & Eisenia hortensis), is a very tough and particularly wriggly worm, making them ideal as worms for fishing. They are surface feeders who are sensitive to light. The worms' eagerness to escape light is what makes them squirm so much in daylight. To ensure that you don't find your bucket of worms empty, you need to keep the lid on in the dark.
The Dendrobaena worm has the ability to consume large amounts of vegetable matter, up to half their body weight a day. A sexually mature Dendrobaena weighs anything from 1 to 2.5+ grams.


The temperature range at which the Dendrobaena thrives, that is breeds, is between 12 to 18 degrees Celsius. In warmer temperatures, their metabolism increases so they eat more food in warmer temperatures, up to 25 degrees Celsius. If the temperature raises too much above this they can get very stressed and will die at high temperatures. Therefore if you have a portable wormery it needs to be kept in the shade in the summer months and in the sun in the winter months, or even indoors. Moisture is very important as worms need it to breathe through their skin, although do not drown them. In ideal conditions, a single worm will produce approximately 2 young per week. Cocoons are laid which normally contain 1 worm taking anything from 40 to 128 days to hatch. Dendrobaenas take 57 to 86 days to reach sexual maturity.



You need not worry about any escapees as Dendrobaenas are indigenous to this country and are a friendly lot, posing no threat to any other earthworms.



Recently we have heard a lot of talk about the Tiger worm versus the Dendrobeana worm and their suitability for composting your kitchen scraps. To be fair we have decided to put together some facts about the Tiger worms so that you can make up your minds for yourselves.


Being Dendrobaena worm farmers we know how successful Dendrobaenas are and the hundreds of tonnes of food that they get through on our farm. Being livestock farmers we are also familiar with the Tiger worm which can be found in any partially composted dung/compost heap.


The Tiger worm to a certain degree is a myth, it obviously exists but is not a distinct breed as is commonly thought. The scientific name is Eisenia foetida, also known as Redworm, Red Wiggler, Brandlings or Manure Worm amongst other names. It was the distinct banding that developed when the worms were farmed in a single medium, paper pulp, that led them to be named tiger worms. On entering an environment different to that in which they are bred, they tend to go wandering due to the shock of the environmental change. We get these small wild worms entering our worm beds. For this reason we only use the outdoor beds for breeding composting worms. If worms are ordered for fishing we only use pure dendrobaenas bred indoors to prevent contamination by the smaller worms not appropriate for fishing. This infiltration of Redworms into our beds has enabled us to see the advantages of Dendrobaenas in wormery like conditions i.e. the larger Dendrobaenas aerate the beds better and prefer wetter conditions often found in wormeries.


Like the Dendrobaena, the Tiger worm is an Epigeic worm, i.e. they live on the surface of the soil or in the top 6 inches or so of the topsoil under the litter layer. Both are indigenous to this country. Both worms can tolerate temperatures from 3 to 27 degrees celsius. Our Dendrobeanas have survived snowfall and frosts on our outdoor beds without any insulation! Worms will burrow down to protect themselves. A single Tiger worm will produce approximately 2-4 young per week. Cocoons are laid which normally contain 2 worms taking anything from 32 to 73 days to hatch. Tigers take 53 to 76 days to reach sexual maturity. As a guide, in ideal conditions, you can expect to double the weight of your Tiger worm population in 3-4 months. The Tiger is supposed to eat up to its own weight in food each day, its weight being from 0.5 to 1 gram. However we have found that Tiger worms eat no more, if not less, weight for weight than dendrobaenas.

We do not have a surplus of worms to shift, in fact we have to work extremely hard to meet demand. It would be far easier for us to supply less worms with our wormeries (and cheaper), but we continue to provide 1kg of worms as we know that this amount gives our customers the best chance of making their wormeries a success.

We have done our own trials in controlled conditions, feeding the same amount of food to two large trays of worms. One tray contained dendrobaena worms and the other contained an identical weight of tigers. At the end of the trail the tiger worms had bred more but the dendrobaenas had eaten more food and had produced a greater quantity and quality of wormcast i.e. the compost was broken down better and was much finer.
In summary, both Dendrobaenas and Tigers are effective composting worms. However we have found Dendrobaenas ideally suited to wormery conditions because they like wetter conditions, will tolerate slightly acidic conditions better and being larger and more robust they are more efficient at aerating the compost. This is handy as the natural composting process can cause your wormery to become acidic should you overfeed or forget to neutralise the PH of your wormery with eggshells or lime.
Tiger worms do breed faster than dendrobaenas.

In our experience of breeding the two types of worms in controlled conditions, Dendrobaenas digest waste quicker and more efficiently than tiger worms producing quality wormcast at a much faster rate.

 

[3rdEye]

Fantastic info on the relative merits of these mucilaginous friends. Great read and highlights spurr. Thanks again Dendrobaenas are on the menu now.

 

[Scrappy4]

Hey guys, I'm half way through the teaming book, great read, thanks. I'm learning what roles, all the names I have heard, have in my soil. Just knowing the relative sizes and what eats what is helpfull.

What we need now is a MJ specific organic book. I propose you guys (you know who you are) each take a couple of chapters and write an organic marijuana specific book. By now we pretty much all have read the "bible" and are ready, willing, and able to get some higher education.........scrappy

 

[Birdo]

"Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for." Socrates
Great thread, tons of info, thanks everyone.

 

[Scrappy4]

Bump to keep this current, it's getting buried. Could we sticky this thread, I feel it's pretty informative, and would like to have easy access to it......... scrappy

 

[3rdEye]

Here here for making it a sticky.

 

[vonforne]

Here here for making it a sticky.

I have just finished reading through this thread......and I agree. Nice work everyone!!

Welcome to the club here at IC Spurr

It is now a Sticky.

[FONT=Times New Roman,Georgia,Times]Weeds Guardians of the Soil[/FONT]

V

 

[statusquo]

I agree with pretty much everything Verdant says on the first page except that I think there are very smart and helpful people if you know how to find them (I will admit they are few and far between - many of the people on this forum and on the internet in general are annoying, selfish, rude, ignorant, self-righteous, and trolls lol). Although many people on the forums are ignorant and/or idiots, it's usually easy to tell who these people are. Also, the site has many educated members and even members with PHDs that are certainly qualified to dispense knowledge. If you stick to facts and stickies and posts by recognized intelligent members, this site (IMO) is the most valuable tool a novice grower can use.What I have recommended to my quasi-students has been to read Cervantes' Bible and then after you have that book down, start reading the FAQs and external links in the different sub forums under growing. The organics one especially, that site is PACKED with information. I would recommend ICmag alone for learning your foundation but Cervantes just does such a good job of organizing everything and writing about cultivation in a clear and detailed way. Not to mention, as a beginner with little knowledge, it is too difficult to sift through the lies/ignorance/bullshit.

After reading the book you will be able to tell rapidly who is talking out of their ass vs. members that actually contribute to the advancement of horticultural knowledge in the field of cannabis. The book is not small but it's not difficult/expensive either. I recommend reading all sections except the hydro section if you are doing soil (I would read the soil section even if you plan on doing hydro). Even the breeding section, which was written by Chimera, offers valuable information that any serious grower should know. The route of getting that book + ICmag (again, IMO) is the cheapest, fastest and most efficient way to become a bonified/legit grower of top grade cannabis at a cheap cost and consistent rate.

 

[vonforne]

The Soil and Health Library

 

[Scrappy4]

Hey thanks for stickying this thread!

I agree there are tons of helpfull info on this forum, but (there is always a but, isn't there?) if you followed every good tip you would soon be overwhelmed, and most likely your plants would be too. What I suggested a few pages back would be helpfull. That is a comprehensive organic marijuana specific growing book. One that takes in the whole picture. We have the experts here that could do it. A chapter or two by experts in their field would work if the egos stay out of it. An organic bible? YES scrappy

 

[Microbeman]

Now that it is a sticky:

"Evaluation of Conceptual Models of
Natural Organic Matter (Humus) From a
Consideration of the Chemical and
Biochemical Processes of Humification"

Discusses the two basic schools of thought regarding what humus really is. These points of view can cause considerable contention amoungst horticulturalists and scientists alike.

 

[Microbeman]

I agree with pretty much everything Verdant says on the first page except that I think there are very smart and helpful people if you know how to find them (I will admit they are few and far between - many of the people on this forum and on the internet in general are annoying, selfish, rude, ignorant, self-righteous, and trolls lol). Although many people on the forums are ignorant and/or idiots, it's usually easy to tell who these people are. Also, the site has many educated members and even members with PHDs that are certainly qualified to dispense knowledge. If you stick to facts and stickies and posts by recognized intelligent members, this site (IMO) is the most valuable tool a novice grower can use.What I have recommended to my quasi-students has been to read Cervantes' Bible and then after you have that book down, start reading the FAQs and external links in the different sub forums under growing. The organics one especially, that site is PACKED with information. I would recommend ICmag alone for learning your foundation but Cervantes just does such a good job of organizing everything and writing about cultivation in a clear and detailed way. Not to mention, as a beginner with little knowledge, it is too difficult to sift through the lies/ignorance/bullshit.

After reading the book you will be able to tell rapidly who is talking out of their ass vs. members that actually contribute to the advancement of horticultural knowledge in the field of cannabis. The book is not small but it's not difficult/expensive either. I recommend reading all sections except the hydro section if you are doing soil (I would read the soil section even if you plan on doing hydro). Even the breeding section, which was written by Chimera, offers valuable information that any serious grower should know. The route of getting that book + ICmag (again, IMO) is the cheapest, fastest and most efficient way to become a bonified/legit grower of top grade cannabis at a cheap cost and consistent rate.

I've got to say I know diddly about Jorges Cervantes but your statement prompted me to look him up. Perhaps this is unfair and perhaps he has learned differently now but the two following statements from his 'bible' which I had access to are very incorrect (IMO) applied to organic growing;

pH, Excerpted from Chapter Three, Indoor Marijuana Horticulture, The Indoor Bible


The pH level is much more important in organic soil gardens than in chemical hydroponic gardens. The pH dictates the environment of bacteria necessary to the uptake of organic nutrients.


What is fertilizer NPK?
Macronutrients, Excerpted from Chapter Four, Indoor Marijuana Horticulture, The Indoor Bible
Macronutrients
Macronutrients are the elements plants use the most. Fertilizers show the nitrogen (N), potassium (P), phosphorous (K) as (N-P-K) percentages in big numbers on the front of the package. They are always listed in the same N-P-K order. These nutrients must always be in an available form to supply marijuana with the building blocks for rapid growth.

http://www.marijuanagrowing.com/dhtml/knowledgebase.php

My knowledge base tells me that;
It is the microbial population which dictates the pH, not the other way around.

and it is more the sequestered macronutrients which are important in organic/natural growing rather than the available nutrients which quickly leach away (and are a source of polution)

 

[MrFista]

The concept of an organic bible... how much really needs to go in there. Sections on products imo are utter tosh. But a list of reputable distributors of products to make teas would be valuable. There comes a time soil won't need teas but with constant drift from neighbours applying who knows what - it's better safe than sorry.

The world at this point needs to seriously wean itself off bottles and bags of stuff. Fertiliser is rubbish imo. I added all this organic fertiliser to soil - dolomite blood meal bone meal seaweed and sheep pellets. Tilled it in rested it then planted and it grew things half a season then turned to shit. Plot next to it struggled a couple months more with compost teas. Same soil gets mulched heavily with compost under it and plants are growing just fine next season with no ferts.

Compost. Worms. Compost Teas. Fermented plant extracts. Bio-char. Mulching. Integrated Pest Management. Companion Planting.

That's my recommended reading without the links. That would be the organic grow bibles basis if I got to edit it.

For indoors, same idea, but switch to grow beds from pots. I don't care for container growing anymore. I add compost some sand a handful castings and small plants do great in pots but then I transplant them into a bed or the real world. Even my 8 gallon pots were rootbound after a 13 week cycle, screw that, let the roots max out in an undisturbed microbial universe. The difference will be obviously apparent.

Shit I nearly forgot - a section for calibrating your pH meter!

 

[Scrappy4]

Glad to see your thinking about a book Fista.

Your right, no sense covering long sections on lights, fans like the other bible does. I guess you could assume a reader already knows how to grow medicine. Maybe a short why, then some how to's on your list, keeping in mind indoors and out. Spotting deficiencies, toxicities, and the things an organic cannabis grower might encounter and then how to counter them would be nice.........

 

[DARC MIND]

WOW,thank u Von for this (found in one of ur links)
hands down, one of the best indepth, detailed reads ive come across to date
a must read for any serious Organic Fanatic
Better Than Organic
a conversation with Agricola
read it dang it

 

[MrFista]

Very nice read. He's saying what I was before I got interrupted by a well intentioned but poorly read 'knowledgeable' type giving advice in the amerindian thread - that weeds will pull minerals up for me - my reply - compost from crap depleted soils will not give your garden what it requires. Hence the rockdust scrounge. A ton of seaweed alleviates the need for rockdust perhaps, but I like to add it for long term solutions.

I agree entirely that adding tons of any old organic matter is not the solution. Lots of compost helps but those minerals really are an essential factor. I use sea minerals very sparingly in aquaponics. I have spinach leaves 2 feet in length in there, watercress regrows 3-4 days after cropping, and all the time the nitrate ammonia and nitrite are on 0. (it is present and consumed as fast as it is supplied).

In my no till bed, after char, rockdust etc - I think the days of adding ferts are over. Mulches, the odd touch of rockdust annually perhaps. What about N - atmospheric. What about P - plenty in the soil, the char, the clay, plenty. Fungi are releasing it for me. What about K - green leafy mulch in particular my giant spinach provide K. And the trace elements - we're talking TRACE elements. Traces of the stuff. With some decent seaweed this problem is over too. Just mulch it and let the microbes do the work.

The points made concerning calcium are very interesting, and certainly warrant further investigation. I'd like the book, but on student money (fucking broke) it'll have to wait.

 

[Microbeman]

WOW,thank u Von for this (found in one of ur links)
hands down, one of the best indepth, detailed reads ive come across to date
a must read for any serious Organic Fanatic
Better Than Organic
a conversation with Agricola
read it dang it

Very nice read; inspiring! but too bad about his bag of everything product which kinda contradicts the philosophy presented;

http://www.soilminerals.com/Agricola's Best Main Page.htm

I emailed with the guy making and selling the Biozome and oy...what a mess and I'm dissapointed that the mychorrhizal product contains Trichoderma, even though much research shows this can be highly couteractive.

 

[MrFista]

There is an obvious trend - my way is better, all the capatalists are bastards... p.s. here's my products.

 

[DARC MIND]

ive actually came across that mineral mix a while back,wasnt aware who the guy was then

as for the Trichoderma, ive seen it added to few mychorrhizal/beneficial mico products by respectable companies. (fungi perfecti & others some OFC members recommend)

heres another good read,
i thought was excellent(again thnx to Von lnks)
Towards a Sustainable Agriculture~the Living Soil
By Lady Eve Balfour
a quote from the above,had to after what MrFista posted

There are two motivations behind an ecological approach--one is based on self interest($), however enlightened, i.e. when consideration for other species is taught solely because on that depends The survival of our own.
The other motivation springs from a sense that the biota is a whole, of which we are a part, and that the other species which compose it and helped to create it; are entitled to existence in their own right. This is the wholeness approach and it is my hope and belief that this is what we, as a federation stand for.
----Lady Eve Balfour

all about the wholeness approach, thinking OFC members are on the same page =)