Recycled/Reused/ Reammended/Reloaded/ Reupped/Retarded

[Lapides]

Hopefully no one only reads half of this thread and thinks that this is a good way to grow.

I've been reading that the cement effect has something to do with a specific combination of minerals and the composition of the earthworms themselves. When the worms die off, what's left behind reacts with those minerals, coupled with the constant moisture my blumats provided, and given the proper (or improper) ratios I inadvertently achieved, my entire shit turned to solid cement.

On the bright side, I entered into a $25,000 foosball tournament coming up in 2 saturdays. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[heady blunts]

holy shit i'm sorry to hear this lap!

you gotta try to save that shit! some calcium to tie up the mag, aloe to soak into the hardened aggregates, some dank mulch to manage moisture levels and broaden the surface strata....

i'm sure the community can come up with a couple things to try before you scrap the whole thing!

in the meantime, good luck w/ the foosball tourny!

 

[Lapides]

When I say cement, I mean like you can use it as a foundation and build a house on it.

 

[Team Microbe]

It takes an awful lot of courage for me to come here and say this to all of you who have been along for the ride.

It seems as though my 'retard-proof-recipe-for-success' is a complete and utter failure.

Unbeknownst to me, the gradual combination of dolomitic lime, crushed seashells, and get this - EARTHWORM CARCASSES - eventually forms a kind of cement that hardens COMPLETELY overnight.

I went in this AM and could not believe what I was seeing. Everything seemed perfectly fine last night. Now, I have 8 2.5'x5'x1' beds completely filled with hardened cement in a basement that I cant get out. It's going to take forever to break up the blocks into chunks that I can handle, this stuff is almost as hard as a diamond. FUCK ME.

So the lesson for today folks, if you want to be a successful grower, don't do ANYTHING you've read in this thread.

Today I quit growing pot to chase my number 2 dream - I am now going to be a professional fooz ball player.

First off, much respect to you sir

Not many will admit failure in order to keep their reputation where it's at... but then they never learn what the hell they did wrong because they never talk about it! I look at mistakes as lessons, and lessons as blessings...

I've heard about dol lime hardening up like that, that's why I switched to oyster shell instead. I was pissed too because I found this out just days after buying a 50 lb bag of the stuff... go figure.

Don't sweat it man, the best you can do now is medicate yourself enough to the point of not worrying about it... then do what needs to be done in order to fix the problem. Easier said than done when your mix is no longer good though... looks like it's time to mix up a nice batch of soil soon eh?

 

[Avinash.miles]

When I say cement, I mean like you can use it as a foundation and build a house on it.

jeez, is it all grey like cement or dirt colored?

 

[Team Microbe]

Win that tourney and buy some new soil!

You'll wake up one morning and decide to go back to growing, right now it's hard to deal with because your ego is bruised but that's what separates the men from the boys... accepting failure and picking yourself up afterwards without feeling bad for yourself. You got this dude, I'd hate to see someone as talented as you just drop growing because of a bad mix. Toss it and start fresh.

 

[Lapides]

I havent used lime in about a year. Lime wasn't JUST the problem. It was the worms that played a big part.

Pretty much like gray cement.

I'm not growing anymore. Full focus on foosball.

Any tips, tricks, or strategies related to foosball, let's talk about it!

 

[MOneYMiKe]

2 person or solo?I dont take u as a "team"player eh?

 

[Lapides]

2 person or solo?I dont take u as a "team"player eh?

LOL, ur right, solo, I don't take things very well when someone else fucks shit up.

 

[Team Microbe]

Lol enjoy that...

 

[bobblehead]

 

[heady blunts]

the lime disaster lines up timing wise. enough of the cal in dol lime got used up that the unchecked mag levels tightened up the soil.

worth a shot tossing some gypsum down, pouring aloe water on top of the thing (doesn't sound like you're expecting it to soak in lol), and seeing what happens. throw down like 4 inches of hay or just lightly cover with plastic or landscape fabric. check on it in 24 hours.

or you could just burn the motherfucker down!

yo for foosball tho i assume you've got your passing skills down. it's all about those 1-2 cross shots IME. what are the tourney rules? spins/ no spins?

 

[Weird]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lime_mortar

all it takes is the right combination of lime and sand

http://extension.psu.edu/plants/crops/soil-management/soil-quality/earthworms

and the right kind of worm

 

[ghostmade]

I don't know or not but with this guy you never know if he's playing around with our heads or not. I think this is part of the promised propagation of propaganda against living organic soil, it all starts with don't put no more worms into the beds.lol
Seriously though if thats true.i would like to think that making a worm bed that acts like a mulch is the answer.also very little inouts at a time
Im also in The new practice of rotating my los smart pots and letting them rest and rotating the cover crops that are planted on them during this "rest" phase.

I'm also moving to a med state and I'm woundering how will i ship my soil.lol that or store it at freinds untill i return for it someday.lol

 

[bobblehead]

Could you have overdone it with the turtle wax? If the roots were exuding too much turtle wax into the soil that might explain it.

 

[Team Microbe]

I don't know or not but with this guy you never know if he's playing around with our heads or not. I think this is part of the promised propagation of propaganda against living organic soil, it all starts with don't put no more worms into the beds.lol
Seriously though if thats true.i would like to think that making a worm bed that acts like a mulch is the answer.also very little inouts at a time
Im also in The new practice of rotating my los smart pots and letting them rest and rotating the cover crops that are planted on them during this "rest" phase.

I'm also moving to a med state and I'm woundering how will i ship my soil.lol that or store it at freinds untill i return for it someday.lol

Say you didn't have dol lime in your soil mix... would there still be a risk for introducing red wigglers and nightcrawlers? I was planning on adding a pound to the yard of soil I'm mixing this week but now Lapides is sketching me out with this worm talk

 

[Lapides]

All I can say is that in the beginning, I was adding a pretty fair amount of lime with NO PROBLEMS, plant health-wise or soil quality. I stopped with the lime and used things like azomite and oystershell and sulpomg. That has gone on for about 8 months. Something happens when the worms die and gets combined with certain minerals, fucking cement like shit. It's literally like a stone. I'm gonna have to borrow cocktail franks jackhammer for real.

 

[Backyard Farmer]

Your reverse trolling is awesome

 

[dociron]

It takes an awful lot of courage for me to come here and say this to all of you who have been along for the ride.

It seems as though my 'retard-proof-recipe-for-success' is a complete and utter failure.

Unbeknownst to me, the gradual combination of dolomitic lime, crushed seashells, and get this - EARTHWORM CARCASSES - eventually forms a kind of cement that hardens COMPLETELY overnight.

I went in this AM and could not believe what I was seeing. Everything seemed perfectly fine last night. Now, I have 8 2.5'x5'x1' beds completely filled with hardened cement in a basement that I cant get out. It's going to take forever to break up the blocks into chunks that I can handle, this stuff is almost as hard as a diamond. FUCK ME.

So the lesson for today folks, if you want to be a successful grower, don't do ANYTHING you've read in this thread.

Today I quit growing pot to chase my number 2 dream - I am now going to be a professional fooz ball player.

I call BS! Pick yer ass up, figger out where ya went wrong, then get back on track! Yer a pretty good grower, this? Is a learning experience, deal with it.
Now get to work, stop whining, you got this! Next grow is next week, you got work to do, period.

 

[heady blunts]

Say you didn't have dol lime in your soil mix... would there still be a risk for introducing red wigglers and nightcrawlers? I was planning on adding a pound to the yard of soil I'm mixing this week but now Lapides is sketching me out with this worm talk

i have had worms in my containers for years with no problems.

i think you could run into problems if you allow them to turn the entire bed into castings and you don't compensate with more organic material and aeration amendments.

that coupled with a mag lock out after all the calcium in you lime gets digested might = hard compacted concrete.

when you get those perfect castings from a mostly peat bedding they can turn to muddy muck instantly. the grain is so fine within each casting.

some ideas to avoid having your containers turn into concrete: use other liming agents with less mag (if starting from scratch), tie up excess mag with calcium amendments like oyster shell powder (if not), make sure you have durable aeration amendments that wont break down after a cycle or two, use good quality thermal compost in the mix, top dress with thermal compost every once in a while, keep the soil populated with roots (canna or companion/cover crops), keep a diverse mulch 4" thick on the soil surface, practice no-till.