Soil, water, and tea questions

[moose eater]

The river was still there. Nestle hasn't stolen it yet. Probably too much silt for them, without an additional investment in purification that would cut too deeply into their taking something for nothing from the Public, and making a kazillion % profit on it.

Too big of a river to hide, or I'd start investing more wasted energy, scheming about camouflaging it.

 

[moose eater]

I can't say yay or nay on the light' It has few specs listed. I can say more when it gets here. That may be a good 2 weeks.

That's been the bulk of the problem with the lights of that sort I've looked at on-line.

Some have 5 reviews, others maybe a hundred or so. They're not the most popular lighting for this 'industry,' but they have their place.. I think what I want to use them for is an example of such.

But of those persons giving them a (what ever-star review or mark), there's rarely a way to determine what the buyer's level of experience with growing -anything- is, and may simply amount to, "The plants didn't die right off, and the spectrum looks cool, though everything appears to have a yellow hue when I look away after staring into it.. Cool!"

Very little meaningful data.

May be a niche market for some canna-friendly lighting guru.. 'LED flood lamp consultant.'

I'm sure I've got at least 4 weeks before the application would become more urgent. Clones, then vegging en masse in 3" cubes with a bit of veg soil, then bloom soil into what ever final (larger) containers.

Probably at least 4 weeks, and the way my energy has been, maybe an assignment to leave someone in my Last Will and Testament; "(Person X) can have x, y, and z from my estate, but first they must run a crop in my boxes, with these specific changes, and then they may inherit the described kibble."

 

[moose eater]

I took a peek at the page. The 90 watt thing would be the no-go point. That, and the price.

I've got a couple of 90-watt LED saucers I did some mother cupboard test grows with a few years back.

For the augmentation I'm looking for, an actual wattage used of about 10-15 would be cool. And I'll need 16 of the buggers. Plus matching number of eye-bolts/hooks, hangers, heavy-duty cords with attached vertically oriented sockets, etc.

The intermittent lighting safari will continue, off and on, in the wee hours of the morning and late at night.

I'll either find what I'm seeking eventually, or go with one of the home-modified off-the-shelf-retail LED bulbs in the mid 3000k spectrum referenced in a distantly-related thread of similar title on the forums here.

 

[h.h.]

https://www.gearbest.com/grow-lights/pp_801004.html

I went with the bigger CFL's at one point and I'm a bit disappointed that I can't get them in as close as when using smaller ones. I guess the same thought would go into choosing LED's.

I need to set up a room and do it right. I have 2 full bedrooms in the basement. I've been hesitant to use them because of the carpeting. Religiously, I don't like the idea of using more and more power to grow.
Admittedly, I am a pagan. A heretic.
Putting some buckets together for a RDWC system. A winter project if and when it gets cold this year.
Maybe I'll go down to Indio Blvd. and do the Swaggart. . Forgive me for I have sinned.

And the perverted fear of violence chokes a smile on every face
And common sense is ringing out the bells
This ain't no technological breakdown, oh no, this is the road to hell
And all the roads jam up with credit and there's nothing you can do
It's all just bits of paper flying away from you
Look out world, take a good look what comes dawn here
You must learn this lesson fast and learn it well
This ain't no upwardly mobile freeway
Oh no, this is the road, this is the road, this is the road to hell

 

[moose eater]

Don't know that quote/lyric. A new one on me. I think I get the drift, however. And... yep...

I rid the entire house of CFLs a couple or four years ago, when I repeatedly found micro burn holes in the tubes near the bases on more than a couple of them, and decided this unintended feature was a hazard.

I'd Intended to convert to 5600k LEDs in the house, etc., anyway, but the burn holes accelerated the conversion

Since then, the whole house and most outdoor floods have LEDs in that color spectrum; bright daylight 5600k. Enough years reading by kerosene lamp decades ago had me -really- disliking that yellowish light.

'Soft white', my ass!!

After spending a great deal of time staring at my screen tonight, with a few puffs of some hybrid hash (California Indica, LSD, & Tijuana resins.. not bad, if I do say so myself), a dark ale, and a lot of toe-tapping, watching the anesthetized screen load, or, as a family member calls it, "the spinning circle of death," this page came up.

https://www.topbulb.com/led/led-par/led-par38/120w-equal

I would like to get something similar to these, preferably using COB tech, perhaps an agro-specific bulb (if I can find a good one), with a 35 to 45 degree beam, 2700k to 3000k spectrum, and equivalent output of a 120 watt conventional bulb (+/-).

Not all give a lumens rating, though I understand the PAR versus lumens point...

Anyway, when the soil and the grower fail, buy lighting.. That's what I always say.. (Not really).

I had a talk with the mothers this evening, and I think we all agree that a change of soil is in order...

So I'm going to invert some sizable, gangly mothers, ~3 ft. tall and bushy as all hell, carefully remove as much of the dirt/mix from the root system as I can without traumatizing them as badly as it sounds, with them hanging upside down (wondering how they ended up on a bungee ride), supply them with a very basic mix with a ratio of 1-2-1, varied calcium sourcing, some dried molasses, a bit of mild root-booster, and some B-1 in the hydration, a bit of this and a touch of that. Then sit bed-side with them, holding their leaves, and reading 'Good Night Moon' to them, until they forgive me, move toward serious healthy greenery, and I start taking cuttings.

I'm finally feeling sleepy, so I best take advantage of that.

 

[moose eater]

I meant to mention, all of my boxes are lined inside on the floors/bottoms with 6-mil poly/visqueen, lapped up the walls 1-1/2".

I've also used 60-mil rubber roofing material/membrane as a water-proof base, too, in mother cupboards years ago (pit liner would work as well, perhaps, and maybe be more forgiving than what I've used.. unless the 60-mil roofing membrane is the same stuff?).

Both work, but they also have the capacity to trap moisture underneath them.. And in your situation (2 carpeted bedrooms) that would be totally uncool.

On a concrete floor, or in a box like mine, where the surfaces have been painted God only knows how may times in pure bright white kitchen & bath latex enamel, it all gets taken care of during the bleach and Borax cleaning, after removing the poly for a fresh sheet every other go or so..

Maybe you'll find another way to "get 'er done."

 

[moose eater]

Yes, the light you last linked to is more or less what I'm looking for.

I'll go back there in a bit, and do some searches for reviews from other sources.

It looks like there's 4 reviews at the site you linked to, but if the brand name and description (given at that page) of the bulb are more universal (as opposed to being branded specifically for Outlet 'X'), then I should be able to find a greater amount of opinion from previous users on the www.

Thanks.

 

[h.h.]

https://www.amazon.com/ABI-Booster-...rd_wg=uqPqg&psc=1&refRID=353MMHJQSNAD4B7EQG9R

https://www.amazon.com/Lixada-Antiq...rd_wg=hljXA&psc=1&refRID=B3376RGZTJCN349GMHNJ

 

[moose eater]

Thanks!

Yeah, I'd seen the ABI products at Amazon. Not sure if I saw the other product there or not. I'd need to go check it again. Another late night effort, most likely.

I'm hoping to have folks chime in on the other thread, re. real-time findings with these types of bulbs, and specific lamps, either as primary lighting in micro-grows, or as adjunct lighting in a situation such as mine.

 

[h.h.]

I'm liking the concept.
I'm gonna try the full spectrum light from TaoTronics. Thirty-six watts. (3 x 12).

The spider light (2nd link) was just an idea put in my head by Amazon. Looks like a bit of a PITA honestly. It would have to be customized. If it was wired in the lighting circuit, it would probably blow fuses.

Moved out into the garage. Hint; Don't move plants in sub freezing weather. A couple are looking a bit twisted like a bad soil problem from just a few moments of exposure.
Eventually, I'll build a room in the back for my incubators, brooders, and plants of all persuasions.
Limited growing season here. If I can extend it by using low power lights and a hoop house..

Scored a free 10' display cabinet from Craigslist. My new brooder box.
Eggs pipping in the incubator.

Moistened up the worm buckets. Cautiously keeping them too dry. Seeing more activity. The African Night crawlers are a warm temperature worm and the buckets could probably be a little warmer. Not dying yet not thriving.
The Europeans and the wigglers on the other hand are doing quite well. Using the large Smart pots is more fool proof.
I see from other groups that some folks that were using a single bucket have reverted to using 3 buckets.
My thought is to get thermal wrap and make cozies for them.

We'll see. Too many projects for one old man. Once you quit, you're done.
If I don't have 10 projects going on when I die...I just made that up. Part of my new religious doctrine. Ten percent to the church and die with ten projects.
Then there's that spaceship thing, details to be worked out, but I need a lot of those red lights.

Wondering about these water only mixes.
I can see them being time savers when doing volume, otherwise I'm not sure I see the point.
First it's one size fits all. I don't know if that's true even among phenotypes.
Secondly as you've seen preloading with salts can be trouble.
It's like playing horseshoes. You just get close, then kick it up to the post when nobody is looking.
It's the end product, not the academics of getting there.

 

[moose eater]

My average basement temp this time of year is 68 f., though I can change that fairly easily, if I choose to feed more caviar to the fucks at the Major Oil Producers' lairs. I assume that's warm enough for the African night crawlers, and the under-side of the stairwell they'd call home is closer to the boiler, so there's a bit more residual heat there, too. Maybe about 70 f most of the day.

End products are good. Knowing how you got there is nice, just in case you need or want to go back. Dorothy was so glad to be back in Kansas, I don't know if she ever developed a desire to return to Oz or not. Hard to make good friends and then not see them anymore. The story of the heart-felt hitch-hiker... of the forgetful gardener.. or the amendments that wouldn't stand still in one place.

I keep hoping that my lethargy will provide sufficient time for the amendments to find a way to cohabitate in their neighborhood without someone getting evicted or ????? I think they're still bitching at each other about whose property the fence line is on. The reduction in dolomite may have blurred the easement therein. Who knows?

Abstractions. In the right frame of mind, with the right dose of acid, who knows how many of us have an inner-Andy Warhol hiding some place, carrying around a disconnected round-dial telephone, just waiting to become less direct.

I'm nursing the moms until I get to the point with chores and energy to engage in the re-potting. I've only got three of the huge small-tree pots to utilize, so the remainder of them, 50%, will simply have to lose enough soil from their Classic 2000 pots (and inadvertently, some roots), to accommodate a bit of newer, less intense mix.

I suspect in my newly found infatuation with Goji OG and GTH#1, they'll score the three huge pots, and my 20-year old production queen and survivor, Cal Indica, will get what she gets, hang her head for a bit, then get back to business.. As she's always done in the past.

The SLH, while producing some very fine flowers, may one day find herself in a similar boat as her Strawberry Sour Diesel predecessor found herself in; not producing enough to earn her keep, and despite the previous impressive quality, may end up needing to make her peace with what ever Deity she subscribes to.

Unfortunately (or not), and at the moment, simply just a note to myself, in the current troubled mix, the SLH and the retrieved-from-death's-door and recent sponsor of metaphysical queries, Widow Bomb, seem to be protesting the conditions of their environment a LOT less than the others. They almost seem HAPPY!

At times it's seems like it's always the neighbors you consider leaving the hood as a possible benefit, that tend to stay the longest. MURPHY!!

Widow Bomb, other than for begging for some more ca., in raised hands, born again charismatic-prayer-like fashion, is uniformly green, erect, and asking me what's on the agenda for today. Bitch..

They changed the forecast again for the coming week. I liked the old one better. Supposed to have snow on the way now, off and on. No serious accumulation, but now the machines I'm taking to town will need covers, to be left in semi-vulnerable locations. Rather than risk leaving custom-made covers, I think I'll load up a tarp or two. The loss of cheap poly doesn't make me cry or get as angry as the loss of a hundred+ dollar cover with custom straps & buckles, etc.

And temperatures are now predicted to be a bit colder. Still much warmer than the season would have typically called for here, 35 years ago, but climate change has spoiled us a bit.

Loaded up the machines last night, late, and reciprocated niceties with folks in the mountains, and near there, who offered up info on their winter thus far; info that will figure into our annual trip. So far, a good snow base, trail in is good, ice is good, cabin is empty and solid, and the fish reports will have to wait. One sent awesome pics of the fishing from summer, but that's a different time and condition.

In winter, things can change day to day out there, moon phase to moon phase, and what was a hot spot during a given portion of a month one year, may not be so hot on another.

Our trip this year coincides with a full moon on our second day, which will likely be our first 'full day' out on the ice there. Huge areas, and not many people. Sometimes no people at all.

We'll need to inventory, and make sure we have enough of the more lean ground moose to make moose pasties (Cornish meat pies, a comfort food from the UP of Michigan, once made by copper miners there over 100 years ago, originally with either venison or ground beef sirloin), along with enough of the better yellow spuds from last year, and our remaining Scarlet Nantes carrots as well.

Didn't grow any rutabagas last year (ordinarily an annual thing here, including basketball-size giant American Purple Tops, but for the first year in ~20, we did none). So that will need to come from the store, along with more sweet onions, for the 2-3 dozen pasties we typically take with us).

Onions do poorly in my peat and silt/sand base. They seem to like a much more sandy soil, for better drainage, and balk at dampness.

Maybe make up another tray, to take half of it with us, of some awesome, spicy, shrimp, chicken and Andouille sausage Jambalaya with short-grain brown rice & diced tomatoes, to freeze and re-heat upon demand out there. (a full tray out there for 2-3 people is too much, and we end up neglecting the rest of the goodies we take for elaborate dinners when that happens).

When I was 16, planning for a trip began a day or 3 before the event. now it starts ~2 months (or more) ahead of time. And I'm still frantically scurrying about the day of the departure it seems.

I may be turning into that guy at the drug store diner, with the spittle clinging to the side of his mouth and chin, and everyone being too polite to tell him about it.

 

[h.h.]

I'm wishing I had your genetics. Trying to find seeds, they won't take credit cards. They'll take Bitcoin or cash.
Plenty of clones locally, I may have to go that route. I haven't had much experience in that direction.

My basement is probably in the high 60's. I found the African's were just short on moisture. I was being overly cautious.

Garage with the lights and a back up heater is staying in the mid 70's. At least where the plants are.
They all seem to be surviving the cold snap though not without protest. One may be on it's way out.

Ordered 2 more of the mini lights. Probably get a couple of the red ones that I linked to. I finally bought a mh last year which may wind up in storage except for the cold months.
I don't want to deal with grow rooms and heat, I just want to switch the bulbs out.

Piss poor hatch rate yesterday. Mail order eggs. Post person works nights doing a juggling act and needed props. Scrambled eggs don't hatch.

Weeks planning a trip. Days planning. I left Cali for Michigan on a moments notice.Friends were leaving and I hopped in. "Where we headed?"
I blame Owsley for much of that. We'd be talking and he'd always be the one to bring it up. "You don't need all this shit" he would say and there I'd be with nothing to my name moving down the road. "When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose. You're invisible. No secrets to conceal." "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose."
Owsley, Bobby, and Janis. It's all their fault.

"I'm standing next to a mountain. I chop it down with the wave of my hand."

The past lyrics were Chris Rea. The Road to Hell. Late 80's maybe. Good album.

Stood still on a highway I saw a woman by the side of the road
With a face that I knew like my own, reflected in my window
Well, she walked up to my quarter light and she bent down real slow
A fearful pressure paralysed me in my shadows
She said: Son, what are you doing here?
My fear for you has turned me in my grave
I said: Mama, I come to the valley of the rich, myself to sell
She said: Son, this is the road to hell
On your journey 'cross the wilderness from the desert to the well
You have strayed upon the motorway to hell
Well, I'm standing by a river but the water doesn't flow
It boils with every poison you can think of
Then I'm underneath the streetlights, but the light of joy I know
Scared beyond belief way down in the shadows
And the perverted fear of violence chokes a smile on every face
And common sense is ringing out the bells
This ain't no technological breakdown, oh no, this is the road to hell
And all the roads jam up with credit and there's nothing you can do
It's all just bits of paper flying away from you
Look out world, take a good look what comes dawn here
You must learn this lesson fast and learn it well
This ain't no upwardly mobile freeway
Oh no, this is the road, this is the road, this is the road to hell
Songwriters: Christopher Anton Rea

 

[moose eater]

There's a couple of U.S.-based seed banks of which I know at least one of them takes CC. They're reputable, nice folks, and the one goes out of their way to be more personable than many, I suspect as a part of their sales shtick. None the less, a welcome thing (at least in my opinion) to have people act like they care about more than the Jacksons and Benjamins filling their palm, even if it's merely a part of their gig.

I figure I have over 6 months into locating each of my GOOD & 'stable' females out of any batch of seeds. In the past, I've treated cuttings as being in two different brackets; cuts for those who simply intend to grow some personal stash, and those who intend to multiply them and turn them into cash. Two different sets of needs. Two different circumstances. Two different prices.. Both of them more reasonable than the shops' flat rates. Marxist cloning on a voluntary basis. No one needs to accept any offers.

There's been times I've gifted cuts, sometimes in quantity, but I have since figured that with the amendments (minimal), time spent baby-sitting (moderate), 3" cubes and transplanting, etc. (debatable value), they were worth at least something.

I've resented the transition between the 70s and now, when money became such a paramount thing. Changed the whole tone a lot. I miss 250 and 1,000 mic tabs. I miss more tender blotter paper. I miss the Sorcerer's Apprentice or Mr. Natural emblazoned on a piece of small square paper. I miss real widow-pane. Not a lot, but enough. I miss having access to good, clean, Rx speed for the e-kit, for those times I absolutely positively, have to get something done over-night, be it travel, or ????

Reminds me of Jerry Ruben heading to Wall St. We should hold ourselves accountable for when we've betrayed our principles, then no one else would have to work so hard at it, and the world would improve some. Maybe. Constructive raw introspection on the ad-lib stage of life isn't our species' strong suit. Evolution of the spirit is a staked glacier wearing a 5 point harness for a seat belt.

As a career hitch-hiker, I routinely had 100 lbs. of gear (70-lb. pack and a 30-lb. duffle or a 30-lb smaller ruck sack) containing almost everything I had left (not withstanding minimal storage in a couple static locations), and my dog; my first breeder Norwegian Elkhound. She was my friend. We travelled the same routes enough, there were select places in Canada and the U.S. where a cop or three would remember us, treat us decently and with respect, and though she detested cops as an end-result of an unnecessarily aggressive raid in '75 or '76, we'd develop some sort of affinity with Johnny Law here and there.

She'd drag a 70-lb. pack to get away from a harmonica (the only musical instrument I kept when I finally 'hit the road'). Likewise, she'd drag that same 70-lb. pack to get TO a cop, I.D. checking me, or ????. Never trained her to dislike them. And it was strictly the uniform and badge. They did that to themselves during that illegal raid. Karma meets dogma.

These days they'd have just shot her.. and I'd have likely shot back with less nonchalant demeanor.. My pups have been my closest friends and family since I was a much smaller feller. "When the first shot hit the dog, I saw it coming; raised my rifle to my eye, never stopped to wonder why..."

She hated the sound of harmonicas, the hissing pressure release on a semi-truck's idling diesel engine, LEO, and bears (she was present when a young black bear raided a smoker loaded with sockeye and pink salmon the summer of 1981 near Haines, Alaska and she treed a young 100-110 lb. black bear thief, who I 'traded' with, taking about 6 qt. jars of bear meat with me (leaving the remainder for my acquaintances/cabin-mates), and forfeiting some fish. At that time, I preferred the red meat over the fish, so it was a fitting arrangement.. at least for me...

I've seen others here caution against taking cuts home from the shops/commercial grows, due to pesticide/herbicide treatments and bugs. Haven't done that previously, so I can't say. I know I have gnats and thrips; the undying tenants who wax and wane in their presence.

I need to see if I can score a more reasonable amount of Gnatrol with a good shelf date this next trip to Los Anchorage. Something shy of a half-gallon would be nice, and still more than ample.

I need to kick myself in the ass, or all that I'm working on is going to fall to shit further than it has, but I feel like a cloud has lowered on me. Winter? Body chemistry? Age? Watching Alaska and parts of the world in tail-spins under the weight of Globalist Opportunists who more than deserve to have an abrupt run-in with the French Foreign Legion on a bad day? All of the above? Maybe it's my toothpaste?

The 1" of snow with occasional freezing rain turned into a mini-nightmare last night. 5+" of wet-ass snow, on top of what came to be (I'm fairly sure) over 1/4" of accumulated slick-ass wet ice as a base, clinging to everything, like Nature put down a bead of super glue before the fact.

A power surge turned off one of my lights in the middle of the night, so I had to manually re-set the ballast via the surge strip. One of the few benefits of not sleeping; When shit happens, I typically catch it in short order.

Well, I should probably get a shower before a family member protests the aromatic consequences of living with me. Then off to town to slog through the most recent episode of "Mother Nature Strikes Back.'

"It's all right Ma', I'm only bleeding..."

 

[moose eater]

"Kathy, I'm lost"
I said,
Though I knew
she was sleeping.
"I'm empty
and I'm aching
and I don't know why."
Counting the cars
on the New Jersey turn-pike
And they've all come
to look for America..

"Toss me a cigarette,
I think there's one
in my rain coat..."

<Sighs> Another anthem...

The one car is mostly clear of ice now, and ready to rock. What a pain in the ass!!

If you wait until the air inside the vehicle has barely reached about 10-20 degrees above freezing or so, and the outside air temp is not too awful cold, you can scrape the ice from the outside of the windows in nearly-whole sheets, like huge floating sheets of ice on a pond, floating in the wind.

I've always believed that having to work, in order to work, is essentially the Cosmos pissing in your face. I feel pissed on.

 

[paradoxlost]

This man has turned compost tea making into a venue for his nostalgic, meandering memory tangents. Is this an indication you're not making teas right unless you reflect upon your life as decomposers multiply to devour and recycle old life?

 

[moose eater]

You might find an applicable analogy therein. Circle of life as it relates to all living things, right on down to microbes.

I would say that an awareness of living cycles adds significantly to compost or other teas.

There were several topics initially inquired about when this thread began; not just bat guano and kelp teas (previously my stand-by). There was scant reply, and half of what came, came in cryptic or half-full information.

If you have a method of returning teas to a frothing home for microbes, in consideration of the issues I'm contending with (which were fairly well laid out) please, feel free to add them. If you have an alternative organic mix that overcomes these things, re-discovering the magic ratios that obviously changed a long time ago, again, feel free to add it.

In absence of input of a constructive nature, h.h. and I (with the occasional visit from others) have met up once or so a day here, traded tips, stories, resources, lyrics, etc.

My recommendation would be that if that bothers anyone, they're not required to read here. If it bothers Gypsy, he or I can shut it down, have it deleted, etc. If someone enjoys it, that's fine too. If they're indifferent, then that's OK as well.

I'm always open to additional input and information from a perspective of experience and science where organic soils or amendments/teas are concerned.

But thanks for your observations.

 

[paradoxlost]

You might find an applicable analogy therein. Circle of life as it relates to all living things, right on down to microbes.

I would say that an awareness of living cycles adds significantly to compost or other teas.

There were several topics initially inquired about when this thread began; not just bat guano and kelp teas (previously my stand-by). There was scant reply, and half of what came, came in cryptic or half-full information.

If you have a method of returning teas to a frothing home for microbes, in consideration of the issues I'm contending with (which were fairly well laid out) please, feel free to add them. If you have an alternative organic mix that overcomes these things, re-discovering the magic ratios that obviously changed a long time ago, again, feel free to add it.

In absence of input of a constructive nature, h.h. and I (with the occasional visit from others) have met up once or so a day here, traded tips, stories, resources, lyrics, etc.

My recommendation would be that if that bothers anyone, they're not required to read here. If it bothers Gypsy, he or I can shut it down, have it deleted, etc. If someone enjoys it, that's fine too. If they're indifferent, then that's OK as well.

I'm always open to additional input and information from a perspective of experience and science where organic soils or amendments/teas are concerned.

But thanks for your observations.

Oh it was nothing against you guys, just noting the irony and the connection. You guys brew how you guys brew, don't mind me

 

[moose eater]

Oh it was nothing against you guys, just noting the irony and the connection. You guys brew how you guys brew, don't mind me

Then my sincere apologies for any misperception on my part.

The invitation for added info re. the original issues stands.

A primary reason this has turned into a nearly exclusive thread for h.h. and I has been an absence of attendance or information from others.

Slownickel has added some helpful info re. obvious lock-out issues I missed.

Doc added a fair deal of more complex science re. porosity, minerals, etc., though sometimes missing the fact that I've done this for a long time now, when it comes to issues such as water-only before harvest, proper mixing, etc.

Limeygreen was kind enough to send via PM his past experience with ridding H2O of iron bacteria.

The Cooperatie Extension's soil professor at the U, a recommended gardening guru, never replied re. the iron bacteria.

h.h. seems to think the bacteria are converting iron, and I'm benefitting from them.

Doc & Limeygreen both provided their specific (similar) methods for neutralizing the iron bacteria through a ph up, then down procedure (bleach followed by citric acid; the citric acid being an alternative to past ph-down items I'd used, thus new info again.)..

I was made aware of the contents of perlite (specifically aluminum) that I'd never before realized, causing me to spring for a few more bucks worth of pumice in my plans, and maybe some zeolite and rice hulls.

I learned of the silica benefits of rice hulls, and their ability to replace perlite, with additional bennies..

Diversification of calcium sourcing and a decrease in dolomite lime came to pass as a positive thing, as well as some insights to the CEC issues previously foreign to me.

The lessening of standards and contents in organic materials is what it is, unless someone knows of alternate sources for better stuff.. which we've touched on a time or two.

Frankly, I have learned a fair bit here, made some new acquaintances from the times I was here close to a decade ago, worked at looking past some pointed political and philosophical issues with folks I typically wouldn't have given the time of day otherwise, probably passed by some old friends or acquaintances here without knowing it, and have spent too much time here overall, in general, in light of jobs and chores to be done in my shop, home, and life.

On that note, I've been teetering on heading out, and departing the site again anyway. I'll probably take some time to copy the latest mixes I wrote down here, and maybe some of the older ones, as they're easier to find here than in my notes, before heading to the proverbial door and exiting the site...

But yes, the similarity between plants and life in general, has been touched on here by a number of persons several times, from several different vantage points.

Again, my sincere apologies for having misinterpreted your comment.

As a social hermit, I fluctuate from no contact of any significant sort, to a flood of contact, and back again.

 

[moose eater]

In reviewing the thread, gathering more valuable notes, etc., I realized I'd not thanked Mr. Bungle or Hyposomniac for their contributions.

Mr. Bungle, Doc and h.h. opened a door to the concept of pre-charging amendments, though it's still fairly foreign to me. Hyposomniac broadened my new-found awareness re. zeolite and its various purposes.

I think I've gathered what I need for now.

 

[h.h.]

Two old farmers jawing across the fence. One says to the other, "you're pretty close to a fool." The other says ,"yep, standing across the fence from one."

There's a Walmart in Winslow that I stop at on my trips to Cali. I'll walk down to the corner and call my ex, or my son, whomever, I say "guess where I'm at."
"Where?"
"Well, I'm standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona..."

Everything is connected. Picked up some new ideas and some new projects Things to ponder.
Movie scenes from Woodstock, twisting up a aluminum foil pipe on a Bic pen. Aluminum is natural, smoking it isn't. I wonder if that guy was me?