Terra Preta - Dark Soil - Experiment

[MrFista]

WAAAHEY!

NOW I'M EXCITED! Are you excited? Can you feel the vibes, the love in this soil!

That's 3 direct witnesses that TP makes worms go off the charts. And worms, as we know, are VERY good for your garden. I've got more species of worms here too since using TP.

And that's 2 of us who noticeably use less ferts.

In my outdoor garden, it's time to plant finally. BUT....

I've already got 20 varieties of food growing out there. Two foot toms, pepino melons, potatoes I've remounded twice already...

This is the result of igneous rock dust/terra preta mix. (the dust from all my scoria aqua beds). The dust raises sap content in plants so they don't freeze.

I'm sure smurf will be able to amaze us with his off season abilities using this combo he's already blown me away with his conventional work.

Terra Preta rocks!

Jay - cat vomit is not so wierd, I also charred some cat shit, because I can.... I see the humanure leftovers (use them for biodigestion and growing algae for fuel first) in our future being used for TP. I'm just stepping ahead of the game as usual (game being science, bless them, ever so slow to twig to so many things).

Seal piss? You must know another lunatic.

Sprout juice, i'll claim it, toss it in your waterings, GOOD.

Thaiphoon - those are the very picture of health, beautiful plants thanks for sharing.

 

[jaykush]

hehe i think you are the lunatic haha. quoted from the lacto B thread. but it was sea loins not seals.

Got interview with zookeepers shortly - Can I remove the smell from the sea lions? We'll find out!

oh yea just to keep on track......

all bow down to terra preta!! lol

 

[MrFista]

Lunatic? - only takes two signatures to get stamped a lunatic, yet my 2000 signature petition to ban womens tops was ignored by every government department I sent it to.

Ahh, the smell removal. I thought you were saying I was using it (sea lion piss) for something, didn't connect haha!

Anyways, so's I'm sitting here with me trusty vaporiser, and I'm thinking about Terra Preta and I tip the remains of a bowl into my bag of... brown/black char remains...

Now, this stuff is charred with air, but at even lower temperatures hence no ignition at all. My vape runs at 360 - 390 (temp things crazy touchy).
TP char is said to be ideal around 400 - 450 accordingly, but without air...

The remains of vape is all sleepyness if you bake it. Im fairly new to vaping not sure what they do with it. Maybe it'll work as char, recycling the buds back into the grow as well as composting the cabbage hehe.

Is it efficient? Or a waste of some psychoactive by product. I must investigate vape remains...

Wanna sign a petition?

 

[C21H30O2]

Lunatic? - only takes two signatures to get stamped a lunatic, yet my 2000 signature petition to ban womens tops was ignored by every government department I sent it to.

Ahh, the smell removal. I thought you were saying I was using it (sea lion piss) for something, didn't connect haha!

Anyways, so's I'm sitting here with me trusty vaporiser, and I'm thinking about Terra Preta and I tip the remains of a bowl into my bag of... brown/black char remains...

Now, this stuff is charred with air, but at even lower temperatures hence no ignition at all. My vape runs at 360 - 390 (temp things crazy touchy).
TP char is said to be ideal around 400 - 450 accordingly, but without air...

The remains of vape is all sleepyness if you bake it. Im fairly new to vaping not sure what they do with it. Maybe it'll work as char, recycling the buds back into the grow as well as composting the cabbage hehe.

Is it efficient? Or a waste of some psychoactive by product. I must investigate vape remains...

Wanna sign a petition?

vape bud edibles are not always sleepy type highs. the most psychedelic high i have ever had from an edible came from edibles made with vape bud.

 

[jaykush]

i got a good source of char now, so its on like donkey kong.

how is everyone smashing there char up? i been soaking the char in water for a sec. then into a bucket. then in goes a 2x4 for some smashing.

 

[MrFista]

2x4 is definately better for larger chunks but a steel spade is very handy it smashes the big stuff up so it's manageable with a 2x4. . I've mortar and pestled finer stuff, especially the citrus skin and eggshell char as they need to be spread a lot thinner and were designed as custom flower char not general garden...

Where'd you find the char??? Industry?

I can't believe we are not seeing pyrolisation plants everywhere, madness.

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Hey guys thanks for keeping this thread alive

I have been planning this years outdoor grow and will reuse my TP mx from last season. I have got some bones and terracotta pots sitting in a large stainless steel pot ready to be smashed up and added to the mix. I reckon a coco and TP mix will be the way to go.

I have also noticed more worm activity in my pots... most of them have some charcoal as i was chucking it in my compost heap and mixing it up.

Happy gardening!

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Just found this site with heaps of good links
http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/makingcharcoal

This is especially good, a simple to make at home charcoal kiln:
http://www.holon.se/folke/carbon/simplechar/simplechar.shtml

 

[jaykush]

i thought i replied to your post long time ago Fista. oh i remember now computer fucked up and lost my post hehe. oh well.

the biggest chunks i have are about twice as big as my hand. so not very large or hard to break up with a sturdy smash. a strong bottom( i use a cement block about 1x2' and a 2x4 with one slam it breaks it up into about 10 or more little pieces and then into more and so on. i find adding a little water to the bucket helps as well as a fan blowing the air/dust away from me. i took out 10 lbs in a hour and a half. i cant think of a better way for small scale. on a larger field needed scale it could be done faster i think with some sort of machine.

i got the char from someone local who makes it away from fire danger territory, better than the other places ive seen and i like the different sources of wood used for diversity.

good stuff SS_OG

 

[MrFista]

Awesome! So sticky this thread already too many people bypassing what is, to me, a magic bullet for soil.

I got plants growing WAY faster than their neighbours just by having char in the general vicinity. I can put a wee patch down plant around it and all plants surrounding it do better.

Only soil I can compare this to is coco, so far as growth goes. A coco/TP mix would be interesting indeed.

I'm finding even a dusting of TP is sufficient to improve soil and it's biology. Of course, I'd prefer more. As we add our wee bits, and knowing it doesn't break down (in several hundred years anyway) we slowly raise the char content, and I guess slowly is good, and more likely aligns with ancient methods than dumping a shitload on at once.

 

[ThePhantomToker]

I'm along for the ride. I've built a DIY dutch style bucket and use the following mix as my medium:

Soiless Terra Preta Mix

1 part Diatomite rock
1 part Pulverized hardwood charcoal
1 part Coca Coir
1 part Hydroton
1 part EWC

I filled the bucket to the drain with diatomite rock then filled it the rest of the way with the above mix. This is a top feed run to waste set up. I charged it with EWC tea, and transplanted my clone about 2 weeks later. I just watered, yesterday, with EWC tea, black strap molasses, and fish emulsion. So far, so good, the clone is green, growing and looks real healthy. Also, I noted no signs of transplant shock. I'm planing to water with straight water every other watering. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Peace TPT

 

[jaykush]

sounds like a good mix phantom, are you doing one without char to see for differences?

 

[ThePhantomToker]

jaykush- I'm not doing a comparison, but that may be in the works. I've been playing around with TP for the last year but wanted to go soiless with my buckets. One of the things I like about TP is that the bioherd seems to go crazy in it. I'm hoping that this soiless media will allow me to reuse the media. I.E. cut the old plant out and replace with clone. Some of the reading I've done suggest that the TP should get better with age. I'm hoping to cultivate a living TP, we'll see.


Peace TPT

 

[ThePhantomToker]

I failed to note that I inoculated the TP bucket with m.fungi (too stoned to spell it will edit later). Basically made a hole in the mix about 1" away from the plant base,and maybe 2" deep with my pinky finger. Then,I filled the hole halfway with the inoculate and covered prior to watering the transplant in. The inoculation is the main reason for the EWC in the mix. I wanted to have something in the mix for the fungi heard to graze on. I may, add another layer to my bucket fill by only having the EWC in the top 1/3 of the TP mix, as I would like to see the mix drain a little faster. I want to have a big oxygen pull with an optimum moisture condition A.S.A.P..

Peace TPT

 

[marali]

Go easy on teas if you're dealing with mf. Can't spell it either, haha.

 

[ThePhantomToker]

marali - Thanks for the heads up.

I transplanted into two more buckets today. I skipped the EWC in the mix with both. I watered them in with a mild EWC tea, and noticed improved drainage. I'll have to watch these two a little closer to make sure they don't dry out.

Peace TPT

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Hey guys

Spring is truly sprung down under at 42 degrees south and its high time i got my arse into gear

I have recycled some soil i had leeks in (until a wallaby devoured the lot) which i made in february. It contains about 10% charcoal, sand, compost and sheep poo. Gave the whole lot a good sieve.

I made a mix of coco and perlite and mixed with charcoal soil 50/50.

To this i added few handfulls sieved and crushed up bone, shell and terracotta, some dry ferts and azomite.

The resulting soil is nice and light and colourful

I have repotted some seedlings and a tired looking clone into this mix.

 

[MrFista]

Allrightee, I got a hole dug with tp in it, waiting for seedling to gain size. It will be grown horizontally under the edge of a pest infested hedge, just to make things interesting, see how it goes. Should be invisible, hopefully not because it's been devoured.

42 South here too.

That plant in the right of your bottom picture hasn't got the idea of spring yet.

 

[Smurf]

Howzit goin all you organic nutters

hey SS, got some of those RB going, very nice indeed mate,,, and of course everything is in TP, + 3rd feed with tea this wk end.
still has a few wks to go before a quick test smoke

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Yeah awesome guys!

You are same latitude Mrfista? Cool... i started my budding indoors and moved out to see difference in growth compared to my 400w CMH. No where near as big buds but overall plants look v.healthy and will produce small but sticky buds... that what you meant or just the wonky stem?? They started in greenhouse and got bit lanky... Probs few males there but we will see.... these seeds are all self pollinated so shouldnt that mean mostly females?? Not last year but

Hopefully the TP will keep your plants pest free

Thats a nice purple bud you got there Smurf! Does it smell like geraniums? Not my fav. pheno but still v.nice

What amount and type of charcoal are you guys using?