The New & Improved [ROLS MEGATHREAD].

[BlueJayWay]

Dairy manure = A+

An indication of a healthy soil would be the breakdown time of the old roots. Anyone have experience enough to give an estimate of how long they should take to break down?

In what conditions? No- till? Recycled and in a huge pile? Root balls separated on their own? Temperatures? Humidity? Moisture? Given ACT? Dried out?

Many variables = many possible responses

In a no-till setup it is irrelevant to me, just chop and replant.....when recycling, the large main rootball is separated and fed to worms or composted...

...I have noticed that after just a couple weeks from harvest the old stalk will often pull right out, signifying the decomposition of stem/roots below the surface.....

 

[VerdantGreen]

I was just wondering a few days ago what would be a reasonable amount of mushroom compost to include..

no problem, i like a 20% compost content so as well as the 10% mushroom compost i use 10% EWC.

VG

 

[ziggestardust]

Dairy manure = A+




In what conditions? No- till? Recycled and in a huge pile? Root balls separated on their own? Temperatures? Humidity? Moisture? Given ACT? Dried out?

Many variables = many possible responses

In a no-till setup it is irrelevant to me, just chop and replant.....when recycling, the large main rootball is separated and fed to worms or composted...

...I have noticed that after just a couple weeks from harvest the old stalk will often pull right out, signifying the decomposition of stem/roots below the surface.....

No-till. I don't see the point in asking for the other variables since they are the variables of soil condition - the variables needed to be adjusted to obtain the proper decomposition rate. Anyway, here they are:

Soil temp: 23 C/73 F
Air temp: 28 C/82 F (at night 20/68)
Humidity: 50%RH - 60%RH
Moisture: Optimal and constant (wicking 95gal bed, 1ft deep - autofilling)
ACT: About once a week plus BIM and LAB
Worms: Living in the bed, european nightcrawlers
Mulch: Living, white clover (albeit still very tiny seedlings)

So I chopped one plant a few days ago, its roots will provide a good indicator for the correct soil conditions. Two weeks you say? Interesting, thanks!

 

[high life 45]

What do BIM and LAB stand for?

Really excited! I think I am gonna make a nice bed outside and force flower some clones.

How do you guys feel about using wicks?
It seems like a really easy way to keep a consistent moisture profile throughout the grow.
Also would allow for time away from the garden with the correct top off and float valve set up...thats depending on the capillary properties of your wick and media, of course.

Whos using blumats?

 

[BlueJayWay]

No-till. I don't see the point in asking for the other variables since they are the variables of soil condition

Specifying such beforehand is helpful.

Cool - in 95gal of soil, why wait to replant?

 

[FunTimesIndeed]

Beneficial indigenous microbes and lactic acid bacteria. Wicks are cool. Haven't tried blumats.

 

[ziggestardust]

What do BIM and LAB stand for?

Really excited! I think I am gonna make a nice bed outside and force flower some clones.

How do you guys feel about using wicks?
It seems like a really easy way to keep a consistent moisture profile throughout the grow.
Also would allow for time away from the garden with the correct top off and float valve set up...thats depending on the capillary properties of your wick and media, of course.

Whos using blumats?

Beneficial Indigenous Microorganisms and Lactic Acid Bacteria as mentioned.

Wicks are awesome, have a look at this link http://vergepermaculture.ca/blog/2011/05/30/guide-to-wicking-beds/. I basically built a wicking raised bed indoors. A table the size of the entire room, sealed with plastics and filled with hydroton. On top of that a piece of landscaping fabric that extends up the walls of the room and 95gal of soil on top of that.

Autowatering can be achieved with some airline tubing, a food grade plastic canister, an aquarium air pump, some grommets, a float valve and some cabling.

One of the tube goes between the pump and the canister, the aquarium pump is activated by the float valve which sits in a hydroton free space inside the wicking bed.

The other tube goes between the bottom of the canister and the hydroton layer. When the canister is pressurized by the aquarium pump it dumps water to the wicking bed.

Worms in the bed conditions the soil, it is therefore of utmost importance to not forget to fill the canister. It is only 10 liters and the evaporation is 6.5 liters a day. I really should get some bigger canisters, haha. The reason I mention this is for you to judge the amount of water buffer you'll need if you decide to go this route. My bed is 1.2 m^2 or 13 ft.^2 and I have a 400W HPS bulb.

Specifying such beforehand is helpful.

Cool - in 95gal of soil, why wait to replant?

I don't mean to wait before replanting, I was just thinking of using the abandoned root balls as an indicator for the soil condition.

 

[high life 45]

Nice! Im gonna build myself a wicking bed outdoors.....

 

[RanchoDeluxe]

LAB = Lacto Bacillus

Mushroom compost is known to contain very high levels of pesticides. Dairy and Horse manure can also contain high levels of pesticides. It is true that this is of little concern, if, proper composting and the proper amount of time has been invested in order to degrade these pesticides.

Highlife- The proper thing for you to do before you go ahead and mix up 5 yards of soil w/ the compost that you have is to do a bioassay. Build 5-10gals of soil and then plant a few different things in it. If everything grows well....go ahead and mix up all the soil you want. PM me and I can give you a list of plants that are highly susceptible to pesticide toxicity. Tomatoes are on the list. Wouldn't hurt to pop a cannabis seed or two and see what happens. Turning that compost pile into EWC would be extremely high on my shit to do list.

 

[RanchoDeluxe]

you have got to be kidding!? No wonder there is so much misinformation in our society. This coming from a so called Professor. WTF?

So this is in reference to me declining to sign up for a Level 2 Master Gardener Course after the instructor told me "compost teas have yet to be proven effective"

I was actually feeling a little guilty about posting that. I do not want to deter anyone from taking a class on gardening. I did learn quite a few things. Alot of it had to be taken w/ a grain of salt. The instructor was not a professor. He actually told me about compost tea over a beer at a local bar. When I snickered at the compost tea comment...he said our university simply didn't have enough money to test compost teas scientifically. That's when the lightbulb went on. Monsanto ain't gonna let em teach us about compost tea. I mentioned that I had two rows of beans the year before. One got 'tea' the other didn't. Guess which one grew and yielded better???
He went on to apologize for being unable to answer some of my questions. (at least one every class) I was starting to actually feel bad for him. Probably shocked the hell out of him that the guy w/ the Hydrofarm hat wasn't asking stupid stoner questions.

Anyhow, take a gardening class! Verify what you learn, from the experience of members here or the Rodale Institute.

 

[VortexPower420]

Rancho- All universities are the same, it sucks, but it is the way it is. Follow the dollar find the truth. They control everything but there are people who refuse to falter in face of their oppression. Rodale, Josephine Porter Institute, Acres USA and may others still keep it real.

Timbuktu

 

[high life 45]

Highlife- The proper thing for you to do before you go ahead and mix up 5 yards of soil w/ the compost that you have is to do a bioassay. Build 5-10gals of soil and then plant a few different things in it. If everything grows well....go ahead and mix up all the soil you want.

Pesticide free and composted with dte ingredients as from the friend who gifted it.

I put some in my raised beds last year at about 30-50% mixed in with some local soil. Everything grew great.

It has only broken down more since then.

 

[RanchoDeluxe]

^^^^
Well goddamn. Sounds like you got yourself a great pile of 'shit'

 

[xmobotx]

jim morrison 'you'd all eat shit wouldn't you?'

well; you know ~pretty much

but i do want the compost pile/worms/soil food web to convert it into something else 1st

 

[Old_Headbanger]

Bioag TM-7

Bioag TM-7

How does everyone apply this EVENLY on their plants? I put it in my 5 gal. bucket with 4 gal. of h2o, silica, aloe and what not so it gets 'tossed' around by aeration but I always end up with a lot at the bottom of the bucket. Vortex brewer may perhaps keep it in suspension better? Just curious to see what everyone does.

 

[MileHighGuy]

I sometimes put it in my sprayer to water and moisten the whole top surface of soil for about 30 Seconds each plant with the 1.0 Gallon Per Minute nozzle. While shaking the sprayer pretty often.

Other times I'll just have it in a 5 gal. bucket and leave the stir stick in there, and I'll giver her a good stir each time I water.

So, to answer more directly, I have the same issue and I've never worried about it because the water color is so dark after just a tablespoon in 5 gallons.... crazy stuff. If you find a trick let's hear about it.

Also, on the vortex kick, when i'm done brewing all the stuff settles to the bottom so I'm sure the sediment in the Bio-Ag would just do the same thing... but I also don't see a reason to add it to a compost tea.

 

[bigshrimp]

I've never mixed the tm7 with anything, using as a standalone it dissolves completely for me.

I hit em with it the day before the sprout tea. The idea being the plant will have easy access to the trace minerals for its coming explosion of growth.

An excellent product, moms love it, and definite increase in frost for flower.

 

[MileHighGuy]

Question for all y'all:

Could Shrimp Meal be used interchangeably with Crab meal?

I think they both have NPK, Micro Nutrients and the Chitin (Pronounced Kite-In, found that out the hard way today on the phone haha)

 

[silver hawaiian]

Ahhhahahaha, dude thought you probably couldn't pronounce a certain brand of small pieces of gum.

 

[FunTimesIndeed]

Question for all y'all:

Could Shrimp Meal be used interchangeably with Crab meal?

I think they both have NPK, Micro Nutrients and the Chitin (Pronounced Kite-In, found that out the hard way today on the phone haha)

If chitin and micro nutrients are available at the same levels, wouldn't the rest just be calcium carbonate? Sounds interchangeable.