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ocean99
I've been top dressing with Peruvian seabird guano, seems to be working fine.
Watering with Guano
- Thread starter herbaholic
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herbaholic
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"But no, you would not have a diverse web of organisms able to colonize and hold territory while spreading and helping you grow food."
Okay so this gets to the fundamental question: Is there a diverse web of organisms in my tea if I don't Aerate it? More specifically, is there a JUST as effect web of organisms without Aerating? Perhaps stirring my tea with a stick and letting it sit in the hot sun for a couple of hours before use would stimulate growth that is just as effective to the soil as letting it bubble for 24 hours?
At what point is there a decline in biodiversity when bubbling tea? 72 hours? Longer than that?
Perhaps teas with more ingredients would do better unaerated for diversity vs a tea with fewer ingredients aerated?
I thought the point of letting any tea sit for long periods was to extract nutrients that certain plants have, like nettles or comfrey, not microorganisms. A tea that has basically "steeped" for a couple of months would have plant matter as it's main ingredient I would think. Isn't that what jay is talking about?
Okay so this gets to the fundamental question: Is there a diverse web of organisms in my tea if I don't Aerate it? More specifically, is there a JUST as effect web of organisms without Aerating? Perhaps stirring my tea with a stick and letting it sit in the hot sun for a couple of hours before use would stimulate growth that is just as effective to the soil as letting it bubble for 24 hours?
At what point is there a decline in biodiversity when bubbling tea? 72 hours? Longer than that?
Perhaps teas with more ingredients would do better unaerated for diversity vs a tea with fewer ingredients aerated?
I thought the point of letting any tea sit for long periods was to extract nutrients that certain plants have, like nettles or comfrey, not microorganisms. A tea that has basically "steeped" for a couple of months would have plant matter as it's main ingredient I would think. Isn't that what jay is talking about?
no, no, you missed it. I thought he was soaking it in a bag for 6 months. doh!
Close! I add a bunch of worm castings to water, stir with a stick, wait 10 minutes, do it again, and apply immediately. No expert will tell you that won't do the job just as well.
Assuming you don't mean 20 minutes, if there is not enough oxygen the aerobic organisms go to sleep or die. No good. If you brew too long the predators eat all the prey. no good.
Close! I add a bunch of worm castings to water, stir with a stick, wait 10 minutes, do it again, and apply immediately. No expert will tell you that won't do the job just as well.
Assuming you don't mean 20 minutes, if there is not enough oxygen the aerobic organisms go to sleep or die. No good. If you brew too long the predators eat all the prey. no good.
prey=nutes?
waste = some of the nutes
As predators collect C, they wind up with excess N, which is eliminated as NH4
As predators collect C, they wind up with excess N, which is eliminated as NH4
yeah man i agree it is sort of an exotic compost
kinda playing around i guess (but, it is my method for prepping/introducing the fresh guano i bought)
i understand what your going for but why not just top dress the guano though, you will get much more out of it than making compost from it. and save some cash at the same time.
everything you need to make high quality compost can be had for free. 90% of the time its considered waste( i.e food scraps, animal manure, garden clippings, lawn clippings,etc..) along with that adding diversity in materials is the key along with a good C/N ratio.
im not trying to stop you, it just seems to me you could make more efficient use with you materials. but hey im a cheapo when it comes to things like this, but i still get the highest quality in the end.
everything you need to make high quality compost can be had for free. 90% of the time its considered waste( i.e food scraps, animal manure, garden clippings, lawn clippings,etc..) along with that adding diversity in materials is the key along with a good C/N ratio.
im not trying to stop you, it just seems to me you could make more efficient use with you materials. but hey im a cheapo when it comes to things like this, but i still get the highest quality in the end.
actually, the guano is the only thing i paid for (its the only thing that hasn't come straight from my place here)
when i saw it was raw fresh manure, i felt compelled to get it broke down a little
what concerns me now is that having composted the guano, i probably can't expect the compost's NPK to be similar to the original profile of the guano
my assumption here is it's a hi-P guano (the guy suggested 4-7-1) and i want to think i have hi-P compost (but not so sure)
when i saw it was raw fresh manure, i felt compelled to get it broke down a little
what concerns me now is that having composted the guano, i probably can't expect the compost's NPK to be similar to the original profile of the guano
my assumption here is it's a hi-P guano (the guy suggested 4-7-1) and i want to think i have hi-P compost (but not so sure)
The N P K will differ primarily due to loss, or conversion to organic material. The latter is ideal.
the NPK if that means anything is far less than what you put in no doubt. in the composting process, some of it may have evaporated as an ammonia gas or other gas. or could have been leeched out with water. even if you put very strong nutrient rich materials and compost them. the resulting compost will be a mellow slow release compost.
think of it this way, if you take fresh chicken manure and toss it on your plant, its going to burn the shit out of it. now compost that same manure with some high carbon material and then toss it on the soil, you will not burn your plant. finished compost just doesn't do that( though unfinished compost can depending on the material sources). same goes for guano, too much = bad, little but often = ok.
i would be more concerned with the diversity of materials going in rather than what goes in, if the diversity of materials is high, theres a very high chance everything your plant needs is in there, and to go with that there is a diversity of micro organisms that were present to break down those materials adding to your nutrient cycling capability.
really all im saying is i have been down that path, and its not worth it. the guano you buy at the store is ready as is, as long as you dont go overboard just like pretty much everything else in this world.
hope that makes sense this thai hash has my mind spinning lol.
i m sure i have plenty of diversity
i think i m getting my mind around this "PH doesn't matter" and "NPK doesn't matter" stuff
i been formulating potting mixes by growth stage and figuring the ratios for so long - but i see that it's basically making sure it's there (NPK/etc) in a living mix -then the plant and the microbes ration it out
*edit
ntm, the nutrients present in various plants
so, where's there any discussion about the rock fungi/scale organisms and how they might be tapped for remineralization (like of the rocks on-site?)
i think i m getting my mind around this "PH doesn't matter" and "NPK doesn't matter" stuff
i been formulating potting mixes by growth stage and figuring the ratios for so long - but i see that it's basically making sure it's there (NPK/etc) in a living mix -then the plant and the microbes ration it out
*edit
ntm, the nutrients present in various plants
so, where's there any discussion about the rock fungi/scale organisms and how they might be tapped for remineralization (like of the rocks on-site?)
yeah, i dont know how it works if you just find some box nutes w/ a similar ratio to what you're looking for and throw that in your pro-mix (correct ratios and all) because i always got a little of this from here and a little of that from there (but i was adding and dividing and going for specific NPK ratios) you know like 10-5-5 for veg and 5-10-5 for flower
i would typically have (in pro-mix)
large amts:
extra perlite
EWC
teaspoon at a time:
blood meal
bone meal
kelp meal
colloidal rock phos
greensand
dolo- lime
i'd calculate and mix these striving for 8-4-6 veg and 2-8-4 flow
figuring TBS/gallon soil mix made the ratio on the box
when i did compost tea it was by tossing a handfull of compost into a bucket of water and letting it "steep" overnight (no bubble but a little agitation)
So, not as scientific but all these ammendments were present w/ their ecology and their nutrients - that along w/ my insistence on all organic input seems to have made it work
i would typically have (in pro-mix)
large amts:
extra perlite
EWC
teaspoon at a time:
blood meal
bone meal
kelp meal
colloidal rock phos
greensand
dolo- lime
i'd calculate and mix these striving for 8-4-6 veg and 2-8-4 flow
figuring TBS/gallon soil mix made the ratio on the box
when i did compost tea it was by tossing a handfull of compost into a bucket of water and letting it "steep" overnight (no bubble but a little agitation)
So, not as scientific but all these ammendments were present w/ their ecology and their nutrients - that along w/ my insistence on all organic input seems to have made it work
