Wildharvesting natural materials

[quadracer]

3 - proper harvesting methods can increase production and quality, improper methods reduce production and quality.
4 - respect the natural world, without it you wouldn't be collecting shit.

I'd like to expand on these....

3) A good example of this is nettle harvesting. I leave the biggest nettles to breed and hopefully produce an all around bigger patch next year.

4) More accurately: respect the natural world, without it you WOULD be collecting shit

 

[GoneRooty]

The way to really do it legit is to start the spores in petri dishes

I would have to say tissue culture is way more legit. And it's definitely a good idea to cook mushrooms before eating, unless you've already eaten it raw. The mycochitin cell walls in mushrooms is difficult to digest, and the cooking process actually releases a lot of nutrients from the cells. Some edible mushrooms do contain toxins that are at least partially destroyed during the cooking process. And even more importantly with wild harvested mushrooms, cooking will kill any worms/larva in the flesh.
And when harvesting mushrooms, never just pull the mushroom up, cut it with a knife close to the soil so as not to disturb the mycelium. The mushroom is the fruit, the mycelium is the plant; destroy the plant and get no fruit.

 

[CC_2U]

I purchased stinging nettle seeds from the folks with the Bocking 14 comfrey starts. I'm planting 5 nettle plants in one specific raised bed both for harvest but to see what effect it has on the soil which I understand should be pretty beneficial.

CC

 

[CannaExists]

I LOVE this Thread. I find it OhSoFitting to share my Story of how I came to have Stinging Nettle in my GardenPalace.


After reading about the Benevolent Properties of the Sacred Stinging Nettle in this Forum Right Here, me and my TwinBroBro were determined to find this allegedly common plant. We certainly couldn't recall having had ever seen it.

Well, it didn't take any ConciousEffort at all for us to find it. The Universal Mind pulled our attention right to its location.

This is a trough that is next to my Grandma's house (where I've lived for over half of my Stay on Earth). At the time of our find, the trough was untouched by ManHands, free to any WildWeed that happened to land there. We found One Single Stinging Nettle Plant there. We have not since found any Stinging Nettles anywhere near our Abode. We performed the Test of all Tests. HOLY CRAP OUCH. Yep this is definitely it.

We transplanted the Gorgeous, Tender PlantChild into our garden. She was looking hopelessly wilty after transplant. But there was something in us that Knew the Burning Desire that all Weeds have to Breathe the Breath of Life.

Here she is Today. She is an Absolute Model for Perfect Health, Vigor, Beauty. Is She even considered a Single Entity anymore? Is every Shoot she pushes out a new Being, or is it all one WholeBeing? I say Both.

Check out the Beautiful Bush Structure. We Harvest right above the Nodes - in other Words, we "Top" the Nettle, just as one does with Cannabis to promote a Bushy Structure. Nettle is a cousin of Canna, afterall.

You can see in the picture below a new Family of Shoots springing to action.

Having shared this Story with you, I am Realizing that, even though sometimes I'm too Mechanistically Minded to feel it, there really is a Deep Loving Connection between Me and my Plants. I'm nearly brought to Tears.

I'll cap this Entry off by saying, that me and my Twin just shared a Lambsquarter Salad, and it was DivineDelicious! The Electric Alchemical Mineral Properties of FreshFoliage has me feeling Elevated!

Thank you for Partaking in my Story! A BigBlessing to All of You.

 

[guest2012y]

I'd like to expand on these....

3) A good example of this is nettle harvesting. I leave the biggest nettles to breed and hopefully produce an all around bigger patch next year.

4) More accurately: respect the natural world, without it you WOULD be collecting shit

Excellent strategy leaving the bigger plants.

Much like hunting deer. If hunters take all the big healthy bucks from a particular zone,then the herd is compromised by the weaker genes of the less healthy males. Disease resistance and natural selection are out the window.

Mendal's law of segregation applies the same natural genetic arrangement laws on plants as it does animals. It works the same way in breeding cannabis...the healthy plants are the ones chosen to breed with...passing that vigor and other positive growth traits along to the next generation.

A person could very effectively cull the weaker plants from an area and within a couple years have a rather nice looking patch of whatever you harvest by leaving only the best plants to pass the traits that are desirable.

 

[h.h.]

Collect from private land, don't start raiding the forest. Leave no trace and all that good stuff.
Plant some sacrificial lambs and try everything in your yard. Try combination as as well. In the natural world, the wind and rain are mixing things up with no ill effects.
Observe your choices.
Look for desirable characteristics. Look at other plants around it. A dark color suggests nutrients while a strong smell will suggest potency. Know the poison plants in your area. Nettle looks a bit like poison oak. Use Google. Your local library often has research papers on local plants, especially flowers.
Watch the rabbits. They know what's good. What are the bugs eating?
Be aware of your surroundings and you will develop a sense of what is good and what is not.

 

[jaykush]

if you harvest the tops of nettles like CannaExists does. you can harvest from the biggest plants a few times a year, and still let them go to seed in late summer. this way you both win. the plant gets to reproduce greatly, and you get nettles.

if you were to come and pull all the young plants, you would only get one harvest per year. i get at least 5 from my patches each year with proper harvesting.

HH i dont think nettles look anything like poison oak( we have a LOT of it here). different leaf, different growth structure, different look at a distance, lots of differences.

 

[h.h.]

From pictures it has the same serrated edges and oval leaf. Growth patterns, coloration, texture... are different. Not my point anyway. My point is to know what is toxic in your area before doing any experimentation. Don't trust pictures

 

[gaiusmarius]

tagging this thread, very good thread idea. so you harvest nettles by topping them? not cutting them off a bit above ground? want to dry a bunch for soil additives in my guerrilla grows. was thinking to harvest nearly the whole plant from a few plants leaving the rest of the patch. but maybe i should just take the top foot from all over this patch?

 

[GoneRooty]

From pictures it has the same serrated edges and oval leaf

Poison oak and nettle leaves look NOTHING alike

Poison Oak above, Nettle below

If you mean to know the toxic plants, tell people to know the toxic plants, don't spread misinformation by telling people that things look alike that look NOTHING alike.

 

[gaiusmarius]

wow that poison oak stuff looks pretty harmless in that pic. looks like normal oak leaf no? hard to see how dangerous it is by the look.

 

[mad librettist]

if you don't have the allergy (most people do), poison oak is a pretty handy people deterrent to use.

 

[Manitoid]

Since no one has posted this yet, here is a list of bio accumulators and what they are accumulating.

Dynamic Accumulator Weeds

the table made it dumb to copy / paste here, BUT it is broken up into printable pages.

Of note: Nettle, comfrey, dandelion, dock, watercress, kelp, Bracken, meadow sweet, lambs quarter, yarrow

yarrow seemed too perfect as it accumulates N,P,K (and Cu)

Thanks for this thread Jay, looking forward to it's development.

I hope when we discuss a particular plant, people can talk about in what environment people should expect to find, and therefore where to look

awesome, subscribed.

Manitoid

 

[3rdEye]

Very funny stuff. Jay throws up a basic post and lots of acknowledgement. I break down one herb, take fresh pics trudging around the woods and ignored. Spent more time this afternoon on horsetail then realized a waste of my time. I'm sure the experts here will post everything you guys need.

huh?

I thought your post and pics were great. However, i don't always have the most thorough posts since i smoke from time to time.

Isn't horsetail good as a PM preventative when used as a foliar? I'm pretty sure an FPE would be useful as well.

Never heard of Candy Flower, but it sounds scrumptious.

 

[CC_2U]

Isn't horsetail good as a PM preventative when used as a foliar? I'm pretty sure an FPE would be useful as well.

3rdEye

It sure is. It also contains some of the highest levels of Silica (Si) in the plant world - 97,000 ppm as well as the usual elements found in plant material - Phosphorus, Calcium, Potassium, Iron, et al. [cite]

A very good plant to harvest and use, IMHO

CC

 

[CC_2U]

Candy Flower - Claytonia sibirica

 

[gaiusmarius]

is this stuff horsetail would you make the nettle tea separate to the horsetail tea or just mix them?

 

[GoneRooty]

Looks like horsetail to me. As for mixing the teas, I believe Jaykush said in the FPE thread that brewing them together isn't the best idea, but mixing after brewed should be ok. Jay? Here's what I found about horsetail and silica

Horsetail deposits epidermal opaline silica as structural stiffener and to discourage herbivory. To be able to shape and deposit solid silica the plant must move it internally in solution to young and growing cells. Once the aerial plant part is fully formed, its need for silica in solution is very low. Mature, fully grown vegetative stalks have a very low dissolved silica content. For biosourced silica, press out the fresh juice of young live horsetail plants. Preserve by freezing or syruping in full-strength honey.

Here's the website I found that from http://www.ryandrum.com/wildcrafting.htm

He also goes through ways to harvest plants, seems like a good reference.

 

[CC_2U]

is this stuff horsetail would you make the nettle tea separate to the horsetail tea or just mix them?

gaiusmarius

Here's another version of Horsetail Ferns - found easily in the Pacific Northwest - it almost looks like some strange form of bamboo. It's the one on the right obviously. LOL

This is the form that is easily sourced around here at any rate.

CC

 

[jaykush]

Very funny stuff. Jay throws up a basic post and lots of acknowledgement. I break down one herb, take fresh pics trudging around the woods and ignored. Spent more time this afternoon on horsetail then realized a waste of my time. I'm sure the experts here will post everything you guys need.

lol nonsense. your post was great, its just i bet no one has ever heard of candyflower before. what nutrients, minerals, and plant chemicals does it contain? whats it used for as far as growing cannabis? is it a dynamic accumulator? this is the info most people seek.

is this stuff horsetail would you make the nettle tea separate to the horsetail tea or just mix them?

horsetail is a bit tougher because it is a water plant. its best to boil the horsetail in some water for 10 minutes, let cool, then dilute and apply. this gets more of the goodies out than FPE does. unless you feel like waiting 2 months. it does best as a foliar spray.