Living organic soil from start through recycling

[ClackamasCootz]

Not in court anyway.....

 

[vonforne]

koolkush

There's only one place - Concentrates

Sphagnum peat moss, organic coir (Sri Lanka), every seed meal you want might and most are organic, fish meal, fish bone meal, blood meal, bone meal, Azomite (like $20.00 a bag - compare that with a grow store), Canadian Glacial rock dust, Basalt, K-MAG, Bentonite, Perlite, Pumice (2 or 3 sizes), Rice Hulls, endo and endo/ecto spores, kelp meal, powdered seaweed extract (ASL), some really marginal compost from Teufel Nurseries, (same product as Down-To-Earth), Oyster shell powder, limestone, calcite lime and of course my favorite - Dolomite Lime, Epsom salts (Magnesium Sulfate) Sulfate of Potash (Sulfur & Potassium mineral compound), Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate).

No neem meal though......

damn, not a mail order biz.....only walk ins. wish I knew someone out there......lol

 

[koolkush]

K thanks CC

 

[Gascanastan]

You must spread some rep around before giving it to Scrappy4 again~

 

[CT Guy]

Ok so the peat moss doubles in size when not compressed.

not quite. they claim it does but when we measured it a 3.8 cubic ft bale expanded to 6 cubic ft.

 

[CT Guy]

damn, not a mail order biz.....only walk ins. wish I knew someone out there......lol

how much did you need? send me a PM...

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Sometimes things just drop into your lap......

Company: Grow-Biotics - Sustainable Nutrient Technology

I'll just hit the high notes because some of this is just brutal

Grow-Nutrient (3.7 - 4.3 - 1.4) - made from fish hydrolysate & powdered seaweed extract - can I get a big Y*A*W*N on this one? Mixing stuff from the ocean? - talk about innovative! And real special to boot!

Bloom- Nutrient (2.3 - 4 - 2.3) - same as above but different % on the seaweed. Remember it's Nitrogen in veg and Phosphorus in flower and now it's Potassium too! Who knew?

Soluble-Cal (22% Calcium & 18% Sulfur) - derived from Calcium Sulfate (Gypsum) $10.00 for 50 lbs.

Soluble-Mag (11% Magnesium & 18% Sulfur) - ya mean like Epsom salts? Magnesium Sulfate? $25.00 for 50 lbs.

Soluble-K (44% Potassium & 18% Sulfur) - Sulfate of Potash aka Potassium Sulfate - $20.00 for 50 lbs.

And then there's the micronized bat guano, beneficial microbes (re-badged MycoApply products) but a feed chart is provided to maximize the benefits from such a program.

Bring cash!

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Cann

You asked about the price on fresh young coconuts - it should be around $2.50 each and that will give you about 12 ounces. When you find a display of them at a market you'll be amazed on how uniform the sizes are. Almost like they were cloned like the Christmas tree farms in the northwest. Weird.

CC

 

[Cann]

Thanks cootz I'll have a look around.

on the subject of mycoapply...is it possible to order from them directly? they are based out of grants pass, yes? i seem to recall you saying something along those lines...

i would love to get myself a lb of spores for cheap..unlabeled of course so I can slap a picture of a marine mammal on the side (i've heard it biodynamically increases the efficiency of the spores through cosmic ocean forces...)

 

[Durdy]

Cann that last part is a goddamn FACT!

 

[bajangreen]

What effect does the age of the coconut have on its potency?

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Microbeman

This is a copy 'n paste from Mr. Avery's article - the section about rock dusts and such

CMC compost is built in layers and laid out in windrows for mechanical turning. The base layer should be a dry, high-carbon material like municipal yardwaste (leaves and shredded tree trimmings) or dried hay or straw. A moist, high-nitrogen material (animal manure, green chop) is laid down next, and so on, in repeating layers. Added last to the windrow, are:

Diabase or basalt rock dust (10-20 lbs/cu yd) — stimulates microorganisms and provides micronutrients

Finished compost (10% by volume) — regulates moisture and odor and provides microbial inoculum

Clay loam (10% by volume) — retains nitrogen and promotes formation of clay-humus crumb

CMC Compost Starter — a microbial inoculant

The use of rock dusts as a mineral amendment to compost piles is more common in European organic farming. Rock dusts are valued for their fineness of grind, resulting in a huge surface, and for their contribution of a broad range of trace elements. Many of these micronutrients function as biocatalysts for enzymatic reactions.

Keep in mind that Siegfried Luebke developed a database of 3,600 microbial driven enzymatic reactions. Enzymes are critical in the breakdown of raw organic matter during the composting process. In turn, organic acids formed as a byproduct of microbial activity help to solubilize and mineralize elements in the parent rock dust material, thus making these mineral elements more bioavailable.

When organic matter, clay, and rock dusts are mixed together in the compost windrow, the complex biotransformation and repolymerization processes that occur during composting provide an opportunity for organo-mineral chelated complexes to form.

The following helpful instructions on the use of rock dusts in composts were published in the Spring 1993 issue of Remineralize the Earth, in an article by George Leidig titled "Rock Dust and Microbial Action in Soil: The Symbiotic Relationship Between Composting and Mineral Additives":

Finely ground rock dust should be added at a rate of 10-20 lbs per cubic yard of raw material

The particle size should be less than 20 microns in diameter, or pass through a #300-mesh screen or finer. The fineness of the material is important, since you want to assure that the minerals are readily available to the microbes during the composting process

Magnesium levels should be under 5%, since high magnesium levels rob nitrogen from the compost and soil

Calcium levels between 5-10% are preferred — calcium is a macro-nutrient essential for microbial life and plant growth

The rock dust analysis should display a well-balanced array of micro-nutrients, which, as in the soil, stimulates microbial action. This is even more important in composting, since the microbes are totally limited to the materials present in the pile for their nutrition

Granite dust is not recommended for compost because of its quartz content. The larger size and slickness of the quartz particles resist breakdown and inhibit the attachment of organic particles necessary for proper humus crumb formation

Rock dusts of volcanic origin are preferred, such as diabase or basalt, because of their high silica value. Silica is an often forgotten element necessary for proper cell structure in plants and animals. Recent studies have shown silica play a vital role in calcium and phosphorus assimilation

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Thanks cootz I'll have a look around.

on the subject of mycoapply...is it possible to order from them directly? they are based out of grants pass, yes? i seem to recall you saying something along those lines...

i would love to get myself a lb of spores for cheap..unlabeled of course so I can slap a picture of a marine mammal on the side (i've heard it biodynamically increases the efficiency of the spores through cosmic ocean forces...)

I use BioAg VAM-Endo Mix because of the strains and their quantities in this mix.

"Bennies" are a mine-field of fraud and deceit. The Mycorrhizal thread is a must read in the main section of the Organic Soil section.

CC

 

[ClackamasCootz]

What effect does the age of the coconut have on its potency?

A coconut is a seed embryo and as it matures to become a true seed, the water accumulates on the sides of the shell giving you coconut meat - endosperm of the tree.

A fully-ripe coconut has very little water compared to the green coconuts. I guess if you could figure out a way to use the meat then it would be very nutritious. Copra is often spelled out in composting and vermicomposting processes from several countries in Asia.

If you want water - green coconuts. If you want coconut meat - ripe coconuts.

Who said anything about nutrition anyway?

 

[ColorGRo]

So I read that grapefruit skins (ash) have a very high level of potassium (0/3.6/30.6)
Anybody use them in their gardening? If so, how?

 

[shmalphy]

I found Black Barley, also known as Purple Hull-less barley at Whole Foods.

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Dat's it!

It's a beautiful grain isn't it?

 

[DuckDuckGoose]

Hey man, I don't think anyone in the crew actually clones in a cup of water w/ aloe, coconut,protekt, fulvic. I believe they merely soak the clones in a cup of the solution for 24-48hrs. I soak rapid rooters overnight and clone directly into them. Usually have roots in 9-12 days. If I use plain water with the rooters it usually takes over 2 weeks and the clones start to appear unhealthy. With the solution all clones are dark green and chock full of roots.

On another note. I skipped ahead a few chapters in my Gardening textbook and it mentioned that leaves actually contain a growth inhibitor. I had been using some as a mulch for my plants, didn't see any negative impact, but I'm stopping this practice immediately. Best to make leaf mold/compost out em...I guess. I'm talking about leaves from trees in my backyard. Just curious to hear anyone's experience on the matter.
RD

what about using dried up leaves from my harvest as a mulch? is that common practice? they seem really crispy and probably wouldn't take long to break down. i have a bunch of them and i can't even find my compost heap in all the snow drifts.

 

[W89]

I found Black Barley, also known as Purple Hull-less barley at Whole Foods.

View Image

Dat's it!

It's a beautiful grain isn't it?

I wonder how long it takes to color in a whole bag.....

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Mulch it up bro!

The worms in my no-till like the leaves.