The growing large plants, outdoors, thread...

[GseeG]

im considering using pumice in my mix this year. at 30 a yard what do you folks think of this and/or like to use as an alternative?

http://www.clppumice.com/horticultural.html

 

[Madjag]

Pumice is damn good for fast root growth. Unlike perlite, it doesn't float to the top either.

 

[NorCalDreaming]

I see more growers using crushed red lava in Cali instead of perlite. A buddy started with that a few years back yet lost track of him. Anybody have experience with it? Guess it's kind of like pumice.

One thing I've looked at in the past was expanded shale yet never tried it nor ran into anyone using it.

 

[Dr. Purpur]

I pulled my plants out of the green house, and put them into full sun. The lowest we have been seeing is mid 30s here. The cold temps took out all the mites. The plants got nice and green and they are going into bud.

None of you guys go for a quick late outdoor winter harvest?

I made some GG4$ kief last night in the tumbler.

Was pretty lit, out carrying plants around under the winter moon. You would think the cold would kill the plants, but they seem to dig it

 

[Backyard Farmer]

I use all crushed red and black lava, it's ok. It makes the soil very uniform in texture especially when your soil is hella blended by a mighty mike like mine was coming from the worm farm this year. I still had great results even though the soil was a little more dense. The I would have liked. I will cut in like 10 bags of black gold in to my mounds and some #3 or 4 perlite folded in gently

 

[GreenHands13]

I see more growers using crushed red lava in Cali instead of perlite. A buddy started with that a few years back yet lost track of him. Anybody have experience with it? Guess it's kind of like pumice.

One thing I've looked at in the past was expanded shale yet never tried it nor ran into anyone using it.

Lava rock is much better than perlite it allows colonization of beneficials a lot better than perlite

 

[Dirtboy808]

We have been using cinder for many many years in Puna. I like black. Most all the flower growers use black. I grow in a cinder soil mix. about 50 50 if outside in a pot but rember I get 160 in plus a year. Aloha

 

[GseeG]

Thanks for the feedback.

I just ordered 55 yards of 3/8" pumice.

We will be building 160 yards or so of soil this year. Mix 1 pot/mound at a time, should be a good workout.

First thing is first though, we need some rain.

DrP. Running your seeds and another member here right now for a winter grow, on the fourth node, 3 weeks to flip.

great germination w/ everything other than the laconx4sd only one of those popped and is a mutant, im super excited.

 

[OrganicBuds]

Didn't we go back and forth on the whole lava rocks vs perlite vs pumice last season, lol. For sure I think you made the right choice. Lava rocks creates a weird drying effect when used in normal qualities, IMO. Pumice holds more moisture than lava and perlite as well as colonizes more micro heard. Also if you recycle your soil, worms wont choke on the pumice like they do perlite.

 

[Pangea]

Lets not forget parboiled rice hulls as a perlite alternative.

Anyone rocking a ribbon or paddle blender batch soil mixer? You can get em used cheap and rig em to run off of a pto if desired for the off grid folk.

Certainly mixing has got to be one of the more labor intensive aspects of cultivating many large plants in one to five yard soil masses.

I've heard of used 4 yard mixers going for as low as $4K.

 

[hup234]

We have been using cinder for many many years in Puna. I like black. Most all the flower growers use black. I grow in a cinder soil mix. about 50 50 if outside in a pot but rember I get 160 in plus a year. Aloha

me too 5/8" black cinder mixed w/decoposed coconut trees 50/50
plus additives, all that cinder out of hilo is crawling w/nemetodes the flower wholesalers have to steam it for couple hrs

 

[theJointedOne]

get your mulch on....ftw!

 

[NorCalDreaming]

Lets not forget parboiled rice hulls as a perlite alternative.

For sure you shouldn't use them green. I vaguely remember someone saying rice hulls attracted termites and in a high biologically active soil they don't last very long. I looked at them some years back. I guess if you're reusing and amending old soil regularly then might make more sense. I think it was the Rev at Skunk telling me the rice hulls basically disappeared quickly or maybe it was something else. Might have been oyster shell that didn't hold up in his program anywhere near as long as many think it should. I'm a bit rusty. For sure they will add Si. Rice hulls are basically a waste product. One place would have given me all I could take for almost nothing. Drive down I5 and piles upon piles of hulls next to the processors.

Locally I used some composted wood bark and liked it for my mater garden. The gal at the nursery said she used a lot of it in her mix and her soil hadn't compacted in her non-till beds after about 5 years.

Haven't seen too many use rice hulls in fact only one or two on the forums.

 

[GseeG]

mulch, yes! an often overlooked and very important factor.

will the majority of u be using straw? im aiming towards as much living mulch as i can. ill be figuring out my blend within the week, i sure as hell know that no radish will be in it, some of my radish had more biomass than my cannabis in early june and became a problem taking over the soil and rotting all fall, taste good though.

swiss chard and spinach are on my list to look over tonight, the right varieties may be beneficial cover crop and feed us. im hoping they dont have an invasive root system or green light PM.

 

[NorCalDreaming]

swiss chard and spinach are on my list to look over tonight, the right varieties may be beneficial cover crop and feed us. im hoping they dont have an invasive root system or green light PM.

Chard and spinach don't see PM issues far as I know. They are longer term crops though. You gonna try those as a cover crop? I had a large compost pile where I used a lot of Miners Lettuce, Chickweed, comfrey, mullien and other wild greens, straw, composted wood bark, rehydrated organic alfalfa juice, etc. and would use clover for the cover until I turned it. I'll take Miners Lettuce over chard or spinach any day of the week.

 

[milkyjoe]

For outdoors I tend to use 1/4 inch basalt as the drainage amendment. Over time it will be mineralized by bacteria and I will get all kinds of most excellent traces...enzyme co factors. For $30 a yard here.

 

[GseeG]

Chard and spinach don't see PM issues far as I know. They are longer term crops though. You gonna try those as a cover crop? I had a large compost pile where I used a lot of Miners Lettuce, Chickweed, comfrey, mullien and other wild greens, straw, composted wood bark, rehydrated organic alfalfa juice, etc. and would use clover for the cover until I turned it. I'll take Miners Lettuce over chard or spinach any day of the week.

interesting, sounds like a nice addition to my hypo edible cover crop.

nice on the basalt milkyj.

 

[NorCalDreaming]

For outdoors I tend to use 1/4 inch basalt as the drainage amendment. Over time it will be mineralized by bacteria and I will get all kinds of most excellent traces...enzyme co factors.

That's a big one from what I understand regarding traces. For traces I ended up mainly using Sea-Crop.

GseeG - At the elevation I'm at I could probably only get away with something like clover for a conventional cover crop due to off season temps. Miners Lettuce is good cause it can handle temps most things would stall or die at. Being a native plant much more nutritious than regular garden veggies. I heard that Miners Lettuce is now a specialty green selling for like $25 a lb in some stores. I'd never use Chickweed, my second favorite wild green, as a cover cause it would be very difficult to get rid of. Still it grows through the winter at 4,000' where I'm at. All wild herbs are very high in K. I have a place where I can go pick Miners Lettuce and Chickweed in the Spring by the pickup bed full and use it for composting mainly.

I've been working with Full Circle Compost a bit in Nevada and they've got a seed blend for a cover crop that will fill in nicely at 7" in 2 weeks. That's the type of thing I'd need to use.

 

[Backyard Farmer]

What's in that seed mix? I need something like that.

 

[NorCalDreaming]

What's in that seed mix? I need something like that.

I could not find the info and they say it's a proprietary blend on their Facebook page. I could not find details on their website. They're only there on Saturday's through the Winter and was going to see if I could get more details then. I need to talk to them about some soil for the project I'm associated with anyway.

They grew 300 lbs of heirloom tomatoes in a new 4' x 4' raised bed with their Garden Soil w/compost blend. They got things pretty dialed in.