I think the problem is grass clippings in compost. People love high N and K ferts to make their grass look really green...never mind it ain't really health. Build a soil is a really good guy that is working on this. We have a test in now with some good looking vermicast. Should have results by early next week
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I bet those tests show vermicompost to be far superior to almost all other composts. It really is amazing stuff.
My home worm bins produced about a yard of material that I just threw out in the garden. I am moving and had no place to keep my bins, so they got shit canned and the compost used in the veggie garden and lawns. My compost bin I have a recipe I like to keep, which includes adding things like kelp, alfalfa, rock dusts, aeration and calcium. After I applied the compost to everything, about two weeks later the garden and lawns looked AMAZING!!! It's strange how vermicompost can make such a big difference, across so many plant species. From tomatoes to artichokes, lawns to blueberries. It even made a noticeable difference with my fruit trees as well, every flower was pollinated and fruit are now growing......in May!
As soon as I get set up, I will be installing a worm farm. They will call me the WormGuy.
My home worm bins produced about a yard of material that I just threw out in the garden. I am moving and had no place to keep my bins, so they got shit canned and the compost used in the veggie garden and lawns. My compost bin I have a recipe I like to keep, which includes adding things like kelp, alfalfa, rock dusts, aeration and calcium. After I applied the compost to everything, about two weeks later the garden and lawns looked AMAZING!!! It's strange how vermicompost can make such a big difference, across so many plant species. From tomatoes to artichokes, lawns to blueberries. It even made a noticeable difference with my fruit trees as well, every flower was pollinated and fruit are now growing......in May!
As soon as I get set up, I will be installing a worm farm. They will call me the WormGuy.
I had a horrible experience with Peaceful Valley today after driving three hours there and then back with original hopes of having a nice fun day and possibly picking up a couple of fruit trees and comfrey, I've been in emotional ruin all day after being mistreated so badly... I am a nice person and try to be as reasonable and understandable as possible. I bought a couple of cheap-o soil heating cables which turned out to be garbage (they were falsely advertised online, not at all what they seem to be when you research them) so I attempted to return them, they stuck their noses up at me and refused to even talk to me. They then proceeded to call me a liar to my face, saying that I never bought the several hundred dollars worth of cables. After pleading with them to look up the sales for the day they found out that, in fact, I had bought the cables, what a surprise...
They waved their return policy in my face which indeed does state that there is no 'satisfaction garauntee'... however, the items I was trying to return are in brand new condition, with original packaging and everything else imaginable is in order... I have no idea why a company act this way to a customer who has spent thousands and thousands of dollars there over a matter of a couple hundred, not how you do business.
Anyways, needless to say I will not be doing any more business with these heartless jerks. bummer, more like garbage valley...
if you're in the area my buddies recommend Rare Earth http://www.rareearthlandscapematerials.com/
They waved their return policy in my face which indeed does state that there is no 'satisfaction garauntee'... however, the items I was trying to return are in brand new condition, with original packaging and everything else imaginable is in order... I have no idea why a company act this way to a customer who has spent thousands and thousands of dollars there over a matter of a couple hundred, not how you do business.
Anyways, needless to say I will not be doing any more business with these heartless jerks. bummer, more like garbage valley...
if you're in the area my buddies recommend Rare Earth http://www.rareearthlandscapematerials.com/
It's almost that time...
Found this little buddy while I was weeding today. It'll be saved and proven out because it's a gift from nature. We found one other one that already showed female and is stinking something fierce.
Turning holes tomorrow.
Found this little buddy while I was weeding today. It'll be saved and proven out because it's a gift from nature. We found one other one that already showed female and is stinking something fierce.
Turning holes tomorrow.
Bummer, funny enough I was just looking into Peaceful Valley. Guess I can scratch that idea..... Sorry to hear Boobs. Delt with rare earth before, and never had any bad results. For what it's worth.
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LOL. More constructive to find a company you trust and promote that. Karma will take care of the rest. You guys are a class above the rest, rise above the haters. I know I will learn from you guys for years to come, thanks for paving a path.
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bamboogardner
Active member
Sorry you had a bad experience at PVFS Boobs. I have known those people for many years. Eric and his wife Patricia own it. It has grown so much from the old days, that the hands on customer service has left. Their prices are higher than everywhere else, but they do stock a lot of items.
I have known the Rare Earth People for a long time also. In fact, when they first opened, they purchased an old counter from me that they used for many years. Now they are very nice there and customer support is not lacking at all. Their soil mixes are just so so, and absolutely no comparison to the soil from Dave in Chico. They are starting to stock all the bagged items that PVFS had a monopoly on.
Next time you are in town Boobs, give me a shout. Maybe we can meet up and have a pizza together.
Call Eric at PFVS, although his attitude is probably worse than his workers. Maybe you could get some satisfaction from him. In situations like you explained, I just walk away myself. Not worth the trouble.
nonstop
Member
Ohhhh, look how happy it is!!!
B
bajangreen
I got early blight on a cutting I brought indoors from my big tree this year. The big tree was plant in Feb and is a 3 foot globe. I got the seed from last year crop. Early blight got them as well, it seams like it attacks the plant when they start to flower. Is there any way i can strengthen the plants when they are at this stage?
Does early blight pass on to the next generation through seed.
Does early blight pass on to the next generation through seed.
I'm in out of respect for you Boobs....fuck em.
HorseMouth
Active member
First off, I love all the 'Volunteer' plants popping up from the ground this year, I have one, and I can appreciate when other on the site show what Natures' seeds have held over from the winter.
Second, Fuck PVGS as well. Years ago, they had a two stage Brix foliar spray (One part granulated, one part liquid) They shipped my a 50 lb. bag of the granulated, but told me they were having a problem with the packaging swelling on the liquid. They assured me they were working on it, and they have it to me soon. Weeks later after no contact, I called them and was told they couldn't ship the liquid, (something about the molasses swelling in the heat) so no luck.
They didn't want the 50 lb bag of the granulated whatever back b/c they couldn't accept 'fertilizer' from a private party, and they wouldn't give me any kind of credit.
I live in Oregon, and I know my distance was a factor in the lack of customer care. Fuck PVGS.
The name of the 'Lady' who helped was 'Katie' at 1-888-784-1722 ext 125.
Pitiful.
On a separat note, I'll be dropping 7ft. tall plants in the ground next week. I took clones for this set on Jan 1st. (New moon) and have had them in my rigid greenhouse (lights, heater) for the past month. I'll be Light Depping this batch for a July Harvest.
Peace
Second, Fuck PVGS as well. Years ago, they had a two stage Brix foliar spray (One part granulated, one part liquid) They shipped my a 50 lb. bag of the granulated, but told me they were having a problem with the packaging swelling on the liquid. They assured me they were working on it, and they have it to me soon. Weeks later after no contact, I called them and was told they couldn't ship the liquid, (something about the molasses swelling in the heat) so no luck.
They didn't want the 50 lb bag of the granulated whatever back b/c they couldn't accept 'fertilizer' from a private party, and they wouldn't give me any kind of credit.
I live in Oregon, and I know my distance was a factor in the lack of customer care. Fuck PVGS.
The name of the 'Lady' who helped was 'Katie' at 1-888-784-1722 ext 125.
Pitiful.
On a separat note, I'll be dropping 7ft. tall plants in the ground next week. I took clones for this set on Jan 1st. (New moon) and have had them in my rigid greenhouse (lights, heater) for the past month. I'll be Light Depping this batch for a July Harvest.
Peace
From: http://www.gardeners.com/Prevent-Late-Blight/7262,default,pg.html
"Prevent overwintering: Fortunately, the fungus that causes late blight needs living tissue to survive over the winter, so it can't overwinter on tomato cages or supports. However, infected potatoes (the other plant that gets late blight) can carry the disease through the winter. Be sure to destroy any volunteer potato plants that come up. If you plant potatoes again, be sure to buy seed potatoes that are certified as disease-free."
"Do not mix seed during cutting and planting
Keep seed lots separate to avoid mixing uninfected lots with seed lots potentially-infected with late blight. Mixing healthy seed with infected seed will increase the chances of spreading the disease over a larger area. It may also be a good practice to keep record of where each seed lot is planted. During the cutting operation, eliminate and save suspected seed pieces that show a rust brown, firm decay typical of late blight. Send suspicious tubers to a laboratory for positive identification.
From: http://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/ag/plantdisease/plbcult.htm
If possible, store seed at less than 45° F, then warm and cut just before tubers begin to sprout. Also, to minimize spread between seed lots, always clean and disinfect equipment between seed lots. See also the section under chemical control for using seed piece treatments to reduce late blight spread."
I believe this means that yes, you can spread blight through seeds from infected plants. Also, the roots or any organic matter from last season can also harbor blight, even over winter. Hope it works out.
"Prevent overwintering: Fortunately, the fungus that causes late blight needs living tissue to survive over the winter, so it can't overwinter on tomato cages or supports. However, infected potatoes (the other plant that gets late blight) can carry the disease through the winter. Be sure to destroy any volunteer potato plants that come up. If you plant potatoes again, be sure to buy seed potatoes that are certified as disease-free."
"Do not mix seed during cutting and planting
Keep seed lots separate to avoid mixing uninfected lots with seed lots potentially-infected with late blight. Mixing healthy seed with infected seed will increase the chances of spreading the disease over a larger area. It may also be a good practice to keep record of where each seed lot is planted. During the cutting operation, eliminate and save suspected seed pieces that show a rust brown, firm decay typical of late blight. Send suspicious tubers to a laboratory for positive identification.
From: http://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/ag/plantdisease/plbcult.htm
If possible, store seed at less than 45° F, then warm and cut just before tubers begin to sprout. Also, to minimize spread between seed lots, always clean and disinfect equipment between seed lots. See also the section under chemical control for using seed piece treatments to reduce late blight spread."
I believe this means that yes, you can spread blight through seeds from infected plants. Also, the roots or any organic matter from last season can also harbor blight, even over winter. Hope it works out.
sierraskunk
Member
Thats crazy to hear about PVF. Everyone has always been super nice but i have never tried to return anything. I normally get my hortinova netting there.
As for Dave and the EWF. Im not a big fan. Dave and Larry are really nice but who wouldn't be when your handing over 40K for dirt. I don't like how there stuff drains. Water would puddle up rather then soaking in.
I did a side by side last summer with EWF nor cal blend, tom hill mix, and Black Gold loaded with rainbow mix. The tom hill mix did the best followed by the rainbow mix and the EWF nor cal mix came in last.
I hope everyone has a bountiful and stress free season.
Peace
As for Dave and the EWF. Im not a big fan. Dave and Larry are really nice but who wouldn't be when your handing over 40K for dirt. I don't like how there stuff drains. Water would puddle up rather then soaking in.
I did a side by side last summer with EWF nor cal blend, tom hill mix, and Black Gold loaded with rainbow mix. The tom hill mix did the best followed by the rainbow mix and the EWF nor cal mix came in last.
I hope everyone has a bountiful and stress free season.
Peace
I have to agree about the EWSF in Chico, we bought a fair amount of it last year (60 yards) and it was the only mix we ran other than small amount of recycled mounds in the side yard, which did good comparatively. I was extremely disappointed and seeing the plants do bad all summer put a huge stress on me also putting me in a near financial ruin, I felt very foolish putting my trust in them which led me to essentially go into an exile and read a lot, after sleepless nights and questioning my ideas of truth while observing nature I feel I've ended up with a better approach based on common sense and out of the forced mental prison of confusion. dramatic! lol
From what I heard the machine they used for mixing their soil pulverized the peat, destroying it's moisture holding properties turning it into the hydrophobic mess that it was. I'd guess Backyard Farmer knows the specifics of what went wrong, I'd also guess they fixed the problem, but it doesn't matter to me, I'm hooked on soil building. You'll see where that 60 yards ended up when I post pictures in the future ...underneath the raised beds I'm working on, like the ruins of Baghdad or Kyoto. Hopefully the mix I'm using now will stand the test of time and hold up as the shining light I believe it to be. I'm done plugging middlemen and want to share DIY ideas that I've learned of, a much more empowering and comprehensive approach which forces you to understand what you're doing and the consequences of it. Blindly trusting people and their proprietary/secret formulas is irresponsible and will get you into trouble, it's lazy and perpetuates ignorance imo.
let's see those light deps!
no, I'm mixing it all by hand. remembered that you can get people to do that for you a little late... good workout though. so I can't help you on that one. no need to thank me, just trying to forward along free information that I came across. we stand on the shoulders of giants.
if you're going to copy that soil mix remember that it is advised to let it sit for four weeks, I planted my light dep into it after a week and a half and they are great, I applied a compost tea and planted cover crops too though, and I can see some slight signs of what you'd expect, but they're fine, perked up at 45* angle leaves all day and loving life, no slowing down now! ...A couple notes about that mix, it's important to use first of all, HIGH QUALITY COMPOST, secondly make sure to get the highest quality amendments, I think the neem at neemresource.com is good, that's what we're using. Another nice thing about it is that it uses no products of the slaughter industry nor does it require the use of questionable guanos, if you care.
it should end up costing around $100-125 depending on how good (or bad) you are at math.
if you're going to copy that soil mix remember that it is advised to let it sit for four weeks, I planted my light dep into it after a week and a half and they are great, I applied a compost tea and planted cover crops too though, and I can see some slight signs of what you'd expect, but they're fine, perked up at 45* angle leaves all day and loving life, no slowing down now! ...A couple notes about that mix, it's important to use first of all, HIGH QUALITY COMPOST, secondly make sure to get the highest quality amendments, I think the neem at neemresource.com is good, that's what we're using. Another nice thing about it is that it uses no products of the slaughter industry nor does it require the use of questionable guanos, if you care.
it should end up costing around $100-125 depending on how good (or bad) you are at math.
L
Luther Burbank
I still have the brix mix dry and liquid recipes if anyone needs. I ended up giving it up but various ingredients are still in my foliar sprays.
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