Fundamentally understanding soil components

h.h. said:

Biodynamics got so much right and so much wrong.

At least by our present day understandings.
Would we be where we are now without Dr. Steiner?
Probably. Maybe further down the road. He was on the wrong path.

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dank.frank said:

KIS - We should talk. Sincerely.

I've talked with Microbeman on a couple occasions about this and honestly, I really HAVE tried to move past it. I've tried, out of my immense respect for him.

It's funny, how magnanimous an interaction can be for one person and so utterly forgettable for another. I don't mean that as a slight, but merely as a whimsical observation of humanity.

Honestly, I get tired of harping on it. I get tired of finding myself circling back to that. I took a long break from the forums for this exact reason - to heal and NOT be a cancer that becomes detrimental to others learning. It's immensely frustrating, to feel - stuck. I only feel that way, because I was wronged. I feel that way because there has never been any closure. I feel that way because your cohorts and associates of that day drug me up one side of the road and down the other, simply because I chose to be a non-conformist and wouldn't jump on board the ROLS train. (and the only reason for that was I couldn't stand the constant condescending tone - which is exactly what I meant about becoming what I hated) I'll never claim to be perfect.

TRULY though, it's so petty of me at this point. I'll admit that, in the name of fairness and honesty. I sincerely and publicly apologize and I promise I'm working on it.

I'll drop you a PM.



dank.Frank

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art.spliff said:

Scored a dozen large bags of timothy hay bunny compost yesterday.

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Microbeman said:

poor rabbits

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h.h. said:

I don't endorse or recommended that method.

I get a lot of used rabbit bedding though. Urine soaked woodchips.
If I gave it a brief soaking, and maybe pull the goodies out of it.
Actually thinking more of the previous post with Timothy hay bedding.


They're using EM-4 and fermenting it as well.


I'm using all of mine for mulch.
Mixing it in with horse and llama manure and leaves.
Folks just throw this stuff away. Go figure.

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As noted earlier, the name most commonly used worldwide by EMRO andsome of their licensees since late 2002 for their EM microbialinoculant product has been the (EMRO) trademarked name of EM·1, oftenaccompanied by their trademarked EM·1 logo (consisting of severallarge green dots forming a semi-circle.) Hence, if the EM or EM-likemicrobial inoculant product which you purchase bears the name EM·1,and is accompanied by the trademarked EM·1 logo, you may be quite sure that you are purchasing an EM microbial product which has ben producedby EMRO or one of it's licensees. Further, to comply with various government regulatory requirements,especially in the USA, the basic EM·1 name, as employed by EMRO, has been furthter differentiated into several individual label names, suchas:EM·1 Microbial InoculantEM·1 Soil AmendmentEM·1 Waste TreatmentEM·1 Septic Waste Treatment and possibly more variant label names as time passes, all to cmply with varous regulatory requirements for product lagels.. Each of these EMRO labels contain exactly the same microbial product, but simply bottled under different labels for various regulatory compliance reaons. The issue of culture uniformity across labels will be discused in further detail in a section a bit below this one.... And, the issue of different labels with respect to local and national laws, regulations and regulatory compliance is discussed in a much later section named:Bottle Labels, Labeling, Uses and Local Regulations and Laws (a big one!)plus National, State/Province Regulations and Regulatory Compliance Remember - EMRO's Culture Product is Now Known as EM·1

By late 2002, EMRO offices worldwide officially decided to change the prefix [EM1 or EM2 or EM-1 or EM-1, etc.] prefix for all their microbial inoculant culture products to " EM·1" . This EM·1 symbol(often used as a prefix to the full product name) has now been trademarked worldwide. The dot in the symbol does not reporduce well in many electronic formats, and so you may sometimes catch me writing"EM1" or "EM-1" instead of EM·1, and worse, the EM·1 name will oftenshow up as "EM 1" or "EM?1" in many e-mail programs and readers, since they cannot properly display the dot. So, What are EM-2, EM-3 and EM-4? At one time, the product was primarily marketed as separate microbial products called EM-2 (mostly the yeasts and related organisms), EM-3(mostly the phototrophic and related organims) and EM-4 (the lacticacid bacteria). All three are now rolled up into the single EM·1product (with variant label versions) discussed immediately above, meaning that the organisms which were in EM-2, EM-3 and EM-4 are now all rolled up together in EM·1 (aka EM1 or EM-1 or EM.1 or a dozen other names....) There are, however, still a number of regions of theworld where EM may still be marketed separately as EM-1, EM-2, EM-3,and EM-4.

What is EM-5? EM-5, aka EM5, is a special agricultural brew, consisting of EM·1(aka EM-1, etc.) fermented with various specified plant products, such as red chili pepper, and applied to plants as a pest and fungal deterrent. The exact formula may be found on many EM-related websites, and on some official EM websites. Typically, a farmer will brew up a liquid fermented EM mix using various herbs, and then apply this mix to plants as a pest deterrent. A related product, also for agricultural use, is often called EM Fermented Plant Extract

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xBOBxSAGETx said:

Hey guys. I used the search and really came up with nothing. Maybe because I’m a rookie and probably don’t know the vocabulary well.

Allow me to preface that this is my first grow. I wish to not buy prepackaged soil/soiless medium because I simply want a better understanding of what I’m doing.

I want to build my own soil and I see several recipes on here with feeding guidelines but what I’m trying to understand is; how are you getting to that point of saying that’s the percentage of what you want in your soil and know that your pH level and nutrient levels are going to hit their marks without “seasoning” the soil with all types of products.

In the audio engineering world we have a saying “You can’t polish a turd.” Well I don’t want my soil to be a turd. I want it to be as good as it possibly can be, from the start.

Is there a program that’s make for soil recipes that can calculate and populate the nutrient volumes of what I’m adding/subtracting from the recipe? Kinda like BeerSmith for brewing beer but for building soil!

I hope I didn’t sound so recklessly amateur in my post. Grow stores are already annoying me by selling me kits which I don’t want a magic bottle solution. I’m trying to learn as much as I can.

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TanzanianMagic said:

If you're into building organic soils or soilless substrates, check out the works of:

The Rev
Subcool
Clackamas Coot

The Rev also has a book out (2nd edition) called True Living Organics. It has an excellent description of all the major nutrients available in various organic materials.

https://www.amazon.com/True-Living-Organics-All-Natural-2016-10-11/dp/B01NGZR80F/

Organic Soil Recipe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmVo7rAMK4Q

https://www.youtube.com/user/subcool420
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=subcool+supersoil

I would like to add on top of that, that a major component of the natural process is the energy (calories) that allow fungi to move essentially inert building blocks into the plant, and collect sugar from the plant. These calories are from seeds, fruits, nuts in the form of fat, protein and carbohydrates. The plant needs NPK etc, and the fungus needs fiber (carbon) and calories, like people and animals. You feed the fungi the way nature does, by dropping stuff on top of the soil and covering it with carbon/leaves/mulch.

Soil is made of rock of various sizes (rock, sand, silt and clay) and carbon (humus), and with the addition of water and calories, you get a soil with living organisms in it.

In TLC/Supersoil/etc. growing, most of the work is done up front, and the grow should be as trouble free as possible, and will be mainly checking that the environment is right (humidity, temperatures at the leaf level, airflow), and adjusting with extra nutrients a few times as the plant transitions from one phase to another - usually germination to seedling (extra P/K and Mg), and vegging to flowering, when more magnesium, phosphorus and root space are required.

In mid-flower, there is an increased need for potassium, silica, sulphur, calcium and trace elements. The plant needs fresh water right through flowering. (See The Rev's containers.) When the water runs out and the hairs start to die off, water should be decreased to eliminated.

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On the other hand, if this is your first grow, and you just want minimal complications, just grow in coco coir, buy the nutrient line the company recommends and use that as a starting point. (Don't buy the root stimulator, that's what flowering food is for.)

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