LadyLargely
Member
Heh, its cool rrog. I'm not a very patient person and I've never seen myself as a good teacher, but the sheer amount of awesome that emanates from this community has compelled me to do my best. I think that I am growing as a person just as much as you are from all this.
Now, for today's lesson!
having built and filled the tubs we've got bennies out the wazoo well on their way. However, we could use even more of them. Specific beneficial bacteria are a big part of my feeding regime. We've got tons in the root zone but that is not the only way aerobic bacteria can help our plants.
So, we need to whip up a quick Lacto Bactilli culture! I've seen one or two instructionals on how to make one here on the site, but I do things a little differently myself. User Jaykush has a nice, reliable cold-extraction method posted but I am far too impatient for that crap.
So here's how to make Lady L's supercharged Lacto B culture!
Gather these supplies:
A mason jar full of water, a pan, and some nice long-grain brown rice.
Boil the water in the pan and add a cup or two of the rice. Reduce to a simmer. Cook briefly, only 3-5 minutes. Don't cook it like you are going to eat it. Add no salt or oil. Remember, briefly.
Remove from heat. Pour out the pan and filter the rice from the water. Add this 'rice wash' back into your jar like so:
Mmmm, perfect.
You can let this jar sit around loosely covered for a week or more. Fuck that though, do this instead:
Stick the jar somewhere cool and dim and run a small accessory air stone in it. Minimal air flow, just enough to bubble at the surface a bit.
Within hours the mixture will start to foam up like an organic tea. This means the bacteria have colonized and started going to work. Scrape this foam away and remove it several times over the next day or two. After that we will move on to the rather less pleasant step 2. Come back in 2 days or so to see.
Time for an OBBT update!
I think this is the most aggressive OBBT medium I have mixed up to date. The tubs have been assembled for only three days and already they are COMING TO LIFE!
I know its hard to see in the image from my shitty camera, but look hard smack in the middle of the image. Right above the shadow line. See that? That little gray fuzzy guy? That is a colony of Mycorrhizae fungus! It has already breached the surface of the medium which means it is well on its way to complete takeover.
Fungus Porn!
That poof is a particularly dense colony, but as you can see from the above 2 images there is a light gray haze creeping over the whole surface of the medium. Beautiful! At this rate I would say the tubs will be ready for seedlings in about 3 more days. Can't wait!
*EDIT* Oh Noes! I've already just about run out of image space! Four measly megabytes? Thats all? Is there any way to expand my image space? Do I have to become a cooler user? More posts? More good karma? Must I be an ICmag donor?
*woe* I guess all further images will be remotely hosted from a photobucket account or something. Srry in advance guys.
Now, for today's lesson!
having built and filled the tubs we've got bennies out the wazoo well on their way. However, we could use even more of them. Specific beneficial bacteria are a big part of my feeding regime. We've got tons in the root zone but that is not the only way aerobic bacteria can help our plants.
So, we need to whip up a quick Lacto Bactilli culture! I've seen one or two instructionals on how to make one here on the site, but I do things a little differently myself. User Jaykush has a nice, reliable cold-extraction method posted but I am far too impatient for that crap.
So here's how to make Lady L's supercharged Lacto B culture!
Gather these supplies:
A mason jar full of water, a pan, and some nice long-grain brown rice.
Boil the water in the pan and add a cup or two of the rice. Reduce to a simmer. Cook briefly, only 3-5 minutes. Don't cook it like you are going to eat it. Add no salt or oil. Remember, briefly.
Remove from heat. Pour out the pan and filter the rice from the water. Add this 'rice wash' back into your jar like so:
Mmmm, perfect.
You can let this jar sit around loosely covered for a week or more. Fuck that though, do this instead:
Stick the jar somewhere cool and dim and run a small accessory air stone in it. Minimal air flow, just enough to bubble at the surface a bit.
Within hours the mixture will start to foam up like an organic tea. This means the bacteria have colonized and started going to work. Scrape this foam away and remove it several times over the next day or two. After that we will move on to the rather less pleasant step 2. Come back in 2 days or so to see.
Time for an OBBT update!
I think this is the most aggressive OBBT medium I have mixed up to date. The tubs have been assembled for only three days and already they are COMING TO LIFE!
I know its hard to see in the image from my shitty camera, but look hard smack in the middle of the image. Right above the shadow line. See that? That little gray fuzzy guy? That is a colony of Mycorrhizae fungus! It has already breached the surface of the medium which means it is well on its way to complete takeover.
Fungus Porn! That poof is a particularly dense colony, but as you can see from the above 2 images there is a light gray haze creeping over the whole surface of the medium. Beautiful! At this rate I would say the tubs will be ready for seedlings in about 3 more days. Can't wait!
*EDIT* Oh Noes! I've already just about run out of image space! Four measly megabytes? Thats all? Is there any way to expand my image space? Do I have to become a cooler user? More posts? More good karma? Must I be an ICmag donor?
*woe* I guess all further images will be remotely hosted from a photobucket account or something. Srry in advance guys.
