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Got Milk?

mad librettist

Active member
Veteran
we don't often notice, but milk is very sweet. when you take the sweet lactose and turn it into lactic acid, it loses the sweetness.
 

soil margin

Active member
Veteran
I buy raw milk from a dairy here in CA. Anyone know if using whole raw milk diluted to 5% is gonna show any difference from pasteurized skim or other milk?

Also anyone try using fermented milk products like Kefir?
 

soil margin

Active member
Veteran
raw milk is far better.

I've heard people say that the reason skim milk is preferred is because it has less odor when applied as a foliar. Is there any truth to higher fat content in the milk causing odor problems?


And yes Kefir would be expensive but I'm already paying $10/gal for raw milk, and I think my girls are worth every penny. :laughing:
 

mad librettist

Active member
Veteran
you just put kefir on my grocery list.

man I love that stuff.

I downed a bunch of kombucha in the heat today and it was sooooo nice.


yay microbes!
 

jaykush

dirty black hands
ICMag Donor
Veteran
what kind of smells, ive just smelled milk. and milk doesn't offend me. plus it doesn't last long.
 

sunnydog

Drip King
Veteran
Unbeliveable Stench!

Unbeliveable Stench!

what kind of smells, ive just smelled milk. and milk doesn't offend me. plus it doesn't last long.

Tossed a whole bag 2~3# in my rot tub.
Odor was death on steroids!
My wife was bitchin about it for almost a week! LOL! (gee,dear ,what smell ?).
However, it contributed to some really nice compost!:greenstars:

SD:tiphat:
 

mad librettist

Active member
Veteran
how many gallons of milk is 2-3lbs dry?!?

this thread has the best and the worst for me. I love kefir, but powdered milk reminds of a time in my childhood when we had very little money and had to buy powdered in bulk. I would always get clumps in my cereal,which was bulk oats. blech!

if you aren't gonna eat a tasty breakfast, I feel it's best to wait for lunch.
 

cyat

Active member
Veteran
after you have the kefir grains, its free for life as long as you feed it.you could hand it down to your kids.
a grower a long time ago told me his secret was milk. I tried it outside and some crabs tore it up.
 

EclipseFour20

aka "Doc"
Veteran
So I thought I might stir it up a bit...these guys got 26% increase from adding milk to their soil...

Milk works as fertilizer, says preliminary study

"Essentially 10 different applications were replicated four ways," he explains. "In the test, the skim milk was taken out of the tank, it was mixed and everything was put on the land within an hour. It was very alive material."

The milk and milk mixtures were applied to the diverse grass and legume fields as a foliar application in May with a small pressurized tank.

"Looking down, we could see the drips of milk, so there was a fairly good saturation," Gompert remembers.

The researchers hypothesized that Lactobacillus from the milk would combine with fungi from the fish emulsions to feed active soil bacteria, thus creating a fertilizer source for the irrigated, well-established pasture.

Forty-five days after the application, the fields were harvested and yields were measured. The plots without milk or oil provided 4,454 pounds of dry matter. Fields drenched with 2 gallons of milk yielded 5,578 pounds. The plots with milk plus oil had slightly higher yields, but results were sporadic.

"The highest advantage we saw was at 2 gallons per acre," Gompert emphasizes. "An extra 1,124 pounds [per acre] from one application is quite significant. It's more than we get from adding nitrogen or phosphorous from the local coop."

The team was most surprised that 2 gallons of milk ignited a greater reaction than higher application levels.

"It didn't make any difference if we gave 2 or 32 gallons of treatment," he adds. "Two gallons of milk increased yield by 26 percent; Wetzel cod liver oil increased yield by 20 percent; together, they increased yield by 31 percent. That's on one harvest; we don't even know about the long-term benefits."

The researchers then used a penetrometer to see if there were any differences in soil compaction.

"We did three tests at different levels at each of the plots to see the relative softness of the land 45 days after the application," he says. "Essentially, we did 12 samplings and averaged the readings for pounds of pressure at 6, 12, 18 and 24 inches."

The fields applied with only oil were 9 percent more porous than the plots with no application. Meanwhile, the porosity of plots fertilized with milk was 18 percent softer than the control. The milk plus oil application had too much variation for direct conclusions.

The increased porosity is closely correlated with higher yields and could have long-term affects on plant health, Gompert indicates.

"If we have more porosity, we are increasing water-holding capacity and air," he says. "Those are the two requirements to grow roots, carbon and microbes."

Because the study was conducted by credible experts and showed duplication, Gompert has experienced considerable excitement from dairy and crop producers on all levels.

"I think this will pass the scrutiny of research as far as a study that can be duplicated," he says. "I've gotten a ton of testimonies of farms doing the same thing. It really is exciting."


And these little tidbits.....

Applied in a ratio of 3 gallons of fertilizer with 17 gallons of water per acre of land, this product will help re-populate your depleted soil with a myriad of beneficial bacteria, while also providing the necessary nutrients to feed those bacteria as they make a new home in your earth. It is recommended that this ratio be applied 2-4 times per growing season the first year, as you gradually re-build your soil, then continue to evaluate the results to determine whether additional applications are still needed.


.....and.....

I received a call from a bio-chemist who works in the filed of biotic fertilizers. He read the article on raw milk as fertilizer that circled the globe and called to offer his help in describing what we have in the raw milk as fertilizers.

Below are some bullet points to the discussion

1. Soil will have between 3-4,000# of bacteria per acre (this can vary depending on sprays, soil type, temps etc...)

2. Bacteria are 90% protein

3. One can calculate/estimate the amount of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous by knowing the bacteria counts. Typically speaking bacteria counts will result in 10-14% nitrogen, 1% potassium and 3% phosphorous.

4. The bacteria that are most influential in growth live in in the top 6" of the oil.

5. Many thousands of different bacteria live in the soil

6. Bacteria need a balanced nutrition for good growth. Raw Milk is the perfect food.

7. Some of the bacteria will double the counts/weight every 15 minutes with the proper nutrition and temps (55 degrees F or better)

8. it does not take much for the bacteria to naturally put out 140 lb's of nitrogen per acre..and other nutrients.



Links I discovered:

The Content of Microelements and Trace Elements in Raw Milk from Cows in the Silesian Region

Farmer says spraying raw milk on field improves grass ...and observation on raw milks effect on fungus/Tall Fescue

Update on Raw Milk as fertilizer

Milk Your Land for All It’s Worth!


26% increase...hmmm.

Cheers!
 
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EclipseFour20

aka "Doc"
Veteran
2 gallons per acre reduces to how much milk to water a 15 gallon pot?

a drop or so?

I kinda do backwards math...but one must solve the mystery: how many plants per acre?

There are exactly 43560 square feet in an acre--but no one plants butt to butt...1 plant per sq foot--or 43560 plants per acre.

Tobacco rates for ferts/nutes/pesticides are at 1000 to 6000 plants per acre. With that in mind...2 gallons for 1000 plants is 0.256 oz or about 7.5ml per plant.

I was thinking of adding about 5 ml/per plant of raw milk every 20-30 days. I am indoor, plants finish in 12 liter containers (big 3 gal) in a mix of my own custom peat/pumice soil, I follow organic/biodynamic concepts, and use bat guanos as my primary source of NP of the NPK. Endo/ectos are my friend---so I figure, got milk?
 

Scrappy4

senior member
Veteran
2 gallons per acre reduces to how much milk to water a 15 gallon pot?

a drop or so?

Is it the milk or what is in milk? Proteins ... amino acids or something else? Could our microbes be like little carnivores, and manuring our plants? Or am I just over medicated? Scrappy
 

Scrappy4

senior member
Veteran
Is it the milk or what is in milk? Proteins ... amino acids or something else? Could our microbes be like little carnivores, and manuring our plants? Or am I just over medicated? Scrappy

Always fun to read my late night posts in the morning.

I think i was trying to make a point though feebily. There are other sources of proteins and aminos that might work as well as milk or better. What i'm thinking of is spirulina, the nutrients are loaded in it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirulina_(dietary_supplement)#Nutrient_and_vitamin_content

I bought some powdered spirulina to try and so far it looks like a winner. Probably too expensive for a large farm, unless you made your own, and way more than simple milk, but worth looking into....scrappy
 

3rdEye

Alchemical Botanist
Veteran
thanks for the post eclipseFour20. Very useful.

scrappy why not both? I think i could do the milk in my next cutting run to do some side by side comparisons. Milk seems pretty good for overall utility.
 

EclipseFour20

aka "Doc"
Veteran
And....here is a study titled, Effectiveness of cow’s milk against zucchini squash powdery mildew. As I interpret the tables at the bottom of the study, milk can be more effective than commercial fungicides...

Cow milk may have more than one mode of action in controlling zucchini squash powdery mildew. Fresh milk may have a direct effect against S. fuliginea due to its germicidal properties (Salle, 1954). Milk contains several salts and amino-acids (Martins Filho, 1987). These substances have been shown to be effective in controlling powdery mildew and other diseases (Reuveni et al, 1993/1995; Mucharromah and Kuc, 1991; Titone et al, 1997; Pasini et al, 1997). Several authors have shown that sodium bicarbonate, oxalate, dibasic or tribasic potassium phosphate, and other salts and amino-acids have been efficient in the induction of systemic resistance (Reuveni et al, 1993/1995; Mucharromah and Kuc, 1991; Titone et al, 1997; Pasini et al, 1997; van Andel, 1966). Therefore milk may also indirectly affect S. fuliginea by inducing systemic resistance.

Milk is not a potential environmental or food contaminant, consequently it can be used in organic agriculture. Several organic growers have been spraying 5% cow milk once a week to control powdery mildew on zucchini squash and cucumber.

http://www.agrar.de/agenda/bettiol.htm
 

EclipseFour20

aka "Doc"
Veteran
Milk and mosiac virus?....here are some links--
Mosaic Diseases of Tomatoes

Virus Diseases of Greenhouse Tomato and Their Managment

http://www.ctvalleytobacco.org/TMV.htm

"Transmission of Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) to tobacco plants by workers who intentionally contaminated their hands with the virus prior to transplanting tobacco seedlings resulted in 100 percent infection.' Tobacco plants that were transplanted after the worker's TMV-contaminated hands were washed in milk were not infected with TMV. The tobacco cultivar is Clemson PD-4. Hand washing with milk or soap and water reduced the incidence of TMV by 95 or 100%, respectively. A comprehensive program of hand washes, sanitation, rotation, rogueing infected plants, and use of resistance varieties is suggested.

For control of Tobacco Mosaic Virus-MILK (Whole or skim at 5 gals /100 gallons water or dried milk at 5 lbs/100 gallons water per 100 sq. yds. of plants). Spray plants 1 to 24 hrs before handling them. This treatment has also been used successfully prior to clipping of large plants, but it can be very messy unless the system drys well following the application. It should be combined with washing hands at 15 minute intervals either in the clean milk solution or a phosphate detergent. This treatment is warranted if TMV susceptible varieties are being used or in mixed houses with resistant and susceptible varieties."


BTW...too early to tell, but the plants that received a soil treatment of 5ml of raw milk are doing super!
 

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