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Is this living soil thing some type of hippie scam??

quitelost

Active member
People have donecardboad planters before I have read. was looking at smartpots and two the size of 3 boxes would cost me more than 70e so free boxes here I come...
 
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vonforne

You need to charge your char. Using it un-charged will affect the N in the soil. Your plants will turn yellow from top to bottom. I usually charge mine for a minimum of 6 months to one year.
 

quitelost

Active member
In the char thread in this forum they soak their char as little as 24h from what I understand this surprised me, if this doesn't work well then I'll just have to leave it out..

I think the bbq char should be ok to use. Just make sure nothing has been added to make it burn better i reckon.

Its as easy as pissing on it and soaking in wormcasting slurry for at least 24 hours or any of the other ideas in the thread. Then when its used in the garden its bio-char.

I think im gonna use it as mulch this spring to soak up the sun in a few spots.
 

headband 707

Plant whisperer
Veteran
The guy that has this one figured out is Microman I think his handle is . I think he did a book.. good luck headband 707
 

xmobotx

ecks moe baw teeks
ICMag Donor
Veteran
there are some folks who do no-till outdoors by layering cardboard and/or newspaper on the ground flat over the area they want to improve ~it's mulch

this tech encourages worms and retains moisture
 

headband 707

Plant whisperer
Veteran
there are some folks who do no-till outdoors by layering cardboard and/or newspaper on the ground flat over the area they want to improve ~it's mulch

this tech encourages worms and retains moisture

yup this is true don't ask me why but worms love that shit lol.. headband 707:tiphat:
 
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vonforne

The guy that has this one figured out is Microman I think his handle is . I think he did a book.. good luck headband 707

It is Microbeman and he has no book but a webpage that is a wealth of information concerning micro organisms and compost tea brewer construction.

http://www.microbeorganics.com/


Outdoors the char will be alright I was referring to indoor container gardening. But I believe Microbeman recommends that you ´charge´ it first.
 

quitelost

Active member
Ok i'll see if I can get the alfalfa meal, going to check all this out the begining of this week, it's really hard to find these products here, at the feed and agri stores all they have is commercial mixes and most of these products are sold by th pallet here not retail. I know I should have started earlier but ive been busy and the weather is so bad this year.

Thanks for the feedback everyone I really appriciate this.
 

xmobotx

ecks moe baw teeks
ICMag Donor
Veteran
i would speculate that Ca bentonite would be preferable but sodium bentonite is fine ~or like a handful of the clay you find in the soil outside {or as much as you need}
 
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vonforne

For my outdoor I took 5 gallons of ROLS and mixed it with the native soil. You could get some bagged soil and do the same. Just to get the plants in. There has to be some kind of garden center you could use. Maybe Sherdians?

V
 

quitelost

Active member
400L bagged soil costs a pretty penny and it would still need to be amended, plus in they dont put the exact content on the bags here so its very hard to know what your getting. If I have to I will go bags but I want to avoid it, already have some old soil that will be mixed in, amended and a bit of unused soil. Sherdians doesnt sound like a place that one would find here as the people would not be able to pronounce it.

The hydro guy has some peat but its not pure spagnum should I take it or leave it??
 

dreadlock

Member
all i know, peat is available in different qualities. Pure, fresh is not good for us. still learning myself so can't help out much here, sure someone else has the answer your looking for...

regards to compost, soil. A few links below might be worth looking up further. If your after a more fresh product, no brand try searching local advertising sites such as ebay, gumtree, craigslist.. often have people giving away soil, compost.

http://www.compostdirect.com
http://www.amenity.co.uk/sands-and-...gle_shopping&gclid=CMi71fSq2bcCFdLLtAodhHYAdw
 

quitelost

Active member
Was checking this out today, it's mostly spagnum, sifted in small bits and lightly chem ferted, a "seedling mix" with a bit of N probally already salted with cal one can see that its not the best but doesn't look like complete crap. Probally going to use bagged compost and worm compost, I'm sure those links will help some readers but where I live most have a computer but use of the web for commercial purposes is quite limited.

Thanks.
 

xmobotx

ecks moe baw teeks
ICMag Donor
Veteran
i wouldnt buy either

if you feel you must have a 'phosphorous amendment' fish bone meal

if i were to buy a soft phosphate it would be 'calphos' but; i just dont need it
 
S

shokdee

Is this living soil thing some type of hippie scam??

A hippy scam? Nasty! :)

These are all great soil mixes, but why isn't anyone talking about the "living" part of the question.

Does anyone use EM (effective microorganisms)
 

quitelost

Active member
I was just looking at a commercial bottled worm tea today that claims to have EM added and was considering using it to innoculate the soil as it's not very expensive. Also recived a tiny freebee of some micros this week that looks good but I wouldent buy it.

To answer your question this was started by me as soil building thread, basically all tangets are welcome but there are quite a few threads here in the forum on micro organisms, compost tea etc..
 

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