Mulch. Just do it.

[dogfishheadie]

good morning gents,

just got back from my little "harvesting for mulch trip" out in the great outdoors. quite an enjoyable time searching, gathering and bagging for different ingredients knowing what it will be used for

basically I went out with a big reusable grocery bag and ended up putting around:

-85% tree bark from fallen trees (broken up into 1"-3" pieces with my hand)
-10% leaves torn into pieces
-5% not sure what the right name of it is, but i brushed away 3-4" of leaves to get the forest floor stuff? had white mold and what looked to be already broken down small pieces of leaves

now my questions are;

1) is there anything I need to do with this bag for the next month or so? keep it moist? temps? anything I can add (bone / blood meal) to really give it some extra love?
2) is fallen tree bark ok? i'm a bit worried about termites? not sure if they are active this time of year in the north east (currently 35°F)
3) say I need to go out and gather another bag, do I need to do it "X" amount of weeks before I want to use it as mulch?

as always, appreciate all the advice and input you all have to offer!

 

[Scrappy4]

good morning gents,

just got back from my little "harvesting for mulch trip" out in the great outdoors. quite an enjoyable time searching, gathering and bagging for different ingredients knowing what it will be used for

basically I went out with a big reusable grocery bag and ended up putting around:

-85% tree bark from fallen trees (broken up into 1"-3" pieces with my hand)
-10% leaves torn into pieces
-5% not sure what the right name of it is, but i brushed away 3-4" of leaves to get the forest floor stuff? had white mold and what looked to be already broken down small pieces of leaves

now my questions are;

1) is there anything I need to do with this bag for the next month or so? keep it moist? temps? anything I can add (bone / blood meal) to really give it some extra love?
2) is fallen tree bark ok? i'm a bit worried about termites? not sure if they are active this time of year in the north east (currently 35°F)
3) say I need to go out and gather another bag, do I need to do it "X" amount of weeks before I want to use it as mulch?

as always, appreciate all the advice and input you all have to offer!

From this link. And kudos to coot for the link he sent me.


http://www.mosesorganic.org/attachments/broadcaster/soil13.5soilbio.html


Effective Microorganisms
Farmers in Japan have been "growing" and harvesting the benefits of microorganisms for many years. Under the umbrella of the "Nature Farming" movement, which parallels the organic farming movement in western countries, EM is a very well established mechanism for promoting plant growth and developing microbial activity. Early developers experimented with a diversity of microbial cultures, but have narrowed in on a basic "mother" containing 3 elements: 1. Lactic acid bacteria. 2. Various photosynthetic bacteria and 3. yeast. The "mother" is added to plant material to culture, and it has been found that other organisms will "join" the original culture to eventually form a very complex microbial stew, which can then be used for many purposes. The process of culturing is often anaerobic, and much like a pickling process. The resultant stew can be used in creating compost, vermi-compost, as a livestock probiotic, in food waste treatment, waste water treatment and to control flies and livestock odors and many other uses. There are hundreds of EM recipes, and hundreds of research papers documenting EM effects. It is used in many countries around the world for a multitude of purposes. Proper use of EM utilizes a low-dose, multiple application, slow and accumulative effect. There are only a few sources of EM mother culture in the U.S. at this time. An internet search on "Effective Microorganisms" will bring up several sources of mother cultures in the U.S. and research on EM use for hundreds of applications.

EM is widely used in India, where one popular culture is made with Neem leaves, 14 other plants and sugar cane. It is said that this ferment is excellent for pest control, and will control 54 insect and disease problems on farms.

 

[FatherEarth]

LOL Im using perlite as mulch...3 inches deep, roots to the top of the soil!

 

[Scrappy4]

LOL Im using perlite as mulch...3 inches deep, roots to the top of the soil!

Using perlite is not any problem but it does not add much value to the top of the soil either, well other than keep the surface damp.

But using organic materials for mulch eventually adds to the soil, and it keeps that important top layer of soil microbes active and fed. This is where i see shredders doing their thing. I have worms, centipedes, wood bugs, spiders, soil mites and then of course the smaller things that are too hard to identify by the unaided eye. And I think that shows me a tiny but healthy eco system at work.......scrappy

 

[Seandawg]

Using perlite is not any problem but it does not add much value to the top of the soil either, well other than keep the surface damp.

But using organic materials for mulch eventually adds to the soil, and it keeps that important top layer of soil microbes active and fed. This is where i see shredders doing their thing. I have worms, centipedes, wood bugs, spiders, soil mites and then of course the smaller things that are too hard to identify by the unaided eye. And I think that shows me a tiny but healthy eco system at work.......scrappy

Like pseudoscorpions

Soil mites an various other micro-arthropods

 

[xmobotx]

like many i prefer EWC or compost as mulch indoors and out {veggies and whatever}

found that its kinda been my routine to top-dress a little NSM once they hit their stride in veg and i been doing the same w/ greensand, fish bone meal, or kelp @the flip

all @ ~1 tsp/gal pot size {micro top-dress}

then i mulch the top-dress w EWC in veg or compost in flower

 

[Seandawg]

One thing I'll never mulch with again is grass clippings.
It grew a fungi that started crawling up my plant and did some major damage.
Most times I use seaweed (big surprise there lol), fan leaves, or just tree bark mulch. Whatever's available really...

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Surf Biter

Thanks for posting the images in Post #350 - pretty enlightening on what we're seeing in our compost piles and our worm bins

 

[Old_Headbanger]

One thing I'll never mulch with again is grass clippings.
It grew a fungi that started crawling up my plant and did some major damage.
Most times I use seaweed (big surprise there lol), fan leaves, or just tree bark mulch. Whatever's available really...

Tree bark sounds ideal. What type of bark should someone want to stay away from? Leaf mold and tree bark from the same types of trees (oak, maple, black locust, marine locust, linden and a bunch more) would be a really easy mulch for some people to come up with maybe? Would it work? Sounds too easy, but then again most of this stuff is easy when you enjoy actual gardening and getting your hands dirty. Kinda takes the 'work' out of it..

\m/ohb

 

[Seandawg]

Surf Biter

Thanks for posting the images in Post #350 - pretty enlightening on what we're seeing in our compost piles and our worm bins

No problem CC, things always get more and more exciting with more and more soil organisms

Tree bark sounds ideal. What type of bark should someone want to stay away from? Leaf mold and tree bark from the same types of trees (oak, maple, black locust, marine locust, linden and a bunch more) would be a really easy mulch for some people to come up with maybe? Would it work? Sounds too easy, but then again most of this stuff is easy when you enjoy actual gardening and getting your hands dirty. Kinda takes the 'work' out of it..

\m/ohb

Things that I would stay away from would be freshly shredded tree limbs and such. They'll have to be composted first to be cautious of "burning" from decomposition.

If you were interested in buying, this one is available at Home Depot for pretty cheap also.

 

[ClackamasCootz]

White oak is the type used by Biodynamic farmers in their compost recipe - BD 505 as they catalog it. Stinging Nettle is BD 504 and so on

CC

 

[FatherEarth]

I have worms, centipedes, wood bugs, spiders, soil mites and then of course the smaller things that are too hard to identify by the unaided eye.

I too have all of the above, I added the perlite for the reason you mentioned to keep the top layer moist and to keep my microbes working. The smart pots dry out so quickly before I really need to water the top layers are real dry. The perlite stops that. I added it right as I went into flower and I had enough going on new so I wanted to add something that wasnt going to complicate things so I went with perlite. Ill have to play around with a some other mulches on a small scale before I carpet my room with em. My first living mulch I will probably spawn wood chips with a companion mushroom and cover the the chips with straw. Thanks for all the great info.

 

[Seandawg]

Technically a "living mulch" would be alive. Something like clover or alfalfa n stuff.

(This is not my photo, it's simply being "borrowed" to be used as an example)

I think you're talking about a common mulch using organic materials. Like leaf litter or tree bark n such. Either or would be beneficial.

 

[Scrappy4]

My dead mulch

 

[FatherEarth]

Technically a "living mulch" would be alive. Something like clover or alfalfa n stuff.

Is that to say a colonized substrate that fruits mushrooms and excretes plant beneficial secondary metabolites while breaking down organic matter isnt alive?

IMO planting the proper fungi/w organic matter, is far more beneficial than any plant life you could pair with your garden.


One with Fungus,

FE

 

[Seandawg]

I don't think you're catching what I'm saying. But that's irrelevant, if you're mulching (organically of course) your on the right track.

 

[FatherEarth]

My dead mulch

Not sure what to make of this picture scrappy...??

Doesnt look encouraging to say the least. I wont be doing any of that. Thanks for sharing.

PS

Is that carpet in the room?


Respectfully,

FE

 

[FatherEarth]

I don't think you're catching what I'm saying. But that's irrelevant, if you're mulching (organically of course) your on the right track.

Unless the words you type have other meanings that are unspoken Im pretty sure I get what you are saying. Maybe you have a narrower definition of what living mulch is or could be considered as, than I do...

 

[Scrappy4]

Not sure what to make of this picture scrappy...??

Doesnt look encouraging to say the least. I wont be doing any of that. Thanks for sharing.

PS

Is that carpet in the room?


Respectfully,

FE

Relax chief, it is a wood floor of small grow box that has caught some left over sprays, mostly in veg. Yes the floor gets stained, no biggy. It might stink too after a FPE feeding. It gets repainted after each cycle. The box used to be in my uninsulated and unheated garage here in MI. I have grown in it at -13 temps in winter and 100 in summer. I consider it a engineering feat, lol. I get around a lb each cycle and have got up to 20 oz dry bud, and it served my purposes very well. The only point of the pic was to show my mulch not to encourage yall.....scrappy

 

[Scrappy4]

Here's two more pics to gross yall out, he he.....