Shmalphy, I have an old friend who is a biology prof. He would make an awsome salad with only things he would find in the woods. His favorite was Nettle and dandylion with some gooseberries, ever try eating nettles? I don't know how they removed the stingers but man thems some good leaf.
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Shmalphy's Perpetual Organic Garden
- Thread starter shmalphy
- Start date
I haven't tried eating the nettles yet, although I have seen them pop up on some fine dining menus recently (French Breakfast Radish Soup with Vidalia Onions and Stinging Nettles for example). My nettle plants are still pretty small, I have made a few brews from them but I haven't hit the point of abundance yet. There is one big one that I keep pruning the growth tips from for teas, and I have 12 small ones in a bed with 6 lavender in between. They are about the size of a month old cannabis seedling, and they have been establishing roots so they are about to take off. JayKush posted that you can eat them raw if you fold them up properly and chew them with your front teeth, but TBH I am kind of scared LOL.
I can't beleive how little "stuff" is left in my growroom. I condensed down a few things, including combining my soil bucket, bokashi bin, and worm bin. I now have a horizontal flowthrough worm bin making castings that are supercharged with bokashi, biochar, and rock dust. All of the worms are in my old soil, so I put that on one side and on the other side for fresh bedding I used a mix of leaves, well rotted manure (horse, goat, chicken, and rabbit), compost, and some topsoil. I have been adding in food on top of the fresh bedding every few days, I let the really wet stuff drain in a bucket with holes, or put it in a pizza box for a day or two to soak up the extra moisture. I put my coffee grounds in the oven to dry them out before adding them to the bin. I haven't had any escapees, and I keep rustling the finished side to get the worms to go to the new side, and I was finding worms, but there seems to be less of them each time, so they must be getting the hint and migrating over.
Worms are in the soil on the left, new bedding went into the other side a few days later.
Here is the new worm bin from the front. It matches the pallet motif I have going on
I made a brew last week by sprouting quinoa, then soaking that for a few days. The idea is to get the enzymes that convert starches to sugars, which will basically unlock a bunch of lunchboxes in the soil. Super easy, super cheap, and super effective. The plants show vigorous signs of growth for days after an application.
I put 1/4 cup quinoa in a 16oz wide mouth mason jar with a window screen fitted over the top and secured with the metal band. These are sold as "seed sprouters" because you can add water and then drain it very easily. Do this about once a day to keep the seeds moist until you see that most or all of them have sprouted and then put that in a half gallon of water and let sit for 4 days or so until it smells slightly of fermentation, and then dilute 15-1 with water, or 1 cup added to 15 cups water to make a gallon.
.
I can't beleive how little "stuff" is left in my growroom. I condensed down a few things, including combining my soil bucket, bokashi bin, and worm bin. I now have a horizontal flowthrough worm bin making castings that are supercharged with bokashi, biochar, and rock dust. All of the worms are in my old soil, so I put that on one side and on the other side for fresh bedding I used a mix of leaves, well rotted manure (horse, goat, chicken, and rabbit), compost, and some topsoil. I have been adding in food on top of the fresh bedding every few days, I let the really wet stuff drain in a bucket with holes, or put it in a pizza box for a day or two to soak up the extra moisture. I put my coffee grounds in the oven to dry them out before adding them to the bin. I haven't had any escapees, and I keep rustling the finished side to get the worms to go to the new side, and I was finding worms, but there seems to be less of them each time, so they must be getting the hint and migrating over.
Worms are in the soil on the left, new bedding went into the other side a few days later.
Here is the new worm bin from the front. It matches the pallet motif I have going on
I made a brew last week by sprouting quinoa, then soaking that for a few days. The idea is to get the enzymes that convert starches to sugars, which will basically unlock a bunch of lunchboxes in the soil. Super easy, super cheap, and super effective. The plants show vigorous signs of growth for days after an application.
I put 1/4 cup quinoa in a 16oz wide mouth mason jar with a window screen fitted over the top and secured with the metal band. These are sold as "seed sprouters" because you can add water and then drain it very easily. Do this about once a day to keep the seeds moist until you see that most or all of them have sprouted and then put that in a half gallon of water and let sit for 4 days or so until it smells slightly of fermentation, and then dilute 15-1 with water, or 1 cup added to 15 cups water to make a gallon.
.
My current fertilizer inventory:
15 Gal worm castings
10 gal alfalfa pellets
5 gal granite dust
Full bags of all 4 sunleaves bat guanos (IHOG kit)
The "Gil Cardanang line":
Seaweed FPE
Fish Hydrolysate
Calcium Phosphate
Ginger Garlic
BIM/Lacto B
The only store bought liquids I have are going to be replaced with dry ingredients when I run out:
Silica Blast (replace with agsil 16)
Neem (replace with seed meal in the soil)
Molasses (replace with raw sugar)
Outside, I am growing 3 types of lavender, several different roses, sage, thyme, yarrow, rosemary, nettle, comfrey, ivy, pineapple and chocolate mints, basil, cilantro and dill for use in botanical teas and for enhancing my compost. Most of these will return every year as perennials or by self seeding. I also converted my cold frame that I start seedlings in in the spring into a mini aloe greenhouse for the summer, it loves the heat, and it keeps them out of the rain.
15 Gal worm castings
10 gal alfalfa pellets
5 gal granite dust
Full bags of all 4 sunleaves bat guanos (IHOG kit)
The "Gil Cardanang line":
Seaweed FPE
Fish Hydrolysate
Calcium Phosphate
Ginger Garlic
BIM/Lacto B
The only store bought liquids I have are going to be replaced with dry ingredients when I run out:
Silica Blast (replace with agsil 16)
Neem (replace with seed meal in the soil)
Molasses (replace with raw sugar)
Outside, I am growing 3 types of lavender, several different roses, sage, thyme, yarrow, rosemary, nettle, comfrey, ivy, pineapple and chocolate mints, basil, cilantro and dill for use in botanical teas and for enhancing my compost. Most of these will return every year as perennials or by self seeding. I also converted my cold frame that I start seedlings in in the spring into a mini aloe greenhouse for the summer, it loves the heat, and it keeps them out of the rain.
Just tried the nettle. After typing that I thought, I have to cook breakfast anyway, why not try it now...
Soooo...I cooked it into an omelet and made a quesadilla out of it. Omelet quesadillas rule; it is the perfect way to turn your breakfast into a handheld device!
I used the following from the garden:
heirloom tomato
mini sweet peppers
hot pepper
parsley
lemon basil
sweet basil
thyme
sage
rosemary
oregano
and the star of the show, a small sprig of nettle!
sauteed in butter until the tomato "melts", add eggs, make an omelet (or scramble if you can't get the hang of the omelet, it's the same thing), make quesadilla, place omelet inside, enjoy!
It tasted just like pizza. Prolly too much oregano. Or maybe just enough?!?!
Soooo...I cooked it into an omelet and made a quesadilla out of it. Omelet quesadillas rule; it is the perfect way to turn your breakfast into a handheld device!
I used the following from the garden:
heirloom tomato
mini sweet peppers
hot pepper
parsley
lemon basil
sweet basil
thyme
sage
rosemary
oregano
and the star of the show, a small sprig of nettle!
sauteed in butter until the tomato "melts", add eggs, make an omelet (or scramble if you can't get the hang of the omelet, it's the same thing), make quesadilla, place omelet inside, enjoy!
It tasted just like pizza. Prolly too much oregano. Or maybe just enough?!?!
such a sweet log man. love how you break it all down on the organic level and what your doing. learned a few things in which i say thanks 
got some nice ladies in there for sure. def love your log.
Subbed
got some nice ladies in there for sure. def love your log. Subbed
Thanks, I really appreciate it. My methods have evolved considerably since I started reading this site, so I felt I had to give something back. There aren't as many people growing in compost indoors or making their own worm castings as there are people buying ridiculously priced hydro nutes, and it makes no sense. I used to do the same thing, and always had problems until earrlier this year when I stopped using anything bottled. I won't eat packaged foods, why feed them to my plant?
I just hope that by showing people what I have learned in my experiments, it encourages other growers to become more sustainable in their methods, which is better for everybody involved. Anyone who has tasted my bud has switched their growing methods, the proof is in the pudding.
I could go on for hours about the "secret" behind soil building, but the answer is one word- humus. You need humus from either EWC or compost, or you will be chasing your tail fixing "deficiencies". This is exactly what they want at the hydro stores. They want customers who don't understand plant science, but are willing to learn their version of it (leibig's law of minimums). The result is a store full of "high tech" chemicals that are all the same exact thing with a different cartoon character on them, all to assist the average stoner in "accomplishing the monumental task of growing a plant" (thanks CC) In reality, you can grow EVEN BETTER cannabis the same way "granny grows her tomatoes" (thanks Gascanastan) Another way to put it is: "use biology not chemistry"
I use a greenhouse supplier for most of my needs (lights, pro mix etc). Anything else I need, I wild harvest or grow myself. Most of my needs are supplied by the fact that all of my food, yard and garden waste is converted into worm castings, and compost, so there is very little left to source.
I just hope that by showing people what I have learned in my experiments, it encourages other growers to become more sustainable in their methods, which is better for everybody involved. Anyone who has tasted my bud has switched their growing methods, the proof is in the pudding.
I could go on for hours about the "secret" behind soil building, but the answer is one word- humus. You need humus from either EWC or compost, or you will be chasing your tail fixing "deficiencies". This is exactly what they want at the hydro stores. They want customers who don't understand plant science, but are willing to learn their version of it (leibig's law of minimums). The result is a store full of "high tech" chemicals that are all the same exact thing with a different cartoon character on them, all to assist the average stoner in "accomplishing the monumental task of growing a plant" (thanks CC) In reality, you can grow EVEN BETTER cannabis the same way "granny grows her tomatoes" (thanks Gascanastan) Another way to put it is: "use biology not chemistry"
I use a greenhouse supplier for most of my needs (lights, pro mix etc). Anything else I need, I wild harvest or grow myself. Most of my needs are supplied by the fact that all of my food, yard and garden waste is converted into worm castings, and compost, so there is very little left to source.
The positive comments really mean a lot, as no one around me wants to hear another word about soil science.
Speaking of soil science! What the heck is cation exchange capacity anyway and how do I use it to my benefit? Hold on tigh and read it twice if need be. This is important! (Or some such happy horse shit)
What is CeC?
Cation exchange capacity shows the soils ability to supply three nutrients which are critical to plants; calcium, magnesium, and potassium. It measures the soils ability to hold cations, or elements with a positive charge, using electrical attraction. Cation concentrations are expressed in centimoles of positive charge per kilogram of soil (cmol(+)/kg). You want at least 10 cmol(+)/kg, but soils with large amounts of clay and organic matter can be as high as 30 cmol(+)/kg. There are five exchangeable cations which are shown on soil tests listed as a percentage of CeC. The ideal ranges for them are as follows: calcium 65–80% of CeC, magnesium 10–15%, potassium 1–5%, sodium 0–1% and aluminium 0%.
Colloids
Clay and humus particles are called colloids, and they hold a negative charge. Because of their large flat surfaces, they can potentially hold a lot of cations. The stronger the negative charge that the colloids have, the more cations they can hold and the higher the CeC. When the roots come into contact with colloids they pick up cations, which are replaced on the colloid by cations in the water. If you have an abundance of a certain type of cation in your water, that will replace the cations on the colloids.
A way to look at this is that the colloids are like dinner plates. They pick up food from a buffet using the same electrical attraction that happens when you rub a balloon on your hair and it picks up dust. It actually holds it there until a root comes and "cleans the plate". Keeping enough colloids in your soil makes sure there are enough plates to go around, adding minerals like rock dust makes sure the buffet is always full.
Improving CeC
Adding organic matter to the soil is by far the most effective way to improve soil CeC. Humus is the end product of decomposing organic matter, and has a CeC value that is 2-5 times greater than that of montmorillonite and can be up to 30 times greater than that of kaolinite clay. Leaving crop stubble, green manure, and mulching are great ways to increase soil humus and hence CeC.
Two cations that are harmful to plants are aluminum and sodium. Aluminum is only a problem if the pH of the soil drops below 5. Sodium is a bigger concern because when exchangable sodium exceeds 5% of the CeC, clay particles become unstable in rainwater which causes dispersion. Dispersive soils are characterized by cloudiness in water, poor drainage, and their tendency to set hard upon drying.
Low CeC in combination with high sodium levels will cause leaching of the soil because the cations are not being held onto the colloids, so they end up being drained away in the soil water. Hence the problem with the hydro store paradigm.
Speaking of soil science! What the heck is cation exchange capacity anyway and how do I use it to my benefit? Hold on tigh and read it twice if need be. This is important! (Or some such happy horse shit)
What is CeC?
Cation exchange capacity shows the soils ability to supply three nutrients which are critical to plants; calcium, magnesium, and potassium. It measures the soils ability to hold cations, or elements with a positive charge, using electrical attraction. Cation concentrations are expressed in centimoles of positive charge per kilogram of soil (cmol(+)/kg). You want at least 10 cmol(+)/kg, but soils with large amounts of clay and organic matter can be as high as 30 cmol(+)/kg. There are five exchangeable cations which are shown on soil tests listed as a percentage of CeC. The ideal ranges for them are as follows: calcium 65–80% of CeC, magnesium 10–15%, potassium 1–5%, sodium 0–1% and aluminium 0%.
Colloids
Clay and humus particles are called colloids, and they hold a negative charge. Because of their large flat surfaces, they can potentially hold a lot of cations. The stronger the negative charge that the colloids have, the more cations they can hold and the higher the CeC. When the roots come into contact with colloids they pick up cations, which are replaced on the colloid by cations in the water. If you have an abundance of a certain type of cation in your water, that will replace the cations on the colloids.
A way to look at this is that the colloids are like dinner plates. They pick up food from a buffet using the same electrical attraction that happens when you rub a balloon on your hair and it picks up dust. It actually holds it there until a root comes and "cleans the plate". Keeping enough colloids in your soil makes sure there are enough plates to go around, adding minerals like rock dust makes sure the buffet is always full.
Improving CeC
Adding organic matter to the soil is by far the most effective way to improve soil CeC. Humus is the end product of decomposing organic matter, and has a CeC value that is 2-5 times greater than that of montmorillonite and can be up to 30 times greater than that of kaolinite clay. Leaving crop stubble, green manure, and mulching are great ways to increase soil humus and hence CeC.
Two cations that are harmful to plants are aluminum and sodium. Aluminum is only a problem if the pH of the soil drops below 5. Sodium is a bigger concern because when exchangable sodium exceeds 5% of the CeC, clay particles become unstable in rainwater which causes dispersion. Dispersive soils are characterized by cloudiness in water, poor drainage, and their tendency to set hard upon drying.
Low CeC in combination with high sodium levels will cause leaching of the soil because the cations are not being held onto the colloids, so they end up being drained away in the soil water. Hence the problem with the hydro store paradigm.
S
SeaMaiden
Not if you go low and slow, i.e. proper dilution rates.
If your useing Promix hp, EWC, Compost,blood meal, bone meal, kelp meal, grean sand, dolimite lime, epsom salt, Diatomic earth, Alfafa meal, bio tone, microhize all mixed wet let sit 4 weeks and use but I used 2 times the Earth worm castings, would this be good or bad and why??
That would depend on a number of factors, such as the texture of the soil, the amounts used, the quality of the castings, etc.
Hi Shmalphy!
The only thing I don't like about this soil thing.... Saying the word Cation.
haha I wish I could just say CaSHion instead of Cat-Eye-on.
Anyways, glad to find you here and I'm tagging up right now.
The only thing I don't like about this soil thing.... Saying the word Cation.
haha I wish I could just say CaSHion instead of Cat-Eye-on.
Anyways, glad to find you here and I'm tagging up right now.
I know just how you feel, my friends think I'm crazy and sometimes this stuff keeps me up at night.... I saw someones signature the other day and it said, "Smoking weed isn't addictive, but growing it sure is."
To me my soil is like another pet!
After Re-reading your thread I really see how much I'm missing out on by not Composting regularly. I had a bin this summer, but didn't know what I was doing.
I bought a flow-through worm bin and had horrible results in my house... fly's and all sorts of gnarlyness. So now! After seeing your pallets and deciding to get my ass in gear, This weekend's project will be all around how to setup an efficient process for ALL of my waste from the house... and get the worm bin going. Besides going to the dump sucks.
Thanks for the motivation brother!
Peace
Must spread rep around.... yada yada.....
Those Deep Funk are Be-A-Utiful
Those Deep Funk are Be-A-Utiful
Great thread man, lots of good info, tagging along!!
MHG
I get weekly trash pickup and recycling, and I still try to upcycle/freecycle/compost whatever I can. Upcycling means reusing something to replace something more expensive. An example is using a milk carton as a container for growing a plant in, using the pallets as lumber, etc. I also try to freecycle things, which means getting things that are bound for the dump but still useful. There is a website with directory to local communities, obviously if you are in a remote area this won't work, but for those of us being over taken by urbanization, this could be considered a positive side effect. I get all kinds of things, from fans, windows, trash barrels, gutters, wood chips, manure, etc all free, plus I can get rid of stuff I don't need. It is an amazing resource.
Right now I have a pretty effective system of waste management down. All of my yard waste goes to a compost pile outside and all my fruit and veg scraps go into that. It is mainly a static pile, but I flip it occasionally. I also add manure and rock dust to the compost pile to get it going (both freecycled, my friend is a mason he let me fill a few buckets of rock dust from a big old pile, they use it under patios)
I have a 5 gallon bucket with lid and a shopping bag for a bokashi bin (upcycling). Bokashi is an anaerobic process, so you put the scraps in the bucket, put the bag in like a trash bag so there is no air getting at the scraps, and close the lid. This is where I add all of my meat, dairy, and bread scraps. I add in some veggies too for diversity, and EWC to start it's transition into soil. Every time I add scrap, I spray it with the lacto B. Once the bucket is full, I close it for 2 weeks to "digest" or pickle. People get kind of scared when I tell them I compost meat, but the pickling process is what makes it safe, same reason you can't eat a raw pig's foot, or egg, but you can eat a pickled one. Then, I bury it in the compost pile, and compost for a few weeks.
Then, I use that compost pile to fill my worm bin. Worms don't eat organic matter, they eat microbes, so I try to get everything broken down before it comes inside to the worm bin, and they eat it up like crazy. I breed the anaerobes in the bokashi bin, then feed them to the aerobic bacteria in the compost pile, then feed those to the worms. It is a very streamlined process.
I get weekly trash pickup and recycling, and I still try to upcycle/freecycle/compost whatever I can. Upcycling means reusing something to replace something more expensive. An example is using a milk carton as a container for growing a plant in, using the pallets as lumber, etc. I also try to freecycle things, which means getting things that are bound for the dump but still useful. There is a website with directory to local communities, obviously if you are in a remote area this won't work, but for those of us being over taken by urbanization, this could be considered a positive side effect. I get all kinds of things, from fans, windows, trash barrels, gutters, wood chips, manure, etc all free, plus I can get rid of stuff I don't need. It is an amazing resource.
Right now I have a pretty effective system of waste management down. All of my yard waste goes to a compost pile outside and all my fruit and veg scraps go into that. It is mainly a static pile, but I flip it occasionally. I also add manure and rock dust to the compost pile to get it going (both freecycled, my friend is a mason he let me fill a few buckets of rock dust from a big old pile, they use it under patios)
I have a 5 gallon bucket with lid and a shopping bag for a bokashi bin (upcycling). Bokashi is an anaerobic process, so you put the scraps in the bucket, put the bag in like a trash bag so there is no air getting at the scraps, and close the lid. This is where I add all of my meat, dairy, and bread scraps. I add in some veggies too for diversity, and EWC to start it's transition into soil. Every time I add scrap, I spray it with the lacto B. Once the bucket is full, I close it for 2 weeks to "digest" or pickle. People get kind of scared when I tell them I compost meat, but the pickling process is what makes it safe, same reason you can't eat a raw pig's foot, or egg, but you can eat a pickled one. Then, I bury it in the compost pile, and compost for a few weeks.
Then, I use that compost pile to fill my worm bin. Worms don't eat organic matter, they eat microbes, so I try to get everything broken down before it comes inside to the worm bin, and they eat it up like crazy. I breed the anaerobes in the bokashi bin, then feed them to the aerobic bacteria in the compost pile, then feed those to the worms. It is a very streamlined process.
