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itchybromusic Grand Master Kush

itchybromusic

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if the fish are alive & happy in the creek or water catchment or whatever it is

that 'll be a pretty good sign what your brewing up will be pretty good 

although depending on the food source used & length of time brewed 

it could go south on ya 

 

in saying that , there are some that think any tea smelly or not put in the soil 

will be of benefit , as it will feed the locals if nothing else 

 

outdoor natural water streams or catchments have a bunch of really good beneficial bacteria 

PNSB is one , Purple Non Sulfur Bacteria , usually round the edge of the the water , in the sludgy parts

if you see a pink , red or purplee tinge in those areas , chances are it's PNSB , one of the bacteria's in EM-1

 

i'll def keep in mind "shlong" worms are delicate ,

as mentioned , don't like that critter puss getting on me lol 

 

 

Nice worms GQ!

 

Itchy,

 

Ok, I did spot a typing error I have rectified. "Straining" not staining.

 

I was really checking whether once the tea is brewed, can it be fed to plant directly without straining the solid matter from which it was brewed?

 

I'm thinking it could only help?

 

I'm slowly getting all the bits and bobs to hopefully harness the power or an organic setup. I'm almost at the stage of mixing and getting the cover crop in (clovers, a green manure mix from the seed collection, dandelion, alfalfa, Daikin radish).

 

I have some blue borage that may make it into a tea also.

 

Don't have aloe or fulvic. I realise their function, are they fully necessary for the enzyme uptake from malted barley when mixed with soil and\ top dress?

 

Same old story, $$, I will get to them eventually I guess and have looked in briefly as I have with em1. But I will revisit.

 

Still kind of gathering stuff, got castings via wormsdownunder today, I'm no expert so I can't say if they are any good, I will use them tomorrow on something for a test. They are moistish, and dark. That good? :)

 

I have been compiling lists etc, checking soil mixes with what I have. Your recipe is in there itchy. Not so much picking and choosing as looking at what works for everybody else for them, I don't expect one to fit perfectly but getting there.

Ya been looking at coots stuff, went looking for black leaf mould the other day after he was on about it.

 

I like his holy Trinity of kelp\alfalfa\neem.

 

Here a few questions;

Peat moss.

You use that white Lithuanian stuff but it's an interstate big bag for me. Bunnings have regular and spagnum. Spagnum is stupid money there so I looked at it today priced at $30\500g and said fuck that for a game of cards. I bought a $5 regular peat moss bag and deemed it good enough to experiment with.

I realise there is a Coco vs peat debate. Is spagnum worth the expense, is Lithuanian worth getting over regular spagnum?

 

Gypsum.

I reckon I may be good for calcium, I have a crustacean mix, can't remember which is fast and slow release. What do you think?

 

Scott's organic compost mix from Bunnings? Any good?

 

I realise the above questions are hard to answer but to add some perspective to the proposed mix, it's looking like this.

 

Castings. Scoria. Peat moss\coco or a mix of the 2.

 

Kelp, Neem, alfalfa meal, malted barley, volcanic rock dust, diam earth (silica in this any good for the mentioned barley enzyme uptake?)

 

I may be forgetting something. Have some coconut meal too.

 

Another q, could I activate charcoal that has been in a compost heap for a few years if I pick some out?

Can they be activated when mixed with castings as part of castings mixed to an already mixed heap?

 

What would you recommend with regard to a 4-5 year old compost heap that is mainly horse shit with general green waste continually added?

I mixed the heap recently after a year maybe. Good green weeds on it! lol

 

It has charcoal and when I mixed it I added kelp, blood and bone and some dolomite. I should cover it to get it cooking, I realise it may need some time.

 

Back to the planned new mix, if I have dolomite do I need gypsum?

I also have access to bentonite.

 

I have seen mixes with all, some with, some have none of either.

 

And further, is it better or a non topic to make a tea from something that has not been used in the mix?

 

Hmmmm, big post. Lots of questions. I realise that a bit of everything is good and that there won't be mix from the net that works perfect for me.

 

I just gotta start implementing organic ways and work it out as I go.

 

I'd like a worm farm and I will get one, but just too many projects on the go!

 

Thanks!!!!

yes you can feed direct but that still comes down to what you used , any liquid nutrient , homemade or from a bottle can burn plants 

if your only trying to produce a microbial tea , then you should have no issue with burning 

 

at this point i'll say top dressing nutrients in the much layer is allot more forgiving than bottle feeding 

 

you don't have to strain but again what are you doing , drenching or foliar spraying , def need to strain if spraying 

& i would avoid watering leaves while drenching with a unstained tea

 

cover cropping in good , especially helps with establishing new transplants , because of all the other root systems being in place 

the new transplant shouldn't have long to wait to be colonized , but after that establishment i'm starting to like the more consistent 

thick mulch layer than a living mulch which should get shaded out & die back anyway  

careful with that blue borage , once it's making seed they'll come up forever 

 

no there not a "must do" & when top dressing MBP but don't under estimate the power of those things combined , the boost to plant health 

is completely visible within an hour of top dressing & watering in with silica aloe & fulvic 

i put more effort into plant heath than plant food 

 

the $$$ struggle is real for all but this method of growing uses some pretty cheap inputs , not to mention that no till organic growing 

is the art of keeping soil as a pet , the more you grow in the same well looked after soil the better the plants will yield  

 

castings are generally pretty good due to , what go's in one end of a worm , comes out better at the other end , doesn't mean you shouldn't want 

a better quality casting , if your going to use the castings as a readily available nutrient source , then you may as well feed the worm farm what 

you want your plant to feed on , kitchen scraps aren't that great being mostly water , will still be consumed by worms but might take some time 

to produce enough casting to be used in soil mixes & top dressed , Coot puts a ( i think ) 20gal geopot together with peat , aeration ect , as a worm farm 

& at some point plugs in a transplant & off he go's growing the next plant 

 

soil mixes are fun but can stuff ya grow when throwing things together , not much of a super soil person , prefer something i can pretty much put anything in 

without being to hot for a fresh small plant , also not my soil mix , as you say , just a mix that works for me 

 

do you have any trees that loose leaves in ya backyard , & do you own a rake :) make a pile & at some point you'll have black leaf mold , helps to know 

what tree , some things can be acidic , once again as a top dress it's not as much a prob as in a synthetic system using bottled nutes with the wrong ph 

 

i think using peat is a better choice soil mix wise , maybe no so environmentally , it's CEC you get from peat , cation exchange capacity , that is different 

to coco , doesn't mean you can't use coco , my understanding with coco , not that i've used it in a mix , is you need a lill extra sulfur in the mix ., based on 

the mix i've chosen to use 

 

the better peat is the Canadian peat , less processing ( more microbes in the bag ) & attempting to be sustainable , not cheap though , would def suggest 

buying bulk , much cheaper than buying lill bits at a time , sometimes the lill bits at a time just work for now but you'll def save heaps by going halves with 

some one , last lot of kelp i got was from Tassie Kelp 20kg $120 inc delivery anywhere in oz , i went halves with another grower , $60 each for 10kg 

 

gypsum is you magnesium & sulfur , dolomite is your calcium which you can replace with crustacean meal ( calcium carbonate ) 

 

scott's = no , but that's just me , never used it & don't think i ever would  

 

i would leave the alfalfa out & use it as top dresses , with in a soilmix i would go easy with it 

 

diatomaceous earth , i would leave this out & use rice hulls , lots of silica & will work like aeration in the soil , take a while to breakdown

but they will break down so don't rely on only rice hulls as your mix aeration , also can be brought at most brew stores 

 

silica doesn't help with uptake , fulvic does that job 

 

charcoal not the same as bio char , 

if the charcoal has been mix in the compost pile for some time i would say it's activated already 

you can activate bio-char by adding it to castings & letting it sit for couple weeks otherwise make

fish & water mix to directions on the bottle , ad the char to the fish & water , mix & it's activated 

 

4-5 year old compost , use it 

if it's been sitting in the open being rained on , it might have lost a lill though leaching , but start using it , even on a test plant 

every time you add new matter to an existing compost pile the composting process beings again , better to use what you have & start a new   

adding some bokashi at the beginning of compost piling will help to break things down a lill quicker 

 

dolomite & gypsum would be considered your cal/mag & yeas i'd use both , worms love minerals 

 

don't use bentonite clay , i think it helps with CEC from memory , wouldn't use very much 

 

can make teas out of almost anything so yeah doesn't have to been used in the mix to be used in a tea 

 

might help to have a plan of attack , maybe have a read of this https://buildasoil.com/pages/the-complete-system

 

worm farms can be home made , they can also be worm towers = long bit of pvc with lots of drilled holes in it , buried up right  in a garden bed 

with the end sticking out the ground , fill it with worm food & put a lid on it , in bed worm farm 

 

man that took forever 

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gazza308 Green Thumb Guru

gazza308

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Omg its so funny when you here something read back to you that youve written and suddenly realise how bloody dirty it sounds lol lol lol honestly no filth was intended, well this time anyway lol but it sure comes across that way, but the big worms are still pretty cool to see, thanks itchy,,GQ

 

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check out the giant south gippsland earth worm. Pretty sure it's the only place on earth they can live. bf3c4f219a100395438164d3d1339e08.jpg

 

 

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