So who here is growing in true organic living soil?

gladstoned

gladstoned

Well-Known Member
My ppm is around 150. I do not use RO water, and we wet down the soil and it has to set for atleast four weeks before we use it. There won't be any runoff.
So i'm not really sure how to go about it. I have always heard soil ph meters are junk. The Rev said they are handy for learning what you are doing. Anyway I just
Amazon'd us one. I'm sure It'll be here in a few days and I will check it regularly for you. I also ordered a few more copies of the book. If you want one, one of the
copies are yours.
 
HomeLessBeans

HomeLessBeans

New Member
gladstoned said:
My ppm is around 150. I do not use RO water, and we wet down the soil and it has to set for atleast four weeks before we use it. There won't be any runoff.
So i'm not really sure how to go about it. I have always heard soil ph meters are junk. The Rev said they are handy for learning what you are doing. Anyway I just
Amazon'd us one. I'm sure It'll be here in a few days and I will check it regularly for you. I also ordered a few more copies of the book. If you want one, one of the
copies are yours.
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I was thinking you could pull out a cupful run tested water thru it. I believe the readings you get would change as your mix cooks and grows.
 
Rrog

Rrog

Well-Known Member
I look at ACT and Lacto-B (BIM) a little teeny bit differently these days.

Lacto Bacillus is a primary digester. Great for getting things going in a new soil. That's why it's great to make Bokashi. A real digester. I'm less convinced routinely applying ACT or BIMs is as good as perhaps the Barley, coconut or aloe teas. The thought is that if the soil microbes are up and running in the soil, every day that goes by that soil becomes more organized. Hierarchies are further established. Things are more organized. It hit me one day when I thought of pouring billions of microbes down upon all that order in that plant pot. If there was such a vast microbial order, am I really helping? I realize there's a huge introduction of nutrients, but we can do that with other teas and amendments.

The coconut, barley and Aloe teas (or mix all thee = 1 tea) don't supply microbes that I already have. They supply plant enzymes, hormones and various secondary metabolites (sorry to keep saying that). These are like power tools you're dropping into the soil for the microbes and plant to use. They help the microherd, but don't disturb it.

This is just a thought
 
st0wandgrow

st0wandgrow

Well-Known Member
Rrog said:
http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/topic/vermicomposting/pubs/vermiculture_book.pdf

Just ordered this. The smartest soil guys I know recommend this as the definitive book on Vermicompost. As I continuously streamline the soil requirements, it's clear that Vermicompost is the primary amendment we should be looking at. I'm tempted to not look at ACT ever again, actually. I'd rather have worms, fungus, bacteria and protozoa do all the work.
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Just picked up "Teaming with Microbes" and this book: http://www.amazon.com/Worm-Book-Complete-Gardening-Composting/dp/0898159946

Fascinating stuff thus far! I picked up some organic packaged/bottled nutes to give it a try. I am going to try to get some variant of super soil cooked up as well, and then do a side by side by side run with synthetic nutes, organic bottled nutes, and a super soil to see which produces the best crop of the 3.
 
st0wandgrow

st0wandgrow

Well-Known Member
Rrog said:
I'd just make a mix of 1/3 sphagnum, 1/3 pumice, 1/3 EWC. Starter mix.
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I'm going to pick your brain a bit (if you don't mind) when I'm ready to amend some soil. Right now I'm playing around with the organic bottled nutes on a grow in progress.

I'm about a 1/4 of the way through Teaming with Microbes. That stuff is really fascinating to learn!

Oh, and I will smack my kid the next time I catch him fucking with a worm! :-)
 
NickNasty

NickNasty

Well-Known Member
Rrog said:
http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/topic/vermicomposting/pubs/vermiculture_book.pdf

Just ordered this. The smartest soil guys I know recommend this as the definitive book on Vermicompost. As I continuously streamline the soil requirements, it's clear that Vermicompost is the primary amendment we should be looking at. I'm tempted to not look at ACT ever again, actually. I'd rather have worms, fungus, bacteria and protozoa do all the work.
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It has its uses. When you want to break down amendments quick to get a boost of whatever you need, when your not sure if your soil/medium is dead or out of wack, and it works great as a foliar spray and puts a nice bio film on your leaves.

I have yet to try the barley, coconut or aloe teas but Im going to give them a try. I may even do brix readings before and after to see if they boost it or not. I know with a ACT foliar spray I get a boost in my brix, also worm castings in the soil boost my brix, and rock powders are essential to getting higher brix.
 
Rrog

Rrog

Well-Known Member
Stowe, I'd love to talk about soil with you.

Nick- no doubt that ACT can deliver a heavy duty blasts of nutrients. Absolutely no doubt. Nutrient delivery is the primary reason for ACT. It's sometimes thought that the purpose of ACT is to repopulate or better populate the soil. Not so. The soil is already teeming with life, already optimized by the plant / microbe interaction. The purpose of ACT is to deliver the nutrients contained in the amplified ACT bacterial population. And it's an elegant design to deliver them indeed.

These nutrients can also be delivered by other means, is my point. Top dressing, teas for drench or folair application. Different routes to the same destination, you might say. And both are excellent.

But I ask myself, would I rather top dress / apply tea to get these nutrients or apply ACT?
 
scugg

scugg

Member
Here's my first of many batches of biochar. Once I get enough, I'll mix it with some EWC and and let sit a while and mix with my soil. I should be able to come up with enough to do my whole garden and then some if I do this regularly. Thanks Rrog, Nicknasty and everyone else who is active in this thread and many others that have such valuable information. It's so much help to people like me I can't thank you all enough:bigjoint:.
 

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Rrog

Rrog

Well-Known Member
That stuff looks great Scugg! Get some N in there. Pee on it a little, some grass or green vegetation. Leaves. Something to leach a little N out to be adsorbed to the carbon.
 
NnthStTrls

NnthStTrls

Well-Known Member
Hope the growing's good. Not going to read through every post but I did a bit of skimming and just wanted to throw my hand up too. I use my own mix when I grow but it always starts with organic compost. I have my own choice of additives as far as drainage assistance and before I plant I make sure to add a few worms in every pot. When it's time to feed I use a mix of spring water, mineral water, and liquid gold. Some people scoff at the liquid gold but my plants always love it and I have NEVER had any sort of nutrient issues. Now that's organic. :D
 
NnthStTrls

NnthStTrls

Well-Known Member
Well you don't want to just go around pissing on your plants(especially if you are growing in a closet :D ), but yes, good ol' urination for my vegetation.
 
Rrog

Rrog

Well-Known Member
On another thread I incorrectly stated Coconut Water should be used full strength. That was incorrect, and just in case this thread has that bad info also, I wanted to correct this. Coconut water should be diluted 1:15. So a cup of Coconut water and then enough water to make a gallon.

This is good as a foliar and as a soil drench.
 
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