So who here is growing in true organic living soil?

So if chlorine will dissipate if bubbled overnight and chloramines aren't an issue then it looks like tap water is a go.
 
I would say "yes" though I doubt that this will meet the
high expectations of the experts and control freaks.
(the latter reference is an endearment ;0)

Some prefer to use RO water and then control everything
from there...and they must as there is nothing left when
they start. (except Chloramine, from that article, it seems)

Good luck,

JD
 
I'm going for the whole living soil thing. Doing a lot of reading and I'm getting obsessive about it. Make a tea at the moment now with some EWC and honey (some dark buckwheat from a beekeeper buddy - didn't have any molasses). I have to pick up a few things at the grow store to make a better tea.
Anyway, I keep reading about using a mesh bag to strain it. What's the purpose of that? To keep the dirt from getting dirty?
 
chuckduck said:
I'm going for the whole living soil thing. Doing a lot of reading and I'm getting obsessive about it. Make a tea at the moment now with some EWC and honey (some dark buckwheat from a beekeeper buddy - didn't have any molasses). I have to pick up a few things at the grow store to make a better tea.
Anyway, I keep reading about using a mesh bag to strain it. What's the purpose of that? To keep the dirt from getting dirty?
Click to expand...

Oxygen is critical for the process. You want your bubblers operating free of gunk floating around that may clog/block them. A paint straining bag works very well. It will hold the vast majority of the vermicompost inside it, but be porous enough to not entangle any microbes.
 
chuckduck said:
I'm going for the whole living soil thing. Doing a lot of reading and I'm getting obsessive about it. Make a tea at the moment now with some EWC and honey (some dark buckwheat from a beekeeper buddy - didn't have any molasses). I have to pick up a few things at the grow store to make a better tea.
Anyway, I keep reading about using a mesh bag to strain it. What's the purpose of that? To keep the dirt from getting dirty?
Click to expand...

Also if you use a 'vortex' type brewer to keep your water pump from clogging. It is also a lot gentler on testing gear like pH meters and EC meters when it is filtered rather than a lot of organic stuff to dirty them up floating in the tea. It is not a MUST, in my small 'bucket brewer' I don't bother with a mesh bag at all, I just shove the air-stones under the compost. I have 3 air pumps going for a 3 gallon brew. A pump per gallon keeping things super oxygenated, and they keep the organic matter floating at a good distance away from the stones like that.

Javadog said:
I would say "yes" though I doubt that this will meet the
high expectations of the experts and control freaks.
(the latter reference is an endearment ;0)

Some prefer to use RO water and then control everything
from there...and they must as there is nothing left when
they start. (except Chloramine, from that article, it seems)

Good luck,

JD
Click to expand...

100 percent there mate, I agree with you. There are many people that have access to tap water only pulling off perfect living organic grows. I've actually seen a few burned fingers when it comes to RO water. I'm not too sure about the stuff myself, it just seems TOO 'dead' to me. I count myself very fortunate to have both rain and river water to use :)
 
My dirt kindA lost gas and I don't do much growing now but this is the way to grow if you want nugs so sticky you end up with hashfingers if you bust a nug. Wish it was still safe to share pics.
Centipedes seemed to do most of my pest control which was pretty neat.
Applied these concepts to my outdoor veggie garden and ended up with some of the most massive tomatoes you will ever see. well over 500lbs of heirlooms from seed off 9 plants.
 
A plant is a plant. They all love the ROLs.

Add VC more regularly. Anything you put in the soil initially can be added back with top-dressing.
 
Thanks for all the tips. You're going to be seeing a lot of me. I've got an old carbon filter and I've been reading a lot about biochar. Would there be a benefit to me to crack open the filter and put some of the charcoal in my now cooking super soil?
 
Get some Nitrogen in it first. Or else it may suck up a lot of soil N. Kelp and alfalfa are common N sources.
 
I dig it! I think it works best as a narrow trench. If it gets too wide I expect the earth warming benefit gets lost. My guess.
 
Rrog said:
Get some Nitrogen in it first. Or else it may suck up a lot of soil N. Kelp and alfalfa are common N sources.
Click to expand...

This is why I'm finding organics to be so tricky. I'm used to hydro and have burned stuff in the past. I'm very afraid to over fertilize my plants. With hydro is easy to measure this and that because you start with water and can measure your inputs (to a degree).
Long story short organics worry me because I am afraid of burning plants. Is it harder to burn plants once things have cooked?
 
Pretty near impossible to burn. I mean, let's face it- hydro or soil, you can make a mistake and pour something that causes damage. But the humus in the compost and clay, combined with the microbes really buffer things.

People get intimidated by organics partly because of the variety of amendments. Many are redundant. 25 sources of N... who cares, you need 1.

I would forget about vortex brewers, bokashi, Lacto-b, etc. A lot of this is massaging the last 5% of a plant's potential. Stick to the simple, boring core of all of this and you'll hit the 95% no problemo. Then when you're smoking your first full organic nug you can look at some of these other things.

Best advice I could give anyone is get a worm bin. Hands down will get you prize winning anything. Weed or 'maters, worm bins produce stuff better than you can buy. Better than you can buy. I like saying that twice. Made from your household non-meat kitchen waste. Jeepers chrispies, doesn't this just seem to all dovetail perfectly?
 
I think this is the best thread on RIU.

It should get copied/pasted to the Organics section and then stickied. Clearly the place to be if you want to step your organic game up to the maximum level.

I picked up a refractometer today :>
 
Cool on the refractometer! Curious what you find. The highly mineralized soil helps shoot up the total dissolved solids. Would be cool to see some readings
 
Just a side note- If you look around you'll read about the amazing research going on with microbes in and on us humans. Arthritis has been linked to microbial activity in our gut. So the affects of microbes aren't reserved for your intestines alone. Microbes help all creatures
 
Rrog said:
Just a side note- If you look around you'll read about the amazing research going on with microbes in and on us humans. Arthritis has been linked to microbial activity in our gut. So the affects of microbes aren't reserved for your intestines alone. Microbes help all creatures
Click to expand...

Ulcers were similarly diagnosed.

Amazing Story

Onward and upward,

JD
 
Rrog said:
Cool on the refractometer! Curious what you find. The highly mineralized soil helps shoot up the total dissolved solids. Would be cool to see some readings
Click to expand...

Once I figure out how to use it, I'll be sure to let you know. Maybe do some before/after measurements too with foliars and such. I have it, but it will probably take me a while to get it in action as I'm retarded busy trimming my outdoor all by myself. I have a 20x20 room full of stuff hanging. Probably only a 1/3 is good flower and the rest is hash making but still.
 
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