Azurescens
- Thread starter Fruitbat
- Start date
aknight3
Moderator
i have also been wanting to upgrade and update my garden as well, in the next few years i plan on learning how to grow corn, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes and other veg + fruits (that can stand northeast usa nights)
In the age we live in I almost feel like just growing food will be much much more important in the future, especially within the next 10 to 15 years as world food supplies suffer from droughts and plague and its really only getting worse. I never thought someday food would be more vital for survival and for trade and barter more than marijuana by a long shot. just my 2 pennies, i wish you the best of luck in your garden adventures
In the age we live in I almost feel like just growing food will be much much more important in the future, especially within the next 10 to 15 years as world food supplies suffer from droughts and plague and its really only getting worse. I never thought someday food would be more vital for survival and for trade and barter more than marijuana by a long shot. just my 2 pennies, i wish you the best of luck in your garden adventures
donkeyshow
Well-Known Member
Fruitbat and aknight3, you guys have the right idea. When shit hits the fan, most people won't be able to take care of themselves. Without a stable delivery system to provide the basic necessities many will suffer.
canndo
Well-Known Member
People think differently. I am a guerilla gardener - within short walking distance of my house is more food than any 50 people can eat, twice a year - all free. And no one eats any of it. Persimons, pomagranates, walnuts cherries, apples, plums, oranges, avocados, lemons limes, blackberries. I collect most of these things, I get several hundred pounds of olives and cure them every year (an oil press is 5k or I'd have oil). I've ripped out my entire back yard and plant enough to eat through the year and can through the winter - and now, this year, a part of my front yard is ripped out as well. Grass is stupid and expensive.
And I don't believe that any "shit hitting the fan" is going to happen in my lifetime.
And I don't believe that any "shit hitting the fan" is going to happen in my lifetime.
diggindirt
Well-Known Member
Man, I got more chips going right now than I got room for! WISH I had some friends looking to get into Mycology! I agree, grass is stupid, gimme a pile of mulch and some horse manure and I'm a happy camper!
canndo
Well-Known Member
I got two bins of red worms, I got two compost bins - one is one of those rotating things that don't work worth a damn.
My biggest problem now is my back yard. I mulch with straw and at the end of the year I till the straw under - it seems that this has pretty much destroyed the nutritional value of my soil - it LOOKS good but test indicate that I have next to no nitrogen at all and for the first time I have had to use raw chemicals. I have always had enough friends who did hydro that I could use their effluent on my crops but this year the only friends I know who are growing are using coir and I have yet to see how that blends in my soil.
they tell me that the microbes that eat the straw in my soil take the surrounding nitrogen and that is why my soil is dead.
I also have a ph problem.
so this year I amended the soil with all kinds of organic and inorganic stuff - urea for instant nitrogen and cotton seed meal for later.
but you guys know more about all this than I do.
My biggest problem now is my back yard. I mulch with straw and at the end of the year I till the straw under - it seems that this has pretty much destroyed the nutritional value of my soil - it LOOKS good but test indicate that I have next to no nitrogen at all and for the first time I have had to use raw chemicals. I have always had enough friends who did hydro that I could use their effluent on my crops but this year the only friends I know who are growing are using coir and I have yet to see how that blends in my soil.
they tell me that the microbes that eat the straw in my soil take the surrounding nitrogen and that is why my soil is dead.
I also have a ph problem.
so this year I amended the soil with all kinds of organic and inorganic stuff - urea for instant nitrogen and cotton seed meal for later.
but you guys know more about all this than I do.
diggindirt
Well-Known Member
When you compost you need to include as much 'green' matter as you do 'brown' matter, i.e. those dreaded grass clippings to straw. You are correct, if you don't add nitrogenous materials, the nitrogen that is present will be consumed during the composting process.
If you're looking for a good soil amendment to add nitrogen (and a considerable amount of trace minerals and other goodies) go with Kelp Meal. I get mine through the mail fairly inexpensively by the 50 pound sack, and the soil microbes go crazy over it! Urea is pretty harsh and will kill a lot of soil life if used improperly, but I trust you're the kind of person to do your research on dosage before just chucking it in your soil.
The PH can be sorted out over time with lime, I use dolomitic, but better to do it slowly rather than all at once. Also, best to till it in a bit before you plant in it, to let it settle the soil and not be so 'hot'. Fall is best, but spring is ok in March/April if planting in May/June.
If the straw is screwing your soil, call the local tree services and ask for some free hardwood chips. I like to specify that I only want chips from clean trees, as one time I got a load with poison ivy vines growing up the tree... NOT a good situation to say the least... But the hardwood chips will last all season, are usually free, will attract a multitude of worms which will add all natural fertilizer, and allow you to have the biggest damn azurescens patch in the neighborhood!
Usually need to give them a spot to dump it, but for free, no matter to me?
Sorry Fruitbat for getting off topic.
If you're looking for a good soil amendment to add nitrogen (and a considerable amount of trace minerals and other goodies) go with Kelp Meal. I get mine through the mail fairly inexpensively by the 50 pound sack, and the soil microbes go crazy over it! Urea is pretty harsh and will kill a lot of soil life if used improperly, but I trust you're the kind of person to do your research on dosage before just chucking it in your soil.
The PH can be sorted out over time with lime, I use dolomitic, but better to do it slowly rather than all at once. Also, best to till it in a bit before you plant in it, to let it settle the soil and not be so 'hot'. Fall is best, but spring is ok in March/April if planting in May/June.
If the straw is screwing your soil, call the local tree services and ask for some free hardwood chips. I like to specify that I only want chips from clean trees, as one time I got a load with poison ivy vines growing up the tree... NOT a good situation to say the least... But the hardwood chips will last all season, are usually free, will attract a multitude of worms which will add all natural fertilizer, and allow you to have the biggest damn azurescens patch in the neighborhood!
Usually need to give them a spot to dump it, but for free, no matter to me?Sorry Fruitbat for getting off topic.
diggindirt
Well-Known Member
Also, add the kelp meal to your worm bins! 
canndo
Well-Known Member
I wrote a big response and it got lost - short of it is, thanks for the help - I do know my composting from other persuits. My biggest problem is fusarium and that is why I spread such large amounts of straw, to keep the soil away from the leaves. My problem is that I can't rotate crops and my yard isn't big enough to move my tomatoes every year to a new location so the fight gets harder every year. I use some hearty hybrids but my true love is of course, the heirlooms have little natural resistance to the blights.When you compost you need to include as much 'green' matter as you do 'brown' matter, i.e. those dreaded grass clippings to straw. You are correct, if you don't add nitrogenous materials, the nitrogen that is present will be consumed during the composting process.
If you're looking for a good soil amendment to add nitrogen (and a considerable amount of trace minerals and other goodies) go with Kelp Meal. I get mine through the mail fairly inexpensively by the 50 pound sack, and the soil microbes go crazy over it! Urea is pretty harsh and will kill a lot of soil life if used improperly, but I trust you're the kind of person to do your research on dosage before just chucking it in your soil.
The PH can be sorted out over time with lime, I use dolomitic, but better to do it slowly rather than all at once. Also, best to till it in a bit before you plant in it, to let it settle the soil and not be so 'hot'. Fall is best, but spring is ok in March/April if planting in May/June.
If the straw is screwing your soil, call the local tree services and ask for some free hardwood chips. I like to specify that I only want chips from clean trees, as one time I got a load with poison ivy vines growing up the tree... NOT a good situation to say the least... But the hardwood chips will last all season, are usually free, will attract a multitude of worms which will add all natural fertilizer, and allow you to have the biggest damn azurescens patch in the neighborhood!
Sorry Fruitbat for getting off topic.
I have no need for azures but i have always tried to put some sort of fungi perfecti in the soil, once in a while I actually get something to grow.
I will look into wood though - how long does it take to break down and doesn't it as well, eventualy depleate the soil? I am not an organic grower and have no fear of chemicals other than the fact that they tend to salt my soil. Too late for any more amendments this year, my thumb still hurts from that damn tiller. My original soil was clay/sand - kinda like portland cement but it is now a pretty loamy kind of thing. Worms are in short supply surprisingly with the amounts of compost I put in there but I suspect that my use of antifungicidals and the unfortunate use of thrip poison don't help.
It's a tough go - moles, (or something), locust last year, some bacterial infecton brought on by the thrips but I still manage to get hundreds of pounds each year of some pretty decent fruit.
canndo
Well-Known Member
It is a question of altitude, where I live I can be at any altitude between 1000 ft and 7500 feet in a matter of minutes, the apples grow at the higher altitudes.
diggindirt
Well-Known Member
A couple inches of woodchips will last an entire season and into next year, much longer than a layer of straw and with less sprouts from seeds as well. I find that the benefits far outweigh the bit of depletion it may cause. Worm castings will return any depletion and the moisture retained by a nice layer will only help to bring more worms in. They just love it between the mulch and the top of the soil. They shouldn't mind the chemicals much, as I use a ton on my Giant Pumpkin patch every year (heavy duty fungicides and pesticides) and it's loaded with em. Best source for thousands of worms (again free of charge) is your local horse farm. Dig a couple feet into the pile till you find the black earthy stuff and it sould be chock full of thousands of baby worms to get a better supply started. They'll also love the extra organic matter you're adding to the soil. After a couple trips to the farm, it'll be hard to throw a shovel into your soil without chopping a couple in half.
diggindirt
Well-Known Member
Hey Fruitbat, what kind of chips you using for your patches? When starting new batches of expansion chips I usually go with Aspen Pet Bedding from Petco as it's light and airy and always pretty clean. The thin shavings are easily wettable and digestable as well. Then when I spawn outside I like regular hardwood mulch as the thicker chips give it something to chew on all summer and they hold a bit more moisture as well when fully soaked... I also get shaved wood from a guy who owns a bird store. It's like steel wool only made out of hardwood for packing cement bird baths and stuff. Lots of surface area, and holds a great air/moisture level keeping the humidity up on my patches.
canndo
Well-Known Member
Clear your mailbox dudethats really interesting thanks for filling me in
canndo
Well-Known Member
Couple of years ago I redid my front yard - yes, I know - it was grass drought tolerant, slow growing but grass nonetheless. I dug down a foot and a half (I have free use of any sort of heavy equipment I need and a skidsteer works great on this sort of thing and is a hell of a good time.
Anyway, I set everything up, replaced my sprinkler system and threw in what ever I could find for filler. On the day I chose to spread seed I looked and saw - seriously, thousands of tiny casting holes all over the place - the little castings were a lighter color and they showed up when looking at the right angle. I was so thrilled that I had done something that had all those worms grow or return.
I never managed to get that to happen in my back yard - but I gotta tell you, the grass on that part of my front yard is the envy of the neighborhood.
(so far, no one has taken up my offer to accept all of their green waste, no charge, no problem. I don't know if you know of my on going attempt at growing oysters in palm waste - there is a lot of it here and it doesn't break down, it doesn't compost it just sits. I've found that mushroom waste is great soil additive so I forsee a system where I am paid to pick up the palm waste, I grow oysters on it - for sale, and I sell the results as a soil additive, the problem is palm waste doesn't retain water, but I'm working on it.
(the other problem is that the oysters that grow best in this environment don't taste as good as most) working on that as well.
your right sorry about that i deleted all my posts from the thread.
anyways is it to late to get wood loving mushrooms this fall if i start from a spore print to agar now, i think i remember reading you really need to have your spawn read to transfer to outdoor beds in the next few weeks or your underground mycelium network will never have enough time to establish enough to produce fruitbodys come fall. and youll have to wait until next year
Fruitbat
Active Member
Actually I don't really care. It was kind of interesting to read and great to see so many into gardening.
You need to have your spawn ready and prepping your beds now, if not transferring at this time. As long as you have made it that far you are good for the coming Fall. This is my first run with wood lovers so I'm excited.
You need to have your spawn ready and prepping your beds now, if not transferring at this time. As long as you have made it that far you are good for the coming Fall. This is my first run with wood lovers so I'm excited.
diggindirt
Well-Known Member
Well fruity, I tried to get back on track, I apologize. What did you end up using for yours?
Oxanaca, better late than never! Do it now, or you'll be another year behind by the time you start up. As far as I understand (and I'm no expert) they fruit best off of fully digested material. Dunno if it's the waste byproduct buildup, or the fact that there's stored nutrition that gets released when there's nothing left to digest?... not sure.
My suggestion is to start your spores now, and maybe create a tub/box of chips that can be watered and tended to all season by itself rather than spawning to a new bed of chips in a couple months. This will allow the mycelium to concentrate on the barriers it has rather than stretching out to new chips and you might get a flush at the end of the season.
Last year I started my chips earlier than I should have (November) and ran out of room in the basement so I put em outside in February. I got roughly 3/4 oz of dried shrooms off of 1/2 cu/yd of total wood chips that I put together, and they came towards Thanksgiving which was a bit later than I had expected. It may be too late to get a good flush, but certainly not too late to get started.
One thing I did notice however, the mycelium stayed an inch or so below the surface of the fresh chips all year long until around end of september. It didn't poke through the top of the pile until it was starting to cool down after the summer heat. So if you start your patch, keep a look after it even if you don't think anything is going on. There's a lot going on under the surface.
Oxanaca, better late than never! Do it now, or you'll be another year behind by the time you start up. As far as I understand (and I'm no expert) they fruit best off of fully digested material. Dunno if it's the waste byproduct buildup, or the fact that there's stored nutrition that gets released when there's nothing left to digest?... not sure.
My suggestion is to start your spores now, and maybe create a tub/box of chips that can be watered and tended to all season by itself rather than spawning to a new bed of chips in a couple months. This will allow the mycelium to concentrate on the barriers it has rather than stretching out to new chips and you might get a flush at the end of the season.
Last year I started my chips earlier than I should have (November) and ran out of room in the basement so I put em outside in February. I got roughly 3/4 oz of dried shrooms off of 1/2 cu/yd of total wood chips that I put together, and they came towards Thanksgiving which was a bit later than I had expected. It may be too late to get a good flush, but certainly not too late to get started.
One thing I did notice however, the mycelium stayed an inch or so below the surface of the fresh chips all year long until around end of september. It didn't poke through the top of the pile until it was starting to cool down after the summer heat. So if you start your patch, keep a look after it even if you don't think anything is going on. There's a lot going on under the surface.