Soil Micro Organisms

ANC

ANC

Well-Known Member
This video is a bit less exciting but covers green fertilisers quite well.
Green fertilisers are things like legumes, oats and clover that is sown in between planting crops.
Certain plants like oats are very good at stimulating a wide variety of organisms.

Green fertilisers are even better than just mulching the surface.

I would combine charged biochar, green fertiliser and mulching to speed up the process as well as extend its life span.
 
ANC

ANC

Well-Known Member
This one is about cover crops, and about the planning of continual cover as well as companion planting.
I love how simple things completely removed the need for pesticides.
If you grow outdoors, start planning how you will manage that soil until the next grow, remember if you put the correct cover on, it INCREASES carbon and nitrogen in the soil, increases water retention and the ease with wich the soil receives water and how deeply the water reaches. Go water a pot of neglected soil then dig in it, you will be lucky if the water made if 2 inches in. It just finds gaps around the sides.
Remember the spores and organisms seeded in your soil may never be activated to come to life unless a very specific plant or insect coinhabit the area. So you want a wide selection of both plants and insects etc. 1 gram of forest soil contains as many microbes as the number of people on earth. If you find some nice soil somewhere, grab a handful from the top and take it home to seed it there.

Once you start, the soil is a living organism, the creatures in it are its cells and organs.
If you neglect it, overheat it, drown it, throw salts on it, or do anything that would harm a living creature in your care to it, it will die and leave a hot looking corpse. You will need to start the cycle over, all while the good stuff leaches away with the rain.

You are not doing organic gardening until you do this. Putting "organic" fertilisers in does little to feed the plants.
 
Dutchieman420

Dutchieman420

Well-Known Member
ANC said:
Super educational video on soil organisms.
I always preach about living soil, but I had no idea of some of the things that happen.
Click to expand...
Haha great video, I love the corny style of Asian entertainment. Nothing like it.
Soil biology is very dear to me I am not a fan of hydroponics in all honesty, it's cool don't get me wrong but growing with soil is much more interesting. I understand people don't want to spend there whole life learning about microbiology to grow outstanding pot but it is well worth it
Here in California we have outdoor bud that is in my view comparable to typical hydro
 
ANC

ANC

Well-Known Member
I would do hydro indoors 100 times out of 100 indoors. I keep two plants in soil indoors, but they are small fragile things a whole month older than the baby giants.,
 
Dutchieman420

Dutchieman420

Well-Known Member
ANC said:
I would do hydro indoors 100 times out of 100 indoors. I keep two plants in soil indoors, but they are small fragile things a whole month older than the baby giants.,
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No way! Haha I never do hydro I am strictly organic soil grower
I do help a ton of people who have water setups and I do smoke it at times but I have the time and resources well and the legality helping my situation so i don't rush anything ever
 
calliandra

calliandra

Well-Known Member
ANC said:
Super educational video on soil organisms.
I always preach about living soil, but I had no idea of some of the things that happen.
Click to expand...
Wow nice images and details on those symbiotic relationships!
I especially love how they underline how it's not about the single organisms, but the network of interactions.
Very cool for what looks like it was a science-pop program.
Thanks for sharing :D
 
calliandra

calliandra

Well-Known Member
ANC said:
This video is a bit less exciting but covers green fertilisers quite well.
Green fertilisers are things like legumes, oats and clover that is sown in between planting crops.
Certain plants like oats are very good at stimulating a wide variety of organisms.

Green fertilisers are even better than just mulching the surface.

I would combine charged biochar, green fertiliser and mulching to speed up the process as well as extend its life span.
Click to expand...
From some experiments I've been doing, I've been concluding that we do need to reestablish good microbial nutrient cycling first, then add a permanent ground cover to keep that system going when the crop plant has been harvested.

That's a bit different from mere green fertilizers, which are usually chop+dropped or tilled in.

What ground covers go best with what crops - from a microbiological viewpoint! - is currently being researched, amongst others by Elaine Ingham. There's a LOT to be discovered there too, but we know already that here again - surprise surprise - diversity is key :)
 
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calliandra

calliandra

Well-Known Member
ANC said:
Go water a pot of neglected soil then dig in it, you will be lucky if the water made if 2 inches in. It just finds gaps around the sides.
Click to expand...
This is because bacteria start producing hydrophobic substances to protect themselves when things get around 30% humidity. They build these compartments to keep water inside and around their bodies, but when humidity goes under 30%, the bacteria will go dormant, and all that's left is masses and masses of this hydrophobic material that does take some effort to rehydrate.

On the flipside, this is the one way of preserving microbes without much risk of bad things happening, because there is little to no activity. It's important to note however that nematodes will have to regenerate from eggs - and they take 2 weeks from egg to egg. So we have to take that into consideration when revitalizing such dried media.
 
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ANC

ANC

Well-Known Member
calliandra said:
This is because bacteria start producing hydrophobic substances to protect themselves when things get around 30% humidity. They build these compartments to keep water inside and around their bodies, but when humidity goes under 30%, the bacteria will go dormant, and all that's left is masses and masses of this hydrophobic material that does take some effort to rehydrate.

On the flipside, this is the one way of preserving microbes without much risk of bad things happening, because there is little to no activity. It's important to note however that nematodes will have to regenerate from eggs - and they take 2 weeks from egg to egg. So we have to take that into consideration when revitalizing such dried media.
Click to expand...
 
ANC

ANC

Well-Known Member
The video was demonstrating what you said. I like having biochar in my pots for preserving microorganisms.
 
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