Using rice in your mix

I've read that many growers use rice in their mix which promotes fungal life like mycorrhizae and helps with water retention but do you really need to use organic basmati rice hulls? Will an unopened bag of minute rice do in a pinch?
I am currently getting a mix ready for my next set of clones; it's been cooking for several weeks now- does the raw rice need time to "cook" in the soil or can I just add it in and use it in pots right away?

Great question! Been wondering same thing and about oats too, in relation to myco growth.

Nobody knows? If I get no input I'll be using minute rice and guess we will see if it does any good....hey how about brown rice flour? It's just rice that's been pulverized to powder form - seems like it would be conducive to fungal life seeing as how a lotta peeps use it as a mushroom substrate.

FWIW, I don't know anything about adding rice hulls to the mix, but I do know that Minute rice will attract pantry moths and their larvae. Harmful to MJ?

I don't think he means rice hills. He means actual whole grain rice. I've read a little on the subject of adding rice and even oats.

BarnBuster said:

FWIW, I don't know anything about adding rice hulls to the mix, but I do know that Minute rice will attract pantry moths and their larvae. Harmful to MJ?

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Hmmm- well I give my plants molasses too yet it does not attract ants. I have read that some growers use whole organic basmati rice hulls in their mix but why not regular white rice? Do I really need to go to a health food store to pick up craft vegan artisan rice or will any kind of rice do?

Rice hulls are used in place of Perlite..Rice hulls will be composted by the beasties in the soil eventually. So if you plan on reusing soil, stick to perlite or >>>...I don't like perlite, floats up and gets all over......I like little white lava stone - stays in place.

Your thinking of rice as in what the REV does? Right?

He came up with that idea from logic.....For this, logic don't fly! Skip the rice!

Doc

Thank you so much - I use a lot of perlite in my mix already- the more I learn about organics it seems the further I deviate from the revs methods but I do have a much better understanding of soil science as a result of reading the TLO book and skunk mag articles. Truly appreciate your advice doc

I've used both white rice, brown rice, and oats in my soil. When my baby outgrew eating rice cereal I mixed the rest of that into the soil also. It does attract and feed beneficial soil life. Doesn't hurt anything to add it, that's for sure. I usually add it over the winter and top my raided beds with dry leaves to really keep the soil life happy over the winter.

MjMama said:

I've used both white rice, brown rice, and oats in my soil. When my baby outgrew eating rice cereal I mixed the rest of that into the soil also. It does attract and feed beneficial soil life. Doesn't hurt anything to add it, that's for sure. I usually add it over the winter and top my raided beds with dry leaves to really keep the soil life happy over the winter.

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Those things do work, to a point and that is sort of contentious. You can feed the beasties other things that do better and have less potential for problems but, they, Rice, oats or any processed/whole grains are for a more long term or down the road benefit... The problems can come from fermentation robbing the soil of O2 and causing an anaerobic soil condition!

The key to what your doing is "wintering" it......There's the "down the road benefit". In building container soil. It's use can be far easier to cause problems by easy mistakes. Like over watering and it makes the amounts you water more critical ...Much better to avoid it and use it in outdoor beds for the long term...

I applaud your style of use!

Doc

I'm so lazy i used vermiculite for the longest time in conjunction with Free hydrostones i got from a retired grower. anaerobic soil conditions are stinky!

i use regular store bought long grain rice and cheap ass oats ,throw them in the compost pile give it a little water ,just get it wet come back inthree days ,you got you some mycorrhizae .thats a good thing .
what i did is when i made my own recipe for my soil and ive been cooking mine for 3 months now ,throw about 2 cups of each on top the pile,i have mine in a huge trash can ,after just moistening the top of it bamm 3 days later fresh mother earth benifits and then i make a pot with plenty in there and grow,try it

old shol4evr said:

i use regular store bought long grain rice and cheap ass oats ,throw them in the compost pile give it a little water ,just get it wet come back inthree days ,you got you some mycorrhizae .thats a good thing .
what i did is when i made my own recipe for my soil and ive been cooking mine for 3 months now ,throw about 2 cups of each on top the pile,i have mine in a huge trash can ,after just moistening the top of it bamm 3 days later fresh mother earth benifits and then i make a pot with plenty in there and grow,try it

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The grains are feeding whats in the soil....Not adding bio's to the soil.....

I was thinking it would be great for water retention in this drought. I have been throwing it in my compost. White rice has been bleached so that might be the reluctance of some to use it. I know people who use bleach in their rezes and it seems to be fine.

Try it and see what happens. I wonder if it works better after being cooked? I was thinking it would work well as a powder too. Just make sure and water well.

I was thinking the same- I have a lot of extra brown rice flour left over from another project...it's just ground up brown rice which I use as a mushroom substrate so it stands to reason that it would benefit the mycorrizea fungi. It also makes sense that if it not consumed by the microlife in a timely manner then it could quickly go anaerobic especially if overwatering occurs.

well i can tell all of you this ,rice might be bleached and all the science in the world cant tell me that it doesnt work when i have a 50 gallon trash can with white fuzzy webs all over the top of my soil,saying that go with what works for you ,there are plenty of places out there that will take your money