What is this? II

I have two 33 gallon containers of used ffof from my last grow. I haven't looked at them in about a month and one has some growth on top. I figure it is the good kind and I am wondering what others thought.
I'm going to scrape it off before hydrating the soil on a tarp and amending it. I'll share the recipe once I decide what I have to throw in the mix. During the grow I had fresh EWC available for top dressing along with DTE Bio Live 5-4-2 so I'm guessing the soil that went into the bins was high in organic matter.
Happy Growing!


I took pics with both a camera and with a cheap digital microscope.

Camera.


Digital Microscope.

looks like some great mycelium to me!

How dare you leave soil dry,shame on you. Ganga plants everywhere are protesting, "moist dirt matters"

Please don't scrape it!

Such a bummer that mycellium has to be disturbed, however if it is to the point you're seeing such a huge web then the soil is loaded with life, even if you break up the webs. Just try to be gentle

I love that you posted these photos, while also emphasizing that you didn't water/moisten the soil for an entire month.

This is a great visual as to why people shouldn't trip so much if they don't water their soil for an extended period of time, the majority of the microbes go dormant, and as you can see some still do just fine.

A good rule of thumb for mold, light colors that have a white hue to them are good. Darker colors are what is scary.

kratos015 said:

Please don't scrape it!

Such a bummer that mycellium has to be disturbed, however if it is to the point you're seeing such a huge web then the soil is loaded with life, even if you break up the webs. Just try to be gentle

I love that you posted these photos, while also emphasizing that you didn't water/moisten the soil for an entire month.

This is a great visual as to why people shouldn't trip so much if they don't water their soil for an extended period of time, the majority of the microbes go dormant, and as you can see some still do just fine.

A good rule of thumb for mold, light colors that have a white hue to them are good. Darker colors are what is scary.

Click to expand...

I did save it by putting it in one of the empty barrels in case someone like yourself suggested mixing it in.
I know there are members that suggest keeping an eye on the soil for moisture.
My last soil was amended about 15 times over a 6 year period and sometimes I left it unattended for several months and found it performed well when hydrated and amended.
When I gave up on the soil after 6 years I had a soil savvy test done. The soil was very heavy and had extremely high levels of sulfur, Ca and Mg. I think the sulfur build up was from adding peat moss each time I amended it.
I ordered another soil savvy test kit yesterday and will get this soil tested soon.

Here is the soil test from the soil I gave up on. I spread it on my lawn. I don't know if this soil test would appear to be off to the point someone would think you could not grow with it. It performed OK the last time I used it. Not great but not horrible. I did struggle with what I think was a low soil PH the final two or three grows and feel I was able to get the PH back into a good range but felt it was time to start over with a new soil.
I don't know what to make of these test results, I just figured you and others might like seeing them.