Recycled Organic Living Soil (ROLS) and No Till Thread

[Midwest Weedist]

I need to order some new worms now that I think about it. I upgraded their home quite a bit. Where do you guys source yours from?

 

[st0wandgrow]

How does stuff like Great White work then?

Great White (and other myco products) come in the form of a dormant spore. Once water is added they wake from their slumber.

The also like the bananas as well, but definitely prefer the puree. That's good because I have a blender dedicated to them, and I will continue to mulch their food for them. It degrades much more quickly that way as well.

I was using my wifes expensive blender for my worm bins for a while. After listening to her bitch about for a month I picked up a used one at a garage sale for $2. That is now the official worm food blender

 

[foreverflyhi]

I need to order some new worms now that I think about it. I upgraded their home quite a bit. Where do you guys source yours from?

i got my worms locally, about two years ago, they have since multiplied by the thousands, one worm bin turns into two, two to four so on and so on

 

[foreverflyhi]

Great White (and other myco products) come in the form of a dormant spore. Once water is added they wake from their slumber.




I was using my wifes expensive blender for my worm bins for a while. After listening to her bitch about for a month I picked up a used one at a garage sale for $2. That is now the official worm food blender

HA u gave in! my girl ended up buying a new one, just a matter of time until I get my hands on that one

 

[st0wandgrow]

HA u gave in! my girl ended up buying a new one, just a matter of time until I get my hands on that one

LOL! You're playing with fire FFH!

Don't know how long you've been married, but I just try to avoid the drama anymore. I cave on a lot of stuff now that I would have dug my heels in over before. She keeps my balls in a jar under the kitchen sink for me.

 

[Midwest Weedist]

Great White (and other myco products) come in the form of a dormant spore. Once water is added they wake from their slumber.




I was using my wifes expensive blender for my worm bins for a while. After listening to her bitch about for a month I picked up a used one at a garage sale for $2. That is now the official worm food blender

Hahaha I went through this with my girls measuring cups. "Is that bat shit in MY MEASURING CUP?!?" XD

 

[earthling420]

That is some crazy ass bud Supra.. holy shit.
Thanks guys. I want turning my soil and it smelled like poop when I finally did :/
I might add worms to my pots when I get a worm bin going.
I wanna make a perpetual flow through system. But for now I just want at least a worm bin lol
Thanks Stow that makes sense now!

 

[greasemonkeymann]

While we're on the subject, here's a soil mix excerpt from my book (only step 1):

How to Organically Garden in 8 easy-to-moderately bothersome steps:

1. Make your soil mix according to the following ratios.[1]

BASE MIX

There are two options for the base mix

o A ratio of 1:1:2 (one part compost, one part aeration element, and two parts peat moss)
o A ratio of 1:1:1 (one part compost, one part aeration element, and one part peat moss)
o Of the two ratio options, all equal parts (1:1:1) is great for a beginner gardener because the higher ratio of aeration element makes overwatering difficult to do, and the ratio option with more sphagnum peat moss (1:1:2) retains moisture for longer periods of time, so it works well for sprouting seeds
​

o One part compost (most important ingredient)

§ Preferably, use "living"[2] earth worm castings or other high-quality compost
§ Ideally, use a mixture of different compost types
§ Low on compost? Try a combination of soil and compost, up to half soil (commercial or recycled) and half compost
​

o One part pebbled-sized red lava rock, pumice, rice hulls, or other aeration element

o One part or two parts sphagnum peat moss

§ Hydrate before measuring and mixing, preferably using a wetting agent​

· The total volume of the combined Base Mix in cubic feet dictates how much of each Soil Amendment you will add

SOIL AMENDMENTS
· Combine the Soil Amendments, then add to the Base Mix
· The given quantities are for each cubic foot of the Base Mix you made

• Mineral mix (essential)
  • 2 to 4 cups rock dusts, including at least one of the following: glacial rock dust, basalt, bentonite, Azomite rock dust, and/or other minerals
  • The mineral mix can be exclusively glacial rock dust
  • No more than 1 cup each of other rock dusts (basalt, etc.) for each cubic foot of Base Mix
  • Mix and match depending on local availability

• Meal mix (performance enhancers)
• A soil with 4 cups of meal mix typically only needs water from seed to harvest and may not need topdressings or botanical teas for the first crop. It also works well for small-container gardening (containers around 5 gallons)
  
• 2 to 4 cups total meal mix, containing the following
  • ½ to 1 cup neem meal
    • Improves plant immunity and soil balance
  • ½ to 2 cups kelp meal
    • Provides a broad spectrum of trace elements, among other benefits
  • ½ to 1 cup crab shell meal
    • Calcium source, for calcium-hungry plants; pH buffer
  • ½ cup alfalfa meal (optional)
    • Source of nitrogen, among other goodies
  • ½ to 1 cup all-purpose dry organic fertilizer (optional)
    • Can replace kelp and crab shell for a simple soil amendment mix
    • Conversely, it is not needed when you already have kelp and crab shell
    • Example fertilizers: Epsoma Tomato-tone and Garden-tone, Happy Frog All-Purpose and Tomato and Vegetable, and similar products by Dr. Earth and Down to Earth

• Liming agents (optional, but recommended for soils intended for multiple harvests)
  • 1 cup oyster shell flour or gypsum powder
    • Calcium source, for calcium-hungry plants; pH buffer
    • Can use ½ cup of each for a total of 1 cup

• Biochar (optional)
  • add up to 10% of the Base Mix's volume
  • Biochar can be bought from gardening suppliers and should be broken up in small pieces
  • Natural charcoal, which is the variety made from hardwood (not briquettes), can also be used
  • Activate Biochar by mixing it with living compost or soaking it in compost tea for a few days before mixing with soil

[1] Credit goes to Headtreep, Cann, Ganja Girl, and ClackamasCootz, of the Recycled Organic Living Soil Internet boards, for the particular ratios and combination of ingredients.
[2] "Living" means moist compost with active bacterial and fungal populations; completely dry is useless.

Every so often you find a grower that OBVIOUSLY knows WTF they are doing.
Contrary to how long you have been on a forum or however many "posts" you have.
Good shit my man.
Almost verbatim to EXACTLY the way I grow. Couple differences but almost identical.
For example, to counter the peats acidity I like oyster shells as part of my aeration as well as biochar, I like my secret ingredient of mashed up insects to add chitin and a good amount of micros and macros.
Good write up.

 

[greasemonkeymann]

I would say rock dust is rock dust and can be used at similar rates. Aluminosilicate clays are not rock dust.

P-

VERY true, especially when you take into consideration you are re-using your soil over an over... hence allowing the aluminosilicate to break itself down.
You don't really want aluminum in your re-used soil...
ok for short term but in the long run it'll be absorbed by the plant

 

[zonderkop]

smashed-up insects, eh. do you catch your own? where do you get your bug bits?

thanks for the kind words.

 

[Mohican]

I met with a grower who had a bug zapper light on his patio, and the frogs would stand underneath it and eat the fried bugs. Told him he should collect the dead bugs for his soil.

 

[zonderkop]

looks like you can also buy bug poop for chitin: http://www.onfrass.com

lolz.

 

[greasemonkeymann]

looks like you can also buy bug poop for chitin: http://www.onfrass.com

lolz.

screw that dude, you want chitin?
I got a tip for a MASS amount of it.
Go to the feed store and look for a bucket of dried whole mealworms and crickets. and then mash those bastards up.
I call it insect meal. and it's awesome.
I have NO idea how much NPK is in it, but I don't care.
Lots and lots of chitin there, and it breaks down better than crab meal.

 

[DonPetro]

screw that dude, you want chitin?
I got a tip for a MASS amount of it.
Go to the feed store and look for a bucket of dried whole mealworms and crickets. and then mash those bastards up.
I call it insect meal. and it's awesome.
I have NO idea how much NPK is in it, but I don't care.
Lots and lots of chitin there, and it breaks down better than crab meal.

Have ever done a side by side with and without the "bug meal"? I think it would make a great amendment.

 

[PSUAGRO.]

Has anyone noticed a reduction in pests when using frass/ground up insects as an amendment???

 

[greasemonkeymann]

Have ever done a side by side with and without the "bug meal"? I think it would make a great amendment.

NOPE, this is my first run with them, I "discovered" it while looking for insect frass, and I figured... WHOA.... chitin baby! and ya gotta think ground up bugs are high in like micronutrients or something...
At least nitrogen..
But no, no side by side, and sadly it won't really mean a whole lot, my soil mix is pretty dialed in so (not to brag) but my plants look pretty great either way.
I don't use it for the plants overall vigor/NPK values, I use it solely as a chitin/chitinase source, an IPM, i'm always battling the mites out here, My grow is in a redwood forest, inside, so I get exposed to mites regularly... they are everywhere.
Neem meal, insect meal, and crab meal are my IPMs, and I spray with French lavender sprays (my own) with aloe, and I recently used @Pattahabi version of an emulsified neem oil.
Only thing is, I lessended the amount of my normal alfalfa meal to allow for the addition of the insect meal, so we will see if I run a lil light green at the end.
Like a LOT of things I've experimented with, it won't be conclusive, I don't have the space nor the time to do a proper scientific controlled test.
We will see if the mites are less though...
Course I added variables to that as well using pattahabi spray...
so anyways...
Just a stoner and his theories is all I am.

 

[Mohican]

Stoner plus notebook makes you a scientist!

 

[greasemonkeymann]

Has anyone noticed a reduction in pests when using frass/ground up insects as an amendment???

so far, so good, but see my last post, I also have used a different spray approach, but even prior to that the mites are actually significantly lessened than my normal probs, and the brown and red mites are all gone, it's just the good ole two-spot I have now...
but we are talking about a minuscule amount compared to my usual struggle.
Course we all know a minuscule amount can turn into a clusterfuck webbing in a couple days...

 

[greasemonkeymann]

Stoner plus notebook makes you a scientist!

hah, and i'm growing a sannie freebie of the mad scientist too...
irony?
perhaps not..

 

[hyroot]

castings have chitin too. Dont forget that one.